Whether they brought down Jose Mourinho, led a march against their club’s owner or pushed back against plans to commercialize their sport, these fan protest stories remind us that football fans have a long history of using their passion for the game to fight for change.
Thousands of Manchester United supporters marched to Old Trafford before Sunday’s Premier League opener against Arsenal to show their anger at the Glazer family’s continuing control of the club. A spokesman for fan group The 1958 said the club is “slowly dying,” not just on the field but off it, as well, with huge debts and shoddy infrastructure.
The supporters then moved into the directors’ box and chanted at owner Jim Ratcliffe, who has bought a minority stake in the club and promised to return the club to its former glory. The crowd also jeered club chairman and president Mike Ashley, who owns the rest of the shares.
In 2005, the Glazers completed a leveraged buyout of the English club, loading it with debt. They have never fully earned the trust of supporters, who continue to demand that they sell up or get out.
In the 1960s, Black sportswriters like Lloyd Wells used their columns to encourage Black fans to boycott professional sports teams that lacked integrated seating. These boycotts ultimately changed the makeup of many major southern cities, which realized they could not attract professional sports franchises without Black supporters. These tactics were similar to those of other civil rights movements, including boycotts against segregated stadiums in the United States.