Football v. Football: Finding Family in Football

In preparation for my intensive study of the sport I know as ‘soccer’, I decided to chat with someone who I know has a passion for it. Mason, known as @thecoysboy on Instagram, has become the American voice for the Tottenham Hotspur football club. Being both a football fanatic as well as an American, I thought it would be interesting to get his advice and outlook on the sport. I did not understand the pathway he had taken to becoming a football fan, and he did say it was not without its controversy. “A big sense of the motivation I had for it was the stigma against Americans when it comes to talking about this damn sport. Our UK counterparts often look down on us […] I’m on a mission to prove that some Americans “know ball.” Mason, in 90 minutes (divided into 90-second videos), outlines the wild outcomes of each Tottenham Hotspur game.

Often, Mason travels to one of the 150 Hotspur-associated bars in America, chatting with the other fans of the Tottenham team. It is his goal to visit all of them on one big road trip, watching a game and interviewing the people there. As he points out, “[The interviews] legitimise their own fandom to them. @Thecoysboy was my senior project, and I wrote a 30-page research essay on sports fandom and how fandom is not a pathology, it is human.” One of his most viewed videos, pinned on his page, is one where he tells his Spurs story and how he became a fan of the team. “I love reading through the comments because it just encouraged so many other people to reach out,” he said. “What I want to prove is that every story is of equal importance.”

Talking with him, the differentiation of the fandom to American sports became clearer. People love football, and it unites many strangers from all ages under a football club's triumphs and defeats: “You’re instantly best friends with all these locals around you who you don’t know, but you know what club they’re rooting for, and that’s enough.” When asking for advice on learning more, he said simply, “You’ve got a lot at your fingertips.” And, finally, he advised me to go to a Rangers game — or that of any other historic team — as the number of fans in the stadium is often so great that you cannot hear anything over their cheering.

It has been encouraging to see such a passion for the sport create deep seeded communities, but also a bit daunting because I have yet to choose a team. Hopefully it will not be too difficult, but we shall see.  

Image by Isobel Holloway