Football Fans in England: Fandom outside the Premier League
Football Fandom: There is life outside of The Premier League
Why I love Grimsby Town.
Football isn’t football without the fans, right?
Football fans are what drive Football clubs in every corner of the world, from grassroots through to the top leagues in the world. But what is it that’s so special about fans from the Championship and below, even non-league, and why do they differ to those who support the Premier League teams? Megan Garbutt makes gets on the Sporting Blog team sheet for the first time with this piece on life outside of the big time.
Top tier Football Vs The Lower Leagues
The Premier League is clearly the most popular and well-known league in the world, so it’s no surprise that it attracts the most attention from fans and the media week in and week out. Don’t get me wrong, supporting a Premier League team is brilliant and you have a million emotions rushing through your body when watching your team, whatever the situation in the game is and you’re always on the edge of your seat, but, it’s the personal connection in lower league football which makes it so special.
Something that most Championship fans will tell you, is how unpredictable the football is and that you can never predict the final table positions because anything can happen and there are surprises every week.
Another difference between these top 2 leagues is what the teams are challenging for; it’s either battling to stay in the Premier League or aiming to become champion, or it’s battling to not get relegated or fighting to get that promotion from the Championship.
A mid week game at Blundell Park - Only Coronavirus is keeping the stands empty.
There is more to play for in The Championship
The results can be unpredictable and the variety of teams that have won promotion to the Premier League has been insane. Promotions have been decided on the very last day of the season, for example in the 2019-20 season, Brentford were one of the stand-out teams It was a massive shock to everyone when they lost to Fulham in the play-off final after conceding 2 goals in extra time. Missing out on the only chance of Premier League football in their history.
Not to mention yo-yo teams, the teams that constantly get relegated and promoted between the Prem and the championship or are always struggling one season and doing brilliantly the next. The fans of clubs such as Watford, Wolves and Birmingham City must go through so much pain and excitement year in-year out, with relegations and promotions.
The connection between Fans and their Clubs
Lower league fans tend to have a more personal connection to their club, as it’s probably their local football club that they will watch every week, rain or shine.
You create special bonds with other fans, which you also do in the Premier League, but the accessibility of being able to attend a lower league game is much easier as prices tend to be much more affordable and travel usually isn’t a massive issue. A
As a fan of both a Premier League team and a League 2 team (Arsenal and Grimsby Town) I have been to many away games and when going to a Grimsby away game, the sense of community between all the fans and recognising peoples faces from home matches creates that family atmosphere.
When I’ve been to away games with Arsenal, as much as the atmosphere is brilliant, you don’t have that same connection with all the other fans as there are so many of you.
The loyalty of the fans of lower league clubs is unreal and you can quickly identify the fans that attend whatever the weather and however well or awfully the team is performing at the time.
Grimsby Town travelled to Selhurst park, the home of Premier League side Crystal Palace in January 2019, in the 3rd round of the FA cup and 5,000 fans made the 4-hour journey to support their local team. The atmosphere in the stadium was unreal and you feel like one huge family.
Especially with clubs below the Championship and non-league clubs, teams rely on their fans to also bring in money as well as support for the club. Teams in these leagues aren’t like Premier League teams who receive income from huge sponsorship deals with some of the most popular brands in the world and also a large amount of income from the amount of merchandise they can sell to all corners of the world. Of course, lower league teams receive money from sponsorship deals and merchandise sales, but it doesn’t come close to how much Premier League teams receive and this is why fans are what keep lower league clubs alive.
The charm of the Lower Leagues
There’s something about the grounds at lower league football, the grounds that are on their last legs or the local field that don’t have electronic turnstiles or big fancy scoreboards. It’s the lower league football that reminds you of the old days when all clubs would play on fields or run-down grounds and it creates a sense of nostalgia for the fans, especially the elder generation who have been coming to matches for decades in lower league with nothing really changing.
Pushing through the squeaky turnstiles to get into the ground while hearing the top charts blasting through the speakers that should’ve been changed years ago. Its that sort of feeling that never change and that many football fans love.
Another exciting thing with lower league football is the feeling of the unknown; signing unknown players that you’ve never heard of and managers that may have never managed before and change your club for the better.
You sign players that you’ve never heard of, they become one of your best players and then clubs from higher leagues want to sign them because of how well they’re doing. An example is winger Siriki Dembele who signed for Grimsby in 2017 from the Nike Youth Academy.
He straight away impressed with his pace and dribbling ability and was a regular starter, making 36 appearances in League 2 and easily becoming fans favourite and one of our best players, until League 1 side Peterborough United took the opportunity to snatch the winger up and he left in 2018, much to the disappointment of all Mariner’s fans.
On the other hand, there’s also the excitement of signing a more-well known player on loan from a bigger club or hiring a manager who has managed big clubs. This always creates a buzz around fans. Another advantage of being a lower league club is the excitement of being able to compete in the FA cup with all the big clubs. For example, Lincoln City, who were in the National League at the time, reached the quarter-finals in 2017 after beating Premier League side Burnley at Turf Moor in the 5th round.
Lincoln were talked about a lot and got a lot of media coverage and are now a League 1 side who are much more widely recognised.
The bottom line is that Lower League fans wouldn’t change their team for the world. It’s what they’ve known and loved growing up and they will continue to be part of the team’s journey for as long as they live, win or lose.
That personal connection never goes away.
Cover photo courtesy of Grimsby Town FC.
