“Fans are the most important part of a club”, “fans are the 12th man “, “we did it for the fans” We often hear these things from the players, managers and other representatives of the clubs. What do they mean? – It means that the club values the fans more than anything.
Fans – a 4 letter word that carries a lot of weight. Fans are the representatives of the club they support which is why they have to be very careful in public. What we, as fans, should realize is that our actions can either make things easier or difficult for the club. If we are loyal to a club, we should be careful of our behavior in public, because the following of a club defines the character of a club. Let’s take a look at some incidents in history that have involved fans and the implications on the club.
Portsmouth Crowd Funding (The Good)
Portsmouth FC has been successful in raising £250,000 in order to create new facilities for their youth team. Fans of the English club are responsible for the same. Darren Anderton, Joel Ward, Asmir Begovic, Gary O’Neil, and Marc Wilson are a few players that have graduated from the Portsmouth Academy but the club has suffered in terms of keeping their best prospects. As a result, they felt that they were failing to provide complete education. Portsmouth used the Crowd Funding website Tifosy, to raise a significant amount in order to tackle the aforementioned problem and in this pursuit they successfully raised the highest amount for any club in UK.
Dynamo Kyiv fined €15000(The Bad)
Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv was ordered to close a section of their stadium down for their Europa League Quarter Finals. The action was taken by UEFA after Kyiv fans racist behavior towards Everton players. Dynamo Kyiv had also been fined €15,000 (£10,950) for setting off fireworks and for insufficient organization. The racist behavior took place during the 5-2 second-leg win over Everton on 19 March.
Liverpool European Cup 1985: (The Ugly)
On 29th May 1985, at Haysel, Belgium, the European Cup finals was to be held between Juventus and Liverpool. In the early hours before the match, the crowd began filling in and were occupying their respective stands – assigned for Liverpool fans, Juventus fans and a neutral zone filled mostly by local Italians supporting Juventus. Bad mouthing started between both sets of supporters and approximately at 7 pm, objects were thrown at each other and the Liverpool fans broke the fence between the stands and charged into the zone. The Italian fans began to retreat but were blocked by a wall. This led to a stampede and eventually the wall collapsed. Italian fans from other sections retaliated, but the Brussels police came in to control the crowd and the match was played with much dislike by the players. However, the incident left 39 dead and 600 injured. No Liverpool fans died and English teams were banned from European tournaments for 5 years and 3 additional years for Liverpool as a result.
These incidents open our eyes to the responsibility we carry as fans. The game of football has always been known to be enjoyed with utmost sporting spirit by players and fans alike. We must all strive to uphold the traditions of this ancient game. The consequences of our actions will always have an effect on others.
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