Has something reminded you this week why you fell in love with the game of football ? Goals ! Passionate Fans ! Comradeship !
Do you know what ! I may have nearly had 4 heart attacks in half an hour celebrating goals on that terrace behind the goal at Peterborough yesterday but I loved every ****ing minute of it !!!!!! And I felt alive once again at football, for the second time in 4 days ! I'm not gonna be told that its wrong to sing, shout, jump around, engage in friendly banter........because its the reason i fell in love with Charlton Athletic and the game of football ! So ****ocks to anyone who doesnt like it, if id fallen in love with a prawn sandwich id go and sit in Marks and Spencer at 3pm on Saturday afternoons !
What is football to me ? Football is a working mans game, about Dad going to work all week and on a Friday after handing over the housekeeping having enough pounds left over to go to the match on Saturday with his mates and one day to introduce the nipper to this man-made experience of having a beer with some good pals and to experience 90 mins of comradeship on the terraces, to sing...to shout...to buy peanuts from the east terrace, to see the numbers go up against the alphabetical scoreboard at half time and ultimately hope to let off some steam from the trials and tribulations of the working week by celebrating the winning goal against your rivals at the other end of the ground. To play your part and be a hero for an afternoon !
Is that too much too ask ? Seemingly yes....
I resent being forced to try and forget the reasons why I love football because of the failings of The Football League & the horrible creation called "Sky Television".
Contrary to the popular belief of the "sheltered life football supporter" football is not giving domino's pizza a call and settling down in your reclining armchair unless its England playing in the World Cup Final and you couldn't get a ticket - nor is football about going to the pub to watch the game because its a bloody SKY TV match with the little pint glass in the bottom corner of the screen unless its England playing in the World Cup Final........and you couldn't get a ticket.
As soon as SKY Tv got their dirty mitts on the game in the 90s and the 1st Division became The Premiership the game changed due to the money involved. Sky don't have a clue what being a proper football supporter is all about. There's too much football on SKY TV simple.....football is unnappreciated....there is no intrigue about the game any more...because there is too much of it! Its all too convenient ! All you have to do these days is pay £30 a month and "whoooppppeeee doooooo" you can be a Chelsea fan living in Manchester or a Manchester United fan living in Greenwich, its so easy isn't it ! What heroes you all are, you don't even have to step outside your front door ! you don't have to get cold ! get up at 5am to travel ! you don't even have to open your mouth ! as long as you pay your £30 a month then your a real football fan ! And even better still when your plastic football team 250 miles away loses you can change your club. Better still...make the future of football an even better place and buy your nipper the full kit or a lunchbox from Sports Direct and corrupt his little mind even further because after all he will be able to run around his private boarding schools playground proudly announcing his "love" and undying support for Chelsea or Man U......I blame SKY TV for this also...and all thanks to the hype of SKY TV who know nothing about the roots of real football. YOU ARE KILLING OUR GAME ! Football is not about SKY SPORTS 1, 2, 3, Jeff "bloody" Stelling (who gives a sh** what he thinks anyway) or about annoying adverts from greedy bookmakers trying to get you to blow your mortgage money on in-play betting by flashing up the latest odds during the adverts. GREED ! GREED ! GREED ! MONEY ! MONEY ! MONEY ! STOP RUINING THE WORKING MANS GAME YOU GREEDY SWINES ALL OF YOU ! I don't care about Matthew Le Tissier, Andy "I Scored A Goal At Wembley" Gray, Paul "Sodding" Jewell, Phil "Nostrils" Thompson, Iain "******" Dowie or any of your other cringworthy ex footballers. I dont give a damn about your betting odds ! your SKY talk, broadband service, dog walking service or any other crap you are going to offer in the future. THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND SKY TV !!!! I also hate Steve "I played for some crap clubs" Claridge and corrupt betting syndicates trying to ruin the game we fell in love with and corrupting the minds of genuine characters like Bruce Grobbelaar. All I want to do is go and watch my club Charlton Athletic, read a match report in the newspaper on Sunday and if im lucky enough we will be the chosen Third Division match on The Big Match Sunday afternoon. Thats all i want !
To the Football League - YOU sold out to SKY in the first place - ITS YOUR FAULT ! I dont want the Premiership, I dont want the Championship or any other elaborate named league in order to try and make more money out the game. The game is what it is, you cant manufacture it, its either in your blood or it isn't. I want the First Division, Second Division, Third Division and Fourth Division ! I want 3 up 3 down ! I don't want TV technology ! I don't want referees assistants, I want linesmen ! I want the old Wembley not the new Wembley ! I want the English manager to be English, nor do I want Arteta to be English or Vinnie Jones to be Welsh ! I want at least one section of terracing at every ground because I want the option to stand and experience football the way it was intended ! I want an outdoor area where I have the option to smoke ! I want to see the floodlights when I approach a football ground and see them lit up when I leave ! I dont want to be treated like a criminal by a steward because I want to show emotion and I don't want to see my mates being kicked out for celebrating a goal ! I want football to kick off at 3pm on Saturday not at 1230, 515 or 4pm on a Sunday ! I dont want the bloody Champions League...I want the European Cup ! I don't want to see Arsenal in the European Cup when they have finished 2nd, 3rd or 4th ! I dont want football at my fingertips and to press the red button, nor do i want HD or 3D !! I dont want to sit through the Play Offs just so you can make yet more money from football fans by dragging out the season and selling the TV rights so SKY TV can make yet more money and I dont want to see 500 games on TV per season ! I want the Football League to be run by individuals with a genuine love for the national game ! and run it with the best intentions the way it was intended to be experienced !
I have shed god knows how much money into football over the last 30 years, my opinion should count ! All seater stadiums are a smokescreen for the failings of the authorities that policed Hillsborough on FA Cup Semi Final day - not because the slabs of concrete on the floor are unsafe. If thats the case then i had better repave my driveway with some seats shall I ?
If Charlton had of sold 3,000 terrace tickets for the game at Peterborough is someone telling me that we might have been putting our lives in danger - if so why are we still standing at football.....regardless of whether its the Premiership, Championship, League 1 or 2 ? Is somebody telling us that its ok to be unsafe at a lower league ground ? If terraces were considered unsafe then The Football League would and should have granted every club the money to turn their stadiums into all seater LONG LONG LONG before now ! Have the Football League ever seen the atmosphere at some of these European venues, Turkey springs to mind ! If terraces were so dangerous then why havnt Fifa made a worldwide decision to ban terracing throughout the world. Take away our terraces - and fans will either stand anyway or stand on the seat ! And you think thats safer do you ? WAKE UP !
Anyone here ever been to the theatre to see a musical ? Bores the hell out of me to be honest but do you know what ? The audience get on their feet during segments of the show, will even get out their seats shock horror and sing, dance and generally embarrass themselves. Why would they do that when a seat is provided ? But i guess thats the theatre for you and thats what people traditionally do at the theatre, ITS WHAT YOU DO THERE ! I don't like it so i don't go !
Why are some people so hell bent on killing the traditions of our working mans game ? To make money and to save face thats why !
Do you remember why you fell in love with football as a kid ? I do - because do you remember when you used to see goal highlights on television of the Holt End at Villa Park when they split that terrace between the two sets of fans on semi final day? How about Goodison Parks low level narrow terrace or maybe The Kop at Anfield. Do you remember what it used to look like when fans on those terraces used to celebrate a goal? Do you realise now how PATHETIC football fans celebrating goals on TV look like these days in comparison....CLAP CLAP SQUIRE TALLY HO WELL DONE MY LOVELIES! I WANT to celebrate Charlton goals on rubbish terraces like the old away end at Gay Meadow, on a freezing cold day at Portsmouth, Ayresome Park, Filbert Street or get drenched at The Hawthornes on a Tuesday night !
So I thank you all the Charlton Athletic supporters whoever you are and whatever your age....YOU took me back to old skool football this week with great support, banter, toilet rolls whatever...It was GREAT !!!
As Martin Luther King once said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
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Comments
No beating about the bush - you tell it like it is.
One of these days, I'll get a call from the Club inviting me and Mr F to join the Directors in "The Box" to partake of their matchday hospitality as a "Thank You" for raiding our piggy bank for the VIP season ticket scheme. Naturally, I'll accept the offer and enjoy a somewhat different experience on matchday.
But I KNOW it won't come close to sitting in my usual seat in the East, shouting my head off and screaming like a banshee when we score amongst like minded Addicks I've called my neighbours since the stand was opened. It may not be a terrace but it's become home every other Saturday from August to May. For me, whether it be the Hollywood Bowl experience that is Brighton, or the seat I warmed at Peterborough yesterday, it's about BEING THERE which I know I am fortunate enough to do. It's about being a part of that matchday experience ; shivering for 90 mins in January , "glowing" ( as we ladies do !) in August , bursting with pride when we win and exiting tight lipped when we don't. It's a unique rollercoaster of emotion which the armchair viewer can only glimpse and wish they could be a part of.
For my 83yr old Dad, now sadly departed , the chance to watch live matches on Sky for a few years, was the highlight of his week. And for that, I won't condemn the service it provides. But Choice makes some relevant points with which I cannot disagree. If you are alive and kicking, and fanatical about your team, there's nothing that comes anywhere near playing your part on matchday because that's what you do - you ARE that 12th man, albeit in the seats or on the terraces. And it's good to have the choice (?) when you find yourself shuffling to the letterbox each November, looking for that Winter Fuel Payment to arrive !
Yes, football should remain the working "man's " game and be affordable to all who wish to take up their important role. For me, there's nothing like it and I'm proud to be a member of the banter swapping, name chanting, communal singing , fanatical family of Charlton Athletic.
Oh and thanks to whoever wrote the words of that Addicks' "favourite" and felt I deserved a mention....
Altogether now " Oh South London......"
Great article, spot on.
Thanks for envoking the memories Choice - but I suppose what happens nowadays is due to the 24 hour way we all live our lives - still we all can keep our memories, Sky cant take that away!!
Choice, you've got a talent. Somebody should sponsor you with better equipment to make your videos, because actually they capture what you've been talking about here. The way you captured Kyel Reid's winner at Southend last season, it was the very essence.
Just one tiny little gripe. Jeff Stelling's alright. He's one of us at heart. And his team did us a favour yesterday.
Anyone who stood behind that goal yesterday I think will be saddened to read that. London Road is one of the few remaining proper football stadiums.
Im not saying SKY are to blame for that ! Im saying that SKY have contributed to making football upper & middle class for financial reasons. Hope nobody's missed the point of the article...its merely my experience of football through my eyes over the years and just my opinion.
As stated in original post...terracing was/is being abolished to save face because of the policing & stewarding at Hillsborough on that particular day. If there were death trap terraces that came to light as a result of that disaster then by all means bulldoze the terrace or the ground...but then you rebuild a safe ground or terrace just like Morecombe have done. A brand new ground with......SAFE STANDING ! Well done Morecombe !
Sorry Phil, thought you were blaming Sky for the lack of terraces.
You can trace the "Class" - ification (sorry but you know what I mean) back to Italia 90 - The year that Football became a commodity and became "trendy". Murdoch saw an opportunity when the Premiership was formed and grabbed it with both hands. As much as I hate Murdoch and everything he stands for, I've got Sky TV, so have many others. If you like sport and can't get to the venues, then Sky is probably the only alternative.
We all know safe standing works - look at Germany. In fact i'd rather see our top league based on the German model. It's cheaper, they have to bring young players through and it's competitive.
Haven't heard anything about London road becoming all seater, they don't legally have to.
Football Licensing Authority
I disagree with the above link so so much. The stupidest regulation of them all is
I've heard their owner giving plans to make the ground all-seater at the end of last season if they survived up there, and their fans mentioned it too yesterday. Can't find a link.
So if Morecombe achieve Championship status they will have 3 years to convert their safe standing into seats despite the fact they have a brand new ground with safe standing, is that right? How ridiculous ! Is the value of a supporters safety less important in the two lower leagues then ? I should think not, its because they know there is no issue with standing or they would never have been able to build it to that spec.
How about lets have all seater tube stations or all seater firework displays then, they both represent an element of overcrowding and danger to a certain degree !
It is such a miserable sight like at Plymouth last month to see an empty unused piece of terracing. If there are concerns for overcrowding then put a series of turnstiles in place so that they shut down after the terrace has filled to the desirable capacity.
If it is a genuine safety issue, why are other European and Worldwide clubs not having to conform to it ? Why isn't is a general Fifa regulation ? Or is it a bit like prison sentances in punishments not being equal across the whole playing field.