For The Greater Community

As the new football season looms ever closer the traditional curtain raiser takes place at Wembley Stadium with double winners Chelsea, facing the team that they piped to the winning post in the league, Manchester United in the FA Community Shield. On paper such a showdown always gets the mouth watering with intrigue and excitement. However over the years, the FA Community Shield (formerly Charity Shield) has lost its sparkle and shine as the showpiece occasion to kick off the English club campaign.

With finance increasingly dictating proceedings in football, and the lure of Europe’s Champions League engulfing club football almost entirely and the cash cow it can generate, traditional football values have somewhat been diluted. Of which includes the international scene as we saw during the World Cup this summer, with some sub-standard performances of teams with great pedigree. However that discussion is for another day, but what we are left with are Community Shield contests fast becoming nothing more than just another uninspiring pre-season game. A sight that resembles mutton dressed as lamb, with not much style or substance.

As a youngster this annual fixture was something that I looked forward to with delight aside from its status of marking the beginning of a new season. A uniquely distinctive occasion at Wembley with a trophy at stake, surely that in itself would be good reasoning enough. Displaying a retained sense of history, and tradition that is in the DNA of the English game appealing to all fans the world over. In no way is it comparable to the FA Cup and its little brother the League Cup, but amongst such competitions it held its prestige as the two best teams in the land intensely locked horns.

Further compounding its newly bland status is for the third occasion in four years Chelsea and Manchester United will contest the crown, as the trophy has always featured a team from the perceived ‘big four’. A monotonous streak that dates back to 1995 then champions Blackburn faced that year’s FA Cup winners and northwest neighbours, Everton. With such repetition, the fixture is in dire need of revamping to promote and attract both fans and TV viewers alike. One radical suggestion would be trialling a ‘North verses South’ contest not dissimilar to the NBA’s All-Star game. Two teams comprising of players from clubs located in north and south of England. Players get selected to play by an FA online poll voted by the globe’s football community to make up the starting XI’s, match day squads, and manager. With no more than three players from any one club being featured at any given time, thus turning a rapidly decaying match-up into a new innovative event that regenerates attention. Or perhaps introducing a straight poll where one outfield player is chosen from each of twenty Premier League teams along, with participating goalkeepers. Complete with selected managers of each team picking seven players of their choosing to make up the match day squad.

Perhaps far-fetched, but either way we as supporters can interact with our celebrated stars, a connection that is becoming more and more distant in the modern game. Imagine the endless possibilities, Rooney and Torres leading the line upfront together, John Terry knocking it forward to midfield general Cesc Fabregas. Prospects where we see the best of the best compete in a dream team scenario, for the fans by the fans, surely is that not what community is all about?