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Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?

Caroline Auty,
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Football fan power and
the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
Downloaded by Symbiosis International University Lavale, Mr Sudip Sam At 08:13 20 October 2018 (PT)
The author
Caroline Auty is based at Ciber, Department of
Information Science, City University, London, UK.
Keywords
Football, Interaction, Internet
Abstract
This paper examines the importance of the Internet for
supporters of football clubs. It looks at Web sites that
allow fans to become involved in the running of their
clubs or the decision-making process at a lower level.
Supporters' Trusts, independent supporters associations
(ISAs), fanzines and various government initiatives all
receive attention. The use of the Internet by fans opposed
to Wimbledon Football Club's intended move to Milton
Keynes is highlighted. It is argued that the Web is an ideal
forum for fan power, providing a cheap and effective
means of mobilising support for campaigns in conjunction
with traditional lobbying techniques. This is one area
where the Internet is sure to have a sustained impact.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
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Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . pp. 273±279
# MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0001-253X
DOI 10.1108/00012530210448226
273
Introduction
In recent years, much has been written about
the corporate take-over of the nation's best-
loved game. The unholy alliance of football
and television money has seen games kick-off
at times to suit television schedules, clubs
wantonly changing their strip with little
regard for fans' finances and rocketing ticket
prices. So concerned was the Labour Party in
opposition that it launched a Charter for
Football (Labour Party, 1996) that included
the following aim: ``Fans' views should be
accorded greater weight within the running of
the game.'' The pamphlet also stated that
``Fans themselves should understand that
there needs to be some movement on their
part'' (Labour Party, 1996, p. 5).
Although the impact of the Internet has
been thoroughly examined in almost every
other sphere, especially with regard to
decentralisation and bottom-up democracy, it
appears that no-one has fully analysed the
impact of the Web on football (except in
terms of clubs using the Net for marketing
purposes). As stated in his paper, Green
(1999, p. 20) notes that football information
services in general ``have obtained virtually no
attention from researchers'' and this very
specific area of fan power on the Web has also
been neglected. The esteemed team at the Sir
Norman Chester Centre for Football
Research (SNCCFR) has hinted at the issue
in the following way:
There are probably two other contemporary
developments which are likely to be important
with regard to fan power in the future. Firstly,
there is the continued expansion of the Internet.
This would seem to be an ideal forum to exploit
in the search for a new supporter ``democracy''.
It has certainly been much used in recent
campaigns, including those involving
Manchester United and Brighton fans. It is
accessible to large numbers of people, and,
arguably, has a far less hierarchical power
structure than other communications media
(though many people still lack access to the
Internet, of course). Anyone who has access to
the relevant equipment can use the Internet to
express themselves. Already it is serving as a
means by which football fans can exchange ideas
and information, and as more and more people
become familiar with it, this facility is likely to
expand (Barber, 2002).
This paper is concerned not with Web sites
run by the clubs themselves that seek to
Received 20 May 2002
Accepted 20 June 2002
 Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
generate revenue and bombard fans with
marketing images. Instead it looks at sites that
allow fans to express themselves in the way
Labour's Football Charter wanted or are
independent from football's big business
machine.
Supporters Direct
So, what has the impact been and might the
Internet be the fans' saviour? The Supporters
Direct initiative is one area of fan power that
receives great attention and praise from the
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gurus at the SNCCFR. Supporters Direct was
one of the bi-products of the Football Task
Force's (1999a) third report Investing in the
Community. At the launch, the then Culture
Secretary, Chris Smith MP said:
There is an increasing danger in these days of
high finance in football, that clubs can become
separated from their fans. They may lose sight of
the value of their supporters and could be
tempted to ignore the desires and passion of their
following. I don't want fans of any club to be
taken for granted (Department of Culture,
Media and Sport, 2000).
The introductory press release from the
Department of Culture Media and Sport
(DCMS) sets the scheme out as follows:
Culture Secretary Chris Smith today launched a
Co-operative Bank backed scheme to help fans
play a part in running the clubs they love.
Under the ``Supporters Direct'' scheme, a team
of experts established by the Football Trust will
advise fans who want to play a responsible role in
the future of their team. With some help towards
start-up costs, supporters will be able to create
Supporters' Trusts to acquire shares in their
clubs. The project is backed by the Co-op Bank,
which has started a preferential banking service
to help make the Trusts a success (Department
of Culture, Media and Sport, 2000).
Supporters Direct is based at Birkbeck
College and has an admirable Web site
(http://www.supporters-direct.org/). The
Web site contains advice on how to set up a
Supporters' Trust, formulate a constitution,
buy and manage shares in a club and even
gain a seat on the board. There is a quarterly
newsletter e-mailed out to members of
Supporters Direct and the site even hosts an
e-mail group for like-minded individuals.
Based at Yahoo! but accessed via the
Supporters Direct Web site, this e-group
allows members of trusts to share their ideas
and experiences in a co-operative spirit.
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Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . 273±279
Trusts are run as industrial and provident
societies (IPSs) and are excellent examples of
fans becoming involved in the running of their
clubs. To date, around 47 clubs have set up
Supporters' Trusts, all of these have
established a presence on the Net (Supporters
Direct, 2002) under the watchful eye of the
Supporters Direct team. The Supporters
Direct Web site is clearly a focus for fans
wanting to take an active role in the running
of clubs.
The Northampton Town Football Club
Trust was the original and a Trust member
now has a seat on the board. An analysis of
the Northampton Town Trust by academics
at Birkbeck College advocated the use of the
Web in canvassing fans' views:
If a Trust is to represent the fans' views then it
needs to maintain a consistent dialogue with the
fans. The Trust can only maintain a meaningful
dialogue by pointing to where it stands on club
issues and the needs of the fans. This may
involve using space in the match programme,
fanzines, websites or simple leaflets (Frampton et
al., 2001).
The Northampton Town Trust has both an
extensive Web site (http://www.ntfctrust.
co.uk/) and an e-mail update service.
Wimbledon Football Club
A related phenomenon is the growth of
independent supporters associations (ISAs)
over recent years. In many respects these are
similar to Supporters' Trusts but tend to be
forums for like minded fans and shy away
from the financial and political responsibilities
a trust might undertake. A good example of
how supporters might use trusts and ISAs on
the Web to make their views heard (and
more) concerns Charles Koppel's desire to
move Wimbledon Football Club away from
their spiritual home to Milton Keynes.
The Wimbledon Independent Supporters
Association (WISA) has been around for
many years and its Web site (http://
www.wisa.org.uk/) shows how the Net can be
used to keep fans informed, canvass opinions
and muster and mobilise support. At the
moment, WISA is organising a vigil at the
Football Association (FA) headquarters
where a tribunal is hearing evidence about the
implications of moving the club to Milton
Keynes. People interested in helping out are
 Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
asked to e-mail vigil@wisa.org.uk. The WISA
Web site also contains instructions on:
. how to contact the FA with your views;
. how to e-mail, how to address the letter to
Adam Crozier;
. the deadline for written submissions;
. 25 facts about Wimbledon FC and
Milton Keynes;
. an online comments form for supporters
of other clubs sympathetic to
Wimbledon's plight to contact the FA by
e-mail.
In terms of mobilising support, the WISA
Web site asks for volunteers to help with
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specific tasks and asks for fans' views using
the WISA chat facility and mailtos. The
WISA Web site also includes pages common
to other ISAs, namely news, social dates and
even a WISA e-mail service.
In addition to the long-established
independent supporters' association at
Wimbledon, fans have recently set up a
Wimbledon supporters' trust, the Dons
Trust, under the Supporters Direct scheme.
The initial aim of the Trust is:
. . . to raise as much money as possible. This will
open up several possibilities. The Trust may be
able to purchase significant shareholdings in
Wimbledon Football Club, or may want to part
purchase a plot of land, or help finance the
construction of a new stadium in the local
community (The Dons Trust, 2002).
The Dons Trust has also used the Web
as a means of campaigning and mobilising.
It can be found on the Web at http://www.
thedonstrust.org/ and includes an online
membership form (sadly, this has to be posted
with remittance snail mail), the Trust's
constitution, how to get elected to the board
and a news page. Volunteers to help with the
campaign are recruited online using a
comments form.
Wimbledon supporters, via WISA and the
Dons Trust, have made productive use of the
Web in other ways. When Koppel first
suggested moving the club to far away Milton
Keynes, WISA registered the domain name
http://www.mknoway.co.uk/ as a focal point
for discontented fans. Someone has also
registered the domain name
charleskoppel.com and this page links to a
picture of Milton Keynes, Charles Koppel
and some money bags and carries the slogan
``Why euthanasia must be legalised
immediately.'' Less professional than the
WISA approach but it certainly gets the
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Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . 273±279
message across. If WISA really had their wits
about them they could do worse than register
all potential domain names the club might
want to use if it relocated and fill them with
campaigning material (e.g. mkdons.com/ or
miltonkeynesdons.com). A case of poaching a
goal if ever there was one.
WISA also benefits from an alternative
match day programme/fanzine Yellow and
Blue produced so fans opposed to the move
do not have to give money to Charles Koppel
when they buy a programme. The editor,
Niall Couper, gave an interview on The
Guardian's football portal
footballunlimited.co.uk in which he talked
about the background of Yellow and Blue:
Yellow and Blue is a 48-page full colour glossy
magazine. With a boycott on club merchandise
in the wake of Charles Koppel's plan to take
Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, we are the
alternative matchday programme for both home
and away fans.
The idea was first mooted on a website.
Twelve days later, we went to print with a 32-
page colour programme with ads from Kiss FM
and Cherry Red records and regular columnists
signed up (Couper, 2001).
Yellow and Blue is available on the Web at:
http://www.yellowandblue.org/
IMUSA
Another example of an ISA flexing its muscles
online concerns Rupert Murdoch's threat to
take over Manchester United Football Club
and thus unite football with television rights
once and for all. The Independent
Manchester United Supporters Association
(IMUSA) mobilised to stop the move and this
was a multi-faceted campaign that attracted a
lot of media attention. An article in the Red
Pepper looks at the approach taken by IMUSA
and notes the following:
The Internet proved vital in pulling together
distant resources and researching material on
Murdoch's activities. Fans all over the world
could become involved and a website was
quickly established as a central repository for
materials and a source of information on the
campaign's progress (Walsh and Brown, 2000).
Today, the IMUSA site library (http://
www.imusa.org/library.htm) details the
supporters' fight against Murdoch along with
copies of the documents mounted at the time:
Keep United for United, the submission to
the Office of Fair Trading and an extract from
 Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
a debate in the House of Lords. Overall, a
well-run and professionally organised
campaign.
At the moment, IMUSA is using the Web
to muster support for standing areas at Old
Trafford. Sadly, the minutes of the Fans'
Forum reveals the limitations of using the
Web as a lobby and also that supporters'
groups that do not follow the model of
becoming an industrial society can be nothing
but talking or e-mailing shops:
At present the Forum is run like a glorified focus
group with many fans unaware that it exists let
alone know what it does. The minutes and
reports of the meeting are publicised on the club
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website and in the programme but as less than
twenty per cent of the match going support looks
at these it is little wonder (IMUSA Fans' Forum,
2002).
Online voting and discussion
Trusts and ISAs aside, there are examples of
clubs trying to involve fans in the decision
making process over the Web. Some clubs
have asked fans to vote online and select their
club's next kit. Leyton Orient did this (Leyton
Orient Football Club, 2002), but perhaps the
best example of kit power is Southampton
Football Club. The Saintsfc Web site ran an
online vote to choose its new kit but this was
bombarded by Portsmouth fans who tried to
swing the vote to the most outrageous attire
for their local rivals.
The Saintsfc Web site commented thus:
Despite the best efforts of mischievous rival fans,
Saints will be playing in their traditional red and
white stripes next season. Half time at The Dell
saw Pete Devereux of Southampton garage duo
Artful Dodger proudly parade the new design
after more than 30,000 votes were cast. And
although rival fans were reported to be voting in
their droves for the unpopular Monaco design,
the favourite choice eventually won out by a
comfortable margin (Southampton Football
Club, 2001).
Most clubs now have a club charter that sets
out how the club will conduct its business.
The Leeds United Customer Charter is a
good example of this and even mentions how
consultations take place online:
The club consults supporters on a regular basis
through questionnaires, FAPL annual Fans'
survey, supporters' panels, focus groups and via
the official website. The club recognises the
voice of our junior members and will be holding
annual feedback sessions to build upon our
existing relationship (Leeds United FC, 2002).
276
Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . 273±279
The national game
At a national level, there have also been
efforts to increase fan participation by using
the Net. The Home Office Working Group
on Football Disorder was set up following the
violence by England fans at Euro 2000. The
group has a Web site (http://www.ask-the-
football-fans.gov.uk/) where Lord Bassam of
Brighton (Junior Minister at the Home
Office) asked fans to e-mail their thoughts on
the following questions:
. Do you travel to watch England? If not,
what would encourage you to go?
Why do the followers of other national
.
sides seem to be having a great time
visiting new places and meeting new
people while England fans are getting into
trouble?
. Should our clubs be doing more to
encourage women, families and minority
communities to go to matches?
. Should they be doing more to help the
local community? If so, what?
. What can be done to encourage more
young people to take part in local
football, and to make the experience
positive and welcoming for all sections of
the community?
. What do you think? Don't wait for the
``experts'' to decide then complain.
(Working Group on Football Disorder,
2000)
The recommendations produced by the group
suggested that the Web site be ``maintained
and expanded'' (Working Group on Football
Disorder, 2001, p. 9).
The Independent Football Commission
(IFC) is another national body that seeks to
redress grievances within the game and
allows fans to e-mail their complaints. It was
set up as a direct recommendation of the
fourth report of the Football Task Force's
Commercial Issues:
A football ``Ombudsfan''
The Task Force recommends the establishment
of an ``Ombudsfan'' who investigates individual
complaints and reports to the Football Audit
Commission (Football Task Force, 1999b).
The IFC has established a Web site (http://
www.theifc.co.uk) with a ``raise an issue''
form and promised to take on board fans'
concerns. Unfortunately, this may be a case of
the Government scoring an own goal as
reports in the press suggest that the IFC's
powers are limited and people like
 Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
Rogan Taylor were excluded from the IFC for
being too closely allied with supporters'
groups (Chaudhary, 2002; Mellor, 2001).
Fanzines
Fanzines are often regarded as the true voice
of the fans. Cheaply and locally produced
they are superb mouthpieces for fan power,
and as such have transferred effortlessly to
cyberspace. A simple Google search on
fanzines reveals just how many exist in
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cyberspace and what imaginative names some
of them have:
. Red All Over the Land (Liverpool) http://
www.raotl.co.uk/
. For Fox Sake (Leicester City) http://
www.forfoxsake.com/
. There's Only One F in Fulham (Fulham)
http://www.toofif.com
. One Flew Over Seaman's Head (Spurs)
http://www.ofosh.com/
In his paper on football information services,
Green (1999, pp. 21-22) lauds the existence
of fanzines:
Firstly, they set the tone for a new style of
football writing in which the fans' point of view is
paramount. Secondly, fanzines have been a
major force behind the recent trend towards
greater democracy and participation in
footballing discourse, as part of a concerted
effort to reclaim the game for the ordinary
supporter . . . Above all else, fanzines are
documents providing an alternative viewpoint.
Green's comments were made before
fanzines made their appearance on the Web
but all his praise can easily be directed to
webzines.
Hooliganism and the net
On the down side, the spectre of hooliganism
in the English game reared its ugly head
during the Euro 2000 tournament and has
been an uneasy presence at some nation-wide
games since. The BBC Web site ran a special
report that looked at one football site that
gave a running commentary on violence
between Cardiff and Millwall fans back in
August 1999 (BBC, 1999) and net-
orchestrated violence was also mentioned
within the context of Euro 2000 (De Vreese,
2000).
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Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . 273±279
The Evening Standard reported on the
subject as follows:
English football hooligans are organising a
campaign of violence on the Internet in
preparation for Euro 2000. With only a week to
go until England's opening match against
Portugal, a website names the bars where
troublemakers can meet in Eindhoven, Holland.
Black market tickets for England games are
being sold through the site by touts offering to
meet cash buyers in Holland. There is also
advice on where to find the best drugs and red-
light areas and how to beat security (Das-Gupta,
2000).
The National Criminal Intelligence Service
(NCIS) is the branch of the police concerned
with hooliganism and has commented:
Football hooliganism is more sophisticated than
it was . . . Many of the football hooligan's
activities are planned and communicated, using
mobile phones, pagers and the Internet. The
Internet has spawned a large number of mostly
crude and xenophobic websites that allow many
to share in the information about hooligan plans
but they also [allow] many to become absorbed
in the ``culture of hate''.
However, no serious organiser of football
hooliganism ± the type that might be the target of
NCIS's activities ± would openly organise on the
Net. They delight in keeping one step ahead of
the law, keeping their plans secret or changing
them at the last moment in order to avoid
detection (Drew, 2000).
If hooligans are using the Net to organise
themselves, this is certainly something the
Government should be aware of and
something that runs counter to the spirit of
football on the Net we have encountered so
far. On the plus side, the Government seems
to be aware of the problem and have, in fact,
played the issue down:
The National Criminal Intelligence Service
(NCIS) monitors websites associated with
football hooliganism and shares information with
local police forces. There is no evidence that the
sites are used to orchestrate football disorder, or
that individuals who set up or visit the sites are
directly involved in the phenomenon. Some sites
do have information technology (IT) links with
paramilitary websites and some hooligans do
have links with racist and other extremist groups.
However, football hooligans come from all social
and cultural backgrounds and there seems to be
no necessary connection between football
disorder generally and political extremism
(HMSO, 2002).
A search on Google brings up a disturbing
catalogue of Europe-wide hooligans' sites
(http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/
Stadium/3763/hoolie.htm) including the
Hooligans Forum, footballhooligans.net and
 Football fan power and the Internet: net gains?
Caroline Auty
terrace trouble. On closer inspection the
domain names are empty or have lapsed or
simply cannot be found, so perhaps the NCIS
view is correct.
Staying with the theme of hooligans,
following the recent violence at first division
play-offs, Millwall Football Club mounted
images of suspected hooligans on the club
Web site (Millwall Football Club, 2002) ±
claiming that such an element threatened the
very existence of the club and appealing to
true supporters to identify the culprits. Club
and Metropolitan Police working together
and using the Net to rid the game of its worst
elements.
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Conclusions
In conclusion, the Internet has clearly
established itself as a means of mobilisation
for football fans in a variety ways. Fanzines
have made an effortless move to cyberspace
and a number of supporters' groups have
utilised the Web to help with their individual
campaigns. Supporters' Trusts and ISAs
keep members informed of developments via
the Web and many use the Net to canvass
opinions on a range of issues. Even the
Government has turned to the Web to ask
the real football consumers what they think
and also to provide them with a mouthpiece
for their complaints. Obviously such issues
are not raised on the Internet alone but if the
Web is a means of supplementing other
lobbying methods, it is evidently worth
pursuing. A website is a cheap, simple
means of broadening the exposure of an
issue, perhaps turning it from a local matter
to a national one. In fact, the report
published by the Independent Commission
of the FA that examined Wimbledon's move
to Milton Keynes hinted at the power of the
Web:
The Commission received approximately 650
letters, e-mails and faxes . . . Many of these were
from fans of the Club (including members of
WISA, the Dons Trust and the Official
Wimbledon Fans' Forum) (Independent
Commission, 2002, p. 52).
However, bearing in mind that the
Commission appointed by the FA has
approved Wimbledon's move to Milton
Keynes (Football Association, 2002) despite
the work of WISA and their extensive Web
site, one can question whether even the Net
can combat football's current obsession with
everything that is financial.
278
Aslib Proceedings
Volume 54 . Number 5 . 2002 . 273±279
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