Socks, Celtic and Patriots – The Cult of Soccer in the UK

Whether you call it soccer, football, fútbol – it's one sport that can take on a whole other level, especially here in England. Before I had moved to England, my only real exposure to soccer was watching Benefica, in Portuguese, with my grandfather on his 9-inch black and white tv. He told me stories about Pele, and mentioned to me that during the War, when he was stationed here in England, he had attended some games.

I laughed at the “Gooooooooooooooal!!!” that the commentators shouted. I was also aware of the stereotypical soccer-hooligan that is occasionally shown on American television during especially violent riots. Never did I realize how intense it is here in the UK. Soccer is more than a sport.

Soccer is family. We often feel sorry for those households where one side are Sox fans, and another are Yankees fans. Here, it gets a bit complicated. My wife supports one team — Manchester United, arguably one of the most well-known teams in the world. Her father supports Stockport County, the equivalent to a AA league baseball team. (Although, if he ever heard me compare the mighty Stockport County Football Club to the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team, I think I'd be banished from his house.)

My brother-in-law supports a third – Sheffield Wednesday, falling somewhere in between. All are local to where we live, and each family member doesn't waver in their support at all. When I was expecting my son, if it were not for the objections of my wife, we could have had about half a dozen different team jerseys, soccer shorts, and knee high socks for the little guy.

Soccer is passion. I went to my first game shortly after I moved to England. As I sat in the crowd I looked around and thought it looked pretty familiar – supporters in their jerseys, drinking a beer or three, chowing on the English version of stadium food. But, then it started. The chanting. And it didn't stop until the halftime whistle blew, picking right back up again when the second half started. It really threw me.

I'm used to hearing the general murmurs of the crowds at basketball games, with the occasional super-fan shouting at the players when a pass was botched. This was different. This was the whole crowd, in unison, singing alternate lyrics to common nursery rhyme tunes and the occasional Christmas song. After watching games for years now, I'm still fascinated with this occurrence. Often the chants are humorous. There's a version of the "12 Days of Christmas" where each day is Eric Cantona. Sometimes, they tend to be on the dark side, such a singing about a player from Togo, named Adebayor, that his “father washes elephants and his mother's a whore,” or Manchester City fans singing chants about their rival team's plane crash in 1958 which killed 23 individuals.

Soccer is religion. Literally, in some cases. This goes beyond the Hail-Mary huddles before high school football games or the Providence Friars. For example, there are a pair of teams in Scotland, Rangers and Celtic. Rangers fans tend to be Protestant. Celtic fans tend to be Irish Roman Catholic. Their rivalry stems back to the 1800s and has to do with immigration and job security (sound familiar??). To this day, Rangers fans have a less-than-nice chant about the Potato Famine, and there are usually riots following the matches when these two teams meet up.

Due to what happens when these two teams play, alcohol is banned at Scottish football matches – which is a pretty big thing in the land of the pubs. A few years back, when David Beckham injured his foot prior to the World Cup, there was an English bishop who asked that the whole country pray for his speedy recovery in order to have him participate in the games.

Soccer is obsession. It's on ALL THE TIME. There doesn't seem to be much of an off-season for soccer in the UK since they have so many high-level tournaments to participate in. First, you have the club games. There are the regular league games and inter-league games where teams from the lesser leagues can get a chance to play against the top tier teams. Then there are games where the various clubs from all over Europe play each other, again with one tournament for higher-achieving clubs then another for all clubs.

After that, you get the national teams that participate in the World Cup and other qualifying games throughout the year.  When the World Cup does come around every four years, the country is covered with St. George's flags and red and white bunting. More so than on any other time of the year, including the queen's anniversaries or national holidays, is England this patriotic. Other than the occasional exhibition game I don't see American sports teams competing at this level at all, or the whole country decorating itself with the Stars & Stripes to support any national sports team.
 
Many will argue what to call this sport, be it soccer or football. Others will discuss how the players are overpaid and underworked. Yet more will argue the level of adoration that these men achieve when playing a sport for a living. But, I can't see anyone saying that in comparison to the States and their sports heros, the English, whether they personally support the sport or not, take it to a whole other level.