r00fie1
Well-known member
I cant remember if I previously posted this article by Abthony Vickers?
Hey ho - this is an edited version.
Originally published in October 2018.
It chronicle`s the rise of a group of dedicated fans, who determined they wanted to put the joy back into football and return to its roots - for us fans.
At first "Block 53" were portrayed as trouble-causing hooligans......by various elements.....who will always be afraid of fans taking matters into their own hands: making the change and challenging the stale staid old suits in football.
I dont speak on rf08`s behalf or make any pretence to - but without the lads [an lasses] in Block 62 - The Riverside Stadium would be like a library and the drummer would have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon!
Hey ho - this is an edited version.
Originally published in October 2018.
It chronicle`s the rise of a group of dedicated fans, who determined they wanted to put the joy back into football and return to its roots - for us fans.
At first "Block 53" were portrayed as trouble-causing hooligans......by various elements.....who will always be afraid of fans taking matters into their own hands: making the change and challenging the stale staid old suits in football.
I dont speak on rf08`s behalf or make any pretence to - but without the lads [an lasses] in Block 62 - The Riverside Stadium would be like a library and the drummer would have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon!
Red Faction's (14)-year journey from the Riverside naughty step to Middlesbrough matchday pride of place
Boro's self-styled 'ultra' group have gone from being swamped by suspicious stewards to becoming the beating heart of the Riverside
[Edited]
It has been a long road from the Riverside naughty step to pride of place for Middlesbrough’s Red Faction.
This month’s home encounter with Bristol City will mark a little over the 14th anniversary of the stalwart supporters’ group.
They will celebrate it with flags and drums, colour and noise and with another set-piece banner unfurled from their now well established singing section in the South Stand, a vibrant, vocal zone that has become the atmospheric heartbeat of the stadium.
It is all a far cry from the dark days when the fledgling Faction was in isolation up in the South East corner, surrounded by a hi-viz army of stoney-faced security briefed to keep their infectious exuberance in quarantine.
Back then the self-styled ‘ultras’ were regarded with suspicion, searched and man-marked and seen as a potential public order problem.
Red Faction back in their South East corner days (Image: Ian Cooper)
Now they are on first name terms with friendly stewards, meet regularly with club officials, finish off their banners in the concourse and are given a free hand to bring the noise. James Woodgate has been a dedicated member of the Teesside tifosi for eight years and helped outline the evolution of a group of leather lunged loyalists that it is hard to ignore.He first took his place in the noisy corner when morale was flatlining at Middlesbrough after relegation from the top flight.
“When I first started with Red Faction the atmosphere at the Riverside was flat, really flat,” recalled James [now aged 27].
“Gordon Strachan’s era was the lowest I’d ever known and it was just sad. The buzz had died.
“I’d first started going as a kid during the glory days of the Premier League and the UEFA Cup nights and noisy sell-out crowds.
“As a kid you don’t know anything different so that was what I expected was normal. That was what I was missing. I was looking for the same kind of excitement of being in a crowd that was really up for it.
“That is where the Red Faction came from, a group of people who all wanted that same thing, who wanted to get back to that kind of amazing feeling at a match and who were willing to do something about it.
“My first game with the group up in that corner was when I was just 15. It was a derby game against Newcastle.
“It was the day of the Trophy Virgin banner. It was brilliant. It was funny. The reaction from Boro fans and the Geordies was incredible. People still talk and laugh about it now.
“From then on it was the only place I wanted to be for a match.”
Boro fans hold up a banner in a match against Newcastle in 2010 (Image: PA)
The embryonic group was in flux at the time. They had been formed following a split from the more traditional Twe12th Man - themselves still doing more than their fair share at the Riverside and on the road - and there was a period of spiky seclusion and antagonism with other fans as they found their feet. They were at odds with the club and there was frequent friction with stewards and the top brass. And there were cyber skirmishes too with some supporters cynical at their aims or dismissive - alarmed even - at their styling, scarves over faces and aggressive stances in moody photos. But from uncertain and sketchy roots Red Faction has grown into a much admired part of the matchday mix, loud and proud and with a strong ethos and a shrewd sense of football theatre. And it wasn’t an easy journey.
“The founding members of Red Faction had been part of the original Twe12th Man group which was formed to generate a bit more atmosphere but they had split away over a difference of opinion over how to go about it,” explained James.
Celebrating the Carling Cup winning team
“By the time I joined those original guys had moved on and it was a just a group of young lads left with the name, 15, 16, 17 and 18-year-olds who just wanted to go to the game and have fun, create a bit of noise and come away from a match having enjoyed it.
“We wanted to do our bit, to support the team no matter what the result and it was hard at times because in those first few years the Riverside was flat.
“To be honest, I don’t think we really knew what we were doing or where we were going with the group back then but we all knew we wanted to do something, to make something happen.”
The group then were viewed as potential trouble by the club top brass and were man-marked by stewards.
There was friction and sanctions, stand-offs and occasional bans for standing and arguing back.
Moving to the Riverside beat (Image: Peter Reimann)
And there was an ongoing message board war of words with some other sections of supporters, many of who thought they had brought the heavy-handed attention on themselves with their ‘ultra’ iconography and sometimes spiky statements.
“Back then, when we were in the corner, things were strained at times,” he recalled. “We were always surrounded by stewards.
“We got searched. You had to show your ticket five or six times to get to your seat. If you stood up a steward was straight over to make you sit down.
“We were being demonised and treated as if we were one step away from being hooligans and that was hard and very unfair on young lads just wanting to support their team. And we were getting a lot of stick from some other fans too.
“So there was a bit of friction - although maybe we didn’t help ourselves at times with some of the edgy ‘ultra’ stuff.
Highs and lows of Red Faction:
February 2009: Fans in the South East Corner are handed letters claiming their "constant noise" is driving other supporters mad
August 2014: There's widespread praise following a banner protesting about Channel 4's Benefits Street being filmed in Stockton
August 2015: Members of the group are handed 'temporary' stadium bans for what the club terms "increasingly inappropriate behaviour"
November 2016: Local hero Stewy Downing praises the South Stand 140th anniversary display, saying the players were taken aback by the atmosphere
February 2017: Red Faction join the new Middlesbrough Supporters Forum - taking a seat on the panel meeting regularly with club representatives
“We were all young and daft, brash and cocky, and maybe there was a bit too much posturing that rubbed people up the wrong way.
“Maybe we were too defensive and didn’t explain ourselves properly on some issues.
“But were are all older now and more mature. We go about things in a better way. We are better organised and more confident.
“And the club now understand who we are and what we are about. They are more relaxed about us now. We are in a good place.”
Red Faction in 2013 (Image: Doug Moody)
That place is centre-stage in the South Stand and with licence to generate as much noise and colour as they like. For the start of the 2013-14 season the stadium was reconfigured. Away fans were moved into the East Stand freeing up what had often been empty acres behind the goal in the South Stand. Red Faction were offered the opportunity to move over and create a new kop.
“We jumped at the chance,” gushed James, a former Teesside University journalism student.
“Moving from the corner to the South Stand has been brilliant for us. Things are 100% better.
“We were limited up there. It was a smaller area and we were hemmed in by a seat layout that isn’t ideal for displays.
“Being in the South Stand is far better. It is behind the goal and square on. You have far more visual impact. There is a far bigger space to set things out and far more people can get involved with the display.
“We can do massive displays now. We have moved from strength to strength.”
Red Faction showed their support for Cyrus Christie after racist abuse online (Image: Katie Lunn)
While Red Faction have steadfastly maintained their independence the move cemented a new spirit of co-operation with the club.
“When we moved, the club said they were ready to trust us but we had to use our common sense and police ourselves. And we’ve done that. We are passionate but we don’t step over the line. We’ve got too much to lose.
“If there’s an issue anywhere in that stand people always point the finger but it has been nothing to do with us. The club know that.
“Everyone has learned to trust each other and work together and that is great because it means we can get on with what we do.
“We meet with Yvonne Ferguson (Boro’s head of supporter services) regularly. We let the club know what we are planning when it comes to displays and they are always happy to work with us.”
And it is the variety and regularity of the ever more eye-catching displays that Red Faction will be best known for.
Red Faction's Save our Steel banner (Image: Doug Moody)
They have celebrated historic landmarks like Boro’s 140th birthday and have lauded ‘our hero’ Tony Mowbray and the Carling Cup winning team. They have celebrated the heritage of Teesside as a whole. They have boasted that ‘We Built The World’ and backed the steelworkers when Redcar was dealt a devastating blow. And they have sent out short, sharp messages to the outside world, such as the rebuke that ‘poverty is not entertainment’ when Benefits Street brought their voyeuristic vehicle to Stockton. But while Red Faction are not shy in taking a position on big issues, James insists they are not a political grouping.
Boro fans' group Red Faction protested against Benefits Street
“We have a strong ethos and we are fiercely proud of Boro but we are not overtly political. We are not left or right. We are not party political. We just stand for supporting the team and defending the town.
“I know people say you should ‘keep politics out of football’ but how can you? Football is the working class game. And Teesside is a working class area. There’s no getting away from that.
“We are proud of Middlesbrough, proud of Teesside and we are willing to stand up for what is right.
Boro fans, including those from Red Faction, staged an anti-racist march
“For instance, the Benefit Street thing, we just didn’t like seeing the are a being portrayed in a negative light on national television and thought we should say so.
“And we organised an anti-racism march after the Koran ripping at Birmingham. Again, we just thought that was the right thing to do to show that one incident didn’t represent Boro fans.”
The most vivid and memorable marks left by the group though will be in their impressively eye-catching banners.
Red Faction's display on the last day of the 2014-15 season
Red Faction's display before the Bournemouth match
Red Faction's banner against Wolves
Sometimes the sheer size is barely believable. Sometimes the art work is complex and intricate. Every time they are hundreds of man hours in the making.
“We put a lot of work into them,” admitted James. “A lot of hours go into the designing and painting and a lot of time and effort go into raising the money.
“And it is all self funded. We have turned down money from the club because we think what we do should always come from the fans.
“Some fan groups have done that - taken money from clubs - and that is their choice but we want to do it ourselves
“We raise the money from selling our merchandise, scarves and badges and stickers, and from crowd sourcing.
“Some of the really big banners like the 140 one we have raised money through Just Giving pages.
“We put some in from our own pocket. Mainly though, Boro fans give us money. It is brilliant when someone gives you a tenner or twenty quid because we hope they represent how all the fans feel. We couldn’t do it without ordinary fans chipping in.”
The artwork has become increasingly sophisticated and ambitious and it seems nothing is beyond their scope or imagination.
Middlesbrough's Red Faction warming up prior to the Sheffield United match (Image: Focus Images Limited)
“We are getting quite good at them now,” laughed James, as he explained the creative process. “We’ve learnt along the way what works and what doesn’t.
“It’s trial and error. When you look back at photos of the early banners you can see how far we have come.
“There is no set formula. Sometimes we pick a standout game or particular occasion and work towards that and then bounce ideas around as a group and a design will gradually emerge and get tweaked collectively.
“Sometimes someone will get a light bulb moment and suggest an idea that feels right and everyone will just go with it.
“We have a few people who know what they are doing when it comes to design and that helps the process.
“And we are quite well organised now. We have good contacts with suppliers. We know how long things take and cost.
“And the club are really helpful. We tell them what we are planning and they let us use the concourse to lay a banner out and work on it in place which makes things a lot easier for us rather than making it outside and transporting it in.”
Red Faction are a tight knit group with a strong bond that comes through the shared experience of a decade. But James insists they are not a clique or exclusive and they are open to both new ideas and fresh blood.
Simple and superb
“It is a great group to be involved with,” he said. “We are a band of brothers. We are like a family, everyone pulls together and helps each other out.
“But we are not exclusive. There was a time when we maybe rounded the wagons a bit but we are far more open now. We want people to get involved. We want to get bigger and stronger. We want to do more and that needs the numbers.
“We’ve got a group of 40 lads now from all over Teesside who really want to make a difference on a matchday.
“And we are a bit more visible outside the ground too. We do charity nights for Teesside Hospice. We have done fund-raising football matches. We have a rep on the Middlesbrough Supporters Forum. We are part of the community.”
For James the Red Faction journey has been a fantastic experience that has deepened his love for the club. And at the end of the day that is what it comes down to: the club. The football. The matchday buzz. And there is no doubt when that buzz was most intense. Like many fans he points to promotion as the pinnacle. That game, a 1-1 end of term draw that sealed a place in the Premier League for Aitor Karanka’s side was ironically a day when the noise and colour of the Red Faction were not needed, a game when every stand was pulsating with barely contained passion.
“For me the personal highlight has been the Brighton game where we sealed promotion: the atmosphere was incredible,” he recalled.
“The noise and the passion and the intensity from every supporter in every stand was just amazing.
“There was no way Brighton could win that day. It was brilliant.
“For me that shows exactly what Middlesbrough can do. If we are united as a team and a crowd then this club is unstoppable.
“That is the ultimate aim for Red Faction, to bring a bit of that intensity to every game.”
www.gazettelive.co.uk
[Edited]
It has been a long road from the Riverside naughty step to pride of place for Middlesbrough’s Red Faction.
This month’s home encounter with Bristol City will mark a little over the 14th anniversary of the stalwart supporters’ group.
They will celebrate it with flags and drums, colour and noise and with another set-piece banner unfurled from their now well established singing section in the South Stand, a vibrant, vocal zone that has become the atmospheric heartbeat of the stadium.
It is all a far cry from the dark days when the fledgling Faction was in isolation up in the South East corner, surrounded by a hi-viz army of stoney-faced security briefed to keep their infectious exuberance in quarantine.
Back then the self-styled ‘ultras’ were regarded with suspicion, searched and man-marked and seen as a potential public order problem.
Red Faction back in their South East corner days (Image: Ian Cooper)
Now they are on first name terms with friendly stewards, meet regularly with club officials, finish off their banners in the concourse and are given a free hand to bring the noise. James Woodgate has been a dedicated member of the Teesside tifosi for eight years and helped outline the evolution of a group of leather lunged loyalists that it is hard to ignore.He first took his place in the noisy corner when morale was flatlining at Middlesbrough after relegation from the top flight.
“When I first started with Red Faction the atmosphere at the Riverside was flat, really flat,” recalled James [now aged 27].
“Gordon Strachan’s era was the lowest I’d ever known and it was just sad. The buzz had died.
“I’d first started going as a kid during the glory days of the Premier League and the UEFA Cup nights and noisy sell-out crowds.
“As a kid you don’t know anything different so that was what I expected was normal. That was what I was missing. I was looking for the same kind of excitement of being in a crowd that was really up for it.
“That is where the Red Faction came from, a group of people who all wanted that same thing, who wanted to get back to that kind of amazing feeling at a match and who were willing to do something about it.
“My first game with the group up in that corner was when I was just 15. It was a derby game against Newcastle.
“It was the day of the Trophy Virgin banner. It was brilliant. It was funny. The reaction from Boro fans and the Geordies was incredible. People still talk and laugh about it now.
“From then on it was the only place I wanted to be for a match.”
Boro fans hold up a banner in a match against Newcastle in 2010 (Image: PA)
The embryonic group was in flux at the time. They had been formed following a split from the more traditional Twe12th Man - themselves still doing more than their fair share at the Riverside and on the road - and there was a period of spiky seclusion and antagonism with other fans as they found their feet. They were at odds with the club and there was frequent friction with stewards and the top brass. And there were cyber skirmishes too with some supporters cynical at their aims or dismissive - alarmed even - at their styling, scarves over faces and aggressive stances in moody photos. But from uncertain and sketchy roots Red Faction has grown into a much admired part of the matchday mix, loud and proud and with a strong ethos and a shrewd sense of football theatre. And it wasn’t an easy journey.
“The founding members of Red Faction had been part of the original Twe12th Man group which was formed to generate a bit more atmosphere but they had split away over a difference of opinion over how to go about it,” explained James.
Celebrating the Carling Cup winning team
“By the time I joined those original guys had moved on and it was a just a group of young lads left with the name, 15, 16, 17 and 18-year-olds who just wanted to go to the game and have fun, create a bit of noise and come away from a match having enjoyed it.
“We wanted to do our bit, to support the team no matter what the result and it was hard at times because in those first few years the Riverside was flat.
“To be honest, I don’t think we really knew what we were doing or where we were going with the group back then but we all knew we wanted to do something, to make something happen.”
The group then were viewed as potential trouble by the club top brass and were man-marked by stewards.
There was friction and sanctions, stand-offs and occasional bans for standing and arguing back.
Moving to the Riverside beat (Image: Peter Reimann)
And there was an ongoing message board war of words with some other sections of supporters, many of who thought they had brought the heavy-handed attention on themselves with their ‘ultra’ iconography and sometimes spiky statements.
“Back then, when we were in the corner, things were strained at times,” he recalled. “We were always surrounded by stewards.
“We got searched. You had to show your ticket five or six times to get to your seat. If you stood up a steward was straight over to make you sit down.
“We were being demonised and treated as if we were one step away from being hooligans and that was hard and very unfair on young lads just wanting to support their team. And we were getting a lot of stick from some other fans too.
“So there was a bit of friction - although maybe we didn’t help ourselves at times with some of the edgy ‘ultra’ stuff.
Highs and lows of Red Faction:
February 2009: Fans in the South East Corner are handed letters claiming their "constant noise" is driving other supporters mad
August 2014: There's widespread praise following a banner protesting about Channel 4's Benefits Street being filmed in Stockton
August 2015: Members of the group are handed 'temporary' stadium bans for what the club terms "increasingly inappropriate behaviour"
November 2016: Local hero Stewy Downing praises the South Stand 140th anniversary display, saying the players were taken aback by the atmosphere
February 2017: Red Faction join the new Middlesbrough Supporters Forum - taking a seat on the panel meeting regularly with club representatives
“We were all young and daft, brash and cocky, and maybe there was a bit too much posturing that rubbed people up the wrong way.
“Maybe we were too defensive and didn’t explain ourselves properly on some issues.
“But were are all older now and more mature. We go about things in a better way. We are better organised and more confident.
“And the club now understand who we are and what we are about. They are more relaxed about us now. We are in a good place.”
Red Faction in 2013 (Image: Doug Moody)
That place is centre-stage in the South Stand and with licence to generate as much noise and colour as they like. For the start of the 2013-14 season the stadium was reconfigured. Away fans were moved into the East Stand freeing up what had often been empty acres behind the goal in the South Stand. Red Faction were offered the opportunity to move over and create a new kop.
“We jumped at the chance,” gushed James, a former Teesside University journalism student.
“Moving from the corner to the South Stand has been brilliant for us. Things are 100% better.
“We were limited up there. It was a smaller area and we were hemmed in by a seat layout that isn’t ideal for displays.
“Being in the South Stand is far better. It is behind the goal and square on. You have far more visual impact. There is a far bigger space to set things out and far more people can get involved with the display.
“We can do massive displays now. We have moved from strength to strength.”
Red Faction showed their support for Cyrus Christie after racist abuse online (Image: Katie Lunn)
While Red Faction have steadfastly maintained their independence the move cemented a new spirit of co-operation with the club.
“When we moved, the club said they were ready to trust us but we had to use our common sense and police ourselves. And we’ve done that. We are passionate but we don’t step over the line. We’ve got too much to lose.
“If there’s an issue anywhere in that stand people always point the finger but it has been nothing to do with us. The club know that.
“Everyone has learned to trust each other and work together and that is great because it means we can get on with what we do.
“We meet with Yvonne Ferguson (Boro’s head of supporter services) regularly. We let the club know what we are planning when it comes to displays and they are always happy to work with us.”
And it is the variety and regularity of the ever more eye-catching displays that Red Faction will be best known for.
Red Faction's Save our Steel banner (Image: Doug Moody)
They have celebrated historic landmarks like Boro’s 140th birthday and have lauded ‘our hero’ Tony Mowbray and the Carling Cup winning team. They have celebrated the heritage of Teesside as a whole. They have boasted that ‘We Built The World’ and backed the steelworkers when Redcar was dealt a devastating blow. And they have sent out short, sharp messages to the outside world, such as the rebuke that ‘poverty is not entertainment’ when Benefits Street brought their voyeuristic vehicle to Stockton. But while Red Faction are not shy in taking a position on big issues, James insists they are not a political grouping.
Boro fans' group Red Faction protested against Benefits Street
“We have a strong ethos and we are fiercely proud of Boro but we are not overtly political. We are not left or right. We are not party political. We just stand for supporting the team and defending the town.
“I know people say you should ‘keep politics out of football’ but how can you? Football is the working class game. And Teesside is a working class area. There’s no getting away from that.
“We are proud of Middlesbrough, proud of Teesside and we are willing to stand up for what is right.
Boro fans, including those from Red Faction, staged an anti-racist march
“For instance, the Benefit Street thing, we just didn’t like seeing the are a being portrayed in a negative light on national television and thought we should say so.
“And we organised an anti-racism march after the Koran ripping at Birmingham. Again, we just thought that was the right thing to do to show that one incident didn’t represent Boro fans.”
The most vivid and memorable marks left by the group though will be in their impressively eye-catching banners.
Red Faction's display on the last day of the 2014-15 season
Red Faction's display before the Bournemouth match
Red Faction's banner against Wolves
Sometimes the sheer size is barely believable. Sometimes the art work is complex and intricate. Every time they are hundreds of man hours in the making.
“We put a lot of work into them,” admitted James. “A lot of hours go into the designing and painting and a lot of time and effort go into raising the money.
“And it is all self funded. We have turned down money from the club because we think what we do should always come from the fans.
“Some fan groups have done that - taken money from clubs - and that is their choice but we want to do it ourselves
“We raise the money from selling our merchandise, scarves and badges and stickers, and from crowd sourcing.
“Some of the really big banners like the 140 one we have raised money through Just Giving pages.
“We put some in from our own pocket. Mainly though, Boro fans give us money. It is brilliant when someone gives you a tenner or twenty quid because we hope they represent how all the fans feel. We couldn’t do it without ordinary fans chipping in.”
The artwork has become increasingly sophisticated and ambitious and it seems nothing is beyond their scope or imagination.
Middlesbrough's Red Faction warming up prior to the Sheffield United match (Image: Focus Images Limited)
“We are getting quite good at them now,” laughed James, as he explained the creative process. “We’ve learnt along the way what works and what doesn’t.
“It’s trial and error. When you look back at photos of the early banners you can see how far we have come.
“There is no set formula. Sometimes we pick a standout game or particular occasion and work towards that and then bounce ideas around as a group and a design will gradually emerge and get tweaked collectively.
“Sometimes someone will get a light bulb moment and suggest an idea that feels right and everyone will just go with it.
“We have a few people who know what they are doing when it comes to design and that helps the process.
“And we are quite well organised now. We have good contacts with suppliers. We know how long things take and cost.
“And the club are really helpful. We tell them what we are planning and they let us use the concourse to lay a banner out and work on it in place which makes things a lot easier for us rather than making it outside and transporting it in.”
Red Faction are a tight knit group with a strong bond that comes through the shared experience of a decade. But James insists they are not a clique or exclusive and they are open to both new ideas and fresh blood.
Simple and superb
“It is a great group to be involved with,” he said. “We are a band of brothers. We are like a family, everyone pulls together and helps each other out.
“But we are not exclusive. There was a time when we maybe rounded the wagons a bit but we are far more open now. We want people to get involved. We want to get bigger and stronger. We want to do more and that needs the numbers.
“We’ve got a group of 40 lads now from all over Teesside who really want to make a difference on a matchday.
“And we are a bit more visible outside the ground too. We do charity nights for Teesside Hospice. We have done fund-raising football matches. We have a rep on the Middlesbrough Supporters Forum. We are part of the community.”
For James the Red Faction journey has been a fantastic experience that has deepened his love for the club. And at the end of the day that is what it comes down to: the club. The football. The matchday buzz. And there is no doubt when that buzz was most intense. Like many fans he points to promotion as the pinnacle. That game, a 1-1 end of term draw that sealed a place in the Premier League for Aitor Karanka’s side was ironically a day when the noise and colour of the Red Faction were not needed, a game when every stand was pulsating with barely contained passion.
“For me the personal highlight has been the Brighton game where we sealed promotion: the atmosphere was incredible,” he recalled.
“The noise and the passion and the intensity from every supporter in every stand was just amazing.
“There was no way Brighton could win that day. It was brilliant.
“For me that shows exactly what Middlesbrough can do. If we are united as a team and a crowd then this club is unstoppable.
“That is the ultimate aim for Red Faction, to bring a bit of that intensity to every game.”
Red Faction's 10-year journey from naughty step to pride of place
Boro's self-styled 'ultra' group have gone from being swamped by suspicious stewards to becoming the beating heart of the Riverside
www.gazettelive.co.uk
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