Sutton United: Heartbreak, hope and vegan pies.
After my first visit to Forest Green Rovers (FGR) ground it's not the vegan pie that sticks in my mind, no, it’s that very steep walk from Nailsworth to the ground. Ironically on the day Sutton Utd played their, they’d run out of vegan pies so I settled for a vegan pasty. Sutton Utd played their first ever game in the English Football League at FGR yesterday, Saturday 7th of August 2021. In their own way both teams have come from humble origins to grace the bright lights of English Football League division two. What sets FGR apart is this, they are increasingly known in the UK and beyond as that vegan team that cares about the environment. Not in a tokenistic way but practically in their actions as a club. At the ground it’s in your face, the digital advertising is not telling you the place a bet but how many pigs have been killed in the last five minutes. Is all this the result of fans? Not really, it’s been driven by Dale Vince, the wealthy owner of a renewable energy company.
Going back to those totemic vegan pies, where is the choice for the home and away fans. Can’t we have a meat and potato pie on the club menu alongside a our friendly vegan pie? The short answer at FGR is no. However, you still have a choice, you can pop a meat pie in your bag and bring it into the ground. Unless of course ground security staff are searching bags to thwart meat and potato pie smugglers. Or you could exercise your choice to the extreme and not go to or even support FGR.
Football supporting is tribal, many inherit a team as a child and it hangs about them for years in some way or another. For me that was Manchester Utd, from before the Fergie years, right through the glory years I supported Utd. I don’t regret any of it. Going to Old Trafford I’ve met people from around the world. Match day in Manchester was a truly global affair back in the day. I even made it to Moscow for the Champions league final. What happened to me? I moved to Sutton around 2011 to a flat just off Gander Green Lane. Sutton United is just up the road. I thought well, I can watch a bit of football, its lower league Conference South stuff, not to stressful and I can listen to the radio to track how Man Utd are doing. Then over time from paying at the gate, to becoming a season ticket holder, taking in the odd away game in London to now travelling to the wilds of Forest Green, it's been a journey.
The point is I have choices, I chose to leave behind being a Man Utd supporter to become a Sutton one. Political parties once took voters for granted ‘they’ve nowhere else to go” and football clubs risk the same. I’m going nowhere, I’ll continues to support Sutton United. But just as you have a choice of pies, football supporters have a choice of club. The world is uncertain, fluid, ever shifting and so to are a small section of football fandom. One day we might attend a football game virtually with our digital avatar standing on the terraces. Well at least it would save us having to climb that bloody hill up to Forest Green Rovers.
