Political Football

Saturday 13th December; I should have gone to Manchester for a UCU Further Education Sector Conference. Instead I went to Hedworthfield Red Hackle v Wallsend Winstons; it was a 4-4 draw. On the same day, Chester FC's "Blue & white" fanzine came out. I wrote this piece for it...

I’m not sure, but I’d imagine I’m probably a little bit further to the left than you or anyone else you’ve ever met. Politically, I am a supporter of the Socialist Party of Great Britain and companion parties in the World Socialist Movement (http://www.worldsocialism.org/). To clarify, we’re nothing to do with Deggsy Hatton’s Leninist vanguardista grandchildren in the “Socialist” Party and their thinly disguised TUSC organisation. Without getting all People’s Front of Judea on you, since 1904 the SPGB has maintained that the Labour Party is as irredeemably corrupt as all other parties that seek not to promote the interests of the working class, but to maintain the interests of capitalism. Consequently, the SPGB actively opposes all reforms to the capitalist system as being of negligible benefit in the broader scheme of things, while also opposing all top-down, reformist, so-called left-wing pressure groups and movements, as these are invariably organised by charismatic autodidacts more concerned with establishing power, whether instrumental or influential, for themselves than advancing the cause of the working class. We believe all change must be organic, peaceful, democratic and led by the united will of the working classes. Many political analysts describe the SPGB as coming from the “impossibilist” school of thought. I see their point.

At work, I’m the union branch secretary; which is as close as you get to a shop steward in Further Education. I make no bones to my members about my political beliefs and they’re happy for me to undertake my role regardless. Often, union work involves interminable wrangling with management over the interpretation of contractual obligations, where tiny victories are sometimes won after prolonged debate and negotiation; however any success over management is celebrated by individual members as a small piece of good cheer. When I’m at work, expedient pragmatism has to outweigh political ideology. Hence, I modestly celebrate these small achievements as well, while always acknowledging their ultimate futility, by remembering the SPGB comment on active trade unionism that it is our job as socialists to stand with our fellow workers in their necessary battles to defend themselves, but to point out at all times that the real victory to be achieved is the abolition of the wages system.

What has this red propaganda got to do with football? Well, as a supporter of Newcastle United, I look at your club’s fan ownership model, as I do with other clubs such as FC United and to a lesser extent Swansea City, with both admiration and envy. I’m not naïve enough to see a disparate handful of clubs coming under fan ownership as a panacea for all the ills of the modern game but, as a former shaggy haired Maoist, I hear what Chairman Tse Tung said when he commented “even a journey of 1,000 miles must begin with a single step.” My mantra is, while Mike Ashley remains, it is immaterial who manages or plays for Newcastle United, nor does it matter where in the table the club finishes this season, as I am firmly of the belief  we need Ashley OUT and 100% Fan Ownership IN, though I am prepared to accept 51% Fan Ownership as a transitional demand. However, in the same way that my political beliefs are shaped by the founding principles of the SPGB that go back to 1904, which I freely acknowledge are not likely to become reality at any immediate point in the future, I accept that Mike Ashley is not imminently about to hand over ownership of Newcastle United to the entire support in the region and Geordie diaspora worldwide, allowing us to democratically elect  executive officers, subject to immediate recall by the membership, who will be charged with running the club on a non-profit basis for the greater good of both Tyneside and the north east as a whole, as well as the wider community involved in the game of football, while remaining vehemently opposed, on principle, to the grotesque parody of sport that the Premier and Football Leagues have become. Still, it is good to have something to aim for, isn’t it?

In 2015, Newcastle United’s inevitable relegation to the Championship (despite what I said above about the irrelevance of the team’s fortunes, I obviously realize Pardew is a vain, narcissistic, populist oaf who couldn’t run a bath never mind a football team) will probably coincide with the General Election. Never before have I felt so attuned to the will of the majority of people, many of whom, in whatever facet of my life I converse with them, view all major parties, including Farage’s Estate Agent Wehrmacht, with a profound, embittered loathing and contempt. As a result, in a series of actions that reminds me of nothing less than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to get a better view of the on-coming pretty lump of ice, the main political parties are vainly seeking a populist toehold in the public’s consciousness, by hauling the question of the regulation of football into the forefront of the political arena, for a couple of weeks at least.

First to dump their pustular backsides on board this shambling bandwagon are Labour, who have announced what is being touted as a “substantial manifesto commitment” (their words; not mine), ensuring that were Milliband’s class traitors to be returned to power after the election, “some” ownership of football clubs would be passed over to registered Supporters Trusts at every Football League and Premier League club, as well as placing at least two representatives on each board of directors. Wow.

Forgive me for not spontaneously combusting with excitement at this vague promise of sugar-free jam tomorrow, but I simply fail to see how such ill-conceived, tokenistic window-dressing can be regard as any kind of step in the right direction. Firstly, while Supporters’ Trusts are a good thing, the experiences I have had with my own club’s inert and bumbling NUST, as well as their mutual love-ins with the pompous and dirigistic Supporters Direct and Shachtmanite, dynastic FSA, are wholly negative ones and far beyond the scope of this article. Secondly, my vote will not be cast for a party who serve the interests of the capitalist class, support illegal foreign wars and who have gone on record as stating they will not seek to redress the actions of the last 5 years of Condem misrule. Finally, to suggest that anyone will find such proposed, minimal legislative intervention into the wrongs of the game as being a positive reason to vote Labour, is errant nonsense. If we wish to see our game run properly, the way to do this is to ensure that our clubs are run properly; for the fans and by the fans. Once such a state of affairs is in place, it will be comparatively simple to ensure the administrative bodies overseeing the framework of the game are run in an equitable, not-for-profit manner that will benefit every player and supporter from Under 8s to the highest rank of the professional game.

One of my favourite ever cartoons by the late Ray Lowry was in the NME around the time of Graham Gooch’s English rebel tour of apartheid era South Africa in 1982. The scene was the Roman coliseum; as a Christian slave is about to be fed to the lions, he cries out “imperialist bastards!” The betogaed and garlanded emperor turns to his flunky and announces “I do wish they’d keep politics out of sport.” However, you simply can’t do that. In my eyes, capitalism is wrong in all its manifestations; whether it’s Mike Ashley’s or Ed Miliband’s version, I’m opposed to it on principle and will remain so until my dying breath.