Farewell Soccerphile
Joel Rookwood
Travelling across continents to see a game watched by 40,000 people in desperate need of exercise, played by 22 men in desperate need of a rest, might seem a strange pursuit. When that pursuit becomes a habit, it can appear stranger still.
Such voyages were once the preserve of brave men intending to discover and conquer. However, we now live in an era of accessible travel, where relatively safe journeys over land and sea are undertaken merely for the experience.
This can involve something as 'insignificant' as watching football (with the aforementioned historical objectives resonating with only a minority of modern fans). A select few even occasionally get paid for the privilege.
Some helpful feedback was offered though, notably regarding an early article, which complimented the draft but justifiably suggested I should at least mention the match I'd travelled a thousand miles to report on. Peripheral perspectives increasingly dominated my articles, often at the expense of footballing insight.
I adopted the excuse-laden mindset that my priority was to provide context-bound stories only available by travelling to the ground in question. If readers wanted to know what happened on the pitch they could (usually) watch it on tv, I assumed.
At 21, I was not even a graduate when I embarked on the Soccerphile journey, after a chance meeting at a World Cup party in Japan. Ten years later, having completed a degree in Science and Football, masters in Performance Analysis and Sports Management, and a PhD in Football Fandom, I'm now a Senior Lecturer in Liverpool, running my own Football Studies degree. I'm also a published author, and have worked at and written on 30 football-based social involvement projects across six continents.
University titles and scholarly profiles hold no sway on the Kop however. There I'm just another match-going Liverpudlian, and rightly so. One of Anfield's greatest traits is its intolerance of individual arrogance. When Kopites sing 'you got your education from the Kop' at opposing fans, it's also a reminder to the collective within.
It's a place to listen and learn - from the older generation who offer perspective and maintain the Liverpool Way, and the younger generation, who point to the way traditions are set to be interpreted in seasons to come. It's also a place to express - what the club represents, and what is does not. Participation is not optional.
Rather than naively pursuing an unlikely impartiality, I hope my obvious affiliation has remained evident in my writing, even as the style has evolved. I've wrestled with the ongoing exchange between academic and journalistic form. Inevitably the two have merged (and been compromised) at times, and readers will sometimes have been more victims than beneficiaries (particularly those who placed bets based on my regularly inaccurate predictions).
The socio-cultural aspect of football increasingly consumed my journalistic agenda, and my scholarly reflections were often informed by my column. My Soccerphile articles were frequently shaped by this collision of academic trajectories and personal interests.
Over the last decade I have reported on the Africa Cup of Nations, the Asian Cup, the Gold Cup and the Olympic Games, as well as a trio of World Cups and European Championships. This is in addition to my Red Diary column, following Liverpool around the globe through thick and thin - from Champions of Europe to the brink of extinction - in this context it doesn't get thicker, or thinner.
Domestic glory has unfortunately been limited to cup successes during that time, but given the cyclical nature of English football, that won't remain the case for long. The more things stay the same, the more they change; and recent events suggest the winds of change might be forecast for the fields of Anfield Road once more. In the pursuit of silverware, a lark's sweet silver song provides the soundtrack in my Mersey paradise.
The success of a football club is determined primarily by the quality of its manager. Defying its once characteristic stability, Liverpool have began the last four campaigns with a different leader to the previous season. However, as the club sets out to pen its latest chapter, this time written in Irish ink, optimism has begun to replace the undertones of pessimism and the expressions of idealism.
If Houllier was limited, Benitez legendary, Hodgson a disaster, and Dalglish a caretaker, Rogers is promising. In fact the Northern Irishman is one of the bravest managerial appointments in Liverpool's history. I only hope he walks as well as he talks.
Rivals will have delighted in Liverpool's accelerated demise in recent seasons, as the hands of mismanagement and poisonous ownership conspired to all but strangle the club. I am proud to have been a part of influential fan groups Reclaim the Kop and Spirit of Shankly, in helping loosen the grip of the latter, and reposition the club - reporting for Soccerphile on the way. In academic terms my role was often more participant than observer, for which I offer no apologies.
Dalglish's necessarily short reign as Liverpool manager was also mocked by outsiders. Yet the fourteen championship winning, three-time European champion ensured Liverpool's return to Wembley, trophies and Europe in his second spell (winning his thirteenth domestic cup).
Because of Dalglish (and Benitez) and despite Hodgson, Rogers' role does not involve starting from scratch. The key ingredients now lie at his disposal, and an expectant Anfield is hungrier than ever. Time will tell what feast he serves up.
Bill Shankly is credited with orchestrating the cultural revolution that rebuilt Liverpool in the 1960s. Shankly converted a mediocre Second Division team into the best in the land, and he wisely framed league matches as Liverpool's 'bread and butter' in doing so.
Half a century later, in an era of domestic underachievement, profitable European fixtures have often provided the consolatory rather than accompanying continental diet of pan au chocolat. Rogers must rectify the club's nutritional values: Toast must come first, pastries must follow.
I reported for Soccerphile on nearly every European trip I have experienced to date watching Liverpool, including 50 consecutive away matches between 2002 and 2010. Expeditions rarely proved luxurious, with accommodation ranging from sun bed parlours, to 24-hour banks, to professional football pitches, usually sleeping under hand-painted flags. Occasionally I got to stay in a hotel room, but I was usually joined by an army of Scousers, transforming 'nuns in a mini' jokes into an uncomfortable reality, stretching hotel policies and health and safety directives in the process.
I've been detained in Switzerland, mugged in Ghana, bored in Qatar, battered in Brazil, attacked in Slovenia, forced into bribes in Serbia, stranded in Portugal and heartbroken in Greece. My last shred of naivety withered seasons ago, offering with it hair loss and weight gain.
Writing on beaches and trains, buses and planes, I rarely reflected in an efficient or timely fashion - much to the dismay of patient Soccerphile editors no doubt. Occasionally I had the luxury of a desk and a computer, thus speeding up the process. (Even if I couldn't be relied on to post articles directly). Mine was never an orthodox brand of journalism - but then I'm not orthodox, or a journalist.
My first Soccerphile article was penned on the Trans-Siberian Express, as I reflected on my experiences at the Japanese World Cup.
Japan was also the greatest distance I travelled to see Liverpool play - for the 2005 World Club Championship. Yokohama is a long way to go to see your local team lose 1-0.
However. that pain did not compare with the 3-0 league defeat across the park at Everton the following year. With more than my ears ringing, I barely escaped Goodison unscathed following another depressing bout of the increasingly violent Merseyside derby.
Being subjected to an AC Milan revenge mission in that season's European Cup final in Athens was the lowest moment however, shamefully signalling my most petulant Soccerphile report as a result - all 98 words of it. For the record, overcoming Chelsea at Anfield to reach that famous 2005 final in Istanbul was the highlight, surpassing even the final itself.
Later articles increasingly focused on international tournaments, although my interest in these rarely strayed beyond the group stages.
Early rounds offer the winning formula of lots of fans combined with lots of football.
My presence at these events seemed incongruent with my apathy (at best) towards international football. What started as a pre-season time-filler however, slowly blossomed into a genuine interest.
Not caring about results can be a freeing experience, when supporting your club proves less liberating. I became a bit of a football fan, I'm afraid.
Some football supporters will consider international football the pinnacle of the sport. For Liverpool fans however, the greatest competition in the world is the European Cup. For many Liverpudlians, England don’t even come second. One of the reasons for my apathy towards the English national team (I have previously flirted with both pro- and anti-Englishness but have since settled on disinterest) is the lack of affinity Scousers share with England fans - who predominantly follow lower league clubs.
That said, understanding English football necessitates an appreciation of the national team, and its support. England are impossible to ignore off the pitch in the way Brazil are on it. I have attended some of England's most high profile tournament matches over the last decade, but have rarely felt enriched by the experience. I have since learned to leave England to the English, and enjoy other aspects of the tournaments.
The 2008 European Championships were the most sterile, expensive and disappointing event I covered (although it was made memorable by the company I kept). At the other end of the spectrum, South Africa staged the best World Cup there will ever be, whilst Ghana's Cup of African Nations was my favourite confederation tournament. There was a spontaneity and naivety about both African events - organised by football-mad, hospitable people, set amidst inspiring landscapes.
My involvement in international tournaments may have come to an end - only time will tell. Having missed a flight to Buenos Aires for the 2011 Copa America, I may yet be destined to experience that competition in the future. It would be the final piece of the jigsaw.
The next edition in Brazil is unlikely to take priority over the World Cup the year before however. Brazil 2014 may be hard to resist, especially given that the Russian and Qatari World Cups which will follow hardly represent exciting prospects.
Irrespective of international football engagements however, I will certainly keep a close eye on Rogers' new-look Liverpool, on the road and from the discomfort of Block 306 of the Kop. There may even be the occasional related rant over at joelrookwood.com.
For all your other football needs, stay tuned to Soccerphile.com. They love their football, on and off the pitch - and I wish them every success.
© Dr. Joel Rookwood & Soccerphile.com
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