Unless you have been living under a rock for the last year, you may notice a lot of murmurs and talks of redevelopments in the game we like to call to call football. Yes, the slogan used as my title (Against Modern Football) has been seen on posters at various football grounds up and down the country as well as media outlets such as twitter, instagram etc.
However you could say that it is more than a slogan, a community has formed blogging and developing readers on the evils of the modern game off football. many issues that are circulated range from outrageous ticket prices, Hideous owners & bringing back safe standing. Upon browsing this fascinating site I asked myself am I really against modern football?
I look at this debate from two sides of the fence, firstly I live, breathe eat and sleep football, a loyal lone supporter of Everton F.C living in the capital has been hard growing up when all your friends support the big teams in London suffering defeats of as high as 6-1 vs Arsenal in 2009, however I find nothing gives me more joy then on a Saturday afternoon at 17:50 when Everton have gained 3 points. From going to games with my father to going to away games on my own, I do feel like the value of football has degraded from previous decades. Despite not being old enough remember the early 80's/90's I feel that in cases of making a student spend £52 to watch his team play is quite frankly outrageous or living in a world where millionaire owners want to change historic club names or colours.
The other half of the fence is the establishment I work in, being a student working around football is a blessing, I steward at matches that range from the Championship to the Premier League and talking to fans each week really does show that the passion for football is still here. However, I also sit with colleges and hear stories on how Pyro's (Pyrotechnic flares) have forced them struggling to breathe and encounters of vicious fans abusing them just for asking to see their ticket.
Overall I have found that while there aspects on the modern game that I dislike I do feel that football may be changed off the pitch for the better or worse, the game that's played on the grass will give me the same anticipation until I and my future generations are in my coffin.
