I approached the home of the Boston Red Sox at around
6:10 p.m. and people were flooding into the stadium from every angle. The T –
Boston’s underground system – was packed to the point where it was difficult to
breathe when standing. Fans donning Liverpool shirts could be seen even before
entering the city limits. It almost felt like a real European game.
Only it wasn’t. As my 3 friends and I searched for the
entrance to our standing area, it was remarkable how many random football
shirts were on show in and around the stadium. I spotted Porto, Chelsea,
Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Aston
Villa, Barcelona, and – this one takes the cake – even two or three Everton
shirts. A few fans were also wearing international shirts, with Argentina,
Mexico, England and understandably the United States well represented.
This seemed strange to me and even to my American friends
too. Where in Europe would you see somebody wearing a shirt that belonged to
neither of the teams playing that day? Would you ever see even one Chelsea
shirt at Anfield if the Blues aren’t visiting? The answer is no, yet there was
an absolute abundance of irrelevant football shirts spotted around the stadium.
I do recognize that football (or soccer) is not exactly a
huge sport in the States, but with the countries fans, players and football
federation constantly bragging about the progress they are making with the
sport, the lack of cultural understanding surprised me. By culture I do not
mean American or European culture, I mean football culture.
Football has long been a tribal game. Fans support their
clubs for various reasons, but they support them passionately. The club vs.
country debate has raged on for what seems like a century now, and most fans – especially
in England – have stood firmly on the club side. National pride is put aside
when your team is playing. Being Swedish, whenever Liverpool plays Blackburn I
hope that Martin Olsson has a shocker and I was as disappointed as anyone when
Seb Larsson scored the equalizer for Sunderland in the opening game of last
season.
I would never wish pain upon my club just for the sake of
my countrymen. Naturally I’m delighted when they play well against other teams,
but Liverpool is Liverpool, and my club takes precedent over my national pride.
This is why I was so shocked when American international
Michael Bradley scored the opener for Roma on Wednesday. As I looked on in
bitter disappointment, I watched people who had been chanting and cheering for
Liverpool all game celebrate the goal manically. This was closely followed with
a “USA! USA! USA!” chant.
I actually began feeling nauseous at this point. Even my
pure American friend (the other two friends with me at the game are Colombian
and Australian) looked at me with a disgusted face and started shaking his
head.
Seeing those same fans celebrate Charlie Adam’s
consolation seemed inappropriate. If they are going to cheer when Liverpool
concede, they don’t deserve to cheer when Liverpool score.
Maybe I have unrealistic expectations for the American
fans, especially seeing as they are one of the most patriotic breeds of people.
Still, it showed a lack of footballing awareness and almost a lack of respect
for footballing culture. I understand that every nation differs in the way they
perceive their club and country, but Liverpool is an English team with an
English cultural identity.
Liverpool has always come before Sweden and England for
me (I have dual-citizenship), and during my time travelling around Europe and
living in three different countries, I have never seen such footballing
betrayal from fans actually attending a game.
*Pictures taken by me at the game.
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