Hello Readers,
However you arrived here, thank you for visiting Added-Time. This is a project I have been thinking about for a long time, and I am extremely excited to finally get it off the ground.
There are a lot of places on the internet where you can consume information about the beautiful game, so why should you spend some of your valuable time here? For fans who are insatiably curious about football, soccer, or whatever you call it (and yes, if the fact that I use the two interchangeably really bothers you, I urge you to close this window on your browser immediately), I think you will enjoy stopping by. If you are like me, you are far from an expert, but you will stop at nothing to learn more about the game you have fallen in love with. Here at Added-Time, I hope you find stories, insights, and perspectives that are often brushed aside by mainstream providers of soccer-content in the U.S. With that said, I thought my first post should explain how my journey as a football fan has led me to launch a site with this mission.
My middle-school self would be very surprised at this endeavor. In the eighth grade, I was a terrible soccer player who was happy to finally quit my local team to focus on other sports. Shortly thereafter, however, I slowly began developing an obsession with consuming the game I had just quit playing. I do not remember what triggered it, but I guess what transpired is really a natural process. If someone is a sports fan in general, I simply can not understand how he or she can manage not fall in love with soccer.
For me, it was the incredible fan cultures and rich histories surrounding clubs throughout the major leagues in Europe and South America that first grabbed the eye. My respect for clubs especially renowned for their supporters probably explains why I gravitated towards Liverpool and Crystal Palace when I began watching the Premier League regularly (I was only vaguely aware of how the Eagles crushed the Reds’ title hopes with the famous late three-goal comeback in May 2014, so I was able to root for both). As a lifelong Red Sox fan, the narrative of ending a long title drought appealed to me as well. When Klopp arrived and began implementing his vision for Liverpool, I had a reason to tune in week-in and week-out.
Somewhere along the line, a better appreciation of what was actually happening on the pitch began to follow, and soon, soccer content began dominating my free-time. However, I became frustrated by the repetitive and run-of-the-mill coverage that I often found on big sites such as ESPN FC or Fox Soccer. It is obviously impossible to take a deep dive into every major headline around the world, but I thought networks and outlets could do better than making a daily criticism of Paul Pogba and speculating on whether he would move to Real Madrid in the summer (a seemingly timeless saga). While following Liverpool was quite easy, I became frustrated with how much effort was required to find the latest information on Palace’s annual relegation battles. When I found virtually nothing on the common providers of soccer content in the U.S, British sites ㅡ which often featured paywalls and videos blacked out to American viewers ㅡ usually appeared to be the only choice.
I think football supporters in the United States deserve to have a wider variety of content and information easily accessible to them, so I hope my thoughts on this blog can play a small part in expanding the scope of your consumption. I will certainly share my thoughts on major storylines here on Added-Time, but more importantly, I hope to carefully address topics large outlets often glance over.
For me, this was epitomized when Bury FC ー a founding member of the Football League ー was expelled from the EFL in late August as the club teetered on the brink of liquidation. A historic institution that represented football’s roots was practically gone, and while this made major headlines in Britain, it almost seemed to be business as usual for soccer coverage in the U.S. As a soccer and sports fan in general, I felt compelled to write about this sad development for a column in my university’s newspaper. Hopefully this piece can give you a sample of the content I will aim to provide along with more typical musings on the world of football.
Again, I am far from an expert on any league and disproportionately follow the EPL, but I hope the journey I am on as a football supporter and aspiring journalist might resonate with other soccer fans in the United States and around the world. I know this blog might only reach a small number of readers, especially at first, but this will not detract from the passion with which I approach this material.
Of course, I am launching this blog in incredibly turbulent and troubling times. It can make one feel a bit guilty to celebrate the return of football in four of the five major European leagues as the world continues to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic and the killings of African Americans such as George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. However, despite football’s ingrained problems concerning racism (some well-documented, some probably not) and blatant violations of social distancing guidelines by a few players and managers, I think an overwhelming majority of the soccer world is stepping up to the plate. Marcus Rashford recently forced the UK government to ensure that 1.3 million kids will not go hungry this summer in lockdown. When the Bundesliga was still the only major team-sports league in action throughout the Western world, Jaden Sancho, Weston McKennie, Marcus Thuram, and other stars used their platform to pay tribute to George Floyd. Just before the first ball of “Project Restart” was kicked, the XI’s of both Aston Villa and Sheffield United knelt to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Manchester City and Arsenal did the same, and every EPL club is expected to follow suit this weekend (and likely into the foreseeable future).
Issues relating to imperialism, race, class, and politics are interwoven throughout football’s history. Anyone skeptical of that statement needs a brief on many of soccer’s greatest rivalries. Therefore, it would be incredibly remiss to cover the game today while ignoring the fight for racial justice in the United States and around the world. As Laura Woods explained on talkSPORT a few weeks ago, if football fans can show such intense solidarity with players of all races and ethnicities when they are on the field for their club, then fans and pundits can at least listen and appreciate when non-white players bravely choose to speak up off it. Celebrating football’s return is not mutually exclusive from remembering our responsibilities as global citizens, and I hope the content on this site will come to reflect that.
Thanks again for choosing to visit Added-Time. If anything on this site intrigues you, please share Added-Time with any fellow soccer fans you know. If you are interested in joining the team, please contact us; we would love to have you!
All the Best,
Greg
