United Across Borders: A film to warm Red hearts

United Across Borders: Escaping to the 'island of happiness'

Friday 03 November 2023 08:00

Let's face it: we all need cheering up after the last few days.

Eight defeats in 15 games have left us reeling from a bruising and unexpectedly poor start to 2023/24, with the recent losses to City and Newcastle particularly galling for anyone that calls themselves a Red.

I'll concede that a short film that follows six of our supporters' clubs as they watch another painful defeat – last season's FA Cup final – might not be the kind of tonic you had in mind. It was with some caution that I sat down to watch it, just hours after the Magpies had won at Old Trafford.

But against all odds, cheer me up it did. By simply reminding me that the football club we and so many others support is simply like no other. No matter where the 20-times champions of England might lie in the league table.

It's become something of an empty cliche to say that United is 'the biggest club in the world'. Ultimately, fans don't want to hear that – we want to see it manifested out on the pitch, via performances that do our name and our history justice.

But watch the latest of our One Love series of films, United Across Borders, and you do at least come away with something else: the inextinguishable sense that there is something unusual and unique about the strength and scope of our club's emotional, global reach.

I live a stone's throw away from Old Trafford, and am lucky to work for the club I grew up supporting. But there is a drawback to all that: sometimes, I can get sucked into thinking United's fortunes matter more than almost anything else.

A few minutes into United Across Borders, I was shocked out of that juvenile tendency.

We're in Ukraine, war-torn Ukraine, talking to the Kyiv Reds. It's not mentioned in the film, but one of the group's founding members, Aleksander Kukin, was killed by Russian forces in 2022.

Kenobi, a volunteer in the Ukrainian military, shows us his 'Kyiv Reds' tattoo, poignantly tells us that he's "not a military man". Anatolii explains that he cannot even meet with his mother, dad or grandmother, because they are currently trapped in occupied territories. It's incredibly emotional, then, when he follows that up by saying, "Here in Kyiv, I have my second family near me... my red family."

You cannot imagine what these people and their families have had to go through over the last few years. But when another fan, Inna, says that United is her "island of happiness", that's something that we can all relate to, whatever the magnitude of the troubles we have been through.

Thankfully, most of us live in peace, free from conflict. But all of the other supporters' clubs featured in this episode – Beijing, Botswana, Chicago, Mumbai and New South Wales – explain how following the Reds adds an extra depth to their lives, or 'a way of escaping' daily stresses and problems.

Evading bombs and war is an extreme example, but other situations where fan groups have offered support and security are countless.

Peng from Beijing says United was nothing less than "a spiritual pillar" during his time living and studying abroad. Ramin reminisces about moving from Azerbaijan to Ukraine some years ago, when fellow Reds were a big help to him. That's not a life-and-death scenario, but it's evidence of that common ground of United making a difficult period of someone's life that bit more manageable.

These are the kind of situations where mental health can be severely affected, and being a Red has, for many of these people, compensated in some small but significant way for missing family and friends.

The Beijing Reds are up at all hours! Video

United Across Borders: Clip | Zhang studied in Manchester and is back in China, supporting alongside the Beijing Reds...

From New South Wales, there's the opposite for some: bringing a slice of the Stretford End they know and love to the place they now live. A place where they'll stay up for 48 hours straight just to watch a United match with likeminded souls. Where they'll travel three or four hours just to be in that social environment, because it reminds them of M16.

In Botswana, it's about making a new family, making new friends, a sense of belonging. In Chicago, famously known as 'The Windy City', the words of Gonzolo are as warm as an Italian beef sandwich: "If you're a fan of Man United, we're a fan of you."

Imagine hearing that if you've just moved to the States from the other side of the world? You're feeling 10 ft tall, instantly.

All clubs are unique, of course. But not many (if any) can power these bonds in so many different corners of the world like Manchester United does. It doesn't necessarily make us the best – clearly that's not the case on the pitch right now – but it makes me feel proud nevertheless.

Give United Across Borders a watch, and you might even think of a time in your life when United helped you make a friend when you needed one. Or stopped you from feeling so homesick. Or helped you escape from a personal situation that was killing you, if only for a few distracting hours.

If not, hopefully it will at least inspire a smile, and a small sense of satisfaction at the amazing things our fanbase can do.

United Across Borders will premiere via a stream in the United App at 19:00 GMT on Friday. It will then be available to watch on-demand from 20:00 that same evening.

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