FEATURE
By Nana Frimpong
As far as the English football is concerned, the Big Four are the only clubs that have traditionally mattered to Africa and its football fans.
Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal boast a sizable percentage of the English game’s fandom on the continent, leaving minor fractions of the support base for the remainder. Surprisingly, though, quite a few enjoy fairly significant followership. And while it is not too difficult to understand why the so-called bigger sides continue to acquire admirers in their hordes, the same cannot be said for the Premier League’s also-rans and have-nots. Just how do they gain their handful of African sympathisers, though?
TRANSFERS
Occasionally, an unfancied English club signs a player from an African country that itself does not claim too much ground on the international footballing map. Quite reasonably, that club instantly becomes the preference of most in that land, their shirts become everyone’s favourite night-wear for a while, and their every game watched and cheered nationwide. Even after the player departs for elsewhere, many retain a soft spot for the club.
PAST TOURS/HISTORY
Once upon a time, the Big Four were not really what they are now. Liverpool, perhaps, were quite big back then, but not much could be said for the other three. The likes of Preston North End, Blackpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers used to be top of the pile at the time and bore the torch in whose light the others trailed. Some of these clubs went on tours around the world to sell their brands, and the stops they made in certain African countries earned them household status and several fans while they were at it. West Bromwich Albion, for instance, are the club of choice in some parts of east Africa courtesy a successful tour the club made of the region in the 1960s.
INHERITANCE
Some of the lifelong supporters won by these clubs from the past via the means explained immediately above did manage to pass the affiliation on to their offspring, thus perpetuating the romance through subsequent generations. In that regard, you could describe them as ‘family clubs’ or heirlooms of some sort and you would not be far from the truth.
SCHOOLING
It so happens that some of the finest universities/educational institutions in the United Kingdom are located in areas with football clubs albeit ones not wholly counted among the country’s elite. As it happened, most African students who schooled in these cities embraced their cultural and socio-economic elements, their clubs included. That probably explains why the likes of Leeds United, Cardiff City, Oxford United, and even Conference Premier side Cambridge United have pockets of fans among these studious Africans who apparently returned home with more than just their degrees.
PAST/PRESENT FAVOURS
Take, for instance, season 1995-96 of EPL football when, with two matchdays to go, Manchester United and Newcastle United were caught in a head-to-head race for the title while on 76 points each. United fans were counting on the Magpies to drop their guard against their remaining opponents, namely Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. Hence, for that first week of May 1996 when the league season cruised to a finale, not a few United fans – Africans included, of course – rooted for the City Ground and White Hart Lane outfits. And after the pair succeeded in picking points off Kevin Keegan’s side – thus ultimately handing the trophy to the Red Devils – you would think some of these absolutely elated fans could have had good reason to don the shirts of Forest and/or Spurs under United’s red and perhaps even retaining a replica of those in their closets down to this day.
In most cases, though, such support is, at best, selfish and short-lived for obvious reasons.
Follow Nana Frimpong on
Goal Ghana has its own and account, so for all the latest news and features on Ghana football follow us by clicking on the above links
How England"s "smaller" clubs earn fans in Africa
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét