......a working class sport. A chap said to me the other day that he could no longer afford to watch the Saints as the working class had been priced out of going to watch their sport. We ended up disagreeing about whether football was a working class sport or not but it left me wondering when did this myth start. I was particularly puzzled as our team's foundation was build upon the sporting interests of a group of good Christian men supported by shipbuilders from the north east. Added to that men from all social classes have played the game and Saints have always enjoyed strong support from across the the community irrespective of social class. Blimey even the Queen came to watch us and she is definitely not working class.
That would be after the Second World War when stadiums throughout the country were packed with more than double the maximum capacity they get now as the country sought a distraction from post-war rebuilding and rationing.
Whilst football is more universal now, it started as a working class sport whilst rugby union was for the class that went to public schools. Very few public schools played soccer. Rugby League was a working class sport for northeners. Describing people as working class is old hat now only used by papers like The Mirror as very few people don't work for a living now. The reason many can't afford regular attendance at football (if they wished to go) is more to do with what free money they have and that is related to income and outgoings (family etc). Many people previously decribed as working class, such as tradesmen, live 'middle-class' lives.
It's a sport that is ostensibly open to everyone, unlike some others, so it is a working class game in that sense. I think it has something to do with the players as well though, more than many other sports, football players themselves come from all backgrounds. It has become more expensive and gentrified, but its recent history is very much tied in with the working classes.
Maybe in leafy Berkshire football isn't the working class game, but for the rest of us it sure started out that way. I remember as a kid the dockers arriving at The Dell straight from work. Big hard men and heaven help you if you'd stood in their spot. It is true that the game has changed, but so too has our class system to a degree. My life is now uber-bourgeois and most of my middle class friends don't understand my obsession with Saints. The few that do are, like me, of "working class" origins. If we define class by occupation alone, many of my friends are working class - i.e. they occupy trade jobs rather than white collar jobs - and the ones who like their football are regular attenders at their favoured grounds. They haven't been priced out. It is true that going to the match now is a more expensive pastime than it was, but it is also safer. When my daughter started to take an interest in football she fell in love with the Man Utd "kids" team of the early 90s and I took her along to OT until she was old enough to go with her mates/boyfriends. At first my wife was horrified that I was encouraging her to go to matches as her memories were of the rank smelly arenas of the 60's and 70's. One of our first games, there were two blokes in front of us trying to get a meeting together organised during the half time and it was full of phrases like "No can't do that, I'm in Copenhagen that week". Very working class. Post Hillsborough the game changed, and it had to. But society has changed and our definitions of class are no longer as clear cut as they were.
Cricket is interesting, because it was a mix of gentlemen and working class (using the old divisions). Didn't they get miners from the pits by calling down for a fast bowler etc...probably an urban myth. Cricket in various form is an old English game and definately played by all classes.
I do find that most people that I meet who are quite into footy have a working class 'connection' as to why they got into the game, but not exclusively. I would be in that category, I'm educated, and live a 'middle class' life I suppose, but my father was a docker and came from a large working class family from a part of Southampton that was bombed out during WWII. I would say that most footballers appear to be working class, in terms of background and accent, but again, this does not define someone as working class necessarily. But in comparison to Rugby in England, football surely is more working class? This seems to be a cultural thing, as in Wales for example, this would not be the case, as Rugby is enjoyed by all.
Rugby Union rivals football as the sport followed by most people in the West of England as well as Wales. More people go to watch Bath and Bristol rugby teams than Bristol Rovers or City. Whether that makes rugby a working class sport I don't know. I think I agree with Fran, most people need to earn a living these days so maybe we're all working class.
I didn't know it was quite that popular in the West country (Rugby). Maybe we are all working class then, the definition of Middle class seems woolly at best! As long as the world doesn't end up like the dystopia depicted in the film Hunger Games that I saw yesterday!
Deary me. It is a working class sport. Don't forget that 30 years ago 'when the fans weren't priced out' those fans didn't think that broadband, mobiles, nearly new cars etc were for the working class. They didn't waste their money on such luxuries. Easy choice : Take your net income. Remove the sky, leather sofa, 40"+ flat screen, under 5 year old car, £30 mobile contract, beautifully furnished and decorated celebrity finish in the house. and see how the ratios compare to the prior generation who............ .........prioritised things instead of saying that they cannot afford to live (or watch Saints) I would bet that net income minus the luxuries we (but not I ) now call 'cost of living' would leave a higher ratio of 'spending money' than that of the last generation. They who prioritised and would live in a house with no furniture until they could blag giveaways in order just to own a house and be happy they owned a house (on mortgage.) This generation DOES NOT prioritise. Everything is 'needed'. 'Need' has replaced 'would like' in modern language.
You are right, Fran. Cricket is the great divide - it's basically North-South in England like the Rugby League/Union division. There don't seem to be many cricketers from down t'pit as there were. Let's blame Thatcher. Why not, I blame her for most things?
Not going to get on my Thatcher soapbox (i have an opposing opinion. lol) however cricket is very very popular up here just as it is down south. Lot's of players with broad accents, many more than those that strangely develop a posh accent the moment they cross the threshold of the 6th form steps Lincolnshire although in the minor counties league has a huge swathe of local leagues played by the 'working classes'. Maybe more so than down south it is spread around the region rather than being the 'village green'. Rugby too. Lots of leagues with lots of teams, just not 'big teams'. Football team. Oops Football is now the same answer as Rugby. lol
As we can't seem to agree on a definition of 'working class', let's just call it a game for the masses. It's always been non-exclusive and hopefully always will be.
It is popular all round the world because anyone can play football, even when on your own. Anyone can kick around a ball, even one made of rolled up rags. Name any game you can play on your own without expensive equipment (and please don't be predictable).
That's what Cameron and his cronies want you to think. We are all in it together, but some are more in it than others. A mortgage, holidays abroad, and a new car every four years might make a lot of people think they are middle class, and therefore be more inclined to vote Tory, but the reality is that all the rights and liberties ordinary people enjoy today had yo be fought for by those that came before us. It's still them and us, and when times are hard, like now, it pays to know what side you're on. If you have to work for a living, you sometimes struggle to make ends meet, and you don't own half of Cornwall, chances are you're working class.
Completely agree with you. I read somewhere that the average person would only have to work under 20 hours a week to have the same living standards which were enjoyed in the 1960s, but all these other essentials mean that working hours are getting longer. Here's a thought; Ticket prices have risen wildly since the Premier league was formed. This is mainly due to the high wage demands of professional footballers and their agents. Players demanded more money when they saw how much profit the clubs were making from Sky. Sky's profit was large due to the high monthly subscriptions which EPL coverage could support. These subscriptions represent a significant expense for those on lower incomes, but are considered by them to be "essential". So I think that if you moan about the high cost of season tickets but have a Sky subscription, you may be part of the problem. Just my opinion. And no, I don't help to fill the Dirty Diggers pockets ever if I can avoid it.
That's a sweeping statement. Sure there are those who don't prioritise but they were in existence in previous generations too. They simply knocked on your door and asked for a hand out instead of applying for a loan as is common today. I spend my days assessing families' income and expenditure statements and putting them into a format that will be acceptable to creditors and I can assure you that you are well wide of the mark. In the vast majority of cases, debts pile up on essentials like food and utilities. These basics should not be regarded as luxuries in a civilised society. What has actually happened is that the effectiveness of our benefits system has been totally undermined and almost completely destroyed by change after change that has disempowered any customer facing staff. Nobody who works in a benefit office is able to make a decision. They are all paper pushers working in the thrall of the computer that says no. It's scandalous. "Need" has been mistaken for "Application denied as ink falls outside of box in section 147d". Oh and any sport that attracts worldwide TV audiences in excess of 1bn during a WC can only be said to have transcended class entirely.
