Glory Hunting in Football

The principle of glory hunting is one well established in football. It has got to the point where one can walk down any street in any British city and not be surprised to see Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal shirts. People apparently see nothing strange in showing their allegiance to a team, a city, to which they have no allegiance. They merely choose the football team they wish, and who would choose to support a team that won’t win anything?

However, as distasteful as it is to be abused by a United fan who couldn’t find Manchester on a map, they’re still better than foreign-based glory hunters. Whilst this could sound like thinly veiled xenophobia, there is reasoning behind it. Whilst an English fan might not have any connection to Chelsea, other than liking the fact they win things, he is at least supporting an English club (albeit one owned by a Russian, managed by a Brazilian, with a Czech in goal). The situation gets slightly stranger when listening to a thickly accented Malaysian voice describing his love for Liverpool and his hero worship of Steven Gerrard.

One of the stranger sights in the world of sport is witnessing a Manchester United match in a pub in Sofia with 30 voices singing pro-United songs in Bulgarian (with apparently all involved missing the irony). This can only serve to infuriate those who reckon themselves ‘true’ fans as one of the main Bulgarian sides, CSKA Sofia, had a match at the same time not 20 minutes away. CSKA Sofia are not a bad team (only Rangers and Celtic have won more domestic titles in Europe) but the Bulgarian ‘fans’ of more popular English teams have no desire to support their local side.

Football is a unifying force throughout the world; fans from any country can have something in common, something to spark a conversation. However, the predominance of the English Premier League, something which British football fans are told repeatedly is a good thing, means that the majority of football fans met, no matter the country, will support one out of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, or Liverpool. Passionately.

This lack of interest destroys domestic teams, as there are parts of the world that know that if they schedule a match at the same time as a Premiership match their attendance will drop dramatically. For example, there are teams in Africa, Asia, and America that are surrounded by football fans who could not care less about them, but will defend to the death Chelsea’s honour. Football should be, and is, a common denominator and a way for different cultures to interact and befriend each other. It just shouldn’t be over the same four teams. If people don’t support their local clubs and just choose a team that’s likely to win something then the passion for the game will drain away, and that benefits no one.