Shit Ground, No Fans

The narrative of football is rarely written down, of course you have your exceptions, namely Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. But on the whole the bits that make football special are often missed.  There are endless historical records of football, every stat is recorded, every result written in black and white. Football is very definite in that sense, a game is played, one team wins the other loses, or its drawn, its fact, that will never change.  There is also something quite reassuring about the game, you know that if you lose to your closest rivals this year, you've always got the return fixture next year.  Get knocked out of the FA Cup, its ok, the 3rd round starts again in January.  Its a perpetual merry go round and if you choose to jump on your pretty much on their for life.

It isn't so much the game that interests me, its the bits that happen off the pitch, the influence that this game has on peoples lives. Its the parts of football that are never written down, the relationships it creates, the anecdotes, songs and stories that are passed down through generations.

Football chants are one aspect of football that interests me. The first football match I ever saw, I only remember two things, how green the pitch was and the songs. I didn't watch much of the game I was just looking around at people chanting. The spontaneity and lyrical humour of the songs is what makes them valuable and the fact that they original and unique. They are poetry.

I'm interested in transferring the football chant into print. Looking at how removing a chant from its context effects its message. How will this text which is never usually effected into print be perceived?This humorous, intriguing and often undervalued material, I feel, will lead to interesting outcomes.

The lyrics I'll be working with...

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I've also been looking at text taken from football commentary. Which is essentially one man's view of an event that then come's to be recognised by thousands and millions as the means to identify with and connect to said event.  Those instinctive words become etched in history. Rarely are they commited to print, but their lyrical power is unquestionable.

23/1/2011