Grounds For Protest
Words: Tom Reed
Football fans have tried various different methods over the years to have their voices heard in protest.
Here, Terrace Edition lists some of the supporter protest tactics that have brought pressure to a head.
Out the front - Sack the board.
Ah the old sack the board protest, out the front of the ground with a hint of pitchforks. Shows that the unorganised masses from the terraces can get together on a particular subject and provide a real show of strength.
Northampton fans in 1992 chanted “McRitchie out” outside the old County Ground against their despised owner but went on to form the first supporters’ trust to put their thoughts into something more organised. Michael McRitchie was gone soon enough and the club went fan-owned.
Pic- Deborah Marshall. Northampton Town.
Anyone for tennis?
Football is actually a precarious sport in terms of matches going ahead and the Swiss authorities got a volley of abuse in 2010 when they moved the Luzern-Basel grudge match to televise a tennis game between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The Basel ultras weren't having the new kick-off time of 12.45 on a Sunday and alongside a banner which read "You set kick off time, we choose when will match start" proceeded to chuck hundreds of furry yellow balls onto the playing surface on what was rather interestingly called “Tennisballaktion”.
For a sport which relies on pristine surfaces, the addition of the tennis balls acted like marbles under a rollerblader and the Basel fans figured that out pretty quickly.
This form of protest has been used by various other fans, with Charlton supporters going bigger by halting a game in 2016 after lobbing beach balls in protest against owner Roland Duchatelet. Meanwhile, Blackpool fans went fruity and stopped the match vs Burnley in 2014 by hurling tangerines onto the pitch.
Neither Duchatelet or the Oystons at Blackpool are in charge anymore and it seems once the balls are served up, the writing is on the wall as far as fans are concerned.
The on-pitch sit-in.
Another form of direct action that has been used various times over the years, taking to the pitch en masse is seen as the last resort of frustrated fans, albeit one that sends a message of reclamation.
The ultimate was the almost all-out insurrection of Manchester United fans before the match against Liverpool at Old Trafford in 2021. A couple of hundred of the Red Army managed to get into the ground and onto the pitch, forcing the postponement of the game.
Back in 2017, Leyton Orient fans said enough was enough and staged a sit-down protest against the ownership of Francesco Becchetti.
The O’s fans took to the pitch en masse in the 85th minute of the game at Brisbane Road vs Colchester, causing the game to be called off.
Becchetti is yesterday’s news at Orient and the Old Trafford scenes brought global attention to the Glazer ownership.
©Tom Reed. Leyton Orient 2017.
The Doorstepping.
Blackpool fans were perhaps the most active and ingenious supporters in pushing through change at their football club back in 2015.
As well as the tangerine chucking, they organised several protest “rambles”, one of which turned up at Chairman Karl Oyston’s house. Oyston greeted the fans on a scrambler and the whole thing was caught by the press, sending a gentle reminder that club affairs don’t stop at the stadium gates.
Meanwhile, Dulwich Hamlet supporters took the doorstepping international in 2018 after the club was locked out of its stadium. Fans found the offices of Meadow Partners and with a little help from the New York Cosmos‘ Brigada 71 made sure Dulwich were front and centre on that particular block in the Big Apple.
However remote decisions appear to be made, tenacious fans will always try and bring power to account.
Laser danger.
While the pitch is an obviously vulnerable space for supporter protest, Red Star Paris fans targeted the TV cameras during the match vs Dunkirk in November of this year.
Red Star fans are known not to be backwards in coming forwards and the laser action came at the same time as the “Le Football c’est le weekend” (football is for the weekend) campaign against the scheduling of mid-week fixtures.
Although the laser did’t stop the game, it did piss off Canal + and suggested there isn’t much of a TV “product” when a green beam ruins the broadcast.
Terrace Edition doesn’t condone the action in this article and encourages supporters to take advice before any protest to ensure they are legal.
