Falkirk fan in the WeKnowSFA spotlight: Part 3

Musing on the modern game

There has been some decent chat on the site in the past few days about the modern game and the way fans are treated.

This takes us neatly into the third part of our interview with Graeme Black from The State Broadcasters, Falkirk fan and guitarist.

So, wheres your head at now? Are you a Falkirk fan or a football fan?

GB: This might take a while…..I’ve got a strange feeling about football. I’m a Falkirk fan; I don’t really like watching football that I don’t have emotional attachment to. The recent Chelsea v Inter Milan game, I watched it but turned it off to catch Masterchef and then returned to it when Masterchef had finished.

Football has changed so much, people say they are football fans but don’t go to football matches.

The guy who watches MOTD knows more about players than me but they aren’t a football fan. For me, it’s about having an emotional attachment to a team or number of teams. The people who watch Sky all day on a Sunday, lining Rupert Murdoch’s pockets will destroy football in the end.

Maybe they won’t, maybe it’s me but I don’t get much out of it. Football on TV used to be an event, the European finals, the FA final, the Scottish Cup final, I would watch them all.

I suppose as well, I don’t really like footballers!

Is this due to difference in wage levels between fan and player?

GB:It’s extremely vulgar but I don’t blame the players. Also, it’s not necessarily the money I dislike. Footballers are of a certain type but it’s the way they approach the game these days, the win at all costs approach that annoys me.

To me, Drogba is an embarrassment. I know he is a great player but the lengths he will go to go gain an advantage, it’s disgusting. We don’t do it as much in the Scottish game. Maybe it holds us back but the football fans in Scotland that are annoying are the guys who know all the Premier League guys.

I’m maybe coming across as a lunatic Brian Clough without the charisma but it genuinely annoys me. These people always criticise the Scottish game, saying it’s a waste of time and “Motherwell v Killie, who wants to watch that?”

Well, Motherwell and Killie fans that who. The two communities involved are interested and if the clubs weren’t around, there would be a massive hole in the communities, so it does still matter. Some people sneer at it but to me, they don’t really understand it. Football is more than sport, you could watch the Alpine Downhill skiing and appreciate but it will never give you the feeling that football gives you.

Yeah, thing is, critics will say footballers are stupid but you have the Winter Olympics. The gold medal winner for going down a hill on a pan, did you hear her speak? No offence, great achievement but she sounded like the stupidest girl alive. She used her talent and has done well but to single footballers out for this is wrong?

GB: Also, it is a media fabrication that things like the Champions League is better. Yes, they may be the most skilful or the fittest players but the games can be so dull. The players can cancel each other out tactically or physically so from the point of view of a spectator, I don’t get how the neutral can take much from it.

Just passing the ball across the midfield because there is no room to do anything else isn’t that great. Its not ballet, it’s not about technical point scoring.

There is so much phoney emotion. Maybe I’m being naive, maybe footballers have never cared; there will always have been mercenaries but nowadays? I’m not saying a player should stay at a club for all their career but its obvious most players don’t care where they are playing. A prime example would be Robinho, he didn’t even know where he was when signed for Man City.

The fans who watch TV have also gleaned the way they talk from the pundits and analysts. If you are in the pub with these guys watching a game, they just start chattering. They aren’t used to watching 90 minutes, they watch highlights and are waiting to be told what to make of it.

As I said, these players know more about the players but its a different sport for these people.

Sky have won over the real football fans, if they could afford it, they got it. Sky now have to sell football to non football fans. Mitchell and Webb do a great sketch about the hype Sky have to use to sell their games.

I’d definitely say anyone saying “take a bow son” deserves to be punched, if you are dealing in catchphrases, you aren’t enjoying football off the cuff.

GB: Of course, if people are getting enjoyment from it, that’s fine, I don’t want to be seen to criticising people for how they act. All I’m saying is, for me, the enjoyment and emotion comes from being attached to a team and going to see them. I equate these TV fans to people that watch Eastenders, it’s an entertainment thing and having something to talk about. It’s a sedentary thing and that’s okay but it is different from what I get from football.

Phew……but probably not a lot to argue with there!

When he is not ranting or baiting Didier Drogba, Graeme can be found in the band The State Broadcasters.

You may get the chance to hear a bit more from the band in the future as one of their songs, ‘Takeshi’ is being used in a trailer for a new movie, ‘Marbles Is Missing’.