Paying The Price For Passion: TAW Special

The Anfield Wrap

Sports, Soccer, Music, Arts, Fashion & Beauty

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2022

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For so many of us, football is a huge part of our everyday lives. Our passion for our clubs can be all consuming — leading to huge commitments in terms of time, money and effort to support the teams we love. It’s a way of life. Sometimes, though, that passion can lead to something else, something darker. Addictions, violence, damaging lifestyles and brushes with the law that can have huge consequences on life are not uncommon among some who follow the game. Alongside Amanda Jacks, a case worker for The Football Supporters’ Association, Gareth Roberts looked into these lifestyles. When can football fanaticism be too much? How prevalent are addictions to drugs and alcohol among supporters? And for those that turn to violence in the name of the game, why do they do it, what motivates them and how can they get out of it once they are sucked in? Amanda and Gareth spoke to supporters up and down the land who have been there, seen it and done it. They spoke to police, an NHS mental health worker and the head of security for the English Football League, too. Are there issues that need to be tackled? Does the current approach work? And how many fans are paying the price for passion? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.
0:05.0	Football-related violence in the UK is escalating.
0:10.0	With the police concerned that the English game is in danger of returning to the dark days of the 70s and 80s.
0:17.0	It is the ugly side of the beautiful game.
0:20.0	This is what officers face at football matches every week.
0:27.0	They've come to watch a game but are instead intent on making a scene.
0:36.0	It is still an hour to kick off outside Wembley, but officers are being tested as our tempers. A certain style of life is the simple message written in white that shouts loud from a red banner
1:09.1	regularly displayed at Liverpool away matches and when you think of following a football team in the passionate
1:16.2	and some would say obsessive manner that so many of us do, the message is an accurate one.
1:23.0	Choosing to follow a football team regularly,
1:25.2	especially away from home and into Europe
1:27.4	and beyond is a certain style of life.
1:31.3	Early starts, long journeys, financially challenging and not without its
1:36.8	sacrifices, both personal and in regards of family and friends. Tight networks of fans, strong bonds, close-nipped friends,
1:47.0	all can come hand in hand as a result of that life and shared experience, common ground and the love of a football team.
1:57.2	But for some, that life can become something more, something darker, aspects that are really discussed honestly among football fans or in
2:07.0	football media. Fashion, music, songs, chants and banners, they're regularly celebrated as being part of football fandom.
2:16.0	Excessive use of alcohol, the increased prevalence of cocaine around the game,
2:21.0	and the lingering specter of violence around football matches
2:25.6	is much less discussed and often glossed over or ignored. So too are the potential consequences of that behavior.
2:34.6	I'm Garth Roberts and alongside Amanda Jack's, a caseworker for the Football Supporters Association,
2:40.8	we've spoken to fans up and down the country, some who say they've become addicted to violence,
	...

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