Partick Thistle relegated... but I’ve never been prouder
IT is not uncommon that during a time of crisis, we often see the best of people. Nothing quite brings people together like a shared adversity, and trying circumstances have the power to mould individuals into a collective force for good.
It is an effect that can be observed all throughout Scottish football – and further afield, of course. There are no shortage of clubs to point to that have conducted themselves in an exceptional manner during the coronavirus pandemic: whether it is through fundraising efforts on the part of fans; phone calls from players and management to check up on supporters; or providing meals and other care services for locals, dozens of teams have recaptured what many – myself included – feared was fast becoming an anachronism in modern football: community.
We are often told that one of Scottish football’s greatest selling points is its authenticity, an apparent throwback to an era before petro-billions and statesponsored football clubs became the norm. It is a seductive argument and, for me, it rings true. But it is perhaps our clubs’ collective response to the current health emergency that has truly recaptured why football teams exist in the first place, and why they have such great social capital.
‘Collective response’ might not be the right term. After all, there is little in the way of a coordinated effort on the behalf of clubs to look after their respective communities in any way they can. But, when viewed as a whole, just about every team in Scotland has done so and will be able to look back on this period with a sense of pride at what they accomplished.
One of the most common gripes you hear from supporters is that there is a disconnect between a club and its fanbase, something that has only become exacerbated as football as an industry has exponentially grown. Fans turn up once a week to cheer on/hurl abuse at their side, but that’s just about the extent of their connection with the club. As the sport has became increasingly professional, direct communication between punters and players and management has grown ever rarer, which naturally leads to a disconnect.
But when the unmitigated disaster that is Covid-19 struck, we have seen clubs become what they were always meant to be: hubs for their local communities, with a demonstrable social conscience. I’ve lost count of the amount of stories I’ve seen of players and managers calling up season ticket holders – particularly those especially vulnerable to coronavirus – to simply check in to make sure everything’s OK and to have a blether for half an hour. By this point, it feels like just about every club is doing it.
It’s a heartwarming gesture in a time where those seem to be in short supply. But there are other clubs who have gone and the content is now freely available.
It’s little things like this that really go a long way to eroding the sense of disconnect between supporters and their clubs, that get to the heart of why football clubs even exist. When the vast majority of football clubs were formed, it was as a leisure pursuit for interested locals. Before the wealth poured in, teams could genuinely claim to be the focal point of their community. And, to an extent, the further down the pyramid you go – away from the relative fortunes of our biggest clubs – we still see that today.
There are, obviously, precious few silver linings to this pandemic and none of them go any way to resolving the terrible damage that coronavirus has inflicted on the world. Thousands have died and every single death is clearly a tragedy. We will feel the effects of Covid-19 for a long time, it seems, and the irrevocable carnage that it has wreaked across the globe.
Scottish football is no exception, and I still harbour grave concerns over whether or not all 42 SPFL member clubs will come out of this crisis intact. The financial consequences will likely have a debilitating effect for many teams and there are undoubtedly some whose very existence is under threat.
But if there is just one slim, glimmer of hope from all of this, it is perhaps in the resurgent sense of community that the crisis has fostered in our nation’s clubs. After years of disconnect, it finally feels like the bonds between clubs and their supporters are as strong as they have ever been. It is said that crisis and adversity often bring out the best in people – it might just be the case that the same rationale applies to football teams.