Cod Almighty | Article

by James Cave

15 June 2016

Premier League B teams entering first-team competitions would demean and humiliate our proud club and many others. We asked the Against League 3 team for an update on the fans' campaign to protect the integrity of our football.

An open letter from Against League 3 to the supporters of Grimsby Town

Since Against League 3 was founded over two years ago, the campaign has always had strong connections with Grimsby Town. Having seen Greg Dyke's League 3 proposals at work one afternoon, I got on my phone and started a Twitter account. As it turned out, a Grimsby fan by the name of Lewis Horwell had started a petition which quickly attracted 10,000 signatures. We had a talk and founded AL3 together.

I've still never met Lewis; we corresponded online forming AL3 and a date to meet just never fell neatly. He continues to serve his country in the RAF. In forming the campaign, he was a good colleague, a good friend, and invaluable to AL3. 

As a Southport fan, I've always enjoyed trips to Blundell Park. While I couldn't attend last season when Padraig Amond scored a first-minute winner, I was certainly in attendance at home when you destroyed us 4-0 earlier in the season, with our captain getting sent off in the final moments for good measure. Losing Toto and Scott Brown to you in recent years still smarts, but you're about to embark on a wonderful adventure in the Football League in which I wish you every success.

Many of you are disappointed at Grimsby's decision to vote in favour of the EFL Trophy changes. AL3 feels that this divisive, controversial vote was engineered by the Football League and not by the clubs themselves. While it's right that clubs need to communicate more with their fanbases, it is really the League that needs to be held to account.

How can Grimsby fans respond? It's up to you. Grimsby is your club, not mine, and I'm wary of pointing too many fingers at clubs for a problem the League created. We've tried to inform supporters and raise the issues, and yes, we've tweeted the odd joke at a club's expense, but how fans want to deal with clubs that didn't listen is really up to the fans themselves.

Is a boycott the correct way to deal with the issue? Honestly, I don't know. But AL3 has always pledged to listen to supporters – and the immediate feedback we received was "we need to boycott"

My understanding is that the relationship between the supporters and the club has improved in recent times and it would be a shame to waste that. Hopefully Mr Fenty understands why you are all so annoyed and everyone can move on and build bridges.

Cod Almighty asked AL3 for some more info about the #BTeamBoycott which is an initiative we are exploring and developing and hope to release more detail closer to the start of the coming season. Is a boycott the correct way to deal with the particular issue we face? Honestly, I don't know. But AL3 has always pledged to listen to the supporters who communicate with the campaign – and the immediate feedback we received was "we need to boycott these games".

Many supporters have told us they are reluctant to boycott FL Trophy games against proper teams and would prefer to avoid only the games played against B teams, which is a totally understandable view. This boycott is not yet a fully formulated plan and we are certainly considering this particular aspect.

Whether you boycott or not, if you feel these plans are wrong then tell people about it. If you have to go to a B team game then make a stand – sing a song? – anything that raises awareness. You won't be playing Forest Green any time soon, so you could even take inflatables!

One of the best things you can do to protest these changes and improve supporter representation in general is to communicate with your Mariners Trust. We're big supporters of the trust movement here at AL3 and we've been working closely with Supporters Direct. We'll be in attendance at this year's Supporters Summit at Wembley and the FL reforms will be a major talking point.

In reality, what happens to the Trophy is less important than the overall lack of transparency in football and the lack of consultation with fans. B teams and these reforms are just a symptom of a far bigger problem. Don't let that stop you supporting your club in the outstanding way that you do.

So there you have it. It's early days but there is a groundswell of dissent among arguably the largest and potentially the most powerful stakeholders – us, the fans. 

What can we do? Join the Trust and boycott; sign the petitions; follow the progress of AL3, the Football Supporters' Federation and Supporters Direct. Most importantly, don't just accept this as 'progress' or inevitable; it doesn't have to be like that.