Anyone who as any slight interest in the atmosphere surrounding a football match rather than the action happening on the pitch knows how different the English crowds are compared to the rest of Europe, and even to the rest of the United Kingdom. While the Scottish Premiership can display colorful home stands populated by active fan groups like Aberdeen's Red Ultras, Celtic's Green Brigade, Rangers' Union Bears and many more, the English top tier is pretty dire in terms of noise and colour, with few exceptions.
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| Crystal Palace are the most notable 'exception'. [GQ Magazine] |
To talk about the atmosphere in English stadiums, we first have to address the Elephant in the room: several laws were introduced from the 1980s onwards to stop hooliganism after a series of incidents involving English fans both in domestic and European matches, in particular the Heysel disaster of 1985. The Football Spectators Act of 1989 introduced football banning orders that could be imposed to fans convicted of football related offences, and then in 2000 it was strengthened to allow the banning without conviction too.
While the goal of these acts was to reduce hooliganism, they also had side effects on the football culture and experience of match-going fans that had nothing to do with the hooligan world, basically treating any fan like a potential criminal.
Undercover officers and riot police even at the most peaceful events left fans intimidated, and all-seater stadiums and the ban on alcohol made matches safer but killed any kind of hardcore support, producing a sanitised corporate atmosphere that sometimes feels closer to a tennis crowd rather than a football one.
The start of the Premier League, which pretty much coincided with the passing of these laws, made football a purely commercial exercise, with sponsors and television deals becoming more and more important every year. As standing was banned, the stadiums reduced in capacity, making tickets more expensive, and the exponential growth of income for the Premier League clubs over the last three decades added another excuse for the tickets to become unaffordable to the people who once packed the standing areas, most of which were working class, effectively pricing them out of their clubs' home matches.
This sequence of events led to a league in which it is virtually impossible to create a hostile environment for the away team for the whole 90 minutes, and made Premier League fans get mocked any time an away end dominates the atmosphere in a European clash, with Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Emirates and Etihad stadium regularly beaten in terms of noise by traveling fans.
In this almost angering lack of understanding from the British government, some group of fans are still trying to create an atmosphere, often looking over at the continental ultras to take inspiration as flags, drums and banners become more frequent even in the English game.
In South London in particular, a group of life-long Crystal Palace supporters who had been going to the Eagles' matches since the 80s and had experienced the "old school days of terracing", decided to form a group in the Holmesdale Road Stand of Selhurst Park in 2005, naming themselves Holmesdale Fanatics.
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| Crystal Palace fans with their flares, banners and flags [hf05.org] |
Trying to change the direction football culture was going in England was not easy: as the game was being taylored for the fans staying at home in front of the TV rather than match-going fans, the group found itself fighting against "archaic" and "repressive" stadium rules and against a city council whose number one goal was to crush any possible trouble by banning and charging countless Palace fans, even threatening to close the stand.
Regardless of the severe treatment they got from those in charge, Holmesdale Fanatics grew in numbers, in flags, in banners, and even started smuggling in pyro material to make the stand look better. Massive tifos also started appearing occasionally over the Holmesdale Road Stand, and a new generation of fans started introducing ultra-style support and chants.
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| A tifo shown by the Holmesdale Road Stand [Getty Images] |
This year's FA Cup run has been unforgettable for Crystal Palace. The Glaziers have knocked out Stockport County, Doncaster and Millwall, in a match mostly remembered for Liam Roberts' horrific tackle on Palace striker Mateta, reaching the quarter finals in a tournament that has seen Manchester City as the only big-6 representative in the last eight still standing.
A 0-3 win at Craven Cottage against Fulham earned them the ticket for a Wembley semifinal against Aston Villa, but before the match had even begun the Holmesdale Fanatics had already won: after raising more than £13k for the occasion, the Palace faithful displayed a wonderful tifo depicting a young boy clutching the club's shirt, with a banner quoting Elvis Presley's song Can't help falling in love: "Take my hand, take my whole life too".
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| Crystal Palace's FA Cup semifinal tifo against Aston Villa [Getty Images] |
The boy in the tifo is Ethan, a fan who has been going to Selhurst Park since he was three years old. His grandad bought him his first season ticket and always brought him to see their beloved Crystal Palace. When the child was just five, his grandparents applied for guardianship because his mother was unfit to parent him, as Ethan was often late for school, never taken care of and rarely fed. Unfortunately, his Grandad passed away before the guardianship could be approved, but one of his last wishes was for Ethan to keep going to the football, so his family kept renewing his season ticket every year.
When in 2019 Palace beat Manchester City at Selhurst Park, match-winning goalscorer Andros Townsend handed Ethan his shirt. The young man couldn't believe his eyes, and the cameras captured the emotional moment live. The internet made this wholesome exchange go viral, and Ethan became a symbol of Palace's fans love for their club. Little Ethan even became the face of the club's 2021-22 season tickets campaign!
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| Ethan on the 2021-22 season ticket campaign [Crystal Palace] |
Holmesdale Fanatics had something in mind for the final, too. On the historic day, the Palace half of Wembley Stadium unveiled yet another tifo, this time depicting a father celebrating with two children. The man was Mark Wealleans, father of Nathan and Dominic, and the image is from 2011, when the family was celebrating Darren Ambrose's goal in the League Cup quarterfinal win over Ferguson's Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Mark Wealleans passed away in 2017, but the footage of his celebration with his sons has never been forgotten by Crystal Palace fans. Dominic and Nathan themselves later admitted that they had no idea that Holmesdale Fanatics had prepared a tifo of them, leaving them in awe at the surprise and in tears for the touching tribute.
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| Crystal Palace's FA Cup final tifo against Manchester City [Getty Images] |
Once the match started though the two brothers were convinced that it was going to be their day, that Crystal Palace was going to end their drought. And so did they. A first half goal from Eberechi Eze and a penalty save by Dean Henderson, as well as the team's second half defensive heroics, won Palace the FA Cup, and the players earned immortality in the memory of South London.
The pictures and videos of the tifos that Palace fans displayed at Wembley for the FA Cup semifinal and final have made their way all around the world, and hopefully many more fans in England will take inspiration and courage to go the same route, taking the game back from the seated corporate borefest to create electric atmospheres all over the country.
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