ABSTRACT
This essay attempts to take stock of English football culture in the early years of the new (twenty-first) century. Its primary purpose is to probe the political meanings of this culture: that is, to try to understand what contemporary football discourses might tell us, politically speaking, about English society during this apparently tumultuous period. In doing this I hope not to rehearse unduly the already well advanced debates over the commodification of football in Britain and the consequent sense on the part of many that the game has lost its soul to an alliance of merchandisers and ‘inauthentic’, Johnny/Jackie-come-lately supporters. I’m well aware that, to borrow Hamil et al.’s phrase, ‘the tensions between the new commercialism and football’s social purpose have become intense’ (Hamil et al., 1999:13). Indeed, this essay, like all the others in this book, has been purposely conceived as a contribution to this now well entrenched ‘Whose-game-is-it-anyway?’ paradigm of writing about football and society. More specifically, the essay will try to relate recent and current developments, especially in the English football world, to the emergent politics of ‘social exclusion’. In this context, it will discuss the relationship between football and the academy; the political implications of the Premiership; the ongoing campaigns to preserve the smaller football clubs; and the new nexus of football clubs, funding bodies (some governmental, some not) and community work.
