A Need For Speed: The Dark Side of Football Fandom

A Need For Speed: The Dark Side of Football Fandom

Last weekend, rather than follow the Cherries via my usual medium of listening to the radio, instead I opted to follow a watch-a-long via Youtube. Since there were no Bournemouth channels to watch, I instead arrived at a Liverpool fan site, where I was hoping for some good insights into the current Liverpool side, the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, as well good old fashioned banter between fans. Instead what I witnessed both during the stream, and subsequently other reports over the weekend, rocked my faith in football and sport in general, completely independent from the result at Anfield.

Firstly the stream presentation itself was poor. It had in the team line-ups the nationalities of the players, where Philip Billing was put down as Dutch rather than Danish. When I pointed it out in the chat, I was only on this for five minutes because it was so toxic, I was told by an administrator that they “didn’t care”. I can get past this, but what baffled me, this coming from an alleged football fan, that at no point was a single Bournemouth player mentioned, apart from Dom Solanke, and he was only remarked on in passing. I didn’t even know who the scorer of our goal was, and the subs for Bournemouth were shown finally at 85+ minute.

“The commentator looked as though he could barely control his temper, and was completely unable to regulate himself”.

This presenter, I suspect out of total ignorance, had no idea who we were, and just as importantly, didn’t care about the game, as he used his soapbox for incoherent ranting. When Semenyo did score, the commentator looked as though he could barely control his temper, and was completely unable to regulate himself. This grown man acted as though he was in a playground, not a host of a 200,000+ podcast. There were calls for him to tone down his language during the broadcast, which he did acknowledge, but blindly carried on regardless.

What I got throughout the stream was a rant about everything else other than what was happening on the pitch. In the first half the rants were aimed at Klopp, Alexander-Arnold and Jota. When Salah scored the penalty, this started a whole discussion regarding Salah himself, because even though he did finish, nonetheless he simply “isn’t good enough”, so he went from the Egyptian King, to needing to be sold within the space of 90 minutes.

The second half, especially after the red card, expanded to a vast conspiracy that included Bournemouth, officials and I gathered the whole of world football against Liverpool, with the occasional whopping when they scored their third. I watched aghast to something more akin to a struggle session during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, than a relaxing football podcast.

The chat, as one might expect, was the usual toxic puerile nonsense. Klopp, FSG and Jota seemed to be in the the sights of a number of “fans”, although one had to wonder how many of these individuals have ever attended a game is open to question. Despite a five minute delay before you could post a comment, half the participants were trolls from other teams. The less than competent administrators did manage to ban one individual, a Liverpool fan no less, who referred to Mo Salah as a “terrorist” because of a poor shot.

I left the stream none the wiser as to what happened in the game, as so little of the on pitch action was reported on, therefore I have no idea if Liverpool or Bournemouth played well. In the hope of some information, I turned to the after match Full Time Cherries segment on Back of the Net. While altogether much calmer, it still contained many of the same elements that were a common thread on the Liverpool stream. Players who only had a twenty minute cameo were deemed “not good enough”, and again, there was much commenting on the officials, although from the complete opposite point of view. I had to turn it off after 5 minutes. I didn’t have the heart to watch Match of the Day, with Gary and friends in typical smug fashion, stating the obvious while officiating from the studio several hours after the event.

Following this waste of 90 minutes that I will never get back, there were other reports of foul behaviour towards players via social media, Dominic Calvert-Lewin being the most noticeable at the Everton game, while completely unwarranted hyperbole was actually featured by Talksport, with Chelsea and Manchester Utd “fans” demanding that Erik Ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino resign immediately. This is only week two, just to remind ourselves.

So what is going on? It is obvious that outwardly that there is a significant section of fans that are totally unable to regulate themselves, often disparaging players, coaches and members of staff. When people like myself comment on platforms like Youtube on the performance of players or the team, we often forget (and I have done it myself) that without context or have the ability to provide cogent answers why somebody is not performing beyond him being “not very good” is not a triumph in punditry.

“Even ‘moderate’ comments can be an invitation for those with far less inhibitions in voicing strident and abusive opinions to pile in”

While our comments are deemed “moderate”, they are often an invitation for those with far less inhibitions in voicing strident and abusive opinions to pile in. It saddens me for example, when watching a recent Wolves podcast on the appointment of Gary O’Neil, that a prominent commentator whom I usually have the utmost respect for, couldn’t even find it within himself to say anything positive about what Gary did, and one has to ask, was he also happy to boo or abuse our team while at Dean Court? I will state on the record that certainly in the past I have lost my temper, and I am certainly not immune to ranting like a mad man. Perhaps that is why I prefer to write my thoughts down and reflect.

But beyond the obvious talking points regarding abuse towards others, covered so eloquently by Mark McAdam on a BOTN show, there seems to be something even more darker going on at the heart of fandom. I stress I am not a mental health expert, although I have had anxiety all my adult life, but I can’t help noticing more and more fans exhibiting broader mental health issues that are becoming manifest in the post pandemic world. This may be a reflection of other trends in society, but with an audience primed to be tribal and partisan, amplified by the new technology of social media, if people are already displaying unpleasant behaviour, it stands to reason that other pathologies are taking place as well.

We already see in the social media ecosystem many fans exhibiting catastrophising; the inability to regulate emotions, irrational projection of negative thoughts onto others; obsession with pet subjects; impatience and a lack of resilience; an openness to irrational conspiracies, and increasingly a lack of perspective. One then has to pose the question, if this is their outward display, what is privately going on? I hate to even ponder this question, but how many people are struggling with debt due to footballing costs, with an industry closely associated with gambling? Spousal abuse caused by a bad loss and too much alcohol? Strained or broken relationships due to too much time obsessing about football? We have already seen over the last few years, fans take their own lives because they have invested everything in football, but tragically not themselves by seeking help and support.

There has always been an aspect within football fandom that has been relentlessly problematic. Those of us who grew up in the 1970’s and 80’s are not likely to forget Heysel or Hillsborough. Now social media allows a form of “social contagion” where those most vulnerable, mostly men in this case, who are already predisposed towards addiction to alcohol or gambling, or have difficulties communicating or controlling their emotions, have an arena where there are few constraints to prevent destructive behaviour towards themselves and others. Studies have shown that there is a significant section of the population that have never been tested, let alone diagnosed, for conditions like ADHD, autism and related conditions, or complex personality disorders, although we must also be cautious in over-medicalising bad behaviour. Combine all these trends together, with the incessant white noise of sports media hyping everything to eleven, and social media encouraging the sort of click bait content designed to bring out the worst in people, I’d suggest we have a potential Molotov cocktail of pent up frustration, ready to explode.

Sport used to be about teaching us resilience, overcoming the odds, most importantly accepting defeat and being humble in triumph. In a similar fashion to why we encourage children to look after pets when they are young, learning to cope with loss, being rational, showing empathy and having a balanced perspective is part and parcel of life. It’s a problem not just confined to the so called “snowflake generation” either. Generation X kids like myself have seemingly forgotten these lessons, but with so many people having narrower horizons, being envious of others perceived advantages in wealth and status, I suspect far too many fans live life through twenty five strangers who kick a ball, often resenting a young player for the opportunities to be successful, while failing to address their own shortcomings. That’s a reflection of their life, and ultimately it’s down to the individual to resolve their unhappiness.

What is happening in football may be illustrative of a deeper malaise in society, with anxieties regarding the economy, geopolitics, social issues and a loss of trust in institutions, and there are no easy answers to solve these problems without creating new ones. The technology companies are arguably not helping, with algorithms programmed to highlight the most divisive content, along with decades long downward trends in educational outcome, combined possibly a society governed on feelings rather than rational thought. But clubs can do a lot more in being more transparent and engaged with fans who do have valid concerns, while certainly content creators need to do a whole lot better in moderation, combatting echo chambers, and maybe a little less strident in the race to be proven ‘right’.

But I fear for this season, not for Andoni and the great lads we have, whatever the outcome, but I fear another season of abuse and vitriol. I can’t go due to serious long term health conditions, and I wish I could, but maybe I might be spared the ugly, tawdry atmosphere that blighted so much of last season. I wonder how long before officials, staff and players refuse to run games, because so early in the season, the signs are not looking good in hoping for a less toxic season.