British Fans Are Different

This article was generously provided to ClubFootball by the British Council, which operates in China as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy.

British football, so they say, is in decline. Out-played, out-thought - it's club teams full of foreigners. But lift your eyes from the pitch to the stands, and you'll see a group of people who are copied worldwide - Britain's devoted fans. Simon Kuper explains.
 
The most devoted foreign fans admire British fan culture. Some of the foreigners try to imitate the British, which explains the Union Jacks on terraces all over Europe and the songs borrowed from Britain. 'Here We Go', which Auberon Waugh called the national anthem of the working classes, is rapidly becoming the new Internationale. The British fan's repertoire is limitless.
 
British fans are unique. In Britain, football itself is almost incidental to fan culture. More than any other supporters in the world, British fans are aware of themselves as fans. They think a lot about their own numbers, their visibility, and their group character.
 
The British fan's main virtue is devotion (to his or her team). Nothing else in football matters nearly as much to him. A Rochdale fan wants to read about Gazza and David Platt, but most of all he or she wants to read about Rochdale. My friends in Holland and Germany liked some teams more than others, but these sympathies were slight and changeable. Coming to England, I met people who had not the slightest desire to kick a ball themselves but who were devoted to teams which they knew to play poor football and which they went to see play every week.
 
British fans are historians. When two British sides play each other, their histories play each other too. This is especially true in Glasgow. The Celtic anthem sums it up:
"It's a grand old team to play for,
It's a grand old team to see,
And if you know your history,
It's enough to make your heart go oh oh oh oh"
When John Motson, the famous English TV football commentator tells us that 'these two sides last met in the Cup in I954, Rovers winning 1-0 thanks to a 31st minute own goal', he is making a very British point.'