The environs of Bradford (formerly part of Season Ticket thread)

I knew that. We used that phrase too and you've ten years on me

 

All of Cleckheaton is in Kirklees.

 

Apparently so. Didn't know that.

 

Yep, full of coke heads and wannabe NASCAR drivers! Toilet.

 

Ha even I remember that as a young un.

 

Lower league football in general is largely a white working class community interest, passed down from parents to their children and so on. That's not to say it should stay that way, as the demographics of the country change it's important for lower league football clubs that people from other ethnicities and communities develop strong ties with the clubs so that the fanbase continues to grow or at least remains static. The real question is how do you do that? The tribalism and support for lower league football clubs in the UK is something quite peculiar, it's not normal in most other countries. How did we get here and how do we get people from other communities to join us?

 

For whatever reason the Asian communities have seemingly cottoned on to Man Utd and Liverpool.

 

Football is an entertainment business and as such people will always gravitate toward the big clubs.

 

Yes real shame, one of my mates from school many moons ago used to be an avid Bradford fan but now supports Man City. Hardly goes to games and claps his hands like a seal watching them on BT Sports on a sofa. Just never been able to get my head round it, yes of course the football is better but you can’t beat going with your mates or family to your local ground!

 

I was brought up in that era but the world changes every year and football is no different. Folk more excited sat at home watching football on the TV these days

 

Maybe the cost of living crisis and people looking at their sky bill may change things!

 

I think people who support their local team and watch lower league football are doing it for more complex reasons than entertainment. I go to Valley Parade hoping, but not expecting to be entertained. There have been times when I have walked home feeling miserable and there have been more lows than highs over the past twenty years. Yet hundreds of thousands of people up and down the country keep going back to watch their local team year after year.

My own theory is that watching lower league football is something akin to a religious experience for white working class people. It's a communal event where people can share transcendent experiences like joy and despair. It would explain why Asians are largely indifferent to lower league football, they are still a very religious community and going to the mosque, fasting and going on pilgrimages already give them similar transcendent experiences. Supporting their local team has nothing to offer them that they don't already have.