harry and his red and white eyes
A story of two halves about the relationship between football club and fan, and ultimately brand and consumer.
FIRST HALF.
Everyone loves a good story and I wanted to start by sharing one with you. I know just the one to kick things off, a true story about loyalty, trust, passion and tradition.
Harry Hutchinson loved football. Harry was seven years old when this love affair began after his father introduced him to Sunderland football club and from that moment his heart pumped red and white. Every Saturday morning Harry would don his red and white uniform and go and do battle in support of his club. A man of ritual he would park in the same “lucky spot” then have a flutter at the bookies. Even Harry’s money would show Sunderland their full support. Seeming more like family, Harry knew every nook and cranny of Roker Park. As a child he always tried to get in for free using various guises, including once pretending to be the pie man selling pies in the ground.
the end.It was in the 1970’s that the red and white started to seep into the house. Everything that he could get his hands on became a supporter of Sunderland football club. A red and white chimney-breast, red and white tiles on the kitchen floor, a red and white picket fence surrounded a football pitch lawn mowed by a red and white lawnmower, all chanting and singing in unison the songs of Sunderland FC. Vera, Harry’s tolerable wife, had no objection even when naming their first daughter Shirley. A tribute to the great Sunderland centre-back Charlie Hurley— always a fan, Harry just added an ‘S’.
Every home game Harry would watch from the Clock Stand at Roker Park and get behind his team, come rain or snow, win or lose. Harry went to the games no matter the obstacle to rally behind his team. He was known to leave home at four in the morning and return at five the next day. If they played a long distance away match during the week, Harry would be dropped off in Durham on the way back and he would walk from there. A die-hard fan, he never missed a match.
Late in his life, Harry had an operation. He came out of the hospital Thursday, and despite only just having the stitches out and being in poor health, he still went to the Saturday match. It would be the last match he went to. Harry had always said “When I go, don’t bother about anything, just scatter me down at Roker Park.” Four days after his funeral, Vera and his family went to Roker Park where all the Sunderland players and staff stood side by side as Harry’s ashes were scattered by a friend in the goalmouth of the Clock Stand. He looked up and said, “I can see you sittin’ there now. You’re watching, aren’t you Harry– through those red and white eyes.”
HALF-TIME.
SECOND HALF.
There are a lot of things that we can take from Harry’s story, his passion, his devotion and his adherence, but these are not limited to Harry, or to his club Sunderland. They can be found in every single club and every single person that watches them across the globe.
Fans often say, without a hint of glibness, that they would rather move country than change teams, so the clubs have, on tap, a perfect, unshakeable relationship between them and their fans: or in another way, their brand and consumer. Lets face it, whether we like it or not, every company, club, association or organisation has a brand and an identity: and it is not just about fancy logo. Branding, like football, is more than just a game– it is everything.
The support base at a football club is substantial and it is shown in how they relentlessly consume it. They buy the shirt every year and wear it to a match they bought a ticket for. They keep warm at half time with their scarf in team colours whilst reading the official match day programme and making a bet at the clubs betting stall. Just imagine if you could inject that much loyalty, passion and show
of support for a soft drink, a mobile phone or DVD player: that products like these, and the choices that determine our adoption of them, were as intimately linked to our sense of identity as the team we support.
However that is only the first half of the Brand and Football match. The second half at first glance appears to be very corporate, very ‘business’ and very soulless: not what you would expect from a football club. But it has to be said that now, perhaps more than at any other time, businesses and football are so closely linked: creating a culture of sponsorship and creating benefit through association. If you have a great brand then people will want to be linked with you, they will be attracted to you and will want to share your values and this also applies just as much for the fans as it does for the business.
But it is not all about getting out onto the branding pitch for the game of two halves, the key to success is found in the time spent before the big match: in training. The identity of any football club has to be an effective piece of communication applied consistently. In everything the organisation does, everything it owns, and everything it produces it should project a clear idea of what it is and what its aims are. Then when you have a brand that symbolizes all of these things you have something to rally behind and chant on to victory.
After all you wouldn’t catch Harry in a blue shirt on match day would you.
Have your say at mytwopenneth@craigoldham.co.uk
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Story of Harry Hutchinson adapted from 'In Soccer Wonderland' by Julian Germain, designed by Why Not Associates and published by Booth Clibborn Editions, 1994. ISBN 1873968 302.
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