Napoli – Sometimes we need Solidarity
Napoli’s epic title celebration showed why tribalism can be a wonderful thing. But, says Gaby McKay, sometimes a bit of solidarity is needed too.
You can’t have football without bare, petty tribalism. In many ways that’s the point. There are many reasons why the beautiful game is and always has been the world’s favourite sport, but one of the main ones is the sheer passion it engenders. One has only to look at the wild scenes of celebration across the city of Naples when Napoli finally clinched a first Serie A title in three decades to see just what it means. Though it was a Sunday evening when the Scudetto was finally sealed the Neapolitan night sky was turned into near daylight by the sheer number of fireworks, flares and rockets which greeted the triumph. And pettiness? That was there in abundance too, with ‘funerals’ held for the other 19 clubs in Italy’s top-flight. Naples, a one team city, has long cast itself in opposition to the north seeing itself as – not without basis – looked down upon, mocked, and othered. During Juventus’ dominant run of nine titles in a row, fans of other clubs could take solace in mocking their European record. ‘Fino alla fine’ goes the Juventus motto – “until the end”. The retort from every other club on the peninsula ran ‘fino al confine’ – until the border.
It’s a dynamic which plays out all over the world. Boca Juniors fans enjoyed River Plate being relegated almost as much as winning the Libertadores title, while Scots will often say they support two teams in international football – Scotland and whoever England are playing.
No-one could ever take such entrenched loyalties away from the game, and nor should anyone want to. Even if things can spill over – if you’re punching someone in the head because they support a different team to you then you really are an idiot – the passion football fans have for their team is what makes the sport great.
Unfortunately though, it’s something which can also be preyed upon by those who don’t have the interests of those passionate fans at heart. It’s been proven time and time again that meaningful protest in the form of boycotts is hard to organise. Fans love their team and even if they hate the owner are unlikely to give up watching them. Supporters complain about high ticket prices but, in the end, most end up paying. Action to address league-wide or sport-wide issues are hard to co-ordinate due to the enmity between different fanbases when it comes to matters on the field.
With the increasing mix of sport, business and politics we’ve seen what used to be reserved for the players on the pitch – passion, fierce loyalty, an instinct to defend at all costs – migrate to the boardroom. No-one could have watched Manchester City blow reigning European champions Real Madrid off the park in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final and not be impressed. Pep Guardiola has built a side so advanced, so perfectly engineered, it might as well be Skynet, complete with its own Terminator up-front in Erling Haaland: It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until it’s got a couple of goals.
It’s also true that lavish spending by a regime with a human rights record which is said to be questionable at best is what has allowed this football machine to come together, but point that out and you’re likely to face a barrage of angry City fans on Twitter. They – these angry types on social media – see not the regime being attacked, but their team, and put morals to one side.
The same goes for criticism of Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners, or for Chelsea fans when Roman Abramovich’s murky business past was questioned. Manchester United fans may hate the Glazers but it’s not an aversion to venture capitalism – for most it’s that they haven’t spent enough money.
The crying shame of it is that when fans do put tribal loyalty aside, we’ve seen the difference they can make. The European Super League project was canned because of a furious backlash from supporters, while more recently the cost of living crisis in the UK has seen fans come together to collect for food banks or charities.
If we’re to keep the game something worth deafening the city of Naples for, a bit of solidarity away from the pitch wouldn’t go amiss.
