“It’s only banter”. Banter, banter, fucking banter. Anyone who uses the could be placed in a category anywhere between a fool and a racist. A word so socially acceptable among cretins that it is now believed by some to be a moral justification for almost anything, from mocking a rivals’ poor league position to starting a race-hate war.

At some point in history (I must have missed it) those six little letters took on such strength that many feel it allows them to say whatever they want, to whoever they want, and still believe it a justifiable excuse. Do they believe that if the Nazi’s had used “banter” as an excuse, they’d have gotten away scot-free and avoided World War Two? Maybe if Daniel François Malan had uttered the phrase, the bigots would have forgiven him for paving the way to Apartheid?

So far the racism storm smashing our game to pieces is mostly visible inside the stadiums; but already cracks are appearing, and it is starting to seep into the outside world. Recent displays on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have seen messages sent to footballers containing racist abuse and threats, all of the offenders seemingly believing that their computer screen is some sort of protective bubble. Something needs to be done about the latest tornado threatening our game, before it goes too far.

A few months ago, the act of judging by skin colour looked to be slowly eroding from the game; but the recent actions of a few high-profile players and a higher number of equally small-minded fans are clearly proving that there is still a long way to go before English football can be classed as clean. Much like the homophobia I saw on display at a recent game, there is so much more that can be done – and needs to be done – to raise awareness of the subject.

Every football club should be doing its part to show that insulting people for either their gender, sexuality, colour of their skin, or anything else for that matter; is despicable. A zero-tolerance policy on any kind of abuse – whether it be on the pitch, in the stands, or even on the internet – needs to be taken by all clubs. If a club is seen to not take action against an offending player or supporter, the club itself needs to take responsibility and be punished heavily.

Players can sometimes be seen sporting their “Kick Racism Out of Football” t-shirts before the odd game; and although this is definitely a small step forward, it isn’t exactly getting to the root of the problem. Whilst the usual anti-racism day is again showing awareness to the subject, some clearly believe that this means that racism is acceptable on the other 364 days of the year. And when you have players publicly defending, and in cases even wearing t-shirts supporting a team-mate who has admitted to making racist comments; it makes a complete mockery of these campaigns trying to do good in the game.

The recent statement released by Liverpool during the Evra/Suarez row just goes to show that the clubs are on totally the wrong wavelength. Instead of doing the seemingly correct thing and condemning their players’ remarks, they went on record to back their striker and put themselves in a very stupid position.

And when will some fans realise that condemning your own player when he does something wrong does not mean that you’re not a real supporter. Numerous Kop supporters have gone on to say that they should support Suarez as he is a Liverpool player; but how many of them would be quick to call him “racist scum” should he play for Manchester United? All you are doing is finding an excuse for racism. That was what the Nazi’s did…

At Friday’s Liverpool – Oldham FA Cup clash, a Liverpool supporter was alleged to hurl racist abuse at an Oldham player. If the allegations are proven true – and given the way that the club have practically advocated racism, it wouldn’t surprise me – how do the club go about dealing with the issue? Do they brush it aside as a non-incident and publish a statement declaring that their fans are the best in the country; or do they punish said supporter, showing a display of “One rule for one, one rule for another” which makes them look even more foolish?

Do we only have ourselves to blame for the latest blemish on the sport? With the increased amount of money in the game; power has shifted to the players making them role models for an entire generation. And when some of our population have role models in the form of (England Captain) John Terry and Luis Suarez, are we really surprised that racial discrimination is returning to our supposedly beautiful game?

The whole recent series of racist and homophobic incidents has proven that football in England has taken a massive step backwards in its’ fight against discrimination. It’s ruining the sport we love. And with the attitudes of some supporters on display, and their beliefs that “banter” makes it all okay; we still have a hell of a long way to go before it gets better.

Hello all, and sorry for the complete lack of updates over the last few months at Modern-Football.co.uk. For the near future, here at MF will unfortunately be few and far between; but the site should resume almost normal service in early 2012. However, the reasons for the site’s short hiatus can now finally be revealed…

In early October, yours truly was asked by those handsome fellows over at In Bed With Maradona to help to create a guide for the forthcoming European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. Needless to say, this was an opportunity that couldn’t be turned down; especially after being told that it was to work alongside an actual author, Lewes FC Director and editor of The Ball Is Round, Stuart Fuller and European Football Weekends‘ editor Danny Last.

As you can imagine, researching for this takes an immense amount of time; especially when fitting it in around work and the small social life that I do retain. Hence the reason for the lack of new blogs posts on the site.

My second reason for my break at MF is that i’ve been toying with the idea of creating a second website, purely for my interest in Polish football. Now I can finally announce that my new site, EkstraklasaReview.co.uk will be launched in early 2012. If you head over there now, all you will see is a basic working of the site with a “Coming Soon…” post; but i’d still like to get your feedback.

All being well, both sites should be up and running by mid-February; and look out for the IBWM Euro 2012 Guide not long after that.

Thanks

Ryan

Two new pieces of art completed this week, with a split Xavi Hernandez and Paul Scholes piece created at the request of Hayden Shaw, entitled “The Passmasters”; and another of the great Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin for Karl Smout, entitled “The Black Spider”.

If you are interested in owning a piece of any player, don’t hesitate to get in touch via Twitter or by leaving a comment on the Facebook Wall. Also, check out the Modern Football Art Store.

Saturday was set up to be a great day. The rain had subsided early on, and the sun had decided to put on its hat and head out for the day. Despite a cold and strong breeze reminding us that we are still heading steadily to the mildness of October, it was still a great day to watch football. After a swift walk from the relative comfort of the pub to the hostility of the King Power Stadium (with a bacon cheeseburger en-route), I made my way to to my home for the next ninety minutes – sandwiched between two young men with less-than-welcoming personal hygiene – just in time for kick-off.

The teams emerged – Brighton and Hove Albion the visitors to Leicester for the day – to rapturous applause from both sets of fans; with the Post Horn Gallop played impeccably, as per usual. However my anticipation for the game quickly turned to disgust after just a minute-and-a-half of the game, as choruses of “You’re just a town full of faggots” rang out from behind me.

Now, before I go on further, I should tell those who don’t know much about Brighton and Hove a few pieces of information. The city, situated on the Sussex Coast, is commonly referred to as the “Gay Capital of Britain”. This is due to it having a very substantial LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. Each August, the city hosts the fantastic “Brighton Pride” event; which aims to eliminate the discrimination of the LGBT community whilst promoting equality and diversity in the community. Each year, the event is attended by over 100,000 people; some of which are neither homosexual or transgender.

Returning to the game, the visitors started off the game brightly; with their impressive support of around 2,000 warming up their voices. But it wasn’t long before their chant of “Sea-Sea-Seasiders” was transformed into a less-than-witty retort of “Shit-shit-shit stabbers” by a small section of the home crowd.

Over the course of the first half, the moronic chants continued to head in the direction of the visitors, ranging from “Does your boyfriend know you’re here?” to screaming “get up, you poof!” at a Brighton player, whilst down on the floor with an injury.

By the time that the full-time whistle was blown and I had moved to a different section of the ground, the bigoted chanting from a small minority – and I must stress that it was only a small section – had soured what was an encouraging win over the early Championship pace-setters. I should have walked from that stadium with a smile on my face, but all I could think of was the brainless lack of tolerance from some of the people who I am supposed to call my fellow supporters.

All credit to the Brighton supporters, many shrugged off the abuse and continued with the support of their team; although I fear that their ability to let such abuse over their heads means that homophobic abuse is a common occurrence when the Seagulls pull into a town. It’s also a worry that by singing such despicable chants, it is condoning such behaviour to younger fans. There were kids chanting in the crowd, who must have been no more than nine-or-ten years old; already a new generation converted to social ignorance and sexual discrimination.

I take comfort – albeit a very small amount – in the fact that many of the Foxes fans were appalled by the actions of a few. Posts on Leicester City forums ranged from “There isn’t any place for it at the King Power Stadium” to “a group of hundreds of football fans chanting ‘faggots’ is outright intimidating behaviour”. However there were still a number dismissing the chants as “just a bit of banter”.

Yet these people are also some of the same group of supporters who are outraged on the few occasions where opposition fans – Bristol City and Nottingham Forest immediately spring to mind – chant “You’re just a town full of Paki’s” (due to the cultural diversity within the city of Leicester, of which the South-Asian community have a large presence) when the Foxes play away.

Although there are high-profile campaigns – “Kick it Out” being the most well-known – which are steadily trying to eradicate racism from both the terraces, and society in general; there is almost a “sweep it under the carpet” attitude towards homophobia.

The Justin Campaign (http://www.thejustincampaign.com) does tremendous work in trying to prevent homophobia from rearing its ugly head in football; but with almost no publicity given to the organisation, it relies mostly on word-of-mouth to help publicise its objectives.

For now, without the high profile backing of players or clubs, homophobia will continue to grow in the sport. Unless action is taken to publicise such organisations, their message will unfortunately be drowned out by a chorus of bigoted chanting.

For more information on The Justin Campaign, head to their website, and follow them on Twitter.

Finally, the Modern Football Art Store has arrived!

Powered by Etsy, the new store will be selling off all of the Los Revolucionarios pieces, as well as some other gems. Prices for the Los Revolucionarios pieces are prices at a fantastic £15 plus postage and packaging. But don’t hesitate, as there is only a limited number in the set!

The new store can be found either HERE, or on the right side of the page making it available from anywhere on the site.

If the piece of art that you are looking for isn’t available, don’t hesitate to contact me either via Etsy, or on Twitter.

Also, if you aren’t a fan of Ryan Hubbard’s Modern Football on Facebook, why not?! You will receive all new updates from RHMF in your Facebook timeline!

We all know that modern football is controlled by money nowadays. So with players demanding higher and higher wages, why should the clubs be made out as evil when they try to recoup some of this cash?

Mirror columnist Oliver Holt was one of the first out of the blocks claiming that Leicester’s owners had paved the way for the “desecration of the club’s history” and “the loss of the club’s dignity”; clearly dismissing any suggestion that had already happened 10 years ago by claiming that he could “live with the Walkers Stadium, even if it was named after a bag of crisps.”

So it’s okay to sponsor a brand new stadium; but if said sponsorship deal expires, you shouldn’t get a replacement? Very nice logic there…

But even so, The Foxes’ old home Filbert Street wasn’t the actual name of the stadium; from the early 1990’s the ground’s actual title was “The City Business Stadium”.

Although the era where stadiums are referred to as the street in which they are located is slowly disappearing, it doesn’t mean that fans will stop referring to them in that way. The fact is that Leicester supporters – along with supporters of other clubs with sponsored stadia – will just continue to call the newly-labelled stadium by a name already used. I, for one, will still refer to the King Power Stadium as “Filbert Way”; a name given to the road in honour of Leicester’s short relocation. This is in the same way as Newcastle supporters still call it “St James’ Park”, and Manchester City fans will continue to use “Eastlands”.

In fact, as much as these journalists seem to be banging on about how bad this decision was for football, I don’t think I’ve heard of a single Leicester fan who is bothered about the name change. Yes, there is a little disappointment that Walkers will not be a major sponsor for the club after 25-years; but if anything, it just confirms that Leicester City’s Thai owners are at the club for the long-run. And judging by the buzz going around the city of Leicester at the moment, it can only be a good thing.

Football has changed a lot over the past two decades, and people have to accept that if clubs want to compete at the highest level possible, some things are going to have to give way. We might all be following a game where money talks; but the true soul, identity and dignity of a football club lie with the supporters and players. And at the end of the day, whether your stadium is called the “B2net Stadium” or the “Rupert Murdoch Arena”, that should be the only thing that matters.

When I was younger, I looked up to Ryan Giggs. Being left-footed, stuck out on the left-wing and with the name “Ryan”, there wasn’t really many others who I could emulate whilst playing on the local park; and it wasn’t long before the nickname “Giggsy” stuck. For me, he was still someone I could look towards and admire as I got older – even if I wasn’t a Man United fan. Ryan Giggs was one of the good guys.

That was, anyway, until the whole recent “un-named footballer” controversy/farce, which got me thinking: “Are there actually any good guys left in football?”.

With the modern day obsession of celebrity, it seems that the tabloids want us to believe that everybody who is earning more money than us “normals”, is a sex-obsessed, attention seeking adulterer, or just a plain fucking idiot. Surely that isn’t the case.

I for one, believe it’s highly unlikely that all footballers lack a moral compass, and i’m sure that there are footballers out there doing a lot of good with their lives. So why on earth is the story about Mario Balotelli handing a homeless man £1,000 sitting somewhere hidden on page 27, whilst the one about him acting like an idiot is pretty-much certain to make the front pages? I’m not saying that he isn’t sometimes a nutcase, but the balance is pretty uneven.

Maybe there is a feeling that the British public need to feel in some way superior to the people that are earning money by doing something that we all wish we could do. But do we really need to open our newspapers everyday to read about how these people with more money than we could ever imagine can’t control their personal lives? Are we as a nation so shallow, that we crave to scream out how “They may have more money than us, but at least we’re better people”? Are we really a bunch of bitter bastards?

Maybe it’s the media who are the ones making us feel like this in the first place. Maybe they believe that if we constantly read about how there are rich sports-people who have fantastic personal lives, and also do good; we will not want to buy their red-topped turd rags due to us feeling a severe sense of jealousy every time we get past the pair of tits on page 3 (and i’m not talking about Richard Keys and Andy Gray). Can we really blame the media for creating a nation obsessed with finding out which Premier League player is shacked up with his team-mate’s wife, rather than which player has made the most assists or completed the most passes?

Although it obviously isn’t all down to them, these papers should surely take a certain amount of responsibility. They should know that some of the people who pay hundreds and thousands of pounds to follow their heroes, can be easily influenced. So by showing pictures of Steven Gerrard, John Terry or any other top footballer leaving a nightclub, are they effectively encouraging young people to go drinking? By allowing column inches to cheating stars, are they glamourizing adultery, and making it out as almost acceptable behaviour for young men? Is a media hell-bent on concentrating on the side of players who demand more money – or who are generally being arses – helping to create a lack of good role models for kids and teenagers?

Whilst I believe that these players who have a major influence on young people need to be “outed” to the general public if they are doing something that they shouldn’t be, I feel that more coverage should be given to the players who are doing good with their lives. Instead of that extra feature on Ryan Giggs’ uncle’s mate’s brother telling the readers how there’s now a “bit of tension in the family”, why not offer some page-space to the footballers helping sick children, or the ones donating to charity? Maybe (and this is a big “maybe”) there is a small chance that people will see good being done, and want to copy their idols for the better. The news stories of players using their fame and fortune for good are the ones that deserve to be heard; not the ones abusing their status for their own gain. Even the “non-stories” – which have absolutely no real significance at all – seem to get more coverage than the good ones. I really don’t fucking care if Wayne Rooney has had some hair from his back-side put onto his head, but the papers seem to think it will garner more readers than a piece about a footballer doing good ever could; and unfortunately, they are probably right.

“Footballer in sex scandal” they scream in capital letters from their advertising boards; something that we’ve seemingly become accustomed to. But is it just an image which the media of today have created, or is the behaviour of these players indicative of how everyone else in society behaves nowadays?

I know that deep down, the latter is not true; it can’t be.

Or maybe I’m wrong about it all. Maybe everything that you have just read is bollocks, and there are just no good guys left in football.

Many say that the removal of terracing has caused the atmosphere in top and second-tier football stadia to fade, and in many ways I agree. But is there a new threat ready to kill off the soul of English football?

After the recent televised Championship Play-Off Semi-Final between Swansea and Nottingham Forest, there was a lot of commotion heading the way of a group of Swansea fans who celebrated their three goals by doing the so-called “Poznań”. The fuss was directed by a few Manchester City supporters who claimed that the Welsh fans had stolen their celebration.

Now if you don’t know what a “Poznań” is, it is a dance of sorts – usually after a goal is scored – where the crowd turn away from the pitch, huddle together and jump up and down. It is also known as a “Grecque” in parts of Europe, and supporters in France, Holland, and many other countries have done it for years. The Manchester City fans “adopted” it when the fans of Polish side Lech Poznań performed it during a Europa League game at Eastlands earlier this season, and when it’s done properly, it can look absolutely fantastic.

However, my gripe with the “Poznań” is not that fans are trying to improve the atmosphere inside the stadium by copying a group of Polish Ultras, or even that there are some supporters who seemingly refuse to acknowledge that there were other clubs who did the celebration before them; I have heard some fans say that others shouldn’t steal “their celebration”, even though they clearly “stole” it themselves. My problem with the English supporters doing it – and this may sound petty – is that they use it as a goal celebration.

When many clubs in Europe do the “Grecque”, they proceed to pound up and down for minutes on end, not to celebrate a goal, but to celebrate their mutual support for their club. It can usually be seen as a part of the visual displays that many continental clubs’ ultras put on during every game. They are spectacles that most English clubs have failed to recreate in our stadia.

Watching the Polish supporters – as well as many other European ultras – chant, wave flags and jump around for 90 minutes makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up; yet watching the English fans celebrate goals by doing a special dance seems rather cringe-worthy, especially when most supporters are seemingly unprepared to show their support for a whole game, and are more than happy to boo something as little as a misplaced pass.

If the fans are looking to take a leaf from their foreign counterparts, they should be getting behind their teams for 90 minutes rather than for 30 seconds after their opponent’s net bulges. With this “part-time support”, The Man City (as well as many other English sides’) “Poznań” seems to have almost devalued the act in some way. There almost seems a lack of passion throughout the stands for the majority of a game, and yet because they do a special goal celebration, the fans feel that they deserve some sort of special accreditation for a dance during the short time that they are in the spotlight.

As soon as the ball hits the net, fans should be sporadically jumping around, whilst falling over the seats in front in some sort of spontaneous outburst; not looking for their neighbour to turn away, link arms and bounce up and down in co-ordination, in time with the goal music.

Ah, yes… Goal Music. Another reason to hate modern football. At the Walkers Stadium, I have actually seen grown men watch the ball fly into the net and wait for the goal music to start, almost waiting for confirmation, before performing some kind of strange monkey-dance celebration.
We know from watching numerous YouTube videos (Stuart Fuller has a great piece over at The Ball Is Round) that many German, Dutch and Scandinavian fans can create a fantastic atmosphere, without the threat of violence. And even in countries such as Poland – which is regarded to have some of the best ultras in Europe – it is only a small handful of hooligans (who are usually unrelated to the Ultra groups) that tarnish their clubs’ names’, and these clubs are working hard to eradicate the hooliganism without harming the fantastic matchday atmosphere. As well as the fans, the message needs to be spread to the clubs that “Fanaticism doesn’t have to mean Violence”.

So please remember the next time that you head off to the stadium, if you can create an atmosphere during the rest of the game, you won’t need a special dance to show everyone that you have the best fans.

Did you know that you can now follow Modern Football on Facebook as well as Twitter?

If you know your Polish Football, you will know of Wisła Kraków and Cracovia, the two biggest sides in Poland’s second city. But until the mid 1990’s there was a third team; a team that in the 1950’s could claim to be European Champions!

Głupcy Kraków was originally formed in the Latwowierny district of Kraków in 1932, as a protest to the violence that plagued the city’s two main clubs. With heavy investment from former Cracovia and Wisła supporters who were disillusioned by the fighting, Głupcy were quick to make an impression in the first league. By the time 1938 came around, they had been promoted to the top level of Polish football with thanks to their Polish International front-line of Pawel Kwiecień and Rafał Żart who had bagged an incredible 48 goals between them in their II Liga title-winning season. But before the club could establish themselves in the top-flight, the country was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Second World War begun.

In the following years – despite the city being under German occupation – Głupcy continued to operate (although mostly in secrecy), playing friendly games against both Wisła and Cracovia, as well as other local teams. To avoid detection, many of the clubs’ “games” were played during the dead of night by candle-light. The club however, did manage to play a number of “official” games during the war, competing against army officers who were stationed in the city.
After the fighting ceased in 1945, Głupcy’s home stadium was left in ruins, with many of the club’s players displaced by the war. On the resumption of the I Liga, the club was quickly relegated, and with huge financial problems due to the rebuilding of the stadium (home games were being played at the stadium of amateur side Nieprawda Kraków), the club’s future was in huge doubt.

But in 1951, the club was given a lifeline as the owner of a nearby enamelware factory decided to plough money into the football club, and recruited players from his workforce. It was these players that took Głupcy through their golden period. Led by their new captain – and part-time enamel moulder – Lukasz Kłamca, the club returned to the top flight with a play-off victory against AKS Chorzów in May 1952.

On the club’s return to the I Liga, Głupcy gained famous victories against their city rivals Wisła and Cracovia, and the following season defied all odds by going on to beat favourites Górnik Zabrze to win their first ever league title – an amazing feat considering that just two years previously, 4 of the club’s stars had been holding down second jobs. With an incredible 28 goals in 30 games, 21-star old star striker Zbigniew Nieuk (who later went on to represent Poland at the 1960 Olympics in Rome) was linked with transfers to Real Madrid and AC Milan.

In the summer following the Championship victory, UEFA decided to hold a tournament featuring the champions of Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and Spain, which was to be a trial in anticipation of the inaugural European Cup the following year. After a victory against UDA (Dukla) Prague, Głupcy faced Spanish champions Real Madrid in a two-legged final. After the first leg finished 1-0 to the home side in the Bernabeu, Real were expected to win comfortably in Poland. However a brace from Nieuk in front of a 26,000 crowd saw the Błaznów pick up the trophy with a 2-1 aggregate win.

Even though the club claimed to be the first champions of Europe, their league form struggled. Despite a Polish Cup final, Głupcy finished third in the league and sold a number of players in the summer. The following season saw the club fail to compete with the bigger clubs, and a large period of mediocrity set in.

Relegation was finally confirmed in 1963, and the club never reached the heights of the I Liga again. With money haemorrhaging from the club, the stadium was sold in 1965 and the club was demoted to the fourth tier.  With no-one willing to invest in a club without a stadium (the club was able to ground-share with local rivals Hutnik Kraków) and seemingly without a future, Głupcy settled into life as an amateur club.

Despite glimpses of a revival – a Polish Cup Quarter-Final tie against Zagłębie Sosnowiec in 1981 – large debts from failing to pay taxes cost the club dearly, and Głupcy eventually went bankrupt in 1994.

However in late 2000, the club was remembered and honoured in the Latwowierny district where Głupcy was formed. A statue of their legendary captain Lukasz Kłamca, trophy in-hand, was erected celebrating the 45^th anniversary of the club’s famous victory over Real Madrid. Głupcy Kraków may be no more, but with the help of the statue the memory of the club will live on forever.

You can read more about Głupcy Kraków HERE.

This painting is taken from the famous image of Diego Maradona playing for Argentina in a game against Belgium. It is painted onto a 16″x20″ canvas board.