LA FORZA DEL SEVERN SOUND

"Football as a sport is a way of looking at life, a philosophy in itself." - Francesco Farioli

Some of you may remember that classic scene from Ken Loach's 'Kes' (1969) where the PE teacher, Mr Sugden (Brian Glover), dons a fresh, tomato-red Manchester United No.9 'Bobby Charlton' shirt complete with its vicar-like white collar, long white compression socks and black football boots. It's evident that Sugden is living a fantasy of greatness in his own head (believing himself to be Charlton) as he hogs the ball, reprimands the young players around him and even provides his own running commentary. It's pure on-field narcissism but anyone who has kicked a ball in their backyard, or in the nearby park can relate. We all want to be our heroes.

When Severn Sound (Radio) football team went from playing charity matches in the late 80s to working their way up through the Gloucester and District Sunday Football League in the early 90s, it wasn't long before they adopted their own 'Sugden-like' approach to appropriating the style, glamour and flair of their heroes approximately 1,300 miles South East of England in the fellow footballing nation of Italy. Wearing the red and black AC Milan shirts for their cup strip and the black and white of Juventus for their league strip, it was clear that on aesthetic grounds alone, Severn Sound were a cut above their rivals, including their fiercest opponents and arch enemies Ruardean Hill Rangers. And to add yet another style dimension to their array of kits, attacking midfielder and occasional centre forward Colin Waller ventured to Catalonia to buy thirty club FC Barcelona shirts to bring back to Gloucestershire with him so he and his Severn Sound teammates could have their away colours adorned in the iconic blue and garnet of Camp Nou.

According to Joel Williams (attacking midfielder for Severn Sound), prior to the club developing their elite taste in football shirts, the team originally wanted to play in all black which would have meant that the ref would have had to have change his all black referee kit to a different colour but the league wouldn't allow for it. Perhaps it was for the best in the end, as with the arrival of Football Italia on Channel 4 (1992-2002) which showcased the weekend action of Serie A to British fans every Saturday and Sunday on their television screens, the zeitgeist of Il Tricolore was very much in the air. The FC Barcelona shirts, meanwhile, were the 'chef's kiss', striking the fear of inferiority into their opposite numbers. It was certainly an interesting tactic at that time to use the style and history of legendary club shirts to intimidate their rivals. Given Severn Sounds several promotions in the league, it appeared to work.

A breakfast in Gloucester's 'Cafe Roma' with its appropriately Italian name would often kick start the Sunday morning preparations for Severn Sound home matches into action as cups of tea and bacon sandwiches would be consumed to soak up the alcohol still swishing around in many of the player's stomachs after getting "battered" the night before. This band of Sunday League brothers could have easily been torn from the pages of 'kitchen sink' dramas such as Alan Sillitoe's 'Saturday Night And Sunday Morning' and David Storey's 'This Sporting Life' with a dash of 'Roy of the Rovers', where a certain romanticism of gritty working class rebels had yet to be fully neutralised by the middle class Nick Hornby gentrification of 'Fever Pitch' (1992) and its soon to be pervasive influence on the culture of the English game.

Then, ritualistically taking their own mirror and picture of George Best into the dressing room before their Sunday matches, a high standard of Italian style and British grit was held up as the gold standard to aspire to before scoops of Brylcreem were generously applied by those who wished to slick back their hair and look, as Henry Hill's mother exclaims in 'Goodfellas' (1990), "like a gangster".

The Williams brothers (who I previously wrote about in 'The Krays Of Grays' - 22nd March, 2022) could have easily been extras in 'The Godfather' or 'Bugsy Malone' with their bullish attitude and menacing looks. Danny Wright (a DJ and centre forward for Severn Sound) also had an Italianate look to him though his 'nod ons' more resembled Mr Sugden than Schillachi. This was always the danger in setting such high calibre fashion statements that meant you had to play up to the legendary status of the shirts. The knights of old had armour made of iron, but in the Gloucester District League, Severn Sound's footballing warriors wore tight fitting jerseys a la Marco Van Bastan, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, although it's possible that the Williams Brothers predated the loose baggy top trend of the mid 90s when players such as Eric Cantona and David Beckham would play in their preppy way as if the untucked shirt approach was an artistic statement about how relaxed they were on the pitch.

Aside from 'Big Jeff' who had trials for Arsenal, perhaps the most cultured footballing aficionados of the Severn Sound team were William Hammond (left midfield) and Colin Waller, who applied a kind of existential approach to their game on the field (at least in their own minds), seeing it as a symbolic battleground of individualism versus the collective mobs they faced. The Sunday League was their unique canvas in which they fervently believed that the beauty of their play and their team mates could slay the barbaric orcs that attempted to bear down on them. Of course, it didn't hurt that Joel would happily dish out some open studded tackles when emotions were running high on the pitch and when the 'philosophers' needed protecting from their own lofty ambition. Of course, red cards would be brandished but if a statement needed to be made, then it needed to be made.

When losses were recorded, the team would drown their sorrows in the pub opposite Plock Court and would almost revel in their collective existential despair using it as fierce motivation to win the following Sunday. The style and camaraderie they enjoyed in victory was met with equal substance in defeat.

Ultimately however, the Severn Sound team spirit was unbreakable win, lose or draw. According to Joel Williams, in all of his long career playing football through the decades he had never witnessed a team spirit like it, before or since. These were men who emboldened themselves through their aspirations to be truly great and reaching for glory wearing shirts of footballing gods and footballing history they did something that Mr Sugden would appreciate.

They met their heroes in that sacred place of homage and imitation.

Happy Birthday WH!

1st September, 2024