Fergie, Football and Photos

It's been a big week for Manchester, what with Fergie finally hanging up his hat at United, and the arrival of his replacement, David Moyes. I'm not, have never been and doubt I will ever be, a fan of football. But having grown up in an industrial town in West Yorkshire, my Dad being a lifelong and committed Chelsea supporter, and living much of my adult  in Manchester and Liverpool, football has been unavoidable.

I've always been quite open about the fact that I know very little about the details of the beautiful game and am not especially interested in improving my understanding of the rules. However, there are many things about football and the cultures it carries that capture my imagination. Sitting in pubs with my friends, seeing the way the results of a Chelsea game  impact on my Dad's mood, or being caught up in the strange, edgy feel that takes over the city I live in when there's a Manchester derby going on, I've made observations and maintained an interest in football because of what it means to people around me.

When the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, made a throwaway statement about Alex Ferguson being the 'greatest living Briton', it was quite surprising. But the comments he made by way of justification on Radio 4 this week were fascinating, moving, and highlighted precisely some of the things I've noticed about why football and its influential leaders matter so much.

Whether you subscribe to the view that it is the opiate of the masses,  a tool of political oppression, see it as the front-end of everything that's wrong with capitalism, or simply enjoy the game, you can't deny that football is a powerful social force.

One of the things I've always appreciated about football is its aesthetic. Although I've never sat and watched an entire game on telly, have only been to one 'actual' match (Liverpool v Fulham at Anfield in 1998), I always like looking at the photographs in the sports pages. The expressions on players' faces, the shots of people caught, mid-air in infeasible positions, all that biting and scowling - it's all very guttural and just so interesting.

The picture above, which I was shown over dinner last night, is a particularly striking example. Bobby Murdoch, the terrifying chap on the left of the shot, seems to exude fury in a way that's easily as palpable as more recent images of players being actually aggressive. On the right, Ferguson's body language is incredible. The expression on his face, the position of his hands, the relaxed fingers, left leg softly at ease - everything about his stance is placating, non-confrontational.

I know practically nothing about what had actually happened in the game, but the power of the image to communicate so much about one moment makes it possible to imagine - even for someone like me who is ignorant and naive about such things. And for those who do know and care, the image is even more transporting.

The comments on this discussion forum include, "every time I see that image I feel like shouting HIT HIM BOBBY, HIT HIM!', and "you can see the fear in Sir Alex's face and you can also see what is causing that fear when you look at Bobby". What I interpreted as an expression indicating Fergie backing off, apologising for something, looks to Celtic fans like fear, justifiable fear.

So, although this post is kind of about Ferguson and football, it's really about photos. As a researcher, one of the most interesting challenges is finding ways to get people to tell you about things on their own terms. If you ask someone a question, they will give you an answer, and much depends on how you frame the question.

"Are footballers aggressive?" although closed, and only requires a 'yes/no' response, is actually very leading. By asking if footballers are aggressive, you're planting the seed that they might be, therefore making it more likely that the person you're asking will consider all the examples they can think of of footballers being aggressive before they answer. The fact that you're asking them to stereotype and generalise is obviously rather problematic too.

Show them a photo, like the one above, and ask them "What's happening here?", and you've got a much higher chance of getting closer to the nitty gritty of what they think aggression between footballers actually is. Juxtapose it with an image like the recent one of the Suarez biting incident, and you'll find out even more, on a deeper level about their perceptions, beliefs and understandings.