Twitter changes the way fans experience football

From Ashley Young's unpopular testing of Newton's theory of gravity at Old Trafford to some Chelsea fans' ugly chants and Juan Mata's 'ghost goal' at Wembley, Sunday demonstrated graphically how much the match-going experience has been transformed by the social-networking revolution.

Within seconds of each incident debates raged on Twitter, castigating or defending Young, condemning that minority of Chelsea's support and publishing photographs apparently showing Mata's ball over the line. Or not.

It is all about the 90 minutes and the 140 characters, the millions who form the twittering classes gathering around a virtual water-cooler. If LS Lowry were painting now, his matchstick men 'Going to the Match' would be tweeting as they walked, dissecting team news with fellow fans already in the ground or on the other side of the world.

Inside the stadium, it is interactive overdrive. It is not just enough to be there; many fans feel fully involved only when they have passed judgment. It is X Factor on the terraces with tweets for texts. Those at home or in the pub join in too. It is a free-for-all via Blackberry and iPhone. Many voices, many verdicts. It is the Tower of Babel meets the Tower of London.

Tv commentators such as Kenneth Wolstenholme would not believe how coverage of football has altered - in the past three years, let alone 30. Everyone's commentating now. As well as enjoying the words of Martin Tyler, John Motson, Mike Ingham, Clive Tyldesley and company, a parallel universe of name-calling (in every sense) is conducted by microbloggers.

A spin through Sunday's timeline reveals the immense cyberspace forums. Even though the two supports most active on Twitter, those of Liverpool and Arsenal, were not playing, the traffic was immense, partly fuelled by the controversies.

At 4.20pm, on watching Young's tumble on the Wembley press-room TV, I tweeted whether "Sir Alex Ferguson or PFA chief Gordon Taylor might have a quiet word with Ashley Young about the reputation he's acquiring". The reaction was splenetic, railing against Young, the media, Manchester United. Amid the purists' distaste for such dark arts, a torrent of tribalism frothed forth.

Countless tweets poured in. Sometimes it's like watching a digital waterfall. "Nice to see Ashley Young showing respect to old employers, with ridiculous dive,'' replied @StNazaire42. "Refs seem to lose reality @ theatre of dreams.''

As usual with Twitter, deliberations raced off in many directions like uncontrolled dogs chasing different scents, occasionally uniting two separate debates.

Should Carlos Tevez be back playing for Manchester City after going Awol? "Who is worse, Tevez or Young?'' asked @craigbird. "For Man City, it's Tevez. For football in general, Young. Makes a mockery of the game. Cheating."

One observer attempted to justify Young's actions, arguing that deception is an art, a skill, a weapon of sporting war, suspect sentiments that really released the hounds of the twitterville. Dear old Fenton in Richmond Park is a model of restraint compared to Twitter's manic dogs of war.

As the Young fires continued to burn, another was lit 200 miles to the south. At 5.58, Wembley's announcer called for a minute's silence for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster 23 years before. It took the death of 96 Liverpool fans for the authorities to stop treating all supporters like cattle, herding them into pens. The silence was well observed at Old Trafford earlier in the day. Liverpool fans tweeted their acknowledgement of the respect shown by their bitter rivals.

At Wembley, sadly, a minority of Chelsea fans chanted "murderers".

Such occurrences during a live sports broadcast leave TV producers in a quandary, often reaching for the mute button. Such sensitivities do not exist in the world of social media. News raced via Twitter like lightning across the land. Even before the silence was brought to an abrupt, embarrassed end after 25 seconds by referee Martin Atkinson, Liverpool fans knew what some of their Chelsea counterparts had shouted.

As the families of the 96 who perished still battle for justice, Hillsborough remains an inevitably raw issue. Liverpool fans have conducted an unwavering campaign for "Justice for the 96", which even has it own hash-tag on Twitter, #jft96, ensuring easy access on search engines.

Where they once waved banners about Hillsborough on the Kop, Liverpool fans now also use social networking to spread the word, to defend the cause at times. Just ask Alan Davies. The comedian was vilified on Twitter after making some ill-considered comments about Liverpool not playing on April 15. An Arsenal supporter, Davies has a history of showing he actually does care about fans' issues, such as Hillsborough, but that could not save him from the wrath of Twitter.

The reaction to tweeted missives from Wembley about the fractured silence was outrage, many deriding that minority of Chelsea fans as a "disgrace", "lacking class" and proffering fears over what would happen if Chelsea won, so meeting Liverpool in the final. Some Chelsea fans tweeted apologies, giving an insight into events on the terraces over how individuals shouted at or pleaded with others to stop shaming their club.

Some outside Wembley took a realistic stance. "I think most people anticipated this - football replicates life - a few idiots,'' reflected
@rochdaledave.

Every village has an idiot but football's mad hamlet contains more idiots than most. Such was the malevolent maelstrom blowing through cyberspace that Chelsea sensibly rushed out a statement, condemning the chants. The club's contrition was immediately noted. Twitter can dampen fires as well as light them.

At 7.05, another debate erupted. When Atkinson decreed Mata's shot crossed the Spurs line, I tweeted: "Huge controversy. #cfc 2-0. Mata shoots, claims ball over line.
Atkinson gave goal. How on earth could he tell? Time for goal-line technology."

Fans of all clubs piled in, not simply irate Spurs punters. Those with a dislike of Chelsea fulminated about their good fortune, casting dark aspersions about the officials. Arsenal fans weighed in, gloating at Spurs.

The photograph by @mattlewispix that appeared to show Mata's shot cross the line was immediately seized on by Chelsea fans, and tweeted around the globe. But the clamour for goal-line technology was deafening on Twitter.

"Definitive decision to be made by IFAB at a Special Meeting in Kiev on July 2," I tweeted. "We know it won't happen!'' replied @tommykemple. "FIFA are dinosaurs living in Bedrock!'' Zurich, actually.

Anyway, Fifa followed the Mata debate on Twitter as it unfolded during the game. This is the modern match-day world.