Football vlogging is, in my opinion, the greatest embodiment of the exponential globalisation of the Premier League.
The ability for a fan to record and share the match day experience with thousands of people across the globe, is revolutionary.
The fact a Chelsea fan from South Korea can consume the atmosphere, chants and celebrations as well as a West Londoner who lives around the corner from Stanford Bridge, is astonishing. Perhaps even, wrong?
There is a section of fans from every club who dislike vloggers, in fact I’d go as far as to say they’re repulsed by every camera they set eyes on.
It’s as if someone holding a camera represents a knife into the heart of their club and vloggers personify some entity, hell-bent on ruining the beautiful game once and for all.
For every fan that feels that way, I’d suggest looking at the titanic investment into the Premier League over the past 15 years which has morphed the country’s top division, before they point to a smartphone.
The investment from broadcasters and owners who have made the idea of trophy-based success a billionaire’s play-thing. They have changed the game more than a supporter making a video ever could.
Vlogging isn’t wrong, it’s a mere consequence of a product which is so profitable that every fan wants a piece of the action.
I spoke to a vlogger of a Premier League club who has built a significant following on YouTube over the past 2 or 3 years, creating brilliant content which puts his audience at the heart of the experience.
For personal reasons, Sam didn't want his channel to be identified.
“My first experience of backlash for vlogging was actually from a kid, couldn’t have been older than 14 or 15 to my judgement. He took one look at me and the camera and just screamed directly at me: For fuck sake! I just burst out laughing.”
I asked him what the difference was between receiving abuse in the ground and online.
“Funnily enough, to start with I was taking much more offence to the stuff that was said to me online rather than in person. That’s because I feel like I can process these things better in my mind and I react in a better way. When it’s online people can say whatever they want and this is Twitter, which is full of nasty little eggs. There was one particular day where it got really bad, I didn’t react to it well. I maybe thought that it was going to spiral out of control, however since then it has got a lot better.”
He released a video in late December about ‘the war on vloggers’ in football. In a thought provoking piece, he responded to some of the abuse he’d received and addressed some deeper issues about mental health.
The London-based Youtuber has always been a strong supporter of raising awareness for mental health and suicide. Illustrated by a yellow ribbon in the bottom right-hand corner which is ever present in his content. It really is a topic which is only now being properly acknowledged and embraced by football and society.
“From my personal perspective, it’s jealousy and a superiority complex. (Why some fans don’t like vloggers) I don’t think anyone would have any rational or logical reason to want to abuse a vlogger, without those factors involved. Of course I have respect if it isn’t your thing, I have zero problems with that. The one thing I can never negotiate or compromise with is personal abuse. I think from their point of view, vlogging breaks a traditional boundary that going to the game represents. At one point in the 90’s, ticket prices in football increased by over 300%, which is a lot considering this is meant to be a game for the people.”
In a sense, I recognise the frustration. This is a sport with working class routes that has undergone monumental globalisation and Americanisation.
It’s not a massive surprise that vlogging is seen as a personification of this in the ground. However, it’s almost as if we forget that there is person behind the camera who at the end of the day, is a paying fan like everyone else.
There seems to be this idea that by picking up a camera in a game you become exploitative. Maybe sometimes this is true, but speaking to Sam, there are clearly so many other factors that motivate vloggers.
“I started doing this because I have a lot of family abroad and literally just wanted to give them the match-day experience. This was my initial motivation. I’m just a passionate fan like anyone else.”
The most important thing the footballing community has to do is accept that technology is going to keep flooding into the sport, especially at the top level.
There are better places to channel aggression and bigger problems in the sport, than taking exception to a vlogging culture which inevitably will continue.
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