Left Wing And Right Wing Football Clubs

There was more than 5, there where 2/3 sets of 4/5.

 

I counted again theres 7 that does not mean the other 4500 are like this. As I said there drunk idiots, there was even a thread on our forum slating them!

 

Haha 3 of my favourite teams ohh well, I don't see what the big deal is if your right wing anyway ?? it's came to the point where if you don't think Che Guevara was the greatest man in the history of existence then you are automatically a greedy evil racist.

To be honest I don't think there is much wrong with being right wing it's your own choice and I think what the OP should really have posted is racist clubs instead of right wing as the two of them aren't the same thing.

 

I agree. It is unfair to judge Rovers on the basis of a wee group of bams.

 

What would be an interesting little project would be to look at political support in the local areas of these teams and see if their team politics are reflected in real life politics.

For example, Celtic are supposedly left and Rangers are supposedly right. But if I am not mistaken (and I may be as I am not from Glasgow) this is not reflected in voting in the city. There are not many Glaswegian Tories for example and the vast majority of the voters historically vote labour. The clubs political persuasions may be reflected in the idiot-left and the idiot-right extremes but not in mainstream party support.

Of the list, Liverpool being left and Benfica being right strike me as odd, purely from limited experience.

 

It's true that Glasgow is a majority Labour city and I'm sure Liverpool is as well but this is mostly due to the tories shutting down a lot of the industries that local people where relying on and of course Thatcher just generally being a * to Scotland.

However I still stand by what I say that most clubs are neither right or left wing and it is also ridiculous to automatically assume that the right = evil racist and left = fantastic good guy freedom fighter because this is simply not the case and I can guarantee that out of those left/right wing clubs quoted that all of the clubs mentioned will have racist/liberal fans

 

i i wouldn't even go that far. rovers are like any club,mix of some lefty types and some right but by and large apolitical.nothing particularly nationalist about rovers really. wouldn't personally consider Barcelona to be lefty either.caravan nationalist clearly but not of a left wing nationalist hue;middle of through road id say.
the idea from the original post in this thread that Irish nationalism has generally been left wing is misguided.
and i had to laugh at American clubs being considered left wing/liberal..there's no leftist movement in America ....and the American idea of liberalism is often misunderstood too

 

I won't speak for other clubs but I'll speak for my own. Sporting is not a right wing club. It's true that we have a very significant number of right wing supporters and ultra groups but they're just supporters. We also have many black fans. As you might know, some countries in Africa were part of Portugal still in the 20th century. In these countries, benfica and Sporting were and continue to be the clubs that people support.
In Sporting Statutes, it's said:

Also:

These are our "laws", if you want to call them that way.
As you can see, the club itself is not right or left wing. We have supporters from all races, religions, political convictions, levels of education... You name it.

 

I never wrote the original list by the way.

 

Club rules aren't always followed.

 

I have to agree with you there about the American clubs. There really is no significant left wing political movemnet in the US and certainly non of the clubs in the MLS can be considered left wing.

 

i 2nd this message

 

Did you find this list on the forum RevLeft mate?

 

Removed Liverpool from the left wing section.

 

i appreciate this list but as a yank who also supports MLS (RBNY), i have to make a couple remarks regarding seattle sounders and montreal (and MLS in general).

1st of all the MLS is a single entity league. it's confusing, but basically it means that the league itself "owns" each team and can dictate certain things. one of those things was to keep things as apolitical as possible, because the main cash flow in tickets and merchandise came from families in the early days of the league, they didn't want to scare away their #1 fanbase. now that the league has "grown up," you're starting to see politics creep their way into supporters groups.

while seattle may be more VISIBLY leftist, they are by no means the MOST left wing/liberal team in the league. seattle is kinda like the man u of the MLS, they're new to the league and oddly became very successful, thus gaining them a lot of glory hunting fans. so because of their large fanbase, they've been given some liberties and have gotten away with things most teams couldn't. but in the interest of spreading leftist ideals, i say good on ya.

as far as montreal, they've been in the 2nd level north american league called the USL. because the USL is NOT a single entity league and it's smaller than the MLS, a lot of the things it's fans do are overlooked. starting in march the impact are playing in the MLS, so i have an unfortunate feeling that a lot of their banners and such will be curtailed by those in charge.

now, a comment on my own club, red bull new york. before the MLS started in 1996, the USA had the A-league, and the local team was the NY centaurs. the main supporters group was the NYC firm, which was comprised almost exclusively of left wing skinheads (these just happened to be the same people who started the RASH movement, red-anarcho skinheads/red and anarchist skinheads). in '96, the A-league ended and the MLS came into existence. the NYC firm had changed their name to the empire supporters club, because the name of the NY MLS team was supposed to be called the empire soccer club (but it ended up being called the metrostars....and then after RB bought the team in 2006, red bull new york). the ESC grew as the metrostars took over as the local team, but they still kept their left wing politics and ideals intact. this happened shortly after the 1st season started:



fast forward a few years, and the ESC added a lot more typical american football fans because they were the only supporters group for the team. while this necessarily wasn't a bad thing, it meant the club became more mainstream and lost it's political roots and became an apolitical group. however in 2005, a few people from ESC who were members of the original NYC firm separated from ESC and founded the garden state supporters. it took a couple years, but GSS has gained legitimacy in the eyes of the team, and now is officially recognized. this is the group i am a member of myself. while we're officially apolitical (as we kinda have to be) and not every member is left wing, most of us are, and most of us are active in local political groups (RASH, AFA, etc). and for those who aren't left wing, it doesn't mean they're right wing nazis, they're just not as "out there" as the rest of us are; they're still family and still agree on chasing nazis and racists out of the stands. this past season, we debuted an ANTIFA banner (the first in MLS):



and even went as a group to counter protest a KKK/american * party rally in our state. since everything went over well last season, we have more plans to politicize the supporters group in the season to come.


so basically i just wanted to say that in regards to the MLS, we do have our left wing groups, they're not allowed to show their affiliations publicly until now. while i can't think of any team/supporters group that are explicitly right wing, groups we are weary of are DC united's fans (because their original crest looked like a * eagle, so it attracted * supporters) and san jose's 1906 supporters (their rhetoric and chants are dodgy).

cheers from the west side of the pond. :bbpd:

 

No idea how partizan got on that list.

 

I can't remember where I found it to be honest.

 

Anyone got more info on the FK Partizan link?

Been reading about the Eternal Derby recently (Partizan v Red Star) and as far as I can see both where Army teams, created by communists and anti-fascists respectively. Any more info on why Partizan in particular are now regarded as a right-wing team would be great

 

Yeah, they were formed by communists and were known as army club at the time (club was set up by Yugoslavian National Army and stadium today is often refered to as JNA). Thing with both clubs is, it wasn't just that they were formed by communists, they were run and controlled by communist party for quite a few years.

Even if that communist 'spirit' and 'cause' ever existed, it faded away quickly as it was something that was forced by higher echelons of communist party. Most people attending matches in 50s and 60s were working class folk who just loved football. Back in those days you were either openly supporting the regime or you were quiet, but that didn't apply to stadiums because there was no need to express political affiliation. So in those times there wasn't any political stuff from the stands.

Enter the 70s (first groups were formed), 80s and in 90s and story changes due to Tito's death and rise of nationalism of all sides. Lots of nasty stuff happened on and off the pitch, mainly between Serbian and Croatian fans as it was still one league and they played each other often. Partizan fans (Grobari - means Gravediggers, due to club colours) have had a link with Chelsea fans, I don't know exact year when that link started, probably in 1970s when big supporter groups emerged. There were Union Jacks and Confederation flags present too. But I'd say that in those days flares, loud singing, booze, fighting and banners were what being a football fan was about.







There are some with confed flags and Celtic crosses on banners at stadium, can't find them right now.

So, in later years, especially 80s and dark 90s, nationalism flourished and it was common to hear lots of nationalist chants from all sides. Regular fights between fans occured too, now more often than before. It was violent nationalism, mix that with leaning towards corrupt Serbian Orthodox Church and you get trouble on large scale. Once leftist and working-class-supported club has turned 180 degrees into vehicle of promoting extreme right views under influence of war, sanctions, poverty and scum politicians and general nationalist propaganda throughout country in that time.

Nowadays Partizan as a club doesn't have official stance when it comes to politics. Although SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia) are leeching money out of the club behind the scenes (with elections coming up, it'll come in handy), it's sort of public secret. It died down from 90s, but there are still firms (Alcatraz, Padinjak, Zabranjeni, Južni Front) whose leaders regularly collect paychecks from Partizan board and other criminal types for hits and dictating songs in stands. Luckily, when it comes to regular fans in stands, they openly state their disagreement when those hired guys start singing pro-board and anti-coach stuff. It's the sort of stuff that goes public a lot, minority that gets lots of attention

Almost all my mates who follow football are either Red Star or Partizan supporters without agenda and they make 90% or more of those in stands who are there purely for supporting their team without bringing politics into it. However, their views are a different thing, but as long as it's kept from the stadium club can't be labeled as pro-this or anti-that. So right now there isn't any political stance from the club or its fans, neither here or there. Quite interesting, founded in communist era by army then making a turn into far right.

Hope that helps!

 

I agree 100%

It is also contextual. Most rangers fans for example are white, working class, and Scottish, which means in day to day social/political/economic issues they are most likely very much left wing. I believe if you were to ask their opinions on welfare, or education, or social inequality, or economic policy, you would get the same type of opinions are the typical white, working class, Scottish, celtic fan.

If however you were to ask about northern irish unionism for example you would get very different views. And because people see unionism=right and republicanism=left, they conclude there is a massive political divide, which in almost every other issue there probably isnt.