1882: An account of Thursday night

I waited outside the turnstiles last night and I was scared. I wasn't scared of the fans, the police, the stewards - no, none of that. I was scared that I'd be alone. If I were alone, I could never have enjoyed the night, and if I didn't enjoy the night, my journey would have been wasted.

Thankfully, I was not alone. I had 1882.

We entered the ground after some odd delay. My out-of-place black tie and crombie combination received some funny looks and comments, however I managed to convince myself that that's how they all used to look 'back in the day'. I entered Block 35 some 10 minutes before the start, and, staring at the pristine green of the White Hart Lane pitch, the troubles of my daily life filtered away.

Perhaps it had something to do with my age, but occupying White Hart Lane is still a cause for many feelings of joy. I'm a proud cynic in real life, yet when I pass through the turnstiles, joy and positivity enriches my blood and tones my voice. This is why I feel the urge to align myself with 1882 ideology; there is no other way I can support my team.

It wasn't long before Block 35 began to fill. I couldn't tell you how many people came under the banner of 1882. We were just fans standing in a block, holding scarves and waving banners and flags; singing for the shirt. And, oh boy did we sing.

From the first song, I could tell this would be as fulfilling as I hoped it would be. Long, never-ending versions of 'Oh When The Spurs' till the point of laughter. Infectious renditions of 'AVB's Blue and White Army' (of course, followed by the fierce bellows of 'Yids'). Toing-and-throwing with the Shelf and 'Stand up' songs to engage with other parts of the ground. All the old songs like 'Glory Glory Hallelujah' and 'Hark Now Hear' as a reminder of our past. Judas songs. I could go on and on and on but you know the deal. This is 1882.

I saw at a few points throughout the evening fans being forcibly removed from the block for chanting our Yid songs. This made my blood boil. It could have easily tainted the event. However, the fans responded by chanting the word twice as loud. We got behind those victimised fans. They are us and we are all the same. 'Being a Yid' was the song of the night as a result.

I screamed at the stewards, "I'm a Yid! Arrest me!" This was part of a lot of talk between me, the stewards and the police last night. They were cooperative, but they seemed confused. When asked who told them to victimise the fans, I got told they were ordered from the club, the police, lawyers and the FA - all separately. When asked about over-zealous stewarding, they referred to safety certificates and guidelines. When asked if they knew who their boss was, they had no idea. Sadly, there's nobody to make accountable for the crime of criminalisation.

This is why groups like 1882 are vital to the fans. Who is going to back the fans given 'verbal warnings' when the club turned their back on them like they did on Thursday? This may sound cliché, but sometimes, we only have each other to turn to. We had that at the Anzhi game and I was proud of us for that. I implore fans to keep a dialogue with our Supporters' Trust, THST, for these reasons.

More about the game. It was very entertaining and the positive performance certainly helped get some of the fans off their feet. When we sang the name of particular players, you could tell they were loving it. The big smile in Holtby's face. The appreciation from Eriksen when he warmed up. Even Friedel's response to our questions about the score. At those very moments we sang their names, the fans loved them, and they loved the fans. Backing the players in this way help establishes this connection, I feel. Don't you agree?

The final whistle came and we headed out of the Lane, albeit slow, reluctantly and anxious to do more. I wanted to do this all over again. And soon. An explosion was heard at one point late on. None of us cared. I never felt a better sense of escapism than in that block on Thursday. I've had a lot of trouble and stress in my life recently, but it didn't matter when I was singing, when I was loving my club.

My lungs were aching. My throat was scratched. My head was addled. My voice was gone. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered any more. All that mattered was that I belonged. All that mattered was Tottenham Hotspur.

If you think I'm exaggerating, join us in Block 35. I dare you. 

Atmospheric Pressure

It was a horrid display of football. Tottenham, trying to split the 10-man defence of Hull, exhausted every possible means to get that first goal. Nothing worked. The possession-orientated play that Andre Villas-Boas has drummed into the squad wasn't enough to break the deadlock, just as it wasn't versus Swansea, just as it wasn't versus Crystal Palace. When Soldado converted his third penalty of the season, a gust of relief swept around White Hart Lane, and the match was won.

After the game, the main complaints about the football was a wide judgement across the season.

• "Our football is too cautious. It shouldn't be based on possession, but on unrestricted swashbuckle."
• "Soldado doesn't get enough chances. He's only good for penalties."
• "This is not the attitude of a top four team."

The football could have been less cautious this season. We certainly have the players to be more attacking and have more bite to it. It's just a case of gathering the right eleven players for it, and that will come with time (that benefiting to a large squad). If we play unrestricted attacking football a la Redknapp, we abandon a fantastic defence (6 clean sheets in 9 games) and I doubt Spurs could last till May. A conundrum, but 'patience' is word of the day. 

The 1882 Movement may be the answer to the dying atmosphere

AVB was surely thinking about tactics on how to improve the football. When faced with problems, he has clearly demonstrated an admirable pragmatic nature, a readiness to solve problems on the pitch through off-the-pitch tactics. AVB did tell the media the cause of the problem, quite explicitly:

"We looked like the away team. We played in a difficult atmosphere with almost no support,"
"Away from home their support has been amazing; we play with no fear and we need that atmosphere at White Hart Lane."
"We spoke about it at half-time. I told the players that we would have to do it on our own. They had to dig deep and look for the strength within themselves. They also believed that it's not easy to play in this stadium when the atmosphere is like this."

"We have a wonderful set of fans but they can do better."

To many Spurs fans (probably the ones inside the ground that day), this was a shocking statement. Their argument was that the team did nothing to get them going, that it was up to them to do their job and we cheer when they complete it, that forking out hundreds gives them the right to complain about it. If they have been quiet, it's because of AVB and the players.

The other camp to this argument supported AVB's verdict, not only supported, but knew it for many years. Their argument was that the Spurs fans have become too expectant, that the high ticket prices has brought in the wrong type of fan (I pay x-amount to watch this shit), that young, energetic fans have been skimmed out White Hart Lane due to the ticket prices. The argument was that White Hart Lane is just another product of modern football.

There's is no doubting that there is a massive atmosphere problem within the Lane. I remember Basel at home last season, where the silence of the Spurs fans was chilling, and the only voices that could be heard were Basel fans. It was no advert for White Hart Lane; it was not the way it should be. 

If the atmosphere has become so negative that the players had to talk to the manager about it, then it seems clear  that something has to change. The supporters don't do enough supporting. The fans are not fanatic enough. If you love your club, you have to do more than pay x-amount to show that. Paying £9 to watch Captain Phillips in the cinema doesn't make me a die-hard Tom Hanks fan. Paying £20 to watch Othello doesn't make you a Shakespeare ultra. You owe Tottenham Hotspur more than what you are giving them.

A 'fan', inside White Hart Lane, playing Candy Crush. Wow.

The majority of fans have become spectators, theatre-goers who would rather criticise the performance than get behind the team. The energy these people have exercising criticism could easily be put into singing 'Oh When The Spurs' or any other song. Why has the players turned you cynical? I idolise them.

I have heard some horrific stories. Fans starting songs, only to get glaring looks from the people around. I've heard of people standing up together, only to be told to sit down and shut up by the overpowered stewards. I've even heard of people reporting other fans for swearing, resulting in a three-game ban for the 'guilty' fan. Does this sound like support to you? 

Why have 90% of Tottenham fans become nihilistic? Why can't they go to the Lane, absorb in the moment and forget about negativity? Why can't they sing their hearts, show their colours, enjoy the moment? What good can criticism possibly achieve?

There are things the club need to do to help change the atmosphere, definitely. Reducing ticket prices, reducing steward and police presence, stop criminalising the fans and supporting safe-standing trials would all contribute towards an improved atmosphere. Outside of England, fans laugh at how stale we have become. Perhaps the 'product' is better, but what's the point if you can't enjoy it? 

Football is not a product, and fans are not customers. You have a duty to your football club. Stop fearing the fans around you, join arms and sing for the shirt you claim to love. AVB has given you a message, and it's time to listen, time to learn: 

Stand. Sing. Support. 

StubHub: Empowering the rich, extorting the common man

News about the arrival of a company called StubHub at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club would normally have gone straight under the radar, considering nobody had heard of them or would care that we had become associated with yet another company. Far f
rom it, the news of StubHub's arrival at the Lane has been heard across many of the regular match-goers. The reaction has not been positive.

I have been fully informed about what exactly StubHub does, its purposes and its consequences. StubHub are an eBay-esk ticket market, where season ticket holders can put up their tickets on open bid or on a set price and sell it to anyone (Spurs fans, neutrals, away fans etc). Selling your ticket requires no contact with the new recipient, apart from the exchange of money.

So what can we interpret from this?

Many people use eBay as a legitimate way of selling goods for profit. My mate used to do it and he earned a veritable mint out of the auction and buy-it-now system. I even considered doing it myself, but really didn't have the cash to get it up and running. StubHub, therefore, could be used in a similar sense to make money out of fellow fans. Say I had a season ticket, what does it cost, £1000? I could sell each of my £50 worth tickets for £60 or £70, maybe £100 for derbies, and across a season I could make a substantial profit. And it could all be done legitimately and according to the rules. I could leech off my fellow Spurs fans and not a single consideration would be given by StubHub. How does that make you feel?

What else?

So, say I put a £50 ticket on open auction. The ticket, like I said, would go to the highest bidder, the person with the most money to spend. If people weren't already being priced out of matches due to the extortion of current ticket prices, StubHub would enable more people to feel redundant and left to watch the match on a stream at home, alone. As a result, the Lane would be filled with more of a higher class of person, a person with a comfortable wealth.

Football is the common man's game, well, at least it is still that in our minds. We all as kids kicked around a deflated white ball in the playground, thinking we could all be the next Ronaldo (fat Ronaldo, always fat Ronaldo). We grow up, rid our selves of those dreams, and instead, put our faith that the pros playing the game could satisfy our childhood dreams in a way we could never do ourselves.

The wealthy man, the privileged man, has had his dreams met and is comfortable. Football fans should not be privileged like that. We are the discontented masses, perhaps unhappy by the cards we have dealt, but happy to spend all our emotions in a football ground and on the shirt we love. StubHub would empower the privileged, not the common man.

StubHub should not be allowed at football. Ticket touting is condemned by us football fans and should not be tolerated in any form. This is simply legitimized ticket touting. The owners have allowed StubHub to enter the club because they have been financially rewarded by them, only that.

Daniel Levy said on the final day of the 2012/13 season in an open letter to the fans that 'you [the supporters] are what this club is all about'. Bound by these words, he must listen to our protests, against this money-making company, existing only to empower the wealthy and extort the common man, and he must meet our demands.

Let us all remember, football without fans is nothing.

The Government's response to safe standing

I posted a blog entry, showing the contents of an email I sent to Damian Green MP regarding safe standing at football grounds. Today, I got a reply from the man personally. Below is the contents of that reply.

So the attitude towards safe standing appears to still be rejection from the government. What we all know, though, is that the Bundesliga have a lot of standing terraces, and Mr Green mentions this in his reply.

I'd like to think there will be some discussion about this as standing terraces is VERY IMPORTANT to the game and its history. Probably will take a lot to convince them though. 

I sent another email to Tottenham's MP David Lammy, so hopefully I'll get a reply from him as well.

Safe Standing at White Hart Lane

Here is a copy of the email I sent to my MP Damien Green, requesting a change of law over standing terraces at football ground. A change in legislation is the ONLY WAY we can get Safe Standing at the Lane, or any other ground, so I urge you to send an email to your MP of a similar kind.

'Dear Mr. Green, 

I am writing to propose to you an idea that many people have discussed in my social groups, involving seating at football grounds.

As you may be aware, one of the knee-jerk reactions to the tragic Hillsborough disaster in 1989 was the implication of all-seater stadia, focusing on Premier League stadia. Even though standing areas was only one of a number of factors that resulted in the disaster, laws were passed to make standing terraces almost illegal.

As a football fan, I have watched, as have many, the demise of our sport to what us fans call 'Modern Football'. This is a combination of many factors, including the Sky Sports takeover of the premier league, the inflation of ticket prices, brand clubs, Multi-millionaire takeovers and the transition of football as a spectator sport, like Tennis or Rugby. I do not like what Modern Football has done to fans, prejudging them as vicious and cult, when the majority of us only wish to express passion for our teams.

In Europe, there are terraces known as 'Safe Standing' areas, which have been proven to be beneficial for fans, manageable and efficient. A survey conducted by The Fighting Cock Podcast, popular among Spurs fans, which questioned over 2000 fans about Tottenham Hotspur, receiving very positive reactions to the proposal of safe standing at White Hart Lane, our football ground. The club responded to the survey saying that they couldn't implement safe-standing due to 'prevailing legislation', however they did say that if the 'legislation was repealed or amended', they would consider trials at White Hart Lane. 

As a well respected Member of Parliament, I urge to propose the idea of repealing or amending legislation on standing terraces at football grounds. Other clubs like West Ham, Aston Villa and Arsenal have all stated they would be positive to safe standing at football grounds, as they too wish to benefit fans and their clubs. 

The majority of fans are no longer violent and partisan towards rivals as they used to be many years ago. My Dad told me the reason he became disillusioned by visiting White Hart Lane. He told me how Millwall fans used to chuck bricks over the metal fence dividing the home fans and the away fans. One of his friends was seriously injured by these assaults. A small minority of fans wish to tarnish the reputation of football fans, resulting in the prejudice towards us.

All I want to do is improve the experiences of English fans supporting Premier League clubs. I see images and videos of European games, where the fans do not stop singing for all the 90 minutes, and the unity and passion expressed at games are like no other. Modern Football has seen the decline of these experiences in Britain. However, with a change in legislation, you can bring Premier League football back to its former glory and respect.  

Please consider my request in your busy schedule. I would be very grateful.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Walczak. 

(Link to The Fighting Cock Safe Standing Survey: http://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/2013/03/safe-standing-survey-results/ )'