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CIVIC PRIDE
Andy Morgan
"This remarkable place, the youngest child of England's enterprise, is an infant, but if an infant, an infant Hercules" - William Gladstone, 1862
From country dwelling to industrial powerhouse, even thirty years earlier it would have been impossible to foresee the importance that Middlesbrough would have to British manufacturing. When Edward Pease extended the Stockton and Darlington Railway to a little known place called Mydilsburgh in 1830, his son Joseph had a vision. This was the construction of a new town - one that could provide all the labour necessary to transport coal from the Durham Hills to the coast in order for its export.
But even he could not have predicted the pace with which the new town would rise. From forty people in 1829 to 7600 in 1851, Middlesbrough boomed. This was largely due to the migration of unskilled manual labourers who came from as far a field as Eastern Europe. Without an identity but with the prospect of prosperity, many settled in the town and owed their livelihoods to it, forming a deep-seated love that still exists to this day. And thus an identity was created for identity-less people.
This was enhanced with the discovery of iron in the Cleveland Hills to the south (in 1850) as this gave people stability and opportunity through the formation of a burgeoning industrial community. At the forefront of this was Pease himself, along with his long-term business partner Henry Bolckow, who built Teesside's first blast furnace in 1851. It was their community created for their workers and through a mutual sense of respect and love that the 'infant Hercules' was allowed to develop an identity and strength unique to itself.
And it is this identity that has persisted to this day. Middlesbrough is a unique corner of Britain, imbued with a unique view of the world and a spirit that is oft little understood by those from outside the area. After all, where else could an Italian gourmet speciality become a fast-food delicacy so particular that it has never been appreciated outside the confines of Teesside?
And where else could the likes of Roy-Chubby Brown and Reeves and Mortimer hail? Are there others that share this twisted take on life, this self-deprecating humour, this impending sense of gloom that goes with a Victorian Industrial town? Are there other places with a similar atmosphere, a similar camaraderie
and a similar sense of identity?
After all, would the 'Small Town in Europe' chants develop anywhere else? Do you see Bolton fans singing that, or Blackburn fans or any other fans you would care to mention? No, it seems to be imbued within the collective Teesside psyche, a psyche that stretches back to the pioneering days of the town. People travelled and then people stayed, making this little piece of England their home. And from this a love developed that has been with us ever since. Supporting the football club is one other way of showing this love.
A sense of unity is an important one for all Boro fans. The definition of the town by the status of its football club is an interesting phenomenon but one that should not be taken lightly. It is commonly appreciated that the reputation of the town would suffer considerably if the club dropped out of the Premier League. Indeed as some fans have highlighted, people from other parts of the country (and indeed Europe now), have only heard about Middlesbrough because of our football club.
And it makes sense, after all how many of us had heard about Ostrava before we played Banik? Or Xanthi, or Lovech? A similar point can also be made with the French town of Auxerre - 25000 people yet one of the most high-profile teams in France. But how many people would have heard about the town had it not been for football?
So the game is quite clearly an advert for a town or region. And it is from this that unity derives. Football is very much a tribal thing, a game of us versus them. This stretches back to the earliest days of football when the majority, if not all, of the players for your club were reared locally. The importance of the sense of pride attached to this has not changed, as was evidenced over the weekend when Boro fielded a team of local lads against Fulham.
Yet this sense of locality has been eroded in recent years with the rise of the 'overpaid primadonnas' who litter the Premiership - players who are only there for their wages and not for local pride. This has irked many fans as they like to see players to whom they can relate and this is one of the reasons used to explain the dwindling crowds and lack of atmosphere at Premier League games.
Some have also pointed out that they prefer straight talking local lads playing because this is most akin to their own demeanour. Furthermore, football being a passionate game, they like to see that passion being reflected on the pitch, and this is more likely if the players representing your club are starting from the same base feeling as the fans themselves - that of local pride.
An extension of the tribal idea is the notion of belonging. Humans by their very nature don't like being alone. They are creatures that crave love and most importantly security. And to satiate these emotions people are naturally drawn to things that they have in common with each other. This is how the majority of friendships and relationships start for example.
Another common denominator is where people grow up, as many ex-pats who feel a natural affinity with local people when they meet up will tell you (an affinity that is shared through the potential of a common discourse). If 95% of your view of the world has developed by the age of three then obviously where you spend those first three years will have the most influence on your life. The case is similar with a place in which most of your major life changes have happened, as you start to appreciate your own sense of being within that area and start to credit your town with the person you have become.
After all, like Pease and Bolckow recognised, opportunity and where you live are very closely linked and it is through such links that a person develops as every experience you have changes forever the person you are. This aids in the development of an affection for your hometown as you relate many of your achievements to your being there as all your experiences have been there too. Thus your town has played a massive role in moulding you into the person you are.
Landmarks play a similar role - the Transporter Bridge, Roseberry Topping or Linthorpe Road automatically fill the heart with a feeling of joy - a feeling that increases with every single mile you get further away from home.
Similarly, you appreciate your home town through the people you meet as all a place is, is a reflection of the people who live there. So if you have spent your life trying to be accepted by people from a certain town then naturally you will have empathy for the town itself and will also feel that this is the place where you belong.
This is developed in the support of a football team as at a match, everyone is equal - your cheering has the same effect on the team as everybody else's. And suddenly instead of being alone or with a group, you're with thirty thousand people all wanting the same thing. Thirty thousand friends for you to meet and thirty thousand people that help you banish your own sense of individual insignificance.
To be part of such a group fosters your own feelings of self-worth, which in turn fosters the love for your local area. It is this mentality that propels the sale of replica shirts and the construction of the elaborate window displays that can be seen in many homes and businesses throughout Teesside at the moment.
And it is from this that another feeling of civic pride can be explained - defence. Many Boro fans feel their town is unfairly victimised, particularly by the southern press who do not understand its ethos, nor have they ever attempted to. Many have complained about the national media focussing on Middlesbrough's well-known problems rather than its good points. And many believe that the only way to defeat this is through a sense of unity, of a sense of portraying the town in the best possible light.
And of course the Boro being in the UEFA Cup Final tonight, goes a long way to achieving that. This is particularly true because the whole of the country, including the press are now behind us. We are no longer representing just Middlesbrough but we are representing England and this reflected pride has a knock-on effect for the town. Suddenly people want to know us and that sense of acceptance rather than shunning is a primeval emotion that every single person craves.
This sense of defence can also be used to explain local rivalries and again relates back to the notion of tribal warfare. As I wrote in January, people become increasingly defensive the nearer a threat is to themselves. For these reasons Boro fans dislike Geordies and Makems (and vice versa) more strongly than other rival sides. The same is true throughout the world - Ostrava dislike Prague due to the proximity of the two clubs for example - and this can also be explained through human psychology.
Essentially, to survive, humans need something to hate yet in modern society we have cultured ourselves away from this affectation. What this results in is a feeling of guilt every time we do not like someone or something rather than accepting the feeling and try and turn it into a positive. This in turn results in these feelings being bottled up and ultimately leads to violence, aggression and its concomitant factor, self-loathing.
Football however provides an outlet for this said hatred. By despising your local rivals for a controlled period of time it allows the constructive dismissal of negative feelings for the general well-being of the subject. For similar reasons people take up martial arts or other forms of combat-based exercise as in such controlled environments these feelings can be assuaged without any guilt. And through the case of defence, it is often civic pride that propels this release of feeling - through local hatred more strongly, but also through a derision of any rivals.
Indeed the analogy can be stretched even further. A football match is little more than a battle - a challenge to your honour and to your social standing. Every match you win you increase your reputation in relation to those of others. Every match you lose, the opposite happens. This was the fundamental basis of seventeenth century honour culture, particularly in France (L'honnęteté) and Spain, but it is still equally relevant here as when your football club does battle honour is still involved.
However here it is not your honour but the honour of your town that is at stake. However through the sense of belonging previously discussed, a person's honour is implicit with the honour of your town. This is because if people from other areas deride your hometown you are likely to take it as a personal insult and so every football match becomes a game in which every supporter is fighting for their individual honour through that of their town. This is exasperated by the national press who find little excuse to attack our town and is also the reason why today we feel so much pride, irrespective of what the result will be.
It is for these reasons that people revel in constructed identities. This is a trait that is commonly seen throughout human society and is not particular to football. These identities derive from the use of particular words or songs and their etymologies are often diverse. Some, for example, come from the locals themselves whilst others have been converted from insults originally used to demean them.
Examples of the latter are plentiful: 'Yid', 'Nigger' and 'Queer' being three of the most common that have been adopted by the groups originally derided by them. And the same is true in the Boro, with words like 'Smoggy' and 'Smogmonster', which has now been re-crafted as a symbol of pride rather than one of denigration. Words like 'Teessider' meanwhile were crafted in the region themselves and are still a powerful way of conferring an identity and a common sense of purpose. The songs that fans sing act in a similar way and are also used to confer an identity upon themselves and to also act as a rites of passage in terms of belonging to a specific fraternity. It is from this unity that the link between civic pride and football can be examined.
In 1829 Middlesbrough was nothing. By 1851 it was an integral part of the British economy, led by two men who had a vision and the desire to follow their dreams. It is the ultimate story of determination, of character and of endeavour. Indeed in a mere twenty years, Middlesbrough had developed a unique strength, clarity of purpose and had placed itself on the map. It was only through the pride of individuals that this collective achievement of the town was realised.
The allegory is obvious but can never be overstated. In 1986 Middlesbrough Football Club was nothing. Shunted into receivership with the fans locked outside their own ground, they were forced to play their opening home match of the season at Hartlepool amid an atmosphere of insecurity and gloom. In twenty years, like those founding fathers of the town some 150 years before him, Steve Gibson acted upon a vision and followed a belief. He allowed the club to rise from nothing like the nascent Victorian town had done, allowing success to breed success and for people in the local area to develop a pride unique to themselves.
He cared for the fans like Pease and Bolckow cared for their workers, building a new infrastructure with which that pride could be harnessed and fostering that link between a location and the individual that is unique to birthright. He gave opportunity and life to a fledgling company, giving all in the town something to be proud of. He fostered a community, a belief and a passion that is so imbued within Teesside that it makes this area the most special area in the world.
Middlesbrough owes a lot to Gibson, like it owes a lot to Pease and Bolckow. To follow in the spirit of these two pioneers takes a man of strength and determination and Gibson must be commended for this.
However it also takes a man imbued with passion, with desire and with an acute sense of love for his hometown that he could not bear it if every single Saturday, Middlesbrough's football result would not be read out. We have come along way since then and like the infant Hercules we have grown strong. Yet it's only through a collective belief, through a collective desire that is in every single one of us through the love of our own town that this strength resides.
Steve Gibson has it, we have it, everyone in Middlesbrough has it because it's our town. And no one can take that away from us. The time has come for our infant Hercules to fight for our name once more. We may be young, but we're sure as hell strong. Keep the faith. Come on Boro.
Research largely garnered from http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Middlesbrough.htm
With massive thanks to the following, without whom this article would not have been possible:
Fiddler on the Smog
Millet
Tough_Teessider88
A Cam Goes Wandering
Raven FCB
Guts
John
Montelimar
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