Ball Street's First YouTube Football Show With Ian Wright - Here's The Promo For 451.

The heart of football

by Stuart, Ball Street

I was going tell you about Ball Street, however I can’t let events at Ibrox pass without comment.

It’s a tale of self-destruction with a vengeance, true of all parties involved in the toxic cauldron of Scottish football.   But that’s for another day.  Today let me tell you a story about football and the fan.

Rangers are the club of my uncles, two of whom had heart attacks at Ibrox watching the Rangers.  One sadly passed; the amazing medical staff in the ground saved the other, who was the first to take me every other week.

It’s also the club of my late father, who worked on the rebuilding of the Main Stand and salvaged the old wooden seats and fittings to craft a handsome fireplace for his living room.  Every time we went to the back shops, we would occasionally stop by old Jimmy’s to see if he needed any messages.  Only later did I find out that Jimmy was Jimmy Smith, scorer of 225 goals in 234 appearances for Rangers between 1928 and 1946.

I know my history.  I know that a love that’s been shared by generations of my family doesn’t exist on the balance sheet of Sevco 5088.   The club can’t be taken away by liquidation, player departures, rulings or the ill-feeling of others.

A football club lives only the hearts of its fans.   That’s true of any club.  As Kevin Drinkell said recently: “Rangers fans who were supporters yesterday will still be supporters today. That's the bottom line.”

Sure it will be hard to see the likes of Naismith and McCabe grace other arenas - they've lost their chance to be legends - but Ibrox will always have its heroes.  There may well be a succession of journeymen on the horizon who might never have climbed the marble staircase, but among them will be legends that we’ll still talk about in years to come.

Like many others, I’ve long said we should start over in Division Three.  We should take our medicine and let others have theirs.  I’ll look forward to Glasgow derbies with Queen’s Park and trips to Montrose where we holidayed as kids.  And then I’ll be able to tell you more about why every league is a premier league.

Episode 3 of Ball Street's 451 show with Ian Wright.

As Europe searches for drama, the Eredivisie’s title race rises

With seven games remaining in the Eredivisie the destination of the championship is no clearer than it was at the beginning of the campaign. At this time of writing four sides are in contention separated by three points making this the most eagerly anticipated climax to any of Europe’s major leagues. Like the season finale of a gripping television drama series, its one not to be missed.

How this has come about is attributed to a new economic reality, one that has slowly weakened Dutch clubs, as a result the gap between the traditional old guard (consisting of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) and majority of the division isn’t as wide as it once was. You get the feeling this season won’t be a one-off.

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Jimmy Bullard with Ball Street

AFR x Ball Street x Ian Wright

It’s a Friday night and there’s one thing on our minds: football. What else? The guys over at Ball Street have invited us, alongside several other blogs, to do what we do best: talk football. Joining us on our very first Google Hangout will be former Crystal Palace and Arsenal striker, England international, Ian Wright.

We’ll be discussing the issues and problems fans and their clubs have to tackle. It’s a broad, but very interesting topic, with plenty of talking points and who knows where it’ll take us.

UPDATE: You can watch the Hangout in full here.

Repping AFR tonight is our man Dom at 8PM GMT. Watch us on their YouTube page and keep up with the project through Twitter @Ball_Street.

Here's the intro to our new show 451 over at www.youtube.com/ballstreet

Real fans clubbing together

At the weekend we learned a lot about what #ClubTogether is.  It's fans standing up against the status quo.  Fans realising that, to make a difference, we can work together and get the things we want.

In the case of Jack Cox and everyone connected with Bath City FC, it was getting exposure and getting people to #PackThePark to #SaveBathCity.

Jack invited us to City, a club in danger of folding unless they sell the home they have played at since 1932.

@ball_street you guys should come to Bath City on Saturday and experience rival teams #ClubTogether to help a non league club.

January 28, 2013

At Bath, we met fans that are willing to step forward and make a difference; fans that are tune with what football should be.

Jack, a Bristol City fan, started a Facebook page to get fellow Robins to #PackThePark at Bath.  Joining Jack were fans from clubs  across the country - from the Bristol clubs to Luton, Swindon, Plymouth, Tranmere and Chelsea.

What we love about Jack is that he didn’t just stand by and watch.  He didn’t want to accept that a local club should be allowed to die and be ignored by a media focussed on catering to a mass market.  He has tried to connect with people and do something about it.

We started using #ClubTogether because we believe fans of all clubs can change things by working as one.  We have a vision where the league a club is playing in doesn’t determine the quality of insight and coverage that it gets and if we club together we can change things.

But as Jack has shown, #ClubTogether is much bigger than that - use it to tell us what's important to you and your club.

If you want to get involved, then get in touch via twitter  @ball_street,  www.facebook.com/BALLSTREET or drop an email to clubtogether@ballstreet.co.uk.

Now God's getting involved...

"All over this new footy show-bit.ly/451Promo - get following @ball_street tweeps"Looks quality @ianwright0

— Robbie Fowler (@Robbie9Fowler) March 28, 2013

"Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that."

Jock Stein, Celtic Manager 1965-1978

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