Ealing North
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Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
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Soccer loyalty is in the bloodApril 2003 Not being a brain surgeon I can’t explain why seemingly random and unconnected thoughts lead on from one to the other. Someone asked me what was the first name of Boycey, out of “Only Fools and Horses”. This led me to some deep and dark thoughts about loyalty and the way in which we identify with teams and groups of people. Boycey led me to the magnificent Trigger. You’ll remember that wonderful scene in which he was presented with the Peckham Street Sweeper of the Year award and made a moving speech in honour of his trusty broom. Even though it had had dozens of new heads and Lord alone knows how many new handles it was still his trusty broom. I thought about Trigger’s broom when I was at North Greenford United for the visit of AFC Wimbledon. This extraordinary occasion saw over a thousand people at a non-League football match. Wimbledon, of the first division, are the victims of profit driven bean-counters who want to move the club to Milton Keynes. Many of the fans have decided to simply transfer their allegiance to non-League Wimbledon AFC and the depth of their commitment was evident to all at Berkeley Fields. In the most remarkable programme notes I have read since Mickey Adams shared his philosophy with readers of the Fulham match-day magazine John Bivens, Chairman of NGUFC, welcomed all true supporters of Wimbledon and invited them to have a few jars with him after the game. Now John, once a truly fearsome defender in his playing days, has a well documented capacity for the medicinal tincture but even he would surely draw the line at sharing a few scoops with a thousand fans. As I watched the crowd grow even thicker around John and the NGU crew I allowed myself to think of the unthinkable. Suppose Mr.Al Fayed turns his back on the Cottagers now that he has left the UK for Switzerland. Suppose the ground is sold and the team bled of all talent as rumours about Steed Malbranque and Steve Finnan heading for Anfield might suggest? Suppose QPR realise that the damage to the Loftus Road pitch prevents further ground-sharing? Could the Whites cease to exist as a club? Obviously many of us would still be Fulham supporters. It’s in the blood and not something you could change, even if you wanted to. But would Fulham be like Trigger’s broom? The ground might have gone, the crest disappeared and the players moved on. Could we end up like the proud Wimbledon supporters following a non-League Fulham? I like to think that I’d follow my team to the Seagrave Hauliers League or the Spartan South Midlands but my consolation would be that it would still be Fulham. The great forces that command my undying loyalty have all undergone huge changes. But it would never occur to me to leave any of them. People come and go; policies and leaders change and terrible mistakes are made. But belief and loyalty demand support in good times and in bad. And, no, I never did find out what Boycey’s first name was. |
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| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
