Saturday, 3 November 2007
You're not bothered any more
Last season I was at Rotherham to report on their match against Forest. It was a 1-1 draw and a fine match, really enjoyable for the neutral fan. There was a great atmosphere too, with a lot of 'banter' between the two sets of fans. I just didn't expect that most of it would be based around an industrial dispute that took place more than 20 years ago.
Younger readers may be surprised to learn that many British people were quite recently prepared to fight against injustice rather than just shrug and say "whatever" and put Strictly Come Dancing on. They may be equally surprised to learn that many British jobs quite recently involved things like digging coal out of the ground, rather than making PowerPoint presentations about leveraging your envisioned outshoring gains to facilitate the delivery of excellence.
So in 1984, when the Government announced plans to sack 20,000 miners, they went on strike. The strike was not widely observed in Nottinghamshire, though, and the bitterness this caused in neighbouring Yorkshire persists to this day, to the extent that Forest fans were being denounced as "scabs" last season by thousands of Rotherham supporters – some of whom wouldn't have been alive while the strike was on.
Perhaps this demonstrates that the young people of South Yorkshire have an admirable awareness of their local socio-economic history that is all too rare in these days of globalised consumer culture. Perhaps, on the other hand, it just shows that they'll use any term of abuse they can lay their hands on.
And the great danger with taunting opposition fans about the collapse of their town's key industry is that it can cut both ways. When Barnsley employed Gudjon Thordarson as manager the other year, they were clearly still sore about Town fans singing "You're not mining any more" in the 1980s, and were subtly reminding us about being trounced by Iceland in the Cod Wars.
Either way, these taunts aren't quite so out-of-date as the Yorkshire Ripper songs that are still performed by a section of the Town support. Blundell Park is not notably populated by people listening to Bucks Fizz or wearing lemon yellow suit jackets with the sleeves rolled up, so there is no good reason to retain a chant that lost any relevance it might have had when Peter Sutcliffe was arrested in 1981.
Nor, of course, is it so morally dubious to berate another community for breaking ranks during an industrial dispute as to make fun out of their having suffered multiple murders. If you're going to abuse the other team's fans then try and do it in the spirit of working-class solidarity rather than by evoking the name of a local serial killer, that's what I always say.
Younger readers may be surprised to learn that many British people were quite recently prepared to fight against injustice rather than just shrug and say "whatever" and put Strictly Come Dancing on. They may be equally surprised to learn that many British jobs quite recently involved things like digging coal out of the ground, rather than making PowerPoint presentations about leveraging your envisioned outshoring gains to facilitate the delivery of excellence.
So in 1984, when the Government announced plans to sack 20,000 miners, they went on strike. The strike was not widely observed in Nottinghamshire, though, and the bitterness this caused in neighbouring Yorkshire persists to this day, to the extent that Forest fans were being denounced as "scabs" last season by thousands of Rotherham supporters – some of whom wouldn't have been alive while the strike was on.
Perhaps this demonstrates that the young people of South Yorkshire have an admirable awareness of their local socio-economic history that is all too rare in these days of globalised consumer culture. Perhaps, on the other hand, it just shows that they'll use any term of abuse they can lay their hands on.
And the great danger with taunting opposition fans about the collapse of their town's key industry is that it can cut both ways. When Barnsley employed Gudjon Thordarson as manager the other year, they were clearly still sore about Town fans singing "You're not mining any more" in the 1980s, and were subtly reminding us about being trounced by Iceland in the Cod Wars.
Either way, these taunts aren't quite so out-of-date as the Yorkshire Ripper songs that are still performed by a section of the Town support. Blundell Park is not notably populated by people listening to Bucks Fizz or wearing lemon yellow suit jackets with the sleeves rolled up, so there is no good reason to retain a chant that lost any relevance it might have had when Peter Sutcliffe was arrested in 1981.
Nor, of course, is it so morally dubious to berate another community for breaking ranks during an industrial dispute as to make fun out of their having suffered multiple murders. If you're going to abuse the other team's fans then try and do it in the spirit of working-class solidarity rather than by evoking the name of a local serial killer, that's what I always say.
Labels: banter, barnsley, fans, forest, history, industrial action, mining, rotherham, striking, work, yorkshire
Friday, 12 October 2007
Back off the post
The postal workers are striking; and, as usual, the media are much less concerned with telling us why than with portraying them as selfish, heartless swine whose fight for 18-hour lunch breaks and retirement at 45 on full pay will just be all the sweeter if five-year-old Sophie here in the studio doesn't receive her birthday cards tomorrow.
But changes being imposed at the Post Office could mean the workers end up with no shift patterns at all and just sit at home by the phone every day, waiting to be called in whenever. I did this when I was a factory temp, and it was horrible. Town fans underwent almost the same thing last season, when GTFC and Chester rearranged a postponed fixture at just five days' notice, and even the lady who runs the jacket potato stand couldn't get a babysitter in time.
Occasionally footballers have considered a strike. The issue was simply that their union, the PFA, wanted more of the Premiership's TV money, although I do like the notion of Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole calling each other "comrade" at England training and taking time out between running round cones to discuss overthrowing the machinery of capitalism and handing the means of production to the oppressed proletariat.
But when top-flight footballers threaten to withdraw their labour it's not that much of a threat, since the England players stage unofficial walkouts several times a year already. Whenever the national team plays a friendly half of them seem to be working on a go-slow protest and the other half have suspiciously phoned in sick.
It says something about the popularity of football, though, that players have considered industrial action as an effective means of bringing about change. You can't really imagine a governing body being brought to its knees and caving in to a list of players' demands in order to head off the chilling danger of an all-out golfers' strike.
Derby County players famously came close to strike action to have Brian Clough reinstated as their manager in 1973. A similar situation was unlikely when Alan Buckley was sacked by tonight's opponents Rochdale in 2003, as the man who has got Town promoted three times is regarded by some Dale fans as one of the worst managers they've had.
But while most managers depend chiefly on money as the key to building a successful team, the most important thing for Buckley is time. And at Rochdale – as well as Lincoln and West Brom, for that matter – he wasn't given enough of it.
Town have to make sure we don't make the same mistake again now. And for that we might need a few striking fans to return to Blundell Park.
But changes being imposed at the Post Office could mean the workers end up with no shift patterns at all and just sit at home by the phone every day, waiting to be called in whenever. I did this when I was a factory temp, and it was horrible. Town fans underwent almost the same thing last season, when GTFC and Chester rearranged a postponed fixture at just five days' notice, and even the lady who runs the jacket potato stand couldn't get a babysitter in time.
Occasionally footballers have considered a strike. The issue was simply that their union, the PFA, wanted more of the Premiership's TV money, although I do like the notion of Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole calling each other "comrade" at England training and taking time out between running round cones to discuss overthrowing the machinery of capitalism and handing the means of production to the oppressed proletariat.
But when top-flight footballers threaten to withdraw their labour it's not that much of a threat, since the England players stage unofficial walkouts several times a year already. Whenever the national team plays a friendly half of them seem to be working on a go-slow protest and the other half have suspiciously phoned in sick.
It says something about the popularity of football, though, that players have considered industrial action as an effective means of bringing about change. You can't really imagine a governing body being brought to its knees and caving in to a list of players' demands in order to head off the chilling danger of an all-out golfers' strike.
Derby County players famously came close to strike action to have Brian Clough reinstated as their manager in 1973. A similar situation was unlikely when Alan Buckley was sacked by tonight's opponents Rochdale in 2003, as the man who has got Town promoted three times is regarded by some Dale fans as one of the worst managers they've had.
But while most managers depend chiefly on money as the key to building a successful team, the most important thing for Buckley is time. And at Rochdale – as well as Lincoln and West Brom, for that matter – he wasn't given enough of it.
Town have to make sure we don't make the same mistake again now. And for that we might need a few striking fans to return to Blundell Park.
Labels: buckley, chester, clough, derby, england, industrial action, lincoln, patience, post office, rochdale, striking, west brom
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