My Old Man Said – Football Supporters Federation Members
As some of you will know MOMS is an affiliate member of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF), a body that represents football supporters and is supported by the FA, Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association. We never thought they’d be such a thing as a football supporter federation that we’d actually be proud to be a member of and was on the same wavelength, in terms of the issues and problems facing supporters in the modern game.
While such groups are normally bogged down with bureaucracy and offer little bite, the FSF seems to have got it right, and isn’t afraid to stand up to the football authorities, police or clubs in the name of justice and fair supporter treatment.
The FSF has been has been one of the leading advocates of the Safe Standing Campaign, which Aston Villa has actually been one of the only Premiership clubs to express an interest in. It also takes an active interest in the protocol of stewards and the police at games, and also helps represent any supporters facing bans and court hearings from incidents at football matches. They also lead the success ‘No to the Gam£ 39’ campaign, when Premiership clubs were considering playing a Premiership games overseas to build the brand internationally.
With rising costs and increasing infringements on supporter’s liberty, going to football matches in recent times hasn’t been as an enjoyable experience as it used to be; especially now the hooligan element has largely left the game. While we don’t expect free prawn sandwiches included in the ticket price, sometimes it seems there’s a lot of things you can’t do at matches. You can’t drink (sometimes), smoke, stand, take in banners…then you’re forced to queue for expensive drinks and sub-standard food, or in the case of the recent West Ham game, are forced to dehydrate in a heat wave because the one kiosk (of five staff) serving around 3000 away fans had run out of soft drinks and water.
The federation is free for all to join, although you can always contact MOMS if you have any issues you want to take up with the FSF.
Recently the FSF commissioned a national survey of over 4000 fans, see below for its findings.
Findings of Recent FSF Fan Survey
- 91.1% want the choice to sit or stand
- 80 per cent agree that TV technology should be used to help referees
- 74.4% are in favour of a salary cap
- 58.5% have watched a game illegally on the web
- 51.6% think ‘swearing & abuse is part of watching football’
- 51 per cent have watched an illegal TV feed in a pub
- 46.6% have experienced ‘unfair treatment’ from stewards
- 45.0% have missed a game because kick-off was moved for TV
- 40.5% are attending fewer games than in recent seasons
- 32 per cent have experienced treatment they consider unnecessary/unfair from police
- 23 per cent have lost money on tickets/travel due to matches being moved for TV
- 19 per cent have seen or experienced homophobic abuse in the past year
- 18 per cent have seen or experienced racist abuse in the past year
- 17.7% believe referees are getting better
- 12.4% think Wembley semi-finals are ‘a good idea’
- 11 per cent have a 400+ mile round-trip for home games
Source: The FSF National Fans’ Survey 2012
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