Some fans treat supporting Liverpool from outside the city as a crime. Should I feel bad for living outside this socially constructed catchment area? Should I be victimised for my own fandom? Should I have people waving the ‘plastic fan’ card at me? None of the above. Liverpool Football Club is that of a multi-national structure. It spans the continents worldwide and therefore it attracts the attention from people globally, not just from the terrace houses stringing Anfield Road.
“A wool is short for the Liverpool term Wooly Back which is a derogatory expression for people from Lancashire and Cheshire, originating from the early 1900’s when the population of Lancashire used to wear a form of sheepskin coat.”
The term ‘wool’ has become laughable and overused, rather than offensive. It displays the ignorance of the beholder and in a lot of ways it exhibits how stuck Liverpool fans are in their ways. They are a greedy bunch; not wanting to share their success, not wanting to segment their support. Look how the club itself is trying to spread its rule. They want a diversity of fans.
It all started with my love for Michael Owen and my argument that most people support a club because of a specific player. Look at how many people support Manchester United because of George Best, Bobby Charlton, Beckham or Rooney. Spy on the Arsenal fans that support the North London side because of the players that made up the ‘invincibles’. Look no further than Chelsea with Drogba, Lampard and Terry. It’s that crook that hooks you into a lifelong allegiance that you follow religiously.
A vast amount of children born outside of Liverpool between the years 1990 and 1996, support Liverpool because of Michael Owen. I’m not for a moment saying that’s everyone, as people worship different players for different reasons, but, that goal in ’98, the treble winning season; alongside the fact he was young himself attracted many broods to Liverpool. This doesn’t mean that they follow and adore that player throughout their career – but it’s the lure. It entices the punters, but then they fall in love with the club and can never let it go.
It can be said for the new generation of Liverpool fans as well. Steven Gerrard, along with the Champions League win in ’05, saw Liverpool’s fan base escalate to a new level worldwide. You could then argue that a certain Spaniard, due to his goal scoring exploits, infatuated a lot of young fans between 2007 and 2010. They would go out and recreate his goals in the park as they wore his name on the back of their shirt. It brought a new generation. This generation hasn’t skipped over to Chelsea, have they? They stick with Liverpool because they love the club – but the blonde haired Spanish goal scorer was just entertaining enough to entice the person in.
No matter how many generations you go back, from Liverpool or not, someone started supporting for some reason: Keegan in the seventies, Dalglish in the eighties – Shankly before that. It isn’t inherent in you to support a team, as much as people insist that they ‘bleed Liverpool’.
Aged 7 you don’t respect the club’s history, nor do you flaunt the wonderful culture that the club so openly boasts. Instead you seek the tangible things. You watch the skill portrayed in front of you by the mesmeric feet of the professional footballers on show. You soak in the match day atmosphere in the stadia, you wear the bright red home strip, you treasure the ticket of your first ever attendance. At that tender age, you need to be able to see it, to appreciate. You don’t appreciate the invisible.
Liverpool Football Club has been blessed with a beautifully eclectic history. Trophies have been won; divisions dominated; players idolised. But it’s the last one I want to focus in on. Aged 18, I value players who wore the red jersey post-2000 more than others, simply because I witnessed them. They aren’t just stories told to me by others, instead I witnessed their fairy tales play out before of me.
However, I won’t be naïve enough to think that this fan cultivation is solely down to players. Families have a colossal influence on which club you support. Stories say that people were forced into a Liverpool shirt prior to crawling. This, along with match-day experiences help mould a child’s outlook on a team. However, my argument would be that in these match-day experiences we are influenced by what happens on the pitch. Children aren’t passive enough to ignore a player’s great performance and therefore not follow it on. A family member may introduce you to a side, but they never force it down your throat to an extent where you can’t say no. The eleven players that you watch week-in week-out cement this introduction.
Their argument falls down here, though, as there are Liverpool fans out there that have never been to a game at Anfield and their family has never supported Liverpool. Something drew them in – be that an iconic performance (ie. Champions League ’05) or a special player that changed the way they looked at things.
To call someone a ‘plastic fan’ is just lazy and stereotypical. It’s what gives the fans an increasingly negative name. Why squabble between ourselves when we are supporting the same eleven players on a Saturday afternoon? I understand the culture of unity and allegiance that comes with this club – therefore I appreciate the loath that welcomes Michael Owen and Fernando Torres when they are talked about. They will never be Liverpool legends; but to badmouth them as much as fans do, is wrong. They put everything into Liverpool when they were here. Keegan left Liverpool in his pomp, as did Rush in some regard – in a lot of ways, these moves aren’t dissimilar. I don’t remember Michael Owen getting abuse for being a ‘wool’ when he was notching countless goals in a Liverpool red shirt, but when he leaves – wool. Mental.
I conducted two quick polls to see why different people support Liverpool. I set one up for people who live in Liverpool to answer, and one for those who don’t. Over both polls, I had in excess of 100 responses. It was interesting to see that only 6% of people who live in Liverpool considered their following of Liverpool was down to a player’s influence, whereas 40% of them said their loyalty was passed to them as a family heirloom. Compare this to fans that live outside the city, where 39% support Liverpool because of a specific player. Over both polls no more than 4% considered their support due to the history of the club.
The old argument of ‘support your local team’ is ludicrous. I’ll support whom I want and you are no better fan than me for living within a mile radius of the ground. What about the Liverpool fans that live closer, geographically, to Goodison Park than they do Anfield – are they disregarding their roots? Are they doing something wrong? Of course not. It’s their choice.
Yes, I live at the opposite end of the country to the team I support. Does that, in some way, make me a more committed fan than those that live within walking distance of the ground? I travel longer distances to watch the team and pay more to get there. On the other hand, there is no such thing as a ‘better fan’; we are just all ‘fans’. Nothing should stop someone supporting a team that they do.
If a wool is what I am, I like it.
