Guest Post by Spencer Blohm
Life is good today for football fans in America. Every Premier League game is shown live on television in glorious high definition, and all of this is available with no subscription to pay for or special programming package to buy. The streets are full of people wearing replica kits that range from the familiar to the esoteric, and some American fans even know a few chants. The pundits take a bit of getting used to, but the same can probably be said about pundits the world over.
Things were not always this way though, and expats in search of a footie fix have suffered many an indignity along the way. Many sports fans think it’s cute to hear a South American football commentator scream goooooooooooooooooool when a team scores, but the sound can be grating (or infuriating) to expat West Ham fans who lived through the dark days of the early 1980s. They cried when they heard it after Ricky Villa scored in the 1981 Cup Final, and they sighed when they didn’t hear it at all during England’s second round games at the 1982 World Cup.
That’s because the days of the Cold War and Frankie Goes to Hollywood featured virtually no football on mainstream television. An over the air Spanish channel was just about the only way to see a game, and there was not much in the way of English football on offer. What little there was featured Liverpool winning the league or Tottenham hoisting the F.A. Cup. West Ham were doing well at the time, but Hammers fans in the USA heard little about it. When Brooking scored the winner at Wembley in 1980, fans in America were hunched over radios like downed RAF pilots in occupied France. These darkest of days seem almost surreal compared to how things are now.
Most people understand that money calls the shots in America, and football has always had a tough road. Basketball, baseball and American football all feature regular breaks in the action that allow networks to numb the minds of viewers with banal commercials, but real football didn’t give advertisers much of a look-in. You have to hand it to the networks though, because they really did try. Only the knockout stages of the World Cup were shown on American TV, and the networks were not about to let the audience enjoy the action without impediment.
The first thing that the television stations did was cut away from the game without warning to run some commercials. One second it was Platini slicing the German defense apart with a precision ball, and the next it was some D list celebrity complaining about their sciatica. When this was met with howls of protest, the networks moved to plan B. This involved showing the game in an inset box surrounded by advertising. The best possible solution for expat West Ham fans was a two TV setup. One TV for the Spanish channel’s picture and the other for the American commentary. Any true EPL fan needed at least one friend who would bite the bullet and buy a huge satellite dish (like this ugly monstrosity) or subscribe to a satellite dish latino package. (Noteable: This is still by far the best way to catch games from secondary European leagues in the US, you’ll just need to learn basic football spanish.)
The 1990s saw things get much, much worse. West Ham were struggling financially and on the pitch, and sports bars with satellite dishes were ushering in the golden age of the glory hunter. Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United fans sprang up like weeds, and they droned on about offside traps and through balls without having a clue about what any of it meant. But America loves a winner, and it could be argued that the dominance of Manchester United paved the way for the popularity of the Premier League today.
These days it’s the fans of teams like West Ham and Newcastle that draw more than their share of plastic American fans. Hipsters love to be contrary, and they often pick teams that are seen as being just slightly off the beaten path. So West Ham fans who are planning a trip to the land of the free and the home of the brave can take heart. The game will be shown live on television without interruption, and you can even pick up a replica 1964 F.A. Cup Final shirt. Just spare a thought for the haggard looking chap in the corner. He survived the dark days, and he deserves his day in the sun.