Live English Premier League matches herald a new era for fan clubs in India

What does a football fan do when he or she wants to chant, cry and down a pint in celebration with others of the same feather? And wave the club banner and flag, hurl obscenities at the opposition, embrace strangers at the final whistle and together sing the club anthem loud enough to drown the sound of a space shuttle at T minus 0 seconds?

The answer can’t always be, say, Anfield or the Bernabeu stadium. Because the closest a football club fan, who sits thousands of miles away, can come to this collective, sometimes transcendental, experience, is at a local supporters club.

In India, the growing marketing clout and popularity of English football clubs, their marquee players and an abundance of live English Premier League (EPL) matches aired at godly hours have birthed a new era for fan clubs in the country. The big four English clubs — Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea — all have one, or more, active supporters clubs operating across Indian cities.

These aren’t arbitrary gatherings at footie friendly pubs or sporadic matches on dusty pitches. It’s serious business, where the main requirements are unwavering passion for the club, and not just during the good times, and the ability to wriggle out of family commitments on match nights.

Between Liverpool FC’s three official supporters clubs — Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, Chelsea India’s multiple city chapters, the official Gooners at Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club (AMSC) and Manches-ter United’s Red Army in Mumbai, they have hundreds of official members and many hundred thousand fans and followers on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Interestingly, all of them had their beginnings on social-network Orkut and in a post-Beckham EPL era.

Says 20-year-old Annujj Pallaye of Manchester United FC Mumbai, who divides his time between gathering notes for college exams and club responsibilities, “It started with a handful of people, our founders, who came together to watch a match. We’ve come a long way from screenings in a dingy basement of a hotel in Dadar to our very own venue, Three Wise Monkeys.” How? One might ask. The owner of the Mumbai pub, Sunil Thakur, is also one of the co-founders of the group.

Fans who join supporters groups are all driven by their shared devotion to the game and club. Says Anirudh Singh of DelhiKop, Liverpool FC’s official fan club, “Being part of the group allows us to share our love for football and the club, share the highs and lows. We’re a family bound not by blood but by our passion for Liverpool.”

When Brendan Rodger’s winning side lost to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea on April 27 in an EPL fixture, Singh’s fellow Scousers in Mumbai felt the same agony. Part of a population of some of the most committed supporters in the world, Mangesh Nadkarni, president of Liverpool Mumbai, says “We cried and tried to console each other. We couldn’t even eat, we just went to bed.”

Present that fateful day at a Mumbai pub called Zouk, a popular venue for EPL screenings, was Chelsea India’s Himanshu Ranka. He was part of a group of 107 Blues in a sea of 335 Reds at the joint screening.

They were outnumbered there, but “Chelsea India had screened the match across 12 cities”, says Ranka of the club which operates under one umbrella. From Mumbai to Dimapur, India’s Blues celebrated their clamp down on the Reds in unison.

But over at Arsenal’s supporters club, more Gooners and Goonerettes join everyday because they come to celebrate how Arsene Wenger’s side play the game, and not for how much metal they win. Says Tejbir Singh of Arsenal Mumbai, “We’ve not won anything in a long time. But people keep coming. That’s a true fan. And joining a supporters group is the only way we can feel a part of the crowd at Emirates Stadium [home of Arsenal FC].”

However, being a member of a supporters club means a lot more than match screenings and a brotherhood, or sisterhood. Besides a sense of ownership, members can get access to tickets set aside for supporters groups, features are written about them in official publications and on the website, sometimes they even get access to club hospitality privileges such as use of lounges at the stadium and, in cases like Liverpool’s fan clubs, they receive memorabilia like signed jerseys, flags and footballs.

Supporters clubs also become partners and contact points for official club events in the country, be it coaching clinics, promotional games and activities or charitable causes.

And for official sponsors of the teams, club gatherings in a bar or field become a perfect platform for brands to engage with their core target group. Says Kaushal Goyal of DelhiKop, “We become a bridge between the club and fan.”
The greatest joy, however, third only to thrashing the historic rival or lifting the cup, for any supporters group is being granted official status by the club they worship.

A certificate, picture on the stadium wall, mentions on the official website, a gold card with the club’s sigil, are what a fan’s fantasies are made of. It’s not easy though, getting recognition from the organization back in England.

Requirements range from a minimum number of international membership purchases to signing a contract with strict guidelines, which prohibits commercial activities of any nature and tie ups with non-official sponsors.

Nevertheless, it’s worth the wait and pain. Because for supporters getting official club status is when it truly feels that they are part of these British institutions and a football family. So who cares really if the only thing English about you is your breakfast tea.

(Regular turnout at screenings: 120-150 fans)