Atmospheres are not what they used to be. Crystal Palace, through the Holmesdale Fanatics (HF), are intent on reviving the culture and hope for the future of English football.
Saturday’s FA Cup final victory over Man City demonstrated why we fell all in love with football in the first place. The typical David and Goliath story never, ever gets old. On the pitch, Oliver Glasner’s soaring Eagles stole the show and captivated our imagination, proving that the lesser-resourced can still win big. But it was off the grass where Palace, and their supporters, truly won our hearts.
Fans had been racked with anxiety over the prospect of winning major silverware for the first time ever. They all endured an agonising mental countdown in the days leading up, before snapping into Eagles overdrive after one final trophyless sleep. On Saturday morning, embarking on a largely unfamiliar matchday routine that led them to Wembley Way, fans began to let themselves believe that the very distant, heady dream might just come true.
But for the ultras, Wembley preparations kicked into fifth gear the night before. Holmesdale Fanatics, founded in 2005, took to the stands 24 hours before kick-off to set up what would be a spectacular pre-match tifo, intent on making the home of football their own.
It was a display that required the physical and fiscal contributions of an entire club, as 20 days of tireless work – and £45,000 of fan funding – came to a head. “This was an all-out effort to create a display from scratch that would do justice to the occasion,” Holmesdale Fanatics member Mickey Grafton told The Independent. “It’s the making of the tifo by hand, the work, the time, the energy, the unified effort that gives it the meaning, crafted by the fans for the fans.”
Signing off with a social media post on the eve of the final, members stood arm-in-arm in front of an empty stadium, decked in their usual black attire with faces blurred – perhaps a slightly intimidating visual for those out of the know. But for HF, anonymity is crucial in driving home what they stand for: unity. “This isn’t about individuals, we are part of a wider fanbase collectively supporting our football club,” Grafton said. “We do this for all Palace fans. The group stands for collectivism, unity and an organisation that can positively affect the lives of its members, the culture of our football club and the wider local community as a whole.”
The next day, HF marched through London before going underground, cramming into tubes bound for Wembley Park. There, the fruits of their collective labour were to be unveiled – a display that would set the standard for tifos in a new era of English football fandom.
Through the blue and red smoke unfurled a tear-jerking display that encapsulated what it means to be part of Palace. Above a banner that read “Wembley will shake… and it will be beautiful” showed an illustration of a man clutching his two sons, celebrating in exultant jubilation. It harked back to a moment caught on camera 13-and-a-half years ago, when Palace wrote a different underdog story against the other Manchester powerhouse.
Following their then-Championship hopefuls up the West Coast Mainline, they were sent into euphoria as Darren Ambrose rocketed a thunderous 40-yard belter at Old Trafford, putting them on course for what would eventually transpire as a shock League Cup quarter-final victory. What was captured was the uncontained joy, combined with sheer disbelief, of Mark Wealleans and his young sons, Dominic and Nathan, a still that went down in legend.
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It was a snapshot that showcased the impact this humble yet overtly passionate football club from Croydon can have on generations – how familial bonds can be strengthened and forever cemented by an undying affiliation to the red and blue army. “It is a story of love, family and football, concepts that transcend the game and an image that recognises the significance of the unity and emotional depth to which Palace fans are wedded to our local team,” Grafton said.
Dominic and Nathan, now grown men, were back in the stands on Saturday, but without their father. Mark tragically passed from cancer in 2017. On what would be the greatest few hours in the club’s history, the brothers joined many of those around them, also missing loved ones, in seeking comfort that their dad was watching from above.
But as kick-off approached, Dominic and Nathan were taken aback, left tearfully agasp. A wonderfully organic moment with their father, that their younger selves had no idea was caught on national television at the time, had been immortalised in one of the most emotionally-pertinent tifos ever created. They were completely in the dark of their inspirational value and were understandably overcome with emotion in its discovery. What would be an unforgettable day was made all the more special as Mark’s memory become engrained into the wider fandom, thanks to the ultras.
“We received a call from Nathan on Sunday saying how much it meant to the family and we are humbled that we were able to deliver something that they were proud of and moved by,” Grafton revealed, who added that the secrecy of the display was by design. “Like all our tifos, we keep the specifics hidden until they are unveiled. It’s about creating moments that people participate in and see together for the first time, sharing that moment of inspiration that brings the support together and inspires the team. In that light we had no contact with the family before the game, wanting them to experience it as part of the collective feeling alongside the rest of the support.”
It set the tone for the mesmirising game that followed, where Palace took down the country’s serial winners to achieve what was previously deemed by many fans as impossible. Yet as fans continue to celebrate into the week, deifying the players and management, it is this tifo that continues to grab the headlines.
The display demonstrated that Crystal Palace, fronted by its supporters, are keeping touch with what matters in football, at a time when English outfits are increasingly seeing their identities chipped away by financialisation. Holmesdale Fanatics feel fan collectivism can detoxify the game.
“Supporters should demand more from their clubs, too often in the modern era they’ve become an afterthought with disgraceful ticket prices and games moved to accommodate TV schedules,” Grafton argues.
“Ordinary people priced out between these factors, greedy train ticket prices and the barely hidden fleecing of those who give their lives to their clubs, in what has become the pursuit of squeezing more money out of a captive audience who are often treated with contempt once they’ve handed over their money.
“Fan unity is the solution to these problems, to fight back against these issues and remind people that ultimately without supporters there would be no football clubs. Fans at their clubs are the safeguarders of club culture and it being accessible to the working man and woman.
“Managers, players will all come and go but fans are the continuity. It’s our job to remind anyone coming into our club of what is expected of them and the morals and ethos that we expect them to rise to.”
As such, Holmesdale Fanatics are not just focussing on their own club. They are intent on leading English football fandom into a new age. “Ultimately, England has been left behind in terms of organised fan culture in Europe,” Grafton said. “We need more groups established in the Premier League to create atmosphere and help protect the ethos of ordinary fans and the culture of their clubs.”
With a continental tour on the horizon, we will get the chance to see how HF shape up against their European counterparts, for whom ultra groups are the norm. “We now have a chance to go into Europe to compete both for the Europa League and in the stands against many great groups of the continent, all of which is the deserved result of that labour and toil.”
But with a shift in English fan culture now feeling imminent, Crystal Palace – and Holmesdale Fanatics – have shown how to do ultras right.
