Pitch Invasion

Pitch invasions. They can represent moments of collective joy; they can be acts of individual stupidity; they can be forms of group protest. In all their manifestations, they represent that which is glorious, terrible, empowering, inane, and perhaps even insane about the people that follow football and who have made it the world’s game. After all, claiming the pitch itself is possibly the ultimate visceral act of supporter power.

That is one reason why this site is called pitchinvasion.net (for more, see this post about my own experiences with pitch invasions), though it’s far from only about pitch invasions themselves: it will explore football supporter culture, politics and passion in all their forms.

This site will be a home for original writing on these topics, and will cull from the web news, video and images by and about fans around the world.

My own writing here will often focus on football fan culture in the United States: on my old blog, from my perspective of an English football fan exploring American soccer, I’ve written previously on travels to Canada with the Chicago Fire’s Section 8 supporter’s group, on the Timbers Army in Portland, and on soccer in the States beyond MLS. The passion for soccer amongst the supporter’s groups in America is something the rest of the world should be aware of, and is fascinating to follow as the nascent game here goes through its growing pains.

I’m also very interested in the question of supporter power and the meaning of fandom outside the Premiership, as I look back to my homeland, England: previously on my old blog, I interviewed one of the founders of FC United, took a glance at those nutty groundhoppers, and considered whether soccer blogs are the new fanzines.

And this site will also, by using the magics of the internet, explore the world of football fans outside the Anglo-American world that is known to me through photography and video with daily updates.

I’m also hoping other people will step up and make this a community of fans writing about their experiences or supporter’s groups. Are you interested in writing for pitchinvasion.net, or even having your own section here about the fans of a particular team or league around the world? Want to post videos, photos, commentary on football fans? Drop me a line at tom@pitchinvasion.net