Is non league a form of football supporting veganism?
Holding more than one football identity.
Some are born into non league football others gravitate to it for any number of reasons. Some might have grown cynical of top flight Premier league or moved to a new area and discovered a local non league football team . That is how I found Sutton United. I support them as well as being a Manchester United fan. Football fans can and do hold more than one identity at once. Non league and Premier league sides co-exist peacefully inside the heads of football fans everywhere in England. Nothing unusual about that I hear you say, plenty of football supporters fit that bill. However within small sections of non league supporters I detect uneasiness about people holding two footballing identities especially if one of them is a Premier League team. Something akin to a person who does’t drink. To be a true non league believer you have to renounce Satan, sorry Premier League and all its works.
The current pandemic has placed football in crisis from top to bottom. The contortions of the Premier League to finish the season off is driven by money, principally the cash cow that is TV rights. Money is the original sin of all Premier League sides to a lesser and greater extent. For a tiny section of non league fans a window may exist to tempt supporters of Premier League sides who may despair of the current Premier League to jump ship and go non league.
It’s the football supporting equivalent of going vegan.
Going down from two football identities to one is difficult for some , non league fans who think the current crisis will cause fans of premiere league sides to go full vegan non league may have their hopes dashed. What is better, welcome all supporters no matter what other team they support and just be happy you’ve got people coming through the turnstiles when we get back to normal. Now is not the time for exclusivity. Fair to say I have never encountered any hostility from Sutton United fans for being a Man Utd supporter. Nor have I had the front to go down the Gander ground sporting a Man Utd jersey. I have not done so, not from fear of Sutton United fans but the Chelsea ones who litter the terraces of Sutton United.
Holding two football identities comes with a dark thought, what if Sutton United drew Man Utd in the FA Cup, who would I support? I cannot answer that question but would hazard a guess that it would be Man Utd on the proviso Sutton draw the away leg earning a cash bonanza from an Old Trafford replay. Over the years I have been to Sutton United more times than Old Trafford. Sutton United represents tremendous value for money and do not require a seven in the morning start from Victoria Station . That is the journey taken by the London Man Utd Supporters group. Whenever the season starts again I will be making a shorter journey. One that takes me up Gander Green Lane home to the mighty Sutton United.
