Football and the Military in Contemporary Britain

Abstract

The paper explores the relationship between football and the military in contemporary Britain. This is situated within longstanding cultural and historical templates. It is based on observations conducted mainly in 2014 and 2015 and incorporates visual data (photographs) as part of the analysis. The primary focus is on English professional football and ranges from the 2014 and 2015 F.A. Cup finals to more local manifestations of the link between football and the military at Bolton Wanderers and Carlisle United. There has been a recent intensification of the traditional links between football, the military, the monarchy and the Established Church which embody a renewed form of nationalism. The paper dates the initial change to the Falklands War in 1982 and reveals how the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have reinforced this pattern. Underlying the analysis is a complex conceptual/theoretical issue which centres on how the phenomena examined are generally invisible. This reveals the power of the dominant ideological assumptions that underpin these developments.

Ethics of patriotism: NFL players’ protests against police violence

“…And while the NFL players’ protest is specific to the history and contemporary social conditions of the United States (Bryant, 2018), the resurgence of authoritarian and nationalist tendencies within and beyond sporting spaces is not uniquely “American” but is also occurring across Europe (e.g. Baker, 2016; Eger and Valdez, 2015; Hosking, 2016; Penn and Berridge, 2018). Given the powerfully symbolic, affective, and economic dimensions of sport, understanding how patriotism is mobilized within sport for both conservative and liberal political agendas is timely.…”

‘Football Remembers’ — the Collective Memory of Football in the Spectacle of British Military Commemoration

“…An example of this is the decision to sing 'Abide with Me'a Christian hymn written by a Victorian clergyman in 1847before the start of the 1927 FA Cup final, apparently at the behest of King George V (Russell, 2008). 5 The choice of hymn was notable; not only did it have connotations of the British Establishment, due to its association with the Anglican Church and the Monarchy, it had been sung in the trenches by Allied troops during World War I (Penn & Berridge, 2018). The nexus between football, military remembrance, and national identity was crystallized in that moment at Wembley (then known as the Empire Stadium): 'a moment of remembrance that expressed the shared grief of a nation' (Hill, 2012:12).…”

“…The advantage of football stadia as a memory hot-spot over other public spaces, such as market squares and war memorials, is that dutiful observance of this liminal moment of quiet reflection can be broadcast to millions at home and overseas. The more diverse range of commemorative practices that emerged in football post-Hillsborough shaped innovations in military commemoration: for example, the unveiling of the Heart of Midlothian memorial to 'fallen footballers' in Edinburgh in 2004 (Ramshaw, 2014); a special, limited edition green 'military-style' Bolton Wanderers third strip during the 2014/2015 season, embossed with the words 'Lest We Forget', from Laurence Binyon's poem 'For The Fallen' (Penn & Berridge, 2018); and the holding of dedicated remembrance services for the war dead at football stadia. What was the stimulus for this change?…”

“…Yet, despite the scholarly attention on the militarization thesis, there have been few attempts to understand the growing links between association football and the military in the UK (cf. Penn & Berridge, 2018). To date, no research study has sought to explain, as well as document, this changing relationship.…”

“…While such overt conflations of the sporting and the nationalistic dissipated after the end of the Falklands War, a more enduring shift in tone post-1982 can be detected. It marked a seminal moment in the civilmilitary relations of the UK, especially with regard to remembrance (Penn & Berridge, 2018). There were calls in the aftermath of the Falklands War in 1982 for the restoration of the two-minute silence to its original date of Armistice Day.…”