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Bamber Bridge is one of those places that weirdly seems to have its own identity despite, to all intents and purposes being part of a bigger place. It has the misfortune of being stuck to Preston and yet somehow it seems a little bit more distinct from Preston than other places that are also stuck to it. Penwortham. Not sure what that is. Broughton. That's a roundabout I think. Walton-le-Dale - is there anything other than car showrooms and closed pubs there? Bamber Bridge - that's a football club tucked in by the railway. That's a place.
The football club is half decent in the grand scheme of things. It's at that level whereby it might reasonably hope to get somewhere in the FA Cup (somewhere being a 3 minute highlight on national telly of them playing someone like Exeter or or Stevenage.) It has a history - some players have played for them that you've heard of (not least, super Robbie Apter ) It has a half decent ground, a proper stand, a bit of terracing, you can buy a pie, have a pint. If you go to Irongate on a match day, there are enough people for it to feel like 'a thing' and the prospect of seeing players good enough to justify the fact you are paying to watch them. You'll see a few ex pros, you'll see a few never been pros and a few young pros and the football will be hard fought and physical. At the level they're at, there's not enough at stake (i.e. it's not a matter of global capital's childish pride in their latest toy) for it to be tainted by painful and joyless over-seriousness that blights the top levels but more than enough at stake to make it real.
It's one of those many clubs where you'll go, spend an afternoon - the football might be great, shit or somewhere in between but you'll not feel ripped off because that's not what football is about at that level.
The strength of English football comes from the fact it has literally hundreds, if not thousands of clubs like Bamber Bridge - operations serious enough to resemble (if you squint a bit) the 'bigger' teams above them but open enough to be a place for the local community to gather, watch and even play football. It's this vast network of teams that provide the foundations for all the hoopla and spectacle above. Without the foundations, a house crumbles.
English football is good, not just because there is money, but because as a player you are constantly walking a tightrope, knowing at any time there are an infinite number of sharks circling below, the multi thousands of players from the next rung down, hungrily waiting for that sniff of a chance. Clubs like Bamber Bridge are what makes that, they are what contributes to the incredibly competitive meritocracy that is football in England. Whether it's a super league, the MSL, the Saudi League or whatever - these pretenders will never match the culture, the depth, the sheer weight of numbers that makes English football what it is. The original professional league with an astonishing and never ending number of teams, a straight line from Manchester City right down to village level football with (at least a theoretical) path from one place to another.
The Premier League might be a triumph of spin and marketing, but essentially, it's just a re-brand of Division One. It is, metaphorically speaking, the penthouse suite or observation deck atop one of the world's tallest buildings and whilst the lower floors might not have the global appeal, they still matter. Just because no one pays to ride the elevator to floor 6 of the Empire State Building doesn't mean floor 6 isn't an integral part of the structure. If you take floor 6 away, the building is that bit smaller, that bit less grand, that bit less appealing. The point is, the observation deck is what everyone goes to, but it is only where it is because of everything it sits on top of.
Bamber Bridge need cash to survive. They don't need a lot of cash. (£30,000)
Here are some facts about the cash they need in comparison to other things in football
1: Paying Kevin De Bruyne for a morning and about 20 minutes after lunch. (based on his reported earnings of 400k per week)
2: 10 of Fulham's most expensive season tickets
3: 0.0002% of the cost of Enzo Fernandez's transfer fee
4: 0.000004% of the cost of a 27.7% stake in Manchester United
5. 6 hospitality tickets for one game (Chelsea vs Manchester United)
6. 0.01% of the 'merit payment' received by the worst team in the Premier League last season.
7. 0.000004% of the latest Premier League TV deal
8. 0.0004% of the somewhat questionable sponsorship deal that Manchester City's owners appear to pay themselves to cook the books.
9. 125 Tottenham shirts (pro edition) from the Tottenham club shop.
10. Half a game of the Sky punditry team (based on reported earnings of around 1 million each for the 'a-team' pundits and them doing about 50 games per season)
I don't know about you - I'd rather my next bit of spare cash went towards keeping a club like Bamber Bridge alive than contributing further to the culture of 'tunnel clubs,' 'CR7' and stadiums with swimming pools for rich tourists to Instagram themselves in. I'm fortunate to have *some* disposable income and to be able to pay my heating bill. I don't have anything like the levels of spare cash that football in general has but there we go - if I'd wanted to be a billionaire, I should have worked hard and inherited an oil state.
If football wants to continue to pump it's filthy money round the top levels, I can do fuck all about it, but I can give a few quid to Bamber Bridge if I want because I think that kind of side, that exists largely because people love football and doesn't have the option (or, I would guess, desire) to 'monetise itself in order to maximise consumer interface with the brand and turn social media interest into consumption' or to 'seek to renew the customer base and phase out legacy profiles in favour of newer and more upwardly mobile cash rich leisure spend' should actually be able to carry on existing.
Bamber Bridge fundraising page
It's a choice (if you are able to make it.) Up to you.
As you were.
Onward.
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