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What???s The Name Of The Game?

What’s The Name Of The Game?

An Evening with David Conn and Haim Shadmi

Tuesday November 10th 2009 7.30pm 10pm Matt & Phreds, Oldham Street, Manchester

Entry: £3.50 Tickets available from http://fc-utd.co.uk/shop/

David Conn, Guardian sports’ journalist and author of "The Beautiful Game"?? is in Manchester on November 10th to discuss the state of football and his part in the film United We Stand. The documentary, which will be shown, also features Eric Cantona, Alex Ferguson, Bill Kenwright, Ken Loach and FC United, exposes the takeover of football by purely commercial interests, reveals the reasons behind the making of Looking for Eric and pointedly highlights FC United supporters’ attempts to put the community back at the heart of football everywhere.

At Matt & Phreds on Oldham Street in Manchester, also showing will be Haim Shadmi’s feature film, I Have A Team To Save. Haim’s poignant comedy also deals with the issue of fans confronting big business interests taking over football. The difference is that this film focuses on football supporters in Israel.

Garage worker and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter, Uri Mashiah, lives in Israel, has a passion for his team but feels it is underperforming because its billionaire owner is simply using it as a vehicle for his business interests. He realises that all the things he loved about supporting Maccabi have all but gone. Uri tries to start up a campaign against the commercialisation of football. He believes that if fans all over the world carried out an international boycott one weekend then those running and ruining the game would start to listen. He produces some fliers, goes to a match and calls on Maccabi fans to boycott the game, but with little success.

Undeterred, he seeks inspiration from fans abroad and decides to travel to Europe for the first time in his life. He visits supporters of Fiorentina before moving on to Britain. There his quest takes him to Anfield, only to find disillusionment there. Finally he is advised that he will find what he is looking for at FC United - a true supporter-owned and run club.

Haim who also writes for the radical newspaper, Haaretz, will be present with David Conn to discuss the film and the issues facing Arab and Israeli football fans in the country.


The United We Stand DVD comes with the Looking for Eric DVD and is available as part of a gift package from the club shop http://fc-utd.co.uk/shop/ for £19.95. All profits to FC United.
The I Have a Team to Save DVD can also be purchased from http://fc-utd.co.uk/shop/ for £5.00. All proceeds to FC United.

Notes:

FC United supports those people across the world who genuinely campaign against discrimination of supporters and their communities on the grounds of race, colour, sex, creed or class.

We are aware that The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is campaigning for a boycott of various Israeli products and services linked to the oppression of Palestinians. The club has received a statement from the campaign indicating that neither Haim Shadmi nor his film, I Have a Team to Save, is a target for the boycott.

We welcome the fact that the European Fans’ Congress and Supporters Direct have also put on showings of this film, which is a positive contribution to the international campaigns to reclaim the game for the communities.



First Posted ~ 15:06 Wed 21 Oct 2009
News ID ~ 2493
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021