CAN YOU LOVE ANOTHER AS WELL?

 By Simon Wright

As a follower of one of the big clubs, you want to be there, carried away just like your fellow fans.  Ever paused to take stock. Just stop and ponder Consider how much effort, time and money you invest for just a single game?  As Redditch pointed out in a viral X message they offer season tickets for £149 whereas you could spent £77 at Villa for one game. The hassle around yet another kick-off alteration and the feeling that “your” club loves your wallet not you.  Perhaps during a dull Monday night in midwinter, you wonder aloud: “Why am I here?” There’s loyalty and there’s being exploited.  

You are financially backing a huge anonymous business whose owners, players and managers you’re unlikely to meet and to whom you are just a number on a spreadsheet. That’s regardless of whether you’ve attended 2 games or 2,000.

You’re expected to pay to be there on Thursday night. Friday night, Saturday lunchtime. Or Evening. Or any time on Sunday. Or Monday.  Whatever suits Sky or European commitments.  I’m not suggesting you give up your big club.  Generally, you’re born or led into your supporter habits and they become part of you.    

Yet...  Saturday afternoons are for football. That’s their purpose. If you want your Saturday fix of live football or you’re priced out, you must look elsewhere. In my experience, more and more folk feel they have enough love for two clubs.  Cool these days to properly follow more than one and its feasible.  I’ll describe the benefits of the Yeltz because I know the club pretty well. Substitute their name for your local non-league club because the same principles apply. 

Through personal circumstances, my football watching must be local.  Namely Halesowen Town, a Step 3 club a short walk from my house.  Their media team invited me to join them and I was happy to do so.   The Yeltz, as they are called, are based two miles from the M5 motorway and just a few miles from the Birmingham boundary.  The experience is freeing.

At Halesowen, you can pretty sit or stand where you like. And move away from the moron if you wish. And the flexibility ...  no need to pre-book tickets, download an app, be compulsorily added to a mailing list etc, plan weeks in advance and hope Sky don’t change the day.  If you must, you can normally turn up on Saturday with your dog and baby at 2.59pm and pay cash. Albeit the volunteer who lets you in won’t be best pleased as due to your selfishness, he’s missing kick off.  

There’s a high degree of supporter trust at Halesowen. You’re not routinely searched upon entry, or for the temerity of entering the club shop or the bar.  You can enjoy a decent cheaper pint beforehand without elbowing for space. There are 9 pubs or micros within 5 minutes’ walk (60 different beers).  And importantly for many, you can drink during play too.

You’re treated like mature adults.  Heck, we even trust the referee to make their own

decisions though lots of advice is offered.  Yes, its quaint I know but in non-league we only celebrate goals scored once.  Its real football in the raw and so freeing.

There’s rarely a need for segregation.  Yes, really opposition supporters are just like us. They don’t have two heads and its perfectly possible to communicate with them without a line of stewards or a fence in between.

Non-league players have less skill than top flight performers and make far more mistakes. That’s a given but those mistakes make the game unpredictable.   A more honest bunch too – far less feigning injury.  Some games can be dull but paying 3, 4 or even 5 times more doesn’t guarantee excitement. Top level football can be like watching chess. 

Halesowen players are regular people. They’re local-ish, have day jobs and don’t hide behind fences and security guards.  They’re often up for a civil conversation in the bar. Or a song.

You feel more involved and appreciated here. You’re not a point something percentage on a profit and loss spreadsheet.  Expect a warm welcome from volunteers who choose to be there rather than being just being another paid job. If you have a query or a grumble, a club director will always be around. You may not like the answer but you do get to ask the question direct.

Attendances have increased at Halesowen 3 years in a row.   The club are quite successful which helps (play-offs 3 seasons straight). They are the senior non-league Black Country club and the senior part time club nearest Birmingham. (The second city is a non-league desert.) There is potential off the pitch to grow and also on the pitch. The annual accounts are very healthy and Halesowen are among the favourites to be promoted to National League North.  Ground improvements are planned and ready to launch.

Fan numbers are boosted by more and more followers of the local big clubs wanting their fix.  As we all know, 2 or even 3 months can elapse without any Saturday 3pm home fixtures in the Premier League or the Championship.  It’s a familiar scenario.  Go to one game, to “support” a mate. Then another because it’s easy street and the slow realisation there’s room for more than one club in your life. Providing the other doesn’t jerk your life around and lay siege to your bank account.

A minority but its growing, have already gone whole hog. It starts with variants of “I’m not paying £40 for a telly game on a Friday night” and the slide towards non-league only is on. Eyes firmly open.  I talk to many of the transformers or they talk at me.

 “I used to be Albion every game but..”  

. or ”I ain’t giving Wolves £60.”    

  and “it’s just easier here, aye it.”  

And it is.  Street parking is free and close. If you live in Quinton, Bearwood or Edgbaston, so easy to get on a very regular number 9 bus which drops you outside the Grove. No need to leave early here “to miss the traffic.”  Indeed, it’s the opposite. Players and supporters alike stick around for the “third half.” A phrase coined by Richard Sneekes, technical director at Rushall who enjoys that part the most at his club.

Pre-season, I met a lapsed Baggie who claimed to be one of a group of 10 WBA season ticket holders who all swapped to support Town home and away. That’s perfectly possible.  So many folk at the Grove remember me from the Hawthorns and they certainly remember the WBA fanzine.  Not just Albion people of course.  Ex Villa and Wolves abound too, for similar reasons, though I do try to avoid them. The club head of media used to be a regular at Villa while the kitman gave up a Wolves season ticket.

Town offer affordable football (£13 adults, £10 concessions) at the right time with no hassle.  Like we fondly imagined it used to be.  Can there be additional room for that in your life?