Football and Religion

It’s become a cliché of football, and is certainly very cringe-worthy, but the statement ‘Football is my religion, [stadium name] is my Church’, is one you can find plastered regularly on social media and forum signatures.

It may seem excessive, and from a religious person’s point of view a devaluation of faith, but I genuinely think that such a statement may be reasonable to make, with many similarities between the two, and has provided me with an interesting self-reflection. With myself labelled as an agnostic, I genuinely think some of my understanding and tolerance of religion stems from my passionate love of Football.

You may think this immediately to be injudicious, but I implore you to give me a chance to explain.

First of all, let’s start with the common factors.

In the United Kingdom at least, and certainly many other cultures, both have strong roots in the working class, with the class-balance strongly shifting this way in the later 20^th century with football, arguably both its charm and also a trigger for many of its problems. This concept is similar in religion in the notion that it partially exists, or least has done historically, as a way to pacify and divert the attentions of the working class away from political matters.

On top of this, while I don’t want to umbrella all religions into one, there is also clearly a very, very, strong focus on upholding tradition and ceremonious events which can also be found in football. Whether it’s Church on a Sunday, Mass at Christmas, FA Cup final at Wembley in May, or open-top buss parades, both have aspects that will seemingly always outlast modernisation, and seem to remain a large part of the appeal in both.

Both also have a large problem in being ruined by monetary greed, and the concept of the ‘weak’ and the ‘masses’ being controlled by the few strong in power. In football this is a fairly obvious, well documented, and if anything overdone point, but will always be relevant. The balance of power and amount of money has gotten to the point of ridicule, with companies such as SKY having far too much influence, power, and money in dictating football and keeping the same few ‘elite’ clubs on an immovable pedestal; as well as the blatant corruption in FIFA, even over something as sacred and culturally significant as the World Cup.

In religion we see this through exploitative organisations such as Scientology, taking money off innocent people who are down on the luck or simply don’t know any better. The extent of this is so severe that the German Government refuses to recognise Scientology as a religion, being officially labelled as ‘an abusive business masquerading as a religion’, while the French Government has found the organisation guilty of ‘organised fraud’.

Another large issue apparent in both is mass problems with violence. While hooliganism was not properly a pressing concern until the late 1970’s, religion has been a cause for violence for hundreds of years before us, and will be for hundreds of years to come. While again it is obviously to a different level of severity, there is definitely a similarity in groups of people from what is essentially a tribe fighting other human beings for following a different set of beliefs - for belonging to a different tribe.

To an outsider this may seem incredibly over the top and almost a null point, but if you’ve seen organised football violence in person you’ll know how barbaric and scary it can be.

So many people I know have belittled me for daring to make these comparisons, but as far as I’m concerned that doesn’t mean that I don’t ‘get’ religion, I see it as you not ‘getting’ football.

The feeling of being a part of something so much bigger than yourself, that I feel while standing in the Holte surrounded by thousands of people wearing the same colours I am.

The feeling that nothing else in the world matters, and that if I’m having a rough week it won’t matter because come the weekend I’ll have something to take my mind off things and belong to.

The feeling of pure belief, and indeed purpose that as long as we stick around supporting our team that things might somehow improve.

I can imagine this is how it feels to have faith in a religion, with that same belief, that same loyalty, and that same feeling of purpose and belonging. 

I see people in tears expressing their love of Christ, and I can’t help but reminisce over times I’ve legitimately had tears in my eyes at Villa Park, both from sadness and joy.

I hear of people seeing great cathedrals and monasteries for the first time and being struck with awe. Similar perhaps to how I see the rafters appearing slowly into view from the Aston Expressway, there’s an unmatched feeling of adrenaline and emotion.

The fact is managers, owners, players, backroom staff, and everything else to do with the club will at some point be gone. Aston Villa itself has become somewhat a living entity in itself to me, and I pledge my unwavering loyalty to it forever. I’m not putting football on par with religion, I’m only saying that it’s helped me have a respect and tolerance for people with a religious faith.

If you think that sounds stupid, then you just don’t get it – and you never will.

Match Review: Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City 04/08/2014

It was a typically beautiful autumn evening as Villa Park came into sight from Spaghetti Junction. The trees around Aston Church were a fine mix of golden and claret, with a crisp chill in the air, serving as a reminder that all my memories of leaving Villa Park to a pitch black sky, illuminated by street lamps and burger stands with that ‘mop’ smell lingering were soon to be returning – a wave of nostalgia rudely interrupted as I tried to get the incredibly dodgy ATM machine at the corner shop by the chippy to bloody work.

As for the game, I was expecting either our third 3-0 defeat on the trot, or a tight and well-earned 0-0 draw.  I saw something in between.

Both teams kept the ball down and tried to play some nice possession football, leaving the individual flair players to take chances on, which made for good watching. More noticeably, we were as well organised at the back as we’ve been this season barring a few near misses, and at the end of the day it took two top class goals from two top class players to undo us, and there’s no shame in that.

In fact, I think there are quite a few positives to take from the game.

There was an absolutely inspiring performance from Nathan Baker in the first half who went above and beyond the call of duty to put his body on the line for the team, making vital interceptions and countless towering headers, even earning a chant from the Holte End – high praise considering he has been subject to plenty of criticism and is often first in line to be scapegoat when times are tough.

The tendency to hoof the ball forward into no-mans land at the first chance also seems to be disappearing somewhat, with Guzan and Baker himself (two frequent culprits) both making an obvious effort to look for the simple short pass when possible. In fact, Baker’s constant controlling of the ball and pushing it forward to Westwood might have impressed me more than his defending, considering how hard he’s clearly been working on that side of his game.

We also saw the long-awaited return of Benteke to action, receiving one of the best ovations for a returning player I’ve ever seen down B6, and he looked surprisingly sharp given the severity of his injury, with the team looking much, much stronger and confident with him on the pitch.

His presence forced the substitute of Fernando, with a sole job to sit on Benteke and try to eliminate his threat, very much a compliment from Pellegrini.

Don’t get me wrong, the performance wasn’t exceptional, but I honestly believe there’s far more to be smiling about after 3 consecutive losses with no goals scored than you might think, and I still think we’re due to finish on the right half of the table.

Only Spurs and Everton to go…

Summer 2014 Transfer Roundup

With Villa the second lowest spenders in the league with a roughly £7 million outgoing, ahead only of Stoke, it would be easy to write this off as a characteristically-slow and uneventful window, but with 6 signings, there may well be much for Villains across the globe to get excited about.

Philippe Senderos (Free Transfer – Formerly from Valencia)

2014 had so far been a poor year for Senderos. Leaving soon-to-be relegated Fulham to make just 8 appearances in La Liga for Valencia, before a disappointing World Cup with Switzerland, including a horror-show in their 5-2 defeat to France, made it very understandable for Villa fans to be uneasy as to his contribution to the team, especially with the notion that he may be a replacement for Ron Vlaar, should the captain leave.

But, thankfully, Vlaar is staying put, and has formed an immense partnership with Senderos in the opening portion of the season, shipping just 1 goal in 3 premier league games. He has helped to add a much needed breath of professional-feeling air to the squad, and with his vast amount of vital tackles and last-ditch blocks, the defence is looking its strongest for at least 3 years.

Not to mention that at the age of 29, he could easily have 3 or 4 more seasons at the top level.

Kieran Richardson (Undisclosed from Fulham)

Another signing that seemed relatively uninspiring, and branded as distinctly ‘average’, Keiran has started in the same vein as Senderos; with impressively solid performances.

Expected by many to come in as a wing-back to replace our string of below-par signings in that position, instead Richardson has found himself playing in the midfield three, very much as a replacement – arguably an upgrade - for the recently departed Karim El-Ahmadi. Richardson is similarly a hardworking midfielder with good passing range, but to me is superior due to his consistency; premier-league experience; and set piece delivery, three things glaringly lacking in Karim’s game. 

He has helped give our midfield a bit more ‘fight’ with his stamina and hard-working attitude, not to mention finding himself providing the vital assist to Weimann in one of the best-worked goals I’ve seen at Villa Park for a long, long time against Hull, and to me represents a decent bit of business.

Joe Cole (Free Transfer – Formerly from West Ham)

Signing a recognised England International well past his prime with an appalling injury record understandably has put a lot of people on the fence. 

On one hand, Cole offers a lot of experience and arguably a pinch of class to the side, two things certainly lacking in the side, and he also has proven he can play effectively in the number 10 position, as a creative midfielder in the final third of the pitch, again – a theme of this article – something the side sorely needed.

I’m personally prepared to give him a good chance in a Villa shirt, and will happily accept that it will take a good wedge of time and physio work to get him fully match fit and away from the dreaded injury table we’ve populated far too much in recent memory.

What annoys me most is that plenty of fans have already completely written him off, despite only playing 62 minutes for the club, in a cup-tie that didn’t seem to be treated with the greatest of importance. Providing a pertinent example of the lack of patience and eager pessimism that the current era is producing.

At the end of the day, to me this is another free signing that will be hard to prove as bad value for money in my book.

Aly Cissokho (Undisclosed from Valencia – Estimated at £2 million)

If you asked a Liverpool fan about Aly Cissokho, and his tenure at the club while on loan last season, they’d probably tell you that while he’s a fairly decent defensively, but going forward he was about as much use as a chocolate teapot, with huge deficits in technique and composure, before assuring you in his thick, annoying accent that we shouldn’t expect him to be bombing down the touchline and delivering inch-perfect crosses.

And they would be wrong.

Cissokho looks somewhat a revelation, and a long-awaited answer to our fullback problem. Strong as an ox at the back, decisive and composed in his passing, and not to mention superb in his crossing. The Newcastle game springs to mind as a perfect example of this, where he was by far the most dangerous threat on the pitch, producing 2 or 3 crosses in the first half that a fully-fit Benteke could easily have converted into a hat-trick.

It may be early days, but in my books this might just be the signing to get the most excited about. He could be a huge player for the club.

Carlos Sanchez (Undisclosed from Elche – Estimated at £4.7 million)

Sanchez, or ‘La Roca’ (The Rock), as he had been nicknamed due to his strength, is our big money signing of the summer, and is a vital one, given he might finally be the anchor in midfield we have desperately been crying out for. (far more encouraging than the rumoured plan of training Gary Gardner for that role)

From what little we’ve seen of him, he might not be the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, but he should go on to be a perfect replacement for our glaring hole between defence and midfield. He hasn’t set the world alight, but then again players in that position aren’t supposed to. He’s displayed a great range in his passing, has a strong presence on the field, and clearly isn’t afraid of a tackle. 

As he gets used to the pace and intensity of the English game, he should fit in without too much trouble, and play a pivotal role in the success I believe we are capable of achieving this year.

Tom Cleverley (Season Long Loan from Manchester United)

It was seeming increasingly likely that Tom might be our deadline-day panic signing, and there seemed to be somewhat a feel of relief when that fell through, with £8 million on a player desperately low on form dubbed too excessive and too much of a gamble for a club trying to rebuild itself. 

The news the following day that it was the be instead a loan move instead, seems a much more reasonable and safe bit of business. We will have first option to sign Cleverley, and with his contract up at the end of the season, the gambling aspect of a permanent signing will be removed.

Another player who can be the number 10 in front of the midfield that we need, Cleverley may well go on to reproduce the form he showed at Wigan, when a team with an attack is built around him rather than him playing the role of a passenger.

United fans might claim that Ferguson saw a lot in the lad, but played him too defensively, and given the freedom to push further up the pitch, there’s definitely hope for him reaching the height of his powers with us.

Overall, It’s clear Lambert had identified the same weaknesses in the side that we had in the stands, with 2 creative midfielders, a holding anchor-man, another option at centre half and 2 players able to play at left back being brought in.

All seem capable of being first teamers for top 10 teams, and all have played for their respective countries. For a spend kept to seven digits, that’s far more than I’d hoped for, and to me at least – a good indicator of the progression the club is trying to make.

Jump Start

Seven points from a possible nine.

That’s about seven more than you might have thought we’d achieve, should your only sample of Villa fans come from Facebook and online forums.

But the points are just the tip of the iceberg, there’s so much more to why we should be happy.

Two clean sheets. Unbeaten at home. Money spent on high-reputation players in needed positions. The ‘infamous’ bomb squad have returned.

All of these were on the verge of unthinkable just a few months ago, and it’s so refreshing to have expectations proved wrong for the better for a change. Sure: Darren Bent has missed chances, and N’Zogbia has hardly set the world alight – but the fact that Bent’s getting on the end of said chances is promising, and N’Zogbia has just come back from a major injury, and is clearly nowhere near his top speed yet.

Better yet is the improvement in our playing style. The whole back four has looked very solid and well-organised, and the side proved today we can impose ourselves on teams and show real attacking intention. There has also been a clear improvement in the team’s chemistry and passing, with the midfield showing enriched confidence and ability to make the small triangle passes in the middle of the field that ultimately are the foundations of moves that win games.

But, as always, there have been significant shortcomings.

While the squad selection was the one I’d hoped for, with Bent, Sanchez, Grealish and Cole all making starts, an early cup exit at home to a league one side is appalling and only adds to our list of embarrassing cup moments in recent years, especially in ‘our’ cup.

The on-field play hasn’t been all great either, as I may have made out. There’s still a tendency to opt for the counter-attack at home, despite still having no fit target man, and the game today saw us once again a team of two halves, failing to properly get a good grip of the game despite being two goals ahead.

There also some worrying situations off the field.

Two of our three most pivotal players, Vlaar and Delph, have less than a year remaining on their contracts, and after an immense world cup showing and an England call-up respectively, it would be idiotic of the club to not press on with getting these two to sign on the dotted line immediately, or else they may well be talking to other clubs come January, and would show horrendous levels of ambition and progress for the club.

And though this is obviously not (completely) a fault of the club’s, the attendances have started very poorly, with today being our lowest premier league turnout since O’Leary’s tenure, showing a lack of inspiration and belief from our highly-praised fan base. Here’s hoping that steadily improves with results, as the team have so far certainly being doing their bit on the pitch.

It’s been a promising start from the team going into the international break, but there are still overlying problems and downsides that cannot be ignored, both on and off the pitch, making our starting success somewhat bittersweet. 

Match Review: Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle 23/08/2014

7 days removed from a suprising opening day victory against an unsuprisingly over-hyped Stoke City, proving pundits and Villa fans alike wrong, and there was a strange feel in the airs around B6.

There was optimism.

This was not so much shared by the ticket sales, with the club only barely scraping past the dreaded 30,000 line, a solid indicator of the poor season ticket sales following another disappointing season. Despite this, the team received a loud reception which was maintained throughout – even seeing chants of ‘Paul Lambert’s Claret and Blue Army’; which came as a bit of a shock to me at least, given some of the abuse spouted at him (arguably largely justified) last season. Here’s hoping this is an indicator that the fans as a collective are ready to give him one last crack at getting this team playing.

The unchanged team seemed to pick up where they left off at the Britannia, keeping solid at the back, and seeming overall more professional than the side we’ve been used to. The entire back 5 were a solid, cohesive unit, and all played off each other very, very well. Hutton and Cissokho both tackled well and were dangerous going forward, proving all the reviews from Liverpool fans that the latter lacks passing and crossing technique considerably wrong. Another well-deserved clean sheet is excellent news for a club who have had considerable problems defending in recent years, which I personally believe is down to the summer business – the signing of more experienced players and bringing in Keane to put some fire in their bellies.

It’s vital we don’t get too carried away with this success though, Newcastle managed to miss several clear-cut chances and a better side (or one that isn’t oblivious to what the back of the net looks like – seriously, their finishing was worse than mine) could have had at least two by halftime.

The main problem in the team is going forward, and until the two injured target men come back to hold up the ball it looks like we’re still going to be relying on counter-attacking football, which is particularly frustrating at home, and unacceptable that we mustered 0 shots on target. Delph seemed to be the only player with the impetus and skill to get forward towards the goal, and should have scored if not for a tactical red card.

I think the team may have looked stronger with Joe Cole in the second half, allowing us to play in their half and create chances, rather than hopelessly lumping the ball to Gabby. But saying that, he’s not match fit and in fairness it’s clear this team has a lot more to come as they blend together and the big men come back.

The main positive for me today, aside from the good defending and seeing Darren Bent pull on a Villa shirt again, something I honestly never thought I’d see again, was that all the debutants impressed. Particularly Carlos ‘the Rock’ Sanchez, who seems very useful and it was nice to see a big midfielder who can win headers for a change. With him sitting in front of Vlaar and Senderos, teams should find it very hard to come at us through the middle, not to mention his clear passing ability.

There was plenty to be happy about today, but also lots to build upon. The real test will be next Sunday against Hull, as our ability to impose ourselves and take the game to teams at home will be need to have improved.

Man of the match: Aly Cissokho who is greatly exceeding expectations. Strong tackler, dominant in the air, good passer, and provided some great crosses today that you have to believe Benteke would have scored.