My love affair with the beautiful game started at the age of six, when my Dad took my brother and I to see Burnley play Swansea in 1992.
If I remember rightly Burnley lost 2-1. Despite the loss, from then on we were hooked. We wore the shirts, pretended to be Marlon Beresford and Andy Farrell on the school playground and my Dad bought season tickets and took us to Turf Moor every weekend.
After near oblivion in the eighties Burnley started something of a recovery in the early nineties, finishing as champions of the last ever season of the Fourth Division in 1991/92 before the league reorganisation the following season. In 1994 they headed to Wembley for a play-off final game against Stockport, with a place in Division One at stake. Unfortunately we didn't get to go for reasons I can't remember now, but I still remember the game distinctly. Burnley won 2-1 with goals from Gary Parkinson and Burnley legend David Eyers. I still have the official Burnley VHS on my shelf.
Turf Moor had two terraced stands, the Bee Hole End behind the goal on the east side of the ground, and the legendary Longside which spanned the northern edge. We watched a couple of games from the Bee Hole End and the atmosphere on the terracing was amazing but it felt a little primitive for modern football. The final game played in front of the Longside was in 1995, when it was replaced with the mightily impressive two-tier James Hargreaves stand. The Bee Hole End was torn down shortly afterwards and replaced with the Jimmy McIlroy stand where my Dad, brother and I spent quite a few seasons.
Recently Burnley have had a bit of a resurgence. They finished fifth in the Championship in the 2008/09 season and went on to win the Play-offs against Sheffield United at Wembley. My brother and I went, along with a few friends and 36,000 other Burnley fans, and it was just mind blowing to see that many people wearing claret and blue, singing the songs and rocking the whole stadium. The atmosphere was just electric, especially when the full-time whistle went and everyone went mental.
It was one of the best days out I've ever had, just to be a part of something so big with so many local people. The day after the team paraded through the town in an open top bus and the whole town centre was awash claret and blue, people chanting and there was just good vibes, a buzz, about the whole town. If you've never been to Burnley it's a pretty run down and deprived place, something like football can really lift the spirits of the town and it was reported in the local news that during the season of the team's success crime figures had dramatically dropped. That's how much of an effect the game and the team can have on the place.
Football is vital to the community in many areas, it gives young people a goal to aim for when the club is so intrinsically involved in the health of the community. Jay Rodriguez's story is exemplary of that. Rodriguez is, despite the name, a Burnley native who worked his way up the ranks of the youth academy and finally signed his first professional contract in 2007 at the age of 18. His first goal was an 88th minute winner in the Carling Cup third round against Fulham.
It's a primal instinct to support your local team. People say it's like Trigger's broom, as players, managers and other staff come and go, is it still the same team? Well, yes. It's the history, it's the place. It's a geographical thing. People will come and go but the history of the team will always endure. It's not necessarily the actual players you support (although obviously as long as they're wearing a Burnley shirt, they'll get the fans support), it's the actual club.
It's Burnley Football Club, not Marlon Beresford/Kurt Nogan/Robbie Blake Football Club. Burnley are a historic team, being one of the original twelve founder members of the Football League, and it is that tradition and history I support. I want to see the new players and managers add to it, to create new history, add to the silverware in the cabinet.
It's not just the 'institution' of football I love though, the actual game is a pleasure to play and watch. There's nothing quite like striking the ball on that sweet spot and seeing it fly into the top corner past the outstretched hands of a despairing goalkeeper. Seeing a Burnley legend like Robbie Blake scoring a volley that would be envied by most world class strikers to secure a 1-0 at Turf Moor against the then reigning champions Man Utd last August is one of the best football memories I have. It was such a phenomenally good hit but the circumstances are make it that extra bit special.
In the top tier of English football for the first time in 33 years, the smallest team to ever play in the Premiership, in terms of both town, squad and budget size, and punching above our weight like that was really something special. Whilst in modern day football money does a large amount of the talking, anything really can still happen. It's not just a game of physical endurance and skill but the mental ability and strength of a single player in a single moment can shape a game in such a dramatic fashion.
That feeling it gives you is something else, the adrenalin, the atmosphere, singing with 20,000 other fans in either joy as your team beats their rivals or in despair trying to spur the boys on to snatch an all important goal is something almost inexplicably comforting. The sense of togetherness with these random people as you all do what you can to fight for the same cause. To win the game.
Yes there're problems. Diving needs to be stamped out and there are measures being tried out to help this, such as fines, suspensions and other disciplinary action, and money is starting to take over, but measures like wage ceilings and transfer budget caps are being talked about by FA officials. So there are reassurances that the top brass still care about the game and the fans.
What I love about football is that when done right, it is seriously pleasurable to the eye, but most importantly it is the people I've met and the fun I've had because of it is something I don't think I would have experienced otherwise through any other sport.
- Tom
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