Oct 17th, 2007 by Thomas
I won’t be updating this site any more, as if that wasn’t clear from several months of silence. Should you wish to read my ramblings on football elsewhere, my main home is at Pitch Invasion and I also write periodically for the Chicago Sports Weekly.
Cheers, and thanks for coming by.
Jun 22nd, 2007 by Thomas
Three countries that stretch from the equator to the arctic, Canada, USA and Mexico, plus Guadaloupe (not Guatamala, as some keep insisting on mistaking them for): an odd lineup for the Gold Cup semi-finals, held last night at Soldier Field on Chicago’s lakefront in an evening doubleheader.
Continue Reading »
Jun 11th, 2007 by Thomas
I haven’t posted here for a while, but now I do, it’s to say go somewhere else: I’ve just launched a new site, pitchinvasion.net, which will cover and expand on many of the themes this blog has been looking at in recent months. As I explain in the introduction to the site, it’s about fan culture, politics and wild inanity/insanity from around the world of football supporters. And there’s an explanation of why it’s called pitchinvasion.net here.
Why the new site? I’ve found my writing on this blog has increasingly centred on supporters and their culture/politics, whether it’s the Timbers Army, FC United of Manchester, those wacky groundhoppers or away days in Canada with the Chicago Fire’s Section 8.
The aim with pitchinvasion.net is to build on these topics, with a continuation of feature-length articles but adding in some more frequently updated commentary, photos and video about football fans around the world. It’ll be a mix of the light-hearted and the serious, from examining hooliganism to recognising the loyal supporters that keep the lifeblood of smaller clubs flowing.
It’s embryonic right now, but please take a moment to check it out, and note I’m looking for contributors to the site as well.
And let’s face it, this blog wasn’t getting the job done with updates moving slower than Teddy Sheringham lately. Not that this blog is dead; I plan to write here periodically too, and cover some of those fun but obscure historical topics I once enjoyed writing on, such as the wildly-popular tournaments that time forgot series (Remember the Anglo-Italian Cup? El Mundialito? Even the Texaco Cup?). Those were the days, after all.
May 30th, 2007 by Thomas
From a few guys banging on plastic buckets and singing songs in the stands at the first few Portland Timbers games in 2001 to a figurative army today: hundreds pack the Woodshed end every home game to support a team a level below MLS, ensconced in the obscurity of the United Soccer League with no possibility of promotion to the highest level of American soccer.
Despite the low-profile of their team and game, despite their uncertain future as team ownership changes hands every year or two, despite complaints about their “obscene” chants and a lack of support from team management, their turn out and noise rivals any supporter’s group in the country. They are the Timbers Army.
So who are these crazy folks? Why do they belie the outside perception that Americans cannot have the same passion for going to soccer games that Europeans or South Americans have? And how do their experiences relate to the larger questions about soccer fans and the game in this country?
May 23rd, 2007 by Thomas
What attention the world does pay to American soccer has, in recent times, been devoted to MLS. The signing of David Beckham by the LA Galaxy has certainly perpetuated that. But what of the world of soccer below, or perhaps aside, that of MLS in the United States? After all, soccer really needs to be diverse in its appeal demographically, to have support at the grassroots below the professional game, and to spread as much as possible geographically to generate a groundswell of support in a country as expansive as the United States. What exists outside the gaze of ESPN?
May 14th, 2007 by Thomas
Away games in the land that I hail from, England - that traditional home of football - these days often consist of hours stuck on the M1, overpriced tickets and dodgy pies. Don’t get me wrong: the passion, the pissing rain, the pride of supporting your team through thick-and-thin across the land has long kept English football special.
But still, my first MLS away game was quite a different experience - and proof that the league is getting somewhere in terms of generating atmosphere, interest and intense rivalries. Along with almost 200 fellow Fire fans, this weekend I made the 500+ mile journey to Canada to fly Chicago’s blue and white city flags high (below). The experience was dampened by the Fire’s abject display on the field and an unsavoury incident after the match off it, but taking the rough times with the smooth is necessary as I continue my journey in MLS fandom.
May 4th, 2007 by Thomas
As a new fan of MLS, trying to love the league as I once did that of my home country, England, today I offer some incoherent and ill-judged thoughts on American soccer following the first month of the MLS season.
MLS fandom
This is my first year following MLS as closely as I used to follow English football back home: attending as many of the games for my home team the Chicago Fire as I can, watching games obsessively on TV, reading too much about the league. That is, after all, what a fan does.
Apr 24th, 2007 by Thomas
I’ve been planning, for a long time, a serious piece on FC United of Manchester, the team set-up by fans in the wake of the protests against the club’s takeover by Malcolm Glazer. Several weeks ago, I sent some questions to Julian Spencer, who was part of the steering group that set-up FC United in the first place. He gave me some interesting answers, which I’d planned to use as part of a larger exegesis.
But of course I haven’t managed to do that. However, given FC United just won the North West Counties Football League title whilst today Manchester United take on AC Milan, it’s timely just to run the Q & A anyway.
Remember, despite Man Utd’s success on the field this year, they (or rather, their holding company, Red Football Limited) remain saddled with a huge debt. Red Football Limited had a pre-tax loss of £137m paying out £85.2m in interest over its first 14 months. The consequences of the Glazer takeover remain to be seen; either way, it seems like FC United are having a ball, and Julian explains the past, present and future of the club below the jump.
Apr 19th, 2007 by Thomas
I’ve often discussed the importance of the Hispanic soccer community for the future of the game in the United States. Interestingly, in the April edition of World Soccer magazine, Paul Gardner makes much the same point regarding the arrival of David Beckham. Gardner believes that it will be more important that Beckham applies the language he has been learning in Spain rather than the British ex-pat lingo of boots and football if he’s truly to change soccer in America.
Technorati Tags: David Beckham
Apr 18th, 2007 by Thomas
The Italian media and bookmakers around the world may have been shocked at today’s announcement that EURO 2012 will be held in Poland and Ukraine, but it is a decision that makes sense politically and economically. Awarding a major international tournament to the Italians at this time would only have encouraged the lazy and incompetent authorities who have let match-fixing, crowd violence and subpar stadiums dominate the headlines over the past twelve months. The Italian reaction, that the decision owes nothing to these problems, only confirms how far Italy has to go to face up to its footballing crisis.
Many journalists lazily presumed the UEFA Executive Committee would vote for Italy based on the presumption a junket to Rome beats a trip to Dnipropetrovsk, but in fact, Poland-Ukraine won quite handsomely, gaining eight of the twelve votes from the committee. Poland-Ukraine went into the vote with confidence today, a spokesman having the noted the appeal of expanding football’s reach into Central and Eastern Europe: “We are two big European countries with 85 million inhabitants, 100 million if you count diasporas. That means every eighth European lives either in Poland or Ukraine.”
Technorati Tags: EURO 2012, UEFA Executive Committee, Poland, Ukraine
This is a blog about world football, past and present, by a Briton living in Chicago.
My other football projects:
