The simple pleasures
of lower-tier football (written 2013 with minor updates here and there, FC United of Manchester still plays in the National League North)
The WAFL is now
similar to non-league English soccer (and lower-tier Scottish leagues), far
down what in the UK is termed “the pyramid”, where games are run
professionally; the clubs have traditions; and the crowds are small but
dedicated. The WAFL has lost, for the most part, its army of “fair-weather
fans” that used to attach themselves especially to clubs like East Perth and
South Fremantle back in the day. The club diehards have remained, by and large,
with the clubs except perhaps for some previously staunch West Perth fans
disillusioned by the move to Arena Joondalup. The VFL/AFL era has been a real
existential test of people’s loyalties. In the WAFL’s Golden Era, people would
declare and pretend that they were hardcore fans of this or that WAFL club but
in those days the competition was glorious and people’s loyalties were not
really tested. Existentially speaking, those 800-1,000 committed supporters of
each WAFL club that continue to attend WAFL games weekly have proven themselves
to be the most committed WAFL club supporters by their actions. The great,
traditional, ex-NSL, ethnic soccer clubs, such as Adelaide City, Marconi
Stallions, Melbourne Knights, Preston Lions, South Melbourne, and Sydney United, are now relegated to the Victorian Premier League (VPL) or the equivalent
competitions in the other states, and are in exactly the same position as the
WAFL clubs.
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| Montrose 2 Elgin City 0, lower-tier Scottish soccer. |
WAFL
football is now still very enjoyable, but in a different way, as these days you
can spread yourself out, there are empty seats often to your right and left,
and the queues for the toilets, food, and beer are small and manageable. The
WAFL is now like the Western Australian premier league soccer, rugby, and
rugby-league competitions have always been in that the atmospheres can be
wonderful partly because you can assume that all of your fellow spectators are
dedicated and knowledgeable insiders! If you do not allow your mind to wander
into that place of comparing the new to the old WAFL you will find that
attending WAFL games today is quite enjoyable.
Interestingly,
disillusioned Manchester United fans set up in June 2005 a community-based
club, FC United of Manchester, which plays to small but dedicated crowds in
cosy, compact stadiums in a minor league (National League North) below and
outside the Football League (sixth-tier of the pyramid, five tiers below the
English Premier League)[1].
Each club financial member owns one share and gets one vote regardless of her /
his financial contribution(s). With an average crowd of 1,969 for the 2008-09
season, up to and including 9 November[2],
FC United was then drawing around five times as many people, on average, as the
typical club in its division. After
moving from Gigg Lane to Broadhurst Park in May 2015, the club averaged a gate
of 3,394 in 2015-16, a season-on-season increase of over 57% and the fourth
highest attendance in non-League football. The club’s record home crowd
is 6,731 people at Gigg Lane, Bury versus Brighton & Hove Albion, FA Cup
Second Round, on 8 December 2010[3]
beating the previous record of 6,023 people versus Great Harwood Town on 22
April 2006[4].
United FC
is an organic and authentic community-based response to the increasing
corporatization of soccer and the alienation that now exists between fans and
players and between fans and administrators at English Premier League (EPL)
level. The grassroots WAFL clubs are the equivalent of FC United of Manchester
whereas the West Coast Eagles are the equivalent of Manchester United.
[1] Source: Fuell, T. (2009), “Fans doing it for themselves”, Non League [United Kingdom], December, p. 104;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_League_North [accessed 4 November 2016];
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.C._United_of_Manchester [accessed 4 November
2016].
[2] Source: Non League magazine, December 2009 issue, p. 102.
[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.C._United_of_Manchester
[accessed 4 November 2016].
[4] Fuell, “Fans doing
it for themselves”,
p. 104.
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| Port Adelaide Magpies supporters, Foxtel Cup match versus Claremont, Subiaco Oval, Saturday, 16 July 2011 (attendance: 1,000). |
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| Port Adelaide Magpies supporters, Foxtel Cup match versus Claremont, Subiaco Oval, Saturday, 16 July 2011 (attendance: 1,000). |
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| North Adelaide supporters (SANFL). |
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| South Fremantle Cheer Squad (WAFL) (formed 2002). |
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