The Highland League – A Glimpse Into The Beautiful Game at It's Purest
Harsh Reality: More and more people are more inclined to support the ‘elite’ clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City (pictured).
If someone were to mention the phrase ‘The Beautiful Game’ it's likely that the last thing to come to mind would be a collection of small part-time football clubs scattered across the north of Scotland. But for many, these clubs are as important to them as life itself. In a time where everyone wants to support the Barcelona, Liverpool, and Real Madrid’s of the world, attending a game in the Highland League is like walking through a time machine. The ability to walk through the gates of a football ground and not feel like another customer but instead that you are truly a part of something is just one of the things disappearing throughout the football world.
One of the biggest things that separates the Highland League from the top leagues is the sense of community. For Highland League clubs a fan is not just a consumer, they are a part of the club itself. Most clubs in the league are in quite small tight-knit community towns, this ingrains the feeling that the communities and the clubs are practically one and the same.
To gain a further understanding of what it is that makes the Highland League so unique I interviewed Buckie Thistle forward Marcus Goodall. As a local lad, Marcus has a wealth of experience within the Highland League both as a fan and a player. Discussing the connection between community and club Marcus commented: “Just off the park the number of fundraisers they do for us, the fans are literally putting money into the club every week”. This willingness for fans to give out of their own pocket to support their club while expecting nothing in return showcases the very best of the Highland League.
The support does not just go one way though. Clubs do a huge amount to give back to their communities, demonstrating just how much more the Highland League is than football. “We did a 24-hour run and raised close to a grand which was split between five local charities”. There are no ulterior motives to the work that clubs do, they quite simply just have a deep-rooted connection to the communities that do so much for them in return. One of the reasons for this is that in a lot of cases the teams are made up of players that are from the towns themselves. This traditional football culture is something that would be hard to find anywhere else in the world - there are not many leagues where the player scoring a last-minute winner for your club is the same person delivering your post the next morning.
All these factors connecting clubs and communities are a huge reason why fans stay and follow the Highland League week in week out rather than joining the rest of the population in supporting a big SPFL or Championship team. “You’re treated like a bit of family, it’s a place to socialise, you’re not just a number”. The word ‘family’ perfectly describes exactly what the league is about, it’s more than just clubs and fans. It is a family that share every high and every low as one, rather than feeling like just another spectator instead you feel as if you were just as involved in every victory and defeat as the players and the manager.
Despite lockdown taking such a heavy toll on everyone it also managed to showcase the beautiful side of football. Clubs across the Highland League rallied together to help their local communities. Nairn County gifted their services to the people of Nairn, offering to drop medical prescriptions, help with day-to-day tasks and they even dedicated their social media pages to supporting local businesses in their time of need. This community spirit is what keeps these clubs alive. It is a true caring relationship that fans and clubs show for each other and is what makes it such a loved league across the north of Scotland.
I have discussed the varying factors that make the Highland League so special off the pitch, but it is also important to highlight the actual football itself. When it comes to Highland League football there is simply no messing about; it is football at its rawest. I think that is what makes it so enjoyable to watch, it is just simple good old-fashioned football.
In an interview with Buckie Thistle’s goalkeeper Lee Herbert, he said: “There’s something about the scrappiness with the glimpses of quality that make the Highland League so entertaining to watch.” The experience of the Highland League is something you just can not replicate in any other leagues; it is a hidden gem that too many fans overlook due to the lure of 50,000 seat stadiums and star players that can only be found in the top leagues. “The league feels less manufactured and more real”.
On and off the pitch the one factor that always arises when discussing what makes the Highland League special is the fans. In my interviews with Marcus and Lee, they both put great emphasis on just how important they believed the fans to be when it comes to anything in and around the league.
Lee said: “It’s not just a company looking for profit, it’s all about the fans and the game itself”. This mindset the clubs and players hold of playing not for money or selfish reasons but for the fans and for a love of the game is why fans in return support the clubs with such fiery passion.
As football continues to grow year after year so too will the modernisation of the game. Corporate tickets, extortionate prices, half-time cheese bars and so on means that the game that the generations before us knew will begin to disappear. Therefore, it is so important to cherish and support leagues such as the Highland League. It is becoming evident that across the footballing world that money comes before the fans, so the fact we still have a league where this is the complete opposite good to embrace. The raw purity is what made millions of people across the world fall in love with the game as kids, so it is up to us to go back to our roots and support real football; for as long as we can.