Picture a cold, rainy night at Stoke. The men from Staffordshire have just been promoted to England’s top-flight and their fanbase is rocking in the grandstands. You can hear the lads and lasses in the seats singing “City Til I Die” from London. The mighty men from Liverpool have come to face Stoke and it’s the beginning of a new Premier League season. Although the sides have hundreds of millions of pounds separating each other in club value and have enjoyed different levels of recent success, they stand next to each other now. On this night and on this pitch, there’s just a ball, 22 men and two goals. Class distinctions have no place on this rainy night, and billionaire owners are hiding in their press boxes. It’s the men from Stoke against the men from Liverpool. 

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez and the other owners who joined the newly-formed “European Super League,” are trying to eliminate that beautiful image. They don’t want to see clubs coming from the depths of third division football climb up through the ranks and challenge top teams in their domestic leagues. They don’t want to see West Ham challenge for the top-four and a Champions League birth. They don’t want to see Leeds take the Premier League by storm in their first season back in decades. They don’t want to see the Leicester City’s of the world make football fans everywhere believe that their club, regardless of money or player name, can win the league and bring true glory to their fans and city. 

No, Perez and company would rather see Real Madrid and Arsenal play on a Wednesday. They’d rather see Man City play PSG with no fans in the stands. No passion within 100 miles. They want El Classico every week. They want top clubs buying and selling talent from all over the world without developing any of their own. They’d rather see their bank accounts swell to the moon if they could. 

But fans won’t have it. The recent protest in North London outside of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium proves just that. Seas of Arsenal supporters gathered outside of their team’s stadium on April 23 to protest their owner Stan Kroenke of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) and his initial decision to join the Super League. Obviously, Arsenal has since rescinded their statement of joining the league and is backing out. But Arsenal fans have had enough. They have seen Kroenke lead their club into the ground for far too long and they have decided to emphatically put their foot down. 

Protests like the one at Arsenal popped up all over Europe, as fans saw right through the villainous plot of their clubs’ billionaire owners. And with all six of the English clubs who were originally intent on joining the Super League now backing out, the fans’ message has been heard. The people will not stand for it. 

The fans outrage at the Super League is a bit concerning in light of their relative silence with regard to racial matters, but as Leeds forward Patrick Bamford eloquently noted, this is a sign that fans run football. Without supporters, there is no club. Without them, a match between two European Giants is just some guys playing a game. Without their passion and genuine love of a club, there is no football. Fans make “The Beautiful Game” beautiful.