What the hell, I’m going to go for the boring and predictable; having spent more of the last few weeks watching rugby rather than football, I’m going to stick with that topic for my programme article and ask the question, what can football learn from rugby? (What with it being Easter, talking egg-chasing seems appropriate!)
All being well with the travel arrangements I will have arrived back from Paris late last night having travelled to watch Saracens take on Racing Metro in the European Cup quarter-finals...not so long ago I would not have crossed the road to watch a rugby match, now I’m crossing the Channel for it?
Yes it made a convenient family break, but next week I will be back at Allianz Park for a home game, last week I joined over 84,000 fans at Wembley as Sarries took on Harlequins and the weekend before that I was in Northampton for the Anglo-Welsh cup final - How can that be? It’s egg-chasing.
Of course I am still a true Chesham fan at heart, love the place, love the club; but after a stint as Chairman and a couple of subsequently tough years on the Board after that - I have not been getting that same satisfaction, pleasure, excitement or passion as I know I should.
Over the years I have written literally millions of words about Chesham United, I have produced season long, from the heart, diaries (including a massive unpublished one!), regular programme articles, blogs, newsletters, ranting emails and fanzines; and the one thing that has always driven me, and hopefully came across, is the passion. I live and breathe it. It’s what makes it so special.
Watching 90 minutes of football is great because it is the team I love. The skills are not as good as the Premiership, the stadiums and media coverage are worlds apart, but it is my team. I care. I share the joy and I feel the pain. When the ball hits the back of the net it doesn’t matter if it is Wayne Rooney or Ryan Blake - It’s a goal, for my team, and I love it, I feel it. I could bore myself rigid with almost 24/7 football on the television if all I want is to watch a game, to watch some of the best players in the world show their skills - But being a footy fan, I thought, was about more than that.
Somehow, in amongst all the madness of the last 12 months Saracens have come along and had the same effect on me. As I write this now I don’t know the outcome in Paris at the weekend (it was bloody brilliant, a stunning victory with the last kick of the match! - Ed), if we won I know that I would have driven home Sunday night with the widest smile imaginable, and no doubt my nerves will have been shredded along the way. I need that in sport. It needs to matter, I need to passionately support a team to really get the full enjoyment out of sport - Sarries give me that, and Chesham still do, but what has happened so that I now need to share that love between two sports?
Look, I’m not going to sit here writing in a football programme that rugby is better than football, it is totally different - played, and watched, by totally different people. You cannot really compare, but I am going to anyway!
Last weekend I went to Wembley twice in 24 hours. Friday night I was at the England v Lithuania game with both my kids. We had a great night, and as I told them, it is mad to think in ten years time they might be down the pub with their mates watching Harry Kane in a World Cup for England and they can tell their friends that they were there the day Kane made his debut and scored within 80 seconds - A great tale to tell.
The following day I was back at Wembley with my youngest for Saracens v Harlequins. The same venue, but a totally different occasion. On Friday night there was a feeling that as supporters we were honoured to be watching these multi-million pound players, lucky to have a ticket to see these stars. At the rugby the crowd were making the occasion, the players were honoured to be playing in front of the crowd, and the organisers were doing everything they can to make you enjoy the day. Make you want to come back.
Very small, subtle differences. But massive in the bigger scheme of things.
The programme notes from the Sarries Chairman were very clear - It’s a special day for Saracens and they want to do everything they can to make some of the people that are there for the first time want to come back for more, at other home games.
But that was not a one-off. The whole ethos of the new stadium at Allianz Park was modelled on the success of the Olympics Games and the Games Makers; The Saracens Pioneers are there to make sure everyone watches the game with a smile on their face and enjoys the occasion...
...Do you get that same feeling when you walk through the gates at The Meadow? When you pick up and read your programme, do you get that desire to get involved and be a part of the club? Do you go away thinking that next time you would like to bring your friends and family along, recommend to the people next door that they should being their kids along to a game as it is a great place to be?
I really hope so, but I doubt it. And that is not a dig at our club, it is a concern for the game overall. Football at the very top level is now a multi-billion pound corporate business targeted at a new audience, it’s not the game I fell in love with and a Saturday afternoon at a Premiership game (if you are lucky enough to have your team playing on a Saturday afternoon rather than whenever television tells you to play) is a totally different experience now.
In fairness to the clubs and the multi-millionaires that love the shirt (up until the minute someone else comes along and offers another £30,000 a week) the majority have huge community projects and do a lot of wonderful things with local kids, schools, etc that gets overlooked, and that is brilliant - In fact maybe they should make more of that so people like myself are a lot less cynical. All we tend to see is the players too tired after playing twice a week, especially if they have had to play a European match, but as soon as they get a week off they will be off to Dubai, China or Australia to play in a game with global commercial benefits. That’s what it is, and the fan on the (what used to be) terrace has to accept that...and maybe it is better than the old days.
The danger is that non-league football continues to try and emulate that. We see it all around, money still talks and, although there are exceptions, players will, understandably move to another club if more money is on the table. And from the owners of these clubs, money can make a difference - Generally at this level, a league table will closely correlate with playing budget. Of course there will be movement within that because money cannot guarantee success. In fact perhaps the only guarantee is the fact that if you throw money at a playing budget and ignore the rest of the club - the supporters, the community, your youth, local businesses and all the elements that make up a club, then somewhere down the line the odds are it will go pear-shaped.
This season we started the season with Hereford in the league, but lost them early doors. Next season we could have a Southern Premier Division containing Kettering, Farnborough and Merthyr - Three massive clubs that have their own stories of financial gloom; the likelihood is that Weymouth will still be in the league too...Big big clubs that have, one way or another, fallen foul of chasing the football dream.
Premiership football is a different game of its own nowadays, and has its own market. We need to realise that, and work towards our own market. Of course we want to be playing at the very best level, but we need to take the supporters and the town along with us on the journey...It is no good setting off on our own expecting everyone to follow, we need to travel together.
Saracens have got that right in my opinion, which is why I was in Paris on Saturday and not in Dunstable. It’s why my son wants me to take him to rugby rather than football. It’s why we (Chesham United) now, in my opinion, need to start thinking about where we are going, and how we are getting there.
1 comment:
I love reading these comments from Alan as I know him for many years and had the very occasional pint with him. I take the mickey that he has gone to rugby and also crusies of the boat kind but he is a passionate fan and I respect his views. You have to do what you have to do Alan but keep sharing your inciteful views and lets meet up soon for another beer.
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