Taking a Pot-Shot: Of Club Rivalries and the Indian Fan Perspective

Certain oddities mark the acceptance of English club football in India. Oddities like long and lengthy discussions on club rivalries, with passionate discourses by fans justifying the rivalry and their position with respect to either of the rivalling clubs. One very popular justification that I often hear is that of the Arsenal-Tottenham rivalry or as it most commonly put, the North London Derby.

As fascinating as the origin of the rivalry is, with Arsenal moving its football base near to Tottenham’s in the early 1900s, I wonder how it can be correlated to venom-spewing between Arsenal and Tottenham fans based here in India. Even though it’s understandable that an Arsenal fan would be loyal to his club, no matter the consideration to the geographic location, it does come across a bit too ad-hoc when one starts fervently talking about the club’s rivalry and its history with its North London neighbour. And vice-versa for a Tottenham fan.

Yet another paradigm of this so-called all-awareness emerges when an unsuspecting football fan wants to root for both Arsenal and Tottenham. Raised eyebrows and shaking heads mark that fan’s introduction, chapter and verse, as to why one rival is better than the other. ‘How can you’ is the most commonly asked question with a tinge of horror, as if it were a crime against humanity and fandom. There are no explanations given, except for enunciating the rivalry, and the fan is expected to make choices on the basis of these justifications. That’s how the system works. You are a fan by number, a reason perhaps why there aren’t that many who root for clubs decently placed mid-way in the clubs’ rankings hierarchy.

Would I be saying the same thing about the Manchester derby and rivalry, being a Manchester United fan? Definitely not, but there again, the Manchester derby bears a different tale than the North London derby. And mostly being someone who dislikes the other Manchester squad on principle, not rooting for them hasn’t got anything to do with a rivalry or a derby but everything to do with personal choices and favouritisms. More like an individualistic choice freely exercised.

I could indeed be wrong, but how many of us Indian English Premier League fans actually know and understand about the dynamics of English locales and places? Of course, the fans do and will know about a club’s past, its present, and the implications of the two on its future; but there’s bound to be a difference in perception between the home-grown, indigenous club football fans and us. Especially since the former inherit loyalty, love and passion for a club rather than acquiring it like us, the latter ones. Which is why when a native Gooner, born and bred in that part of North London that the Gunners call home, speaks about the club’s rivalry with Tottenham, it sounds reasonable and believable. Unlike when a native Mumbai-born and raised Tottenham fan talks about Arsenal being the ‘Woolwich Interlopers’, which sounds forced and totally bizarre. Or to provide a different example, an English fan supporting East Bengal while vocalising about its rivalry with Mohun Bagan.

The English Premier League might be the most preferred form of entertainment followed by Indians. But even with the zealousness exhibited, at certain times it’s best to leave certain things to the natives. We might know the anthems and the legacy, but there are certain things that we’ll experience and perceive only when we’ll get there. Rivalries and the raking of bad-blood, primarily among these.