By Brandon Bacchus

The Beautiful Game: How Football Reflects and Shapes My Identity

Football plays a massive role in the English culture and heritage. Sepp Blatter said at the announcement of the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 world cups, that England was ‘the motherland of football’. It has always been a big part of our culture, forming many key events in our history. Everyone in England knows the year we won the world cup because of how important it is to the heritage of England, this forms a big part of our national identity.

As the image shows, football is such a massive part of our national culture, being broadcasted on the front page in one of our biggest newspapers.

Football In Our National Culture

I am a massive Leeds United fan and have been my whole life.

I will watch any football on television.

I have been playing football since I was four years old, playing competitively since I was six years old.

It is a massive part of my life and always has been.

My Background With Football

One of Erving Goffman’s theories talks about the roles and expectations of people in society.

As a male I have many roles and expectations in society. For example, I am expected to be the provider for my family as I get older. I am also expected to love football.

Social Roles and Expectations

It is a very stereotypical view that all men like football, but in my case the stereotype fits perfectly. I love football and always have done but I don’t think this is due to the stereotypes and expectations of men in society.

However, as a young man, it would be considered very perculiar and out of place for me not to like football in today’s society.

Socially Constructed Stereotypes

I have many significant role models in my life to do with football. My brother is one, he introduced me to football and gave me the love for football.

Role Models of Old - Don Revie and Billy Bremner - they formed the basis of success for Leeds United in the seventies and eighties.

Modern Role Models – Johnny Howson and Joe Cole – Skill, dribbling and passing ability. Luciano Becchion – Strength, effort and goal scoring ability.

Role Models Within Football

My Role Models• Joe Cole – He is my favourite player, although he has been playing poorly since returning from his injury last season, he still remains to be my favourite player.

Johnny Howson – He is one my favourite players at the moment. He is the captain of Leeds United and loves Leeds. He is a proud captain and a firm fan favourite.

My Role Models

Luciano Becchio – He is Leeds United top scorer this season and has been a regular in the first team since joining in 2008. I try to emulate the way he plays into my own personal performances.

Role Models

Don Revie and Billy Bremner – Manager and captain of the 70’s team, the most successful Leeds team ever. They are Legends in the Leeds fans eyes and always will be. Billy Bremner has a statue outside of Elland Road and Don Revie has his own stand in the stadium.

Legends

My brother supports Leeds United. He is twenty nine years old and a lot older than me. Although we have no affiliation, family or otherwise, to Leeds, he supported them because they were a successful team when he was younger; winning the old first division in 1992 as well as many other trophies through out the seventies and eighties, although he would be too young to remember.

My Influence to Support Leeds United

Leeds United Dream Teams...Voted For By FansGK. Nigel MartynRB. Paul ReaneyCB. Norman HunterCB. Jack Charlton OBELB. Terry CooperRM. Peter LorimerCM. Billy BremnerCM. Johnny GilesLM. Eddie GrayST. Allan ClarkeST. John Charles CBE

My Personal Dream TeamGK. Nigel MartynRB. Gary KellyCB. Lucas RadebeCB. Jack Charlton OBELB. Ian HarteRM. Lee BowyerCM. Billy BremnerCM. Gary McAllisterLM. Gary Speed MBEST. Mark VidukaST. Alan Smith

The best team, voted for by the fans, I cannot really comment on because, they are players that were around long before I was born and do not know how they played, I don’t even know what they look like.

The team that I collected are players that I have watched through out my life, apart from an exceptional few. The modern day players like Alan Smith, Mark Viduka and Gary Kelly are all players that I admire. They were fantastic players and had the best times of the careers at Leeds. They helped us in our most successful phase since the 70’s, getting to the Champions League semi-final and good Premier League finishes.

They reflect my attitudes and values in the way that they showed so much passion, love and commitment to the club, putting their hearts into every game. I think this can be reflecting in my support of Leeds United.

...What the Players Mean To Me

The media as an institution, has not influenced my supporting of Leeds United. In the media, mainly the big teams are advertised regularly such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona; Leeds get virtually no mention in the football media world.

However, the media constantly feeds me with information about football, this has a big effect on me because it fuels a lot of the cultural practices I take part in. For example, playing football, discussing football and watching football games.

Media Influences

The Leeds United fan base is one of the biggest in England! They are a business, a football club and a family. I am part of this. They make a lot of money, one of the few clubs to be making profits year after year, a lot of this money gets pumped into the community.

Leeds try to become a social role model in their area, they participate in charity events within Yorkshire and around the country. This is all to try and promote football at the grass roots, which could have had an effect on me when I was younger. Seeing football teams run charity events where they invite people along to train and play with the pros could given me the passion to want to become like them.

Leeds United As An Institution

When you are a Leeds fan, you band together with other Leeds fans, almost like family relatives, this has an effect on my identity by involving camaraderie into my personality. This can also relate to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in the belonging segment of the pyramid.

Being a Leeds Fan

Leeds United have a good academy system, producing players such as Paul Robinson, James Milner and Aaron Lennon. They like to pride themselves on this foundation and try to build on it.

The Ideologies of Leeds United

• Currently, Jonathon Howson is the captain, he is Leeds United through and through, he was at the academy from when he was six years old until he made his debut at seventeen years old. He has gained all the traits of a typical Leeds player. Hard work, determination adaptibility. For Leeds fans, he is an idol, people aspire to be like him and play like him. I personally would love to be of his quality but His style of play doesn’t suit me.

To me, the importance of team work is paramount, a big part of my identity is wanting to belong, relating to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This may affect my other roles in life, such as being a student and having to work in a group, being a family member and having to join in family outings and groupings.

Team work must involve co-operation, sacrifice and commitment, values that are programmed into Leeds players from the day they sign up. This has effected me in the fact that I also pride my pride of teamwork and the leadership skills I have gained.

How The Ideologies Have Effected Me

1998 - When I was four years old, a Luton Town football scheme was set up at two local schools in my area.

I started to go every Friday when I was four years old, and carried on attending every training session until I was about ten years old. This was where my love for playing football was developed.

I learned many key football skills such as passing, shooting, control, tactics, and hard work. These skills are still used by me when I play today.

I was then scouted by Luton Town FC but nothing came of it. This really broke all my hopes and dreams of becoming a professional footballer, forcing me into becoming realistic and working towards a realistic career path as I grew up.

My Introduction to Football

2000 - When I was six years old I joined Sundon Park Rangers A. We then entered into a league a year later after forming the team and setting proper organisational skills etc.

I played for the club for half a season at which point I was asked to leave, due to ‘my heart not being in the game’; which is most definitely not true!

This really knocked my confidence, I didn’t think I was good enough to play football, affecting my self-image, and lost a lot of enthusiasm for the game, lowering me down Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

I stopped playing football for a couple of years after that, trying my hand at other sports such as rugby.

My Football ‘Career’...

2003 - When I was nine years old I joined Harlington FC. This is very peculiar because I had no links to Harlington and still don’t to this day, however I am now attending college in the village. A lot of the boys who played for that team also attend the college.

I played for this team for two seasons, winning ‘Clubman of the Year’ in my second season, this really boosted my self-esteem and confidence in my own abilities as a footballer. However, we had to fold because there was no-one able to manage or run the team.

2005 – When I was eleven years old, I joined Icknield Youth Football Club B.

...Continued...

I also played for this team for two years. I was vice captain the first years and captain the second year, a very proud moment in my football ‘career’.

In a bad tempered ‘tantrum’, on the last game of the season, I left the team on bad terms. This wasn’t such a proud moment in my football career but I recognise what I did and will think twice before I do it again.

I didn’t play for a club. I played rugby, badminton and cricket in school and outside of school trying to keep myself fit.

2009 – I joined Bushmead Rovers A. I am currently still playing for them, my first season was plagued with injury but my second is going very well, I have scored three goals and get regular play.

...Continued

As a leader, I am very vocal. I am very intrinsically motivated and don’t need to be told what to do to get motivated to do something. However I understand that a lot of people are extrinsically motivated. This means that I try to motivate people through giving them advice, encouragement and constructive criticism.

I also try to lead by example, my idea is that if I perform well, the others around me will try to emulate my performance and put in the effort required.

I try to copy both John Terry and Steven Gerrard’s leadership styles.

My Leadership Style

I have always played for teams that are of an average level, never trying to push myself into the higher levels of competition. My theory has always been that I would rather play a whole game for a lesser team than play half a game for a better team.

A lot of the teams I have played for have good team spirit which I enjoy. This idea of team spirit can be linked into social needs: the opportunity to share feedback boosts self-image and reinforces ideas about your qualities and persona.

My Attitude to Football

Lowest Level of Football

Highest Level of Football

Average Level of Football

Bushmead Rovers FC

Sundon Park Rangers FC

Harlington FC

Icknield Youth FC

The media constantly bombards society with information about how everyone must be slim and lean, referencing ‘body image’. Everyone must live a healthy and active lifestyle in order to be ‘happy’.

I carry on playing football in order to stay fit. I also play football in order to try and keep my weight down.

I also enjoy the physical aspect of football; the strength, pace and decision making of football make it so enjoyable for me, motivating me to play week in, week out.

Media Influences

To conclude, football has shaped my identity in many ways. It has shaped many of my views towards life and it has given me a hobby that I wish to take part in for life.

I think that football probably forms the biggest part of my identity and will continue to do so as I progress in life, this may even become a bigger proportion of my identity, possibly through a career within the sport.

Conclusion

www.google.com – Images.www.leedsunited.com – Images & Information.www.skysports.com – Information about broadcasting.www.wikipedia.com – Information about theorists.www.mp3searchy.com – Music files.

Bibliography

Thank You For Watching