Barnsley fans yesterday v Forest

[roversdude]

I guess Wilts posting something from wiki makes it right then
The bit in the post actually states early 83, there was another ballot later in the year that resulted in an overtime ban as the first stage of industrial action, my memory tells me this was a national action

[Tokyos Boot]

Why is football the only sport to have such stupid social rivalries? Don't see it in Rugby Union, Cricket, Boxing, Tennis, Netball, Basketball, etc etc etc. The fact that I go to watch Doncaster Rovers doesn't mean I have any other thing in common with anyone else in that stadium - and I certainly don't want them speaking for me about anything at all. In fact, for a while now I've been struggling with the tribal nonsense being spouted by footy fans - where I sit you can hear racist, sexist, homophobic language, from time to time, and it's not pleasant - perhaps this is a contributory factor to the dwindling crowds or the inability of the club to grow it's fanbase?

The miners strike was an appalling social period for South Yorkshire and many other areas - and I'm not a tory voter - but the fact remains that bringing the coal out of the ground cost more money than it was worth (Which is why the coal fields haven't been opened up again in the age of new technology and profit). What Thatcher and her lot did was to try and save money - what they didn't do was ensure entire areas were properly supported through the change.

Footy-wise, I've not been for a few games because I'm sick of hearing the same old thicko's shouting angry words at people a long way away for reasons which are still, to this day, unfathomable.

Have you ever considered the idea that this is the reason why football is the most popular and supported sport in the world?
Rugby, and Tennis and Snooker are all well in good if your a fan of sporting prowess - but lets face it, it isn't the sporting prowess that gets people turning out to watch Accrington Stanley is it? Its the sense of being involved in something bigger than that, being part of a community united by its sense of pride in its local territory... thats what its all about, thats where the pleasure comes from!

Sure, to some people, they want to watch THE BEST athletes push the achievable boundaries and pull of something spectacular, and they are more than entitled to spend their money in that way, but they are the perhaps 10% of football fans buying Barcelona and (what used to be) Manchester United shirts... and i feel for them, because they are missing out on the best bit about football, the bit that sets it apart from tennis - the stomach fizzing buzz that comes from standing alongside someone else with a passion and pride, singing their lungs out over their territory, accepting you into that body of likewise supporters. Football isn't just a sport, its a feeling, its a family, its taking that working class lad and giving him something to believe in. Granted it can be aggressive, and archaic, and intimidating - what else is to be expected of something fuelled on testosterone?

For me, i think the exact opposite, i think the dwindling crowds and fanbase is because so many footballing governing bodies are trying to market against that sort of environment, make it a 'family sport', take away the sense of local identity and rivalry out of fears of safety and political correctness. Football was born from the working classes, and it has sold its soul for the middle class dream - it isn't affordable or accessible to the rough and ready much anymore... it caters to those season ticket holders who sit with a flask and applaud heartily. And for me, thats a travesty.

Just look at how many people (people that would be considered louts by the new footballing bourgeois) attend the darts these days? And why? Because its a fun event, you can have a few drinks, chant a few songs, and just have a bit of a (granted masculine) laugh - even Snooker is going that way... because it realises that the sport in itself isn't interesting enough!

The English game and its disregard to the working classes citing 'the 70's and 80's' as some sort of justification that every council estate supporter is an uneducated thug and a potential security threat is completely misguided (in the same vein as the way miners were treat by the government) and this prawn sandwich generation of football supporters are leaving us in the dust in terms of value for money on the matchday experience compared to countries such as Germany and Poland who are ever growing as footballing communities (and atmospheres)!

[hoolahoop]

Its very easy to dissmiss it pod if you wern't there.It still hurts very much to all involved.If only we sang about football matters at games but we,and every other club don't.

Of coutse it hurts Shaun even after all these years but you can get help for it surely. There are many on here that were miners/supported families of miners (in my case) however we do have to move on or we stay in the Dark Ages a la Barnsley.
Shouting 'Scabs' is a pisspoor piece of supposed banter at best. I hope folk now stop it ........32 years ago and we still haven't moved on ffs !!

[IDM]

I'm with Hoola on this - fully supportive of the miners' cause at the time, but I don't think "Scab" chants are relevant today.  Especially with the vitriol that some of these chants are delivered.  And I really don't get it when "we" chant "you only sing when you're scabbing" - so they have been quiet for 29 years then?

[CusworthRovers]

Personally I must thank Arthur, as I was set to go down the mines at Hatfield Pit, but it was scuppered by the strike, and alas I went studying at Nth East London Poly. How different ones life may have been.

That said, I was a big supporter of my dad and family who were on strike and stood side by side with them (until Sept when I went to London).

I will be singing Scabs, Scabs and I will be singing 'Sing when you're scabbing' at Forest, County and Mansfield and always will.

I've still got the historical feelings (and I appreciate the younger ones may not have), and my lad has been told about the meaning. I do it also to gain the upper hand against the away support and to piss them off.

It's done all the time re North/South.........

on the dole, on the dole, on the dole
sign on, sign on, sign on
Oh Doncaster is wonderful
Oh (*insert name of town or county) is full of shit
Yorkshire, Yorkshire
Town full of inbreds
God knows how many REligious/bigot songs

etc etc

It's good ole footy banter/rivalry and fans will use anything to get one over the opposition, usually if it's in good taste, and sometimes poor taste.

I wouldn't class Scab songs in poor taste, just historic rivalries rekindled for that 90mins. It is our recent community history, and one not be forgotten or cast aside too easily   

[wilts rover]

Roversdue - from what I can see the overtime ban in October 1983 came about after NUM Special Delegate Conference on 21 October rejected the NCM pay offer. No mention of a ballot of members and I would be suprised if members were ballotted over an overtime ban. Perhaps some delegates maybe balloted their members as to which way they should vote, but I would expect that to have been done at branch meetings.