So many of us become football fans. Why?
A NEW BOOK BY A NEWCASTLE UNITED SEASON TICKET HOLDER HAS THE ANSWERS
ANEW book on the history of football fans aims to explain why so many of us have become so obsessed with the game.
The book, Savage Enthusiasm, by Newcastle season ticket holder Paul Brown, covers the complete history of football fandom, from the game’s earliest origins through to the modern era.
It explains how fans first started going to matches more than 150 years ago, and explores how the experience of being a fan has changed as the game had grown into the world’s most popular sport.
“We sometimes take for granted how popular football is, and how many people support football, especially here in the North East,” says Paul Brown, from Blaydon.
“I wanted to find out how it all
The club sold shares to fans in pubs around its Chillingham Road ground, making Newcastle one of football’s first fan-owned clubs.
“In a way, the new book is a follow-up to All With Smiling Faces,” says Paul. “That was a bit more personal, about how our great-grandads started supporting Newcastle. Savage Enthusiasm looks at the bigger picture, how people all around the country and the world fell in love with football.”
Much later, during the post-war “golden age” season of 1946-47, characterised by huge attendances and colourful scarves, rosettes and banners, the book reveals that Newcastle United were the best-supported side in the country, despite being in the second division.
The book quotes one newspaper reporter as saying: “Newcastle
could probably fill their ground whatever price they cared to charge for admission.”
By the time the book reaches the 1960s and 70s, hooliganism has begun to be a blight on the game. Unfortunately, one early high-profile incident occurred at St James’ Park, when up to 22,000 Rangers fans travelled down for a Fairs Cup semi-final in May 1969. Missiles were thrown and there were two pitch invasions. 89 fans were injured and 34 were arrested.
The incident prompted a huge reaction, and the book recalls that even the Queen was quoted as calling the hooligans “very stupid people”, although she did add that she realised it was only a minority of fans who behaved badly. As the book reaches the modern era, it finds that the experience of being a fan has changed, with traditional fans being priced out, and many fans preferring to follow the game from their armchairs. “There have been huge changes over the past 25 years, since the launch of the Premier League and the arrival of the internet,” says Paul. “The vast majority of fans today have never been to a football match, and are quite happy to watch on TV or follow on social media. And in the grounds the atmospheres have deteriorated as fans become more passive, maybe because longstanding fans can’t afford to go any more.
“Certainly St James’ Park has become a lot quieter - although the performances of the team over the last few years probably hasn’t helped!” ■■Savage Enthusiasm: A History of Football Fans by Paul Brown is available from the Back Page shops in Newcastle and the Metrocentre, and also from Amazon, priced £12.99. More details and links can be found at www.savageenthusiasm.co.uk
Newcastle United were the bestsupported side in the country, despite being in the second division Paul Brown