Following MK Dons has helped me empathize with AFCW fans

Before Wimbledon landed on my doorstep in Milton Keynes, I was largely an armchair follower of football. I had taken my two young sons to Anfield a few times, but that was never going to be viable, on cost or time grounds, but after going to watch the team 3 miles away (OK, not quite my doorstep) I, we all, were gradually drawn in. And now, eight years on, we're hooked: season tickets and away whenever we can.

One of the MK Dons fans on a one our forums got in a strop when we recently drew against Cambridge City (before we beat them 6-1 in the replay at home) and said he was abandoning the Dons. I don't know whether he was for real or a WUM, but the point is that it set me wondering: what would make me abandon Dons? Would anything make me abandon them?  Certainly not drawing - or even losing - to a team like Cambridge City (I was at that draw and it was fun evening out). I can't see any result driving me away. What about a long-term catastrophic decline in form, dropping down the leagues? To league 2? Not a problem at all, I followed them down there once before. Conference Premier? No, I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. Conference South? Lower still? It is difficult to imagine, but I honestly think I would now stick with them, because they have become my team. (Though I still follow Liverpool: you don't stop loving your parents because you have children to love too!).

I have thought of circumstances when I would, hopefully temporarily, boycott them, as it happens, but it wouldn't be about achievement. Here's one (and it is in no way a criticism of Swindon Town fans): I would not support the team if we were managed by Paolo de Canio. His open support of facism is beyond the pale.  Note that it is not just that he's a fascist - maybe other people in football are too - I'm not saying the manager has to agree with my politics, but de Canio has brought fascism into football and it is not on.

So that's one thing that would drive me away.  How about this one: how about my team moved away from me, like, say, suppose the MK Dons relocated to, oh I don't know, say, the London Borough of Merton?  Well you've already seen that my reason for following MK Dons was that they were local, so, I don't know, maybe that would be a problem. Well of course it would be a problem, but without being in that situation I can't absolutely declare what I would do.

My point, of course, is that it is my following of the MK Dons that enables me to empathize with the plight of the Wimbledon fans ten years ago.  And, just maybe, it has shown me how in a similar situation I would be following AFCW. How ironic is that?

One final observation for this blog post. We among the MK Dons fans who used to, or still do, support some other team are told we are not 'proper' football fans. But what would be more proper: remaining an armchair Liverpool fan or buying a season ticked at actually watching the MK Dons?

Whom do we remember on Remembrance Day?

At the Remembrance Sunday service this morning there was a lot about "remember with gratitude those who, in the cause of peace and the service of others, died in time of war", and "we give thanks for those who died in the cause of freedom and justice". I think that is wrong, that's not what Remembrance Sunday should be about. If we only remember those who died for those 'good' things (peace, freedom and justice) we'll be missing out most people who have died in war.

The point about Remembrance Sunday is that we remember ALL those who died. One of the tragedies of war is that most people die for no good reason at all.

Which is not to say we shouldn't also, and especially, remember those who died for good causes. But the purpose of, and the wonder of, Remembrance Sunday, is that we remember the horror of all the people who die in war.

MK Dons 2, Oldham Athletic 0 (first league game of the season)

The early season matches in glorious sunshine have a character of their own, and there's something particularly pleasing to win in the heat of the summer.

So it was today, though maybe a bit too hot, especially in the new location of the OfTheNewCity family season tickets. We've taken advantage of the changed pricing to move from The Cowshed to the East Premium: better view (from the middle of the side) but less atmosphere, and full sun on our faces for the whole 2 hours. Especially noticable since the hot weather has appeared from nowhere this weekend, after a miserable summer.

So the Dons trademark passing football under Karl Robinson paid dividends today, though neither of the goals came from the patient passing moves. One was from a corner: perfectly headed in by Darren Potter. The other was from a passing move, but it was a fast break of passes that finished with Daniel Powell taking it across the goal mouth and struck powerfully from close range.

Oldham had the ball in the net but it was disallowed by the linesman, for offside. Oldham fans were furious but I gather that was because they don't understand the offside rule. One of our defenders was behind the Oldham player, but David Martin wasn't, so there was only one defender between the attacker and the goal, it's just that it wasn't the goalie. The viciousness of the Oldham fans invective at linesman was not edifying, and the Dons fans chant of 'We love you linesman, we do; oh linesman we love you' probably didn't do him many favours!

The one downside to the afternoon: Antony Kay sent off after the final whistle. Apparently he'd reacted badly to an Oldham elbow in the face.

Oh yes, and the other unfortunate thing about the afternoon is that I am currently suffering from a 'frozen shoulder' so it is agony if I raise my arms in excited celebration when we score. But I'll happily put up with that for the sake of the club.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's fear of death

Another in my (very) occasional series on death. Here's Dietrich Bonhoeffer writing later in life (apparently when he was about 26) about himself as child:

He liked thinking about death. Even in his boyhood he had enjoyed imagining himself on his deathbed, surrounded by all those who loved him, speaking his last words to them. ... To him death was neither grievous nor alien. He would have liked them all to see and understand that to a believer in God dying was not hard, but a glorious thing. [...]

Then one day he had a grotesque idea. He believed himself to be suffering from the only incurable illness that existed, namely a crazy and irremediable fear of death. The thought that he would really have to die one day had such a grip on him that he faced this inevitable prospect with speechless fear. And there was no one who could free him from this illness, because in reality it was no illness, but the most natural and obvious thing in the world, because it was the most inevitable. He saw himself going from one person to another, pleading and appealing for help. Doctors shook their heads and could nothing for him. His illness was that he saw reality for what it was, it was incurable. He could tolerate the thought for only a few moments. From that day on he buried inside himself something about which for a long time he did not speak or think again. His favourite subject for discussion and for his imagination had suddenly acquired a bitter taste. He spoke no more about fine, devout death, and forgot about it.

From Eberhard Bethge:Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A biography. Revised Edition Fortress Press 2000

A vivid account of what Julian Barnes calls le reveil mortel.

(As I am sure you know, Bonhoeffer was a liberal Christian theologian. His opposition to Hitler got him jailed and, for his involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler, he was executed in 1945, aged just 39. The accounts suggest he faced death bravely.)

Good Friday

I'll be joining the Church of Christ the Cornerstone for the Good Friday midday service in Midsummer Place in the Milton Keynes Shopping centre today.

Good Friday has been an irreducible core of Christianity for me. The thing that remains when I stop believing anything else.

Standing among all the shoppers thinking about the suffering of the world, our - my - material wealth at the expense of other people, the poverty and injustice that need not exist, the destruction of the planet, the mind-bogglingly incomprehensible inequalities. For this and for so many other reasons, being human is, or ought to be, unbearable. I think it would be literally unbearable if we could truly conceive it. Somehow Jesus's death on the cross acknowledges all this, and, well, it doesn't make it OK, but it allows us to acknowledge it and hold on for the hope of Easter.

MK Dons fans are (almost!) the best-behaved in the football league

Hats off to Dagenham and Redbridge, though (or do I mean, damn you Dagenham and Redbridge, for keeping MK Dons off the top!)

Taking the banning-order stats from here http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/football-arrests-banning-orders/fbo-2010-11?view=Binary

and the average attendance from here: http://itv.stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/PR/attend.html

Dividing the number banned by the average attendance (and multiplying by 10,000 to get values above 1) you get the following table.

Hats off to Fulham, too, being by far the best behaved Premiership team, but, heck, I'm glad I don't live in Aldershot!

Rank	Team	Number Banned	Average Attendance	Number banned per 10,000 attendance
1	Dagenham	0	2081	0.00
2	MK Dons	1	8247	1.21
3	Fulham	4	25272	1.58
4	Gillingham	1	5487	1.82
5	Yeovil	1	3898	2.57
6	Stevenage	1	3608	2.77
7	Watford	4	12820	3.12
8	Wycombe	2	5047	3.96
9	Reading	9	18539	4.85
10	Ipswich	9	18344	4.91
11	Brighton	10	18397	5.44
12	Wigan	10	17861	5.60
13	Burton	2	2960	6.76
14	Morecombe	2	2430	8.23
15	Barnet	2	2232	8.96
16	Wimbledon	4	4393	9.11
17	Macclesfield	2	2056	9.73
18	Manchester City	46	47000	9.79
19	Peterborough	9	9057	9.94
20	Charlton	17	16893	10.06
21	Bolton	25	23433	10.67
22	Norwich	26	23549	11.04
23	QPR	21	16913	12.42
24	Preston	15	12009	12.49
25	Accrington	2	1599	12.51
26	Crawley	4	3196	12.52
27	Arsenal	76	59948	12.68
28	Derby	33	25971	12.71
29	WBA	32	24989	12.81
30	Notts	8	6173	12.96
31	Blackburn	31	23172	13.38
32	Manchester United	101	75486	13.38
33	Doncaster	13	9596	13.55
34	Blackpool	17	12547	13.55
35	Sunderland	53	38631	13.72
36	Southend	8	5790	13.82
37	Liverpool	64	44911	14.25
38	Stoke	40	27291	14.66
39	Cheltenham	5	3339	14.97
40	Everton	52	33834	15.37
41	Northampton	7	4396	15.92
42	Carlisle	8	4800	16.67
43	Tottenham	62	36072	17.19
44	Bournemouth	10	5751	17.39
45	Aston	63	34540	18.24
46	Leicester	44	23476	18.74
47	Bristol	25	13307	18.79
48	Leyton	8	4136	19.34
49	Newcastle	98	48484	20.21
50	Coventry	31	14867	20.85
51	Crystal	32	14809	21.61
52	Bury	8	3646	21.94
53	Portsmouth	32	14189	22.55
54	Wolverhampton	52	22572	23.04
55	Nottingham Forest	52	22430	23.18
56	Sheffield U	43	18408	23.36
57	Chelsea	105	41666	25.20
58	Hartlepool	13	5156	25.21
59	Barnsley	26	10154	25.61
60	Southampton	67	25744	26.03
61	Tranmere	14	4963	28.21
62	Walsall	13	4512	28.81
63	Burnley	43	14430	29.80
64	Bristol R	19	6212	30.59
65	Huddersfield	41	13308	30.81
66	Brentford	19	5749	33.05
67	Oldham	16	4823	33.17
68	West Ham	98	29430	33.30
69	Hull	66	18760	35.18
70	Sheffield W	72	19620	36.70
71	Shrewsbury	20	5433	36.81
72	Bradford	38	10254	37.06
73	Scunthorpe	17	4462	38.10
74	Swansea	76	19759	38.46
75	Crewe	15	3873	38.73
76	Middlesbrough	73	18103	40.32
77	Swindon	32	7838	40.83
78	Rotherham	15	3628	41.35
79	Oxford U	32	7449	42.96
80	Birmingham	84	18551	45.28
81	Leeds	106	23409	45.28
82	Plymouth	33	6125	53.88
83	Colchester	21	3874	54.21
84	Chesterfield	36	6624	54.35
85	Torquay	15	2693	55.70
86	Hereford	12	2120	56.60
87	Millwall	65	11177	58.16
88	Rochdale	16	2735	58.50
89	Port Vale	30	4940	60.73
90	Exeter	26	4184	62.14
91	Cardiff	143	22147	64.57
92	Aldershot	26	2961	87.81

A Conversation with Vlatko Vedral | Big Questions Online

A Conversation with Vlatko Vedral | Big Questions Online