When and why did football become so tribal?

[christened at st marks]

Football didn't, people are.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I'm not sure folk went to Maine Road one week and the Swamp the next week, but they did watch both teams when they played at Maine Road.

Lots of people did. My Grandad used to take my Dad and Uncle to Maine Road one week and Old Trafford the next week throughout the 60s.

My Grandad was a City fan but a fair minded non-bitter kind of fan who enjoyed good football played by any team. My Dad is a City fan and my Uncle is a United fan. They are both very fair about each club.

Over the years I’ve heard a lot of people say that their Dad’s/Grandads alternated between games at Maine Road and Old Trafford and they’d give support to the Manchester club against whichever visitor was coming to town from elsewhere.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Football didn't, people are.

Homosapiens are genetically tribal. It’s one of the reasons we are a successful species.

There’s a possibility that Sapiens out-competed Neanderthals due to being a more social species who bonded more widely through shared tribal attributes like art and culture.

This continued in Sapiens rivalries with each other, languages and nations and empires being formed then conquered then new ones formed then conquered… and our species keeps pushing on in our tribes and that’s why there are 8 billion of us.

Where populations have easy lives like we do, where we aren’t at war with other tribes, we have the time and the kind of life where our tribal fixes are not being served, so we accomplish that through sport.

Our tribes are our local sports teams. These teams have tribally become similar to the cities or nations we live in (maybe at one time counties were important in this n’all but I don’t think they are anymore). We bond over strong iconography (sky blue and white colours, our club badge, our flags and banners) and singing anthems associated to our team and club. We congregate like a tribal religion going to a temple (our football stadium) and we enact our battles with other tribes.

 

[Indaparkside]

After listening to Alan ball give an interview

 

[christened at st marks]

Homosapiens are genetically tribal. It’s one of the reasons we are a successful species.

There’s a possibility that Sapiens out-competed Neanderthals due to being a more social species who bonded more widely through shared tribal attributes like art and culture.

This continued in Sapiens rivalries with each other, languages and nations and empires being formed then conquered then new ones formed then conquered… and our species keeps pushing on in our tribes and that’s why there are 8 billion of us.

Where populations have easy lives like we do, where we aren’t at war with other tribes, we have the time and the kind of life where our tribal fixes are not being served, so we accomplish that through sport.

Our tribes are our local sports teams. These teams have tribally become similar to the cities or nations we live in (maybe at one time counties were important in this n’all but I don’t think they are anymore). We bond over strong iconography (sky blue and white colours, our club badge, our flags and banners) and singing anthems associated to our team and club. We congregate like a tribal religion going to a temple (our football stadium) and we enact our battles with other tribes.

Like everything, humans exploit all things, hence Hitler and all through the ages.

 

[flook]

Homosapiens are genetically tribal. It’s one of the reasons we are a successful species.

There’s a possibility that Sapiens out-competed Neanderthals due to being a more social species who bonded more widely through shared tribal attributes like art and culture.

This continued in Sapiens rivalries with each other, languages and nations and empires being formed then conquered then new ones formed then conquered… and our species keeps pushing on in our tribes and that’s why there are 8 billion of us.

Where populations have easy lives like we do, where we aren’t at war with other tribes, we have the time and the kind of life where our tribal fixes are not being served, so we accomplish that through sport.

Our tribes are our local sports teams. These teams have tribally become similar to the cities or nations we live in (maybe at one time counties were important in this n’all but I don’t think they are anymore). We bond over strong iconography (sky blue and white colours, our club badge, our flags and banners) and singing anthems associated to our team and club. We congregate like a tribal religion going to a temple (our football stadium) and we enact our battles with other tribes.

Thats bpretty much exactly as I see it. Football is an alternative to bashing your neighbour over the head with a big stick

 

[blueinsa]

It always has been since I was a kid and I’m 52.

What’s changed is the 24 hour rolling news that has to make things up, social media and it’s echo chambers and the sheer exposure football gets now.

Teletext aside it really was a game for the weekend but not it’s impossible to get away from it which isn’t healthy imo.

 

[Ste68]

It always has been since I was a kid and I’m 52.

What’s changed is the 24 hour rolling news that has to make things up, social media and it’s echo chambers and the sheer exposure football gets now.

Teletext aside it really was a game for the weekend but not it’s impossible to get away from it which isn’t healthy imo.

Would agree have never known it as anything other than tribal rivalry although both my fathers generation and Grandfathers would watch other local northern teams but were not overly keen on southern sides.Think 24 hour media and access to the internet has ramped some of it up but that’s about words and name calling and although not particularly healthy the violence levels from the 70s and 80s has dropped significantly. Now it’s largely baiting each other 24/7.

 

[Stephen230]

Seems weird now but in the 80s I always wanted Forest, Villa and Liverpool to win the European Cup. Sounds a bit insensitive but I was even a bit annoyed that the Heysel final was fixed as it ended the English run of seven years on the trot.

Not quite sure when or why that changed but now I want them all to get beat. Even teams like Chelsea and Arsenal who I have no particular animosity towards.

I’ll be pleased for West Ham if they win their final though. And would have liked Fulham and Middlesbrough to win when they made finals.

 

[Ithryn Luin]

My Dad started to go to games at Maine Road in the late 40's, I remember him telling me that for one run of games involving both clubs over about eight weeks the lowest crowd was 78000. As others have already said people watched City one week then United next.
Part of the reason that the game became more tribal was the fact that in the 60's it became easier to travel to away games due to various reasons, less Saturday morning working, more car ownership, more motorways and special cheap trains.
Suddenly the number of fans from the other team increased considerably and this combined with the younger and noiser elements of the home crowd starting to congregate in one stand contributed to the adversarial stance of protecting your own end from the away fans. It all escalated from that into the scenes in the 70's which led to fences and segregation, increased policing and security in and around stadiums to what we have today through new technologies and social media.
I was born in 1960 and my primary school on the North side of Salford was fairly evenly split between Blues and Reds with slightly more Reds as you would expect in that City. Secondary school there were a lot more Reds.
Interestingly any reference to Munich was considered off limits as the overriding perception at the time as it was considered a disaster for the city as a whole rather than just one club.

Spot on this, especially the away travel changes and I would add people in the 1960's began to enjoy higher pay and more money to spend on away travel.