This is the second part of the first article from a new panel of Old Boys (and Girls) who will be giving us an idea of how they think football and watching football, has changed over the years. See Part 1 here.
Jeff Reed (TTT Subscriber Jeff):
The role of football in the life of supporters has changed as society has changed. Fifty years ago football was played on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm. You would stand in the stands and if you went to say a Liverpool Everton match you may well stand next to an Everton supporter or among Everton supporters. You would cheer for Liverpool and they would cheer for Everton. When the match was over, whatever happened, you would say well done to them and they would say well done to you. Then everyone would go home or wait for the pubs to open. The whole experience of match day was a joyful one, especially if you won. Simply put, what I have written could not be written about the experience of going to Anfield to watch Liverpool play Everton today.
What happened? Well the world changed and football changed and being a supporter changed. I never know from week to week when Liverpool are playing and it is no longer a part of my Saturday afternoons which is really late morning in North America. The days when supporters of Everton at Anfield can cheer a quality goal by say Sir Roger Hunt or Liverpool supporters can cheer a player such as Brian Labone are sadly long long gone. Football to me has gone tribal as it was in the 60s in Glasgow or in Spain with Barcelona and Real Madrid. To me this takes a lot of the joy away from football.
I want Liverpool to win matches but when I watch a match I want to see good football and appreciate the quality of players on opposing sides. I come from a world where sometimes the opposition is good and sometimes the opposition has quality players and sometimes you are flat out outplayed. To me this shows me how lost I am in the past. I do not believe the past was perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know that there was far more enjoyment of football in the past than there is today. Why? Today football in general has taken on the tribal nature of how football was in Glasgow in the past and present and how football is in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid. To me football is the loser and supporters have lost something that is sadly not coming back.
This article is for Subscribers to The Tomkins Times only.
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