To many people across various social strata graffiti is an eyesore. The media merely paints it as a product of American hip-hop culture more appropriate to the Bronx in New
York or an east coast Urban American centre. In Europe its development and spread is generally frowned upon by
society and seen as an act of senseless vandalism and a chaotic distortment to
every day scenes of natural beauty, corporate architecture, property ownership or rural
innocence. Despite its unique
creativity, colour and impressionism the general everyday public disdain for
what is seen as wall vandalism has seen public outrage and allowed for a
selection of anti-graffiti laws to be created by politicians
with little fuss, political obstruction or public protest. In the media we have seen a wide variety of
high profile graffiti artists being convicted over artwork and thereafter
turned into public outlaws, portrayed as nothing more than anti social pests simply
through this medium and skill they have of colourful creativity and message
making.
 Like football hooligans who
continue to follow clubs despite laws that reach out to punish and restrain,
still many artists continue to paint in the streets, near train stations and
tunnels choosing to disregard the laws that are designed to jail, punish or
outlaw them. Metro trains such as U-bahn
rolling stock or local train carriages are often the the main area targetted as
are stations, platforms or other railway property such as the property adjoining
railway property. Graffiti occurs on
fences, walls, buildings, and property visible to the community or to other
graffitists as a form of competition. Just
as the subculture of football violence and its associated unwritten codes of
dress, actions and views continue to exist so graffiti can be seen wherever we
are, and wherever we travel in the world. It can be seen either from trains or in urban areas by rivers and the mere
existance of it and its continuation suggests that whether you dislike it or
not the creativity and thought behind some of the best work shows an impulse to
paint and thereby communicate that far outweighs any efforts designed to stop
it as an artform.
Football graffiti in the United
Kingdom may be lacking creatively and lagging somewhat behind that of foreign
clubs but its still exists none the less only less evidently. Football graffiti in the UK is still at the ‘Kilroy was here’ stage despite some of
the best graffiti existing in the UK. Possibly
the largest collection of street art dedicated to football exists in Northern
Ireland through wall murals in Belfast with images and painting dedicated to iconic
figures such as George Best and clubs such as Glentoran. As such though these
images are not ‘graffiti’ if we go by
defination.
In this the first of a new series of articles, voicesinfootball looks at a generally unexplored area of football far from tactics, players and transfer sagas, that of fan art and creativity. This first edition of the series looks at football graffiti and its development.
The word we know as Graffiti is
said to come from the Italian word graffiato
("scratched"). Modern Graffiti
is applied to art work produced by scratching or spraying a design into a
surface such as a wall or pavement. Another word used in artistic terminology is graffito which involves scratching
through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. Historically, this technique was primarily
first used by potters who would glaze wares and thereafter scratch a design into it.
Through history man has long
left images on walls either through writing or via symbolic imagery. In ancient times such as in Egypt graffiti
was carved on walls with a sharp object such as specially shaped stone or
sometimes through chalk or coal. The
greek infinitive γράφειν - graphein - meaning "to write," is
from the same root. In China, graffiti
was used in the Mao Zedong era in the 1920s when this regime used revolutionary
slogans and paintings in public places to galvanise the country's communist
revolution through ideological and symbolic imagery. Ths
form of artwork has developed through various stages through to the more modern
artwork or graffiti we see on decaying urban environments from the
mid-seventies through to the eighties. Some have identified graffiti as we currently
know it, as a phenomenon and art form that began in New York's outer boroughs
and reached great heights in the early '80s. Some art historians perceive
graffiti as a method of 'reclaiming public space' or displaying an art form for
wide appreciation for free. Against
this opponents regard it as an unwanted nuisance, or as expensive vandalism requiring
repair of consumer or civic property. To
counter such accusation graffiti artists and advocates suggest it should be
seen as an illegal artform but that the presence of graffiti contributes to a
general sense of creativity or urban enhancement where only squalor and crime
exists.
Much of the ideological basis behind graffiti can be summerized as below: Anarchism Anti-Consumerism Community Ownership/Sharing Contemporary Art Property is theft! Anti-modernisation Subversion
Football
graffiti of some sort going back in time is nothing new. Its fair to say though that its
artistic creativity as a statement of contemporary art, especially in the seventies, would be negligible. Whilst
today most football graffiti seen in mainland Europe is a high level piece of art work that
transmits coded statements, in the past it was mostly a question of
simple messages, plain speaking and more often than not bad spelling attempts.
Away fans arriving via football specials would spray comments about
opposition fans in strategically positioned areas of town or when
visiting rival towns. Home fans would spray semi-threatening messages near railway stations that were meant for visiting fans to see upon entering the city. Near Aberdeen train station was a famous 'A/Deen Thugs kill all visiting fans' piece of work that existed for years. Down south skinhead, Doc Martens big booted groups would see a can
of spray paint purchased and slogan such as 'MUFC rules OK'
sprayed when local police were not looking. With
the appearance in England of modern sanitized stadiums, closely
guarded by CCTV positions and modern fencing it has been a long time
since spray paint played an active part in the British football
supporters’ repertoire. Whilst abroad some stadia will have areas
set aside for fan graffiti, the UK's new approach to football
watching means that vandalism is strictly off limits. Football
graffiti had its heyday in the early 1970s when it gave the former
crumbling stadiums that extra almost indefinable character and feel.
Worn red brick and corrugated iron surrounds of the terraces became a
per fect canvas for budding artists with something to say about a
club or rivals. It wasn’t just re restricted to the grounds
themselves, with daubing on all points from the city centres and
those all important disembarkation points, railway station platform walls.
As
mentioned slogan spraying wasn’t just the home fans’ domain –
slipping an aerosol spray can in a pocket was sometimes
as much an away-day accessory as the latest training shoes by Diadora were. Visiting
fans used to spray paint club names or group slogans on strategically
important areas in or around the home team’s ground to let them
know that they had been there. Or, if feeling less brave, a pre match pub or football special tiolet wall was given the treatment.
Not all graffiti was hooligan
related, of course. Old Trafford today may be the hubristic pride of
modern football man, but the streets around Old Trafford today,whilst
not head to toe in graffiti, sees wall art paying homage to the great
Manchester United sides of the past. Streets in Belfast meanwhile have wall murals dedicated to former Northern Irish footballers like George Best or the victories of Belfast clubs such as Glentoran.
Graffiti
and its relation to football in the UK has almost certainly declined
due to closed-circuit television and increased ground patrol
procedures. Supporters today even struggle to be allowed to use
other outlets to express their feelings via banners, flags and at
some clubs scarfs have become unfashionable. Today, urban graffiti
doesn’t sit well against local authorities’ environmentally
friendly policies and even less so when football fans are involved. Graffiti at a UK stadium is near an impossiblity to find these days.
It would be wrong to blame The Daily Mail but the new puritanism of the labour government post 1997 saw the incoming of legislation such as the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act which effective became Britain's formost anti-graffiti legislation. On top of this the Keep Britain Tidy movement has a high profile anti-graffiti manifesto and has forwarded supporting proposals via press releases, to publications such as the Daily Mail, predominantly pushing for the issuing of on the
spot fines to graffiti offenders.
Some countries have a less draconian approach to stopping vandalism. In
an effort to reduce graffiti in pubic space, many cities will have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffiti
artists. With the movement to the Amsterdam Arena, Ajax Amsterdam took the opportunity to allow supporters to spray paint club symbols via graffiti on an area of the new stadium. This wall behind one goal can be removed when the Dutch international team or European finals are being played at the ground and repositioned once again come Eredivisie matches.
Abroad
in Europe and South America football graffiti is still highly visable. Many
prominent teams across Europe have stadia where fan graffiti,
dedicated to club 'ultra' groups or team legends, are displayed around the stadia either inside or outside. As mentioned with Ajax, clubs themselves have
made extra efforts to make specified area of the stadium areas where
graffiti is allowed to be created.
One prominent example of this is
within the home end at the Gerhard Hanappi in Vienna where graffiti
dedicated to club fan groups exists. Instead of removal, during Euro 2008 these areas
were simply covered up by tournaments organisers who used the stadium
as a fan park overspill area. Outside the ground meanwhile a wide
range of less creative graffiti exists from abusing former managers to club owners. At the Letna Stadion in Prague a significant amount of fan graffiti exists paying homage to Sparta Prague, its past and present.
Another
prominent area of fan graffiti is that surrounding Gate 13 of the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium of Panathinaikos in Athens. Due to
the stadium's old construction and the dearth of space and dense
urbanization of the area surrounding the ground much of the graffiti
may become a scene of the past once the club move to a newer more
modern ground. Negotiations are currently under way between the
Greek government, the Municipality of Athens, and the football,
basketball, volleyball and amateur divisions of the club in order to
facilitate the building of a new, comprehensive sports complex to
house all of the 21 departments of Panathinaikos brand of sport. In Napoli you will find graffiti dedicated to Maradona; similarly the same type of creativity exists in Beunos Aires to the same man. In Stoke though there is little by the way of graffiti dedicated to Sir Stanley Matthews, rather immortalisation is done via a civic sponsored statue created from the funds of the public purse.
The street art backlash is catching up in Europe however, and with it graffiti cultures around football stadia have become less welcome. With the growth of new stadia in countries such as Germany, replacing formerly old crumbling grounds has meant fan graffiti around stadia is dying out and is pushed out to hidden areas of the city. Unsanctioned art has become a problem for councils and city leaders instead of the football clubs. In the urban landscapes graffiti has become more coded trasmitting un everyday statement in an abstract format. Messages make interpretation difficult yet these images often still trasmit football relevant themes in ways that are informed by football values and fandom.
Where things have moved onto particularly in a country like Germany is in 'Sticker
art 'also known as sticker
bombing,
slap
tagging,
and sticker
tagging. This has progressed from a small sticker on a lamppost to a sophistocated well thought out form of stadium fan art. Messages about a club and its fans groupings are contained in an image or message and this displayed alongside a website reference where people can find out more. This will be publicly displayed using stickering campaigns in foreign towns or rival cities.
These stickers may promote a political agenda, comment on a club policy, or serve to comprise club advertising campaigns. In some circles sticker art is
considered a subcategory of post modern art.
This type of street art 'football stickering' forms the next part of our series of football fan creativity. Flags and Banners Football Art: Stickering
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