Tim Gibbs
There has been a lot of sound and fury this weekend regarding the Red Action Dog Banners, stoked up considerably after REDAction’s statement after what I imagine was some quite strong Twitter barracking - “If you hate the new Cannon, Emirates Stadium, the fact that GG is no longer the manager and the fact that its not 1989 anymore, today’s banner was not for you. Adapt and change, or maybe Arsenal 2017 is not what you want it to be, and you should just retire gracefully and let those of us still here have a bit of a laugh, and not take it all so seriously?”
Well, that was like pouring petrol on a bonfire! It does however touch on something that has always been there for all clubs, and has got worse at Arsenal since the move to the Emirates stadium and with the whole AKB, WOB debates that have raged on. What is a “true” fan? What is the “right” way to support your team? So, what should we do? Should we all lighten up, look to the future, embrace what is in the now rather than turn our eyes to a rose-tinted past? Or should we fight against the commercialisation and greed, and resist all attempts to turn a day at the football into “the match day experience”?
Being born in 1980, and therefore standing age-wise on the bridge between the pre/post Sky and Premier League change, I do understand both sides of the argument. As with all things, some things were worth preserving and some things are probably best left in the past. For me, the mid-90s were a fantastic time to watch football, as it seemed to combine the best bits of the (then) new era of money, foreign talent and surge in football interest, along with the passion, tribalism and intensity of the 80s. But then equally I was in my late teens, so why wouldn’t I look back on it fondly?
But nostalgia is a fickle beast. Having followed with interest and generally been sympathetic with the AMF (Against Modern Football) strand of support, I would urge people who identify with that side of the coin to not indulge too much in nostalgia. It definitely runs through quite a lot of posts and blogs around this topic, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong in remembering great days of the past, and clothes and music of the time etc, it’s wrong to then conclude from that that it was somehow better or superior, and that anyone who wore Adidas sambas and Fila track tops, and ran up and down the North Bank in the 80s was somehow a better fan than those who weren’t even born then, and have come of age in the modern era.
I recently took my young son to a live screening of the Swansea away game at the stadium, and it was in the dreaded Club level, with the Gunnersaurus, overpriced hotdogs, EA sports consoles, families, young kids and merchandise wearing fans everywhere, and you know what? It was lots of fun and my boy loved it. It wasn’t standing on a cold crumbling terrace while a p*ssed bloke in a Stone Island jumper shouts obscenities in your ear for 90 minutes and then pushes you over when Arsenal score a goal, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The comfort and accessibility that exists today is something to be lauded. We all want comfort and ease in all aspects of our lives, and football shouldn’t be much different.
However, the second half of the Red Action statement is way off beam. Where the AMF/Nostalgic movement has achieved great things is in terms of contributing with others to the reduction of away ticket prices, pushing the living wage for club employees, as well as successful protests elsewhere by Everton fans and Hull fans to attempted changes to their badges (relevant to the “New Cannon” comment) and names. This has shown that just because it is 2017 it doesn’t mean that everything that is going on in football has to be blindly accepted because it’s “new” or “modern”. Currently all the talk around safe standing is gathering pace, and that would definitely be something that many feel was at heart a positive aspect of football come back from the past and be applied in a way that is relevant for the 21st century.
The suggestion that unless you find a banner seemingly put together after a student night out on the Snakebite by an organisation professing to represent Arsenal fans in general, who can get their banners in the stadium because they seem to have the ear of the club while anyone with a home-made banner which may or may not be favourable to the manager/owner/team can’t show anything without stewards grabbing it is a bit rich. It seems that “adapt and change” is really a euphemism for “agree with what I think or you can do one” (something I think the world has had a bit too much of in 2016) – and given this is not a banner held up in the stand by a couple of fans having a laugh, but an officially sanctioned message going permanently around the stadium that many thousands attend, I think it should of been a bit more thought through given the level of vitriol being directed from the get go.
Maybe the best position to take in all this lies with that of an even older generation – At the game I pointed out the banner to my dad and a friend of a similar vintage, and they squinted at it, smiled ruefully and then turned to watch the kick off, never looking at or referring to it again. And when Sanchez scored that penalty every young, old, AKB, WOB, casual, new fan, selfie stick carrying person there hugged and jumped for joy. Perhaps those who made the banners and vigorously promoted and defended them and those who attacked and mocked them should both take a step back, turn down the dial and focus much more as some Arsenal fan groups are indeed doing this week on ticket prices, safe standing and other issues that will make a material difference to the match going atmosphere and well being of fans. As was alluded to in one of the banners, Arsenal should really be all about Victoria Concordia Crescit. Perhaps that should be the next message we send out at 3pm on a Saturday.
