Football from below, or will Ohh Jeremy Corbyn ever be sung in the stands?

 

Even with Jeremy Corbyn at Number Ten - the address not the squad number – short of nationalising football the prospects for change remain remote. Any such policies from above to shift football back to its roots as the ‘people’s game’ are of course welcome but this session develops instead ‘football from below.’ Using an imaginative combination of spoken word, visuals and participative discussion aided by practical grassroots examples we will be challenging the idea of  football as a game to watch and consume by reimagining football as a social movement. Presented by Philosophy Football. 

 

List of Speakers

 

Attila the Stockbroker, punk football poet

Bobby Kasanga, founder Hackney Wick FC

Heather Wakefield, UNISON, Head of Local Government

Jacquie Agnew founder Equality FC initiative

Joe Kennedy, author Games without Frontiers

Kadeem Simmonds, Sports Editor, the Morning Star

Mark Doidge, contributor Fan Culture in European Football and the Influence of Left Wing Ideology

Naomi Westland, directed Amnesty International UK”s #FootballWelcomes pro-refugees campaign

Stephen North, co-author Build a Bonfire : How Football Fans United to Save Brighton and Hove Albion

Suzy Wrack, writes the Guardian weekly women's football blog

 

Chaired by Mark Perryman, co-founder the self-styled ‘sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction, aka Philosophy Football 

 

 

Speaker biogs 

 

Attila the Stockbroker was one of the stalwarts of the Brighton fans’ campaign to return their club to the city and helped to initiate the Fans United action in their support. A longstanding fan of FC St Pauli too, for a day job Attila is a punk football poet, quite possibly a unique job description. 

Bobby Kasanga is a former gang member who has served time in prison.  In 2015 he founded the community football club Hackney Wick FC, whose club motto is ‘ our borough, our club’. In season 2017-18 Hackney Wick FC made history by competing in the FA Cup for the first time. 

Heather Wakefieldis a Chelsea season ticket-holder as well as being UNISON, Head of Local Government which includes responsibility for opposing the privatisation and closure of publicly owned sports facilities. 

Jacquie Agnew is a Director of Lewes FC and head of Women’s Football at the club. In July 2017 Lewes FC became the first club in world football to establish equal playing budgets for its men’s and women’s teams, an initiative they call   Equality FC.

Joe Kennedy is the author of Games without Frontiers which has been praised by When Saturday Comes as ‘ a rich exploration of football in its broadest sense – not as merely a set of match results, statistics and tactical approaches but as a living social entity.’  

Kadeem Simmonds graduated from Brighton University’s renowned sports journalism degree to become the UK’s first black sports editor on a national newspaper.

Mark Doidge is a Senior Research Fellow at Brighton University with an expertise in anti-racist initiatives in football that has been recognised by a range of bodies including UEFA and FARE  (Football Against Racism in Europe). Most recently he has been researching the growth of refugees’ football.     

Naomi Westland is media manager at Amnesty International UK which in April this year to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica launched the  #FootballWelcomes pro-refugees campaign. Two of the Basque refugees who came to Britain from Spain became the first Spaniards to play professional football in England. 

Stephen North is a professional actor and occasional musician. A longstanding Brighton fan he has also co-authored with Paul Hodson two books on the fans’ campaign to bring their club back to the city.

Suzy Wrack writes the weekly women's football blog for the Guardian as well as being a long-standing socialist activist and Arsenal fan.   

 

Mark Perrymanwas for many years closely involved with the development of a ‘fan-friendly’ culture around England fan culture at Euros and World Cups. More recently he has become involved in non-league football via his local club, Lewes FC. A member of both the  Labour Party and Momentum Mark is also the co-founder the self-styled ‘sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction, aka Philosophy Football . 

 

The World Transformed festival website is here