World Soccer Talk writer Euan Walsh takes us on a journey to experience what life is like supporting a lower-league club in the United Kingdom. Walsh is a supporter of Swindon Town in the south of England. Swindon was previously in the Premier League but now finds itself in the fourth tier (League Two).
England’s Football League has a new exclusive broadcast deal exclusively in the United States with CBS Sports and Paramount+. It’s an unprecedented opportunity for American soccer fans to watch 147 Championship games per season. There are 20 from each of the bottom two tiers, League One and League Two.
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased Wrexham in November 2020. They captured the imagination of American audiences, who’ve since watched the Welsh club achieve back-to-back promotions and return to League One for the first time in 20 years.
But Wrexham’s story is more representative of Hollywood fantasy, something of a completely unprecedented anomaly within the lower reaches of English soccer, than the reality of supporting almost any of their League One or League Two counterparts.
Range of crowd sizes across EFL
Supporting a lower-league soccer club in England (and Wales, and indeed Scotland beyond the relentlessly well-oiled winning machines of Celtic and pre-2012 Rangers) is, in my opinion, defined by four things: authenticity, hope, heartbreak, and routine.
Soccer in the English lower leagues is authentic. Many clubs have a cultural identity in alignment with their local working-class communities, who continue to support them irrespective of their demise, mediocrity, or success. Clubs like Grimsby, whose 9,052-capacity stadium, Blundell Park, has the picturesque backdrop of rows of terraced houses surrounding it from all sides, perfectly represent the local, authentic feel of the lower leagues.
Crowds in England’s lower leagues vary. Relative giants who’ve fallen from the Premier League, such as Birmingham…
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Author : Euan Walsh
Publish date : 2024-08-12 21:40:28
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