He finds no interest in the top clubs, neither in Israel nor abroad, but Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United and Yeovil Town are what do it for him. It's not the football, Perry explains, "it's the culture surrounding the club".
The walls of the study in his home in Karkur are decorated with a large board displaying, side by side, the crests of Millwall, Accrington, AFC Wimbledon, Bath City, Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United, Yeovil Town, York City, Hartlepool, Harrogate, Carlisle and Northampton – all football clubs he has visited – alongside club pennants and a map of England marking the small towns his support and future plans are directed at. "This is where the hats are kept," Perry says proudly, following my astonished gaze at the displays on the walls. He opens the cupboard in the room and points to two rows of colourful scarves, folded in exemplary order one on top of the other in all the teams' colours. "And this is where the shirts hang." He pulls out some 20 colourful shirts from the wardrobe, each bearing the club crest on the left side, right where the fabric touches the heart. "This is Millwall's, and this is Yeovil Town's, and this one…" he says, proud as a teenager given the chance to show off his very special hobby to all and sundry.
Because Perry – a young man, married to Leah and father to Shelly, 8, and Barak, 5, a graphic designer by trade – devotes whatever spare time he has to nurturing his love of English football clubs. Nothing unique about that so far, since every football fan fantasises that one day the star of his Israeli club will pull on the shirt of Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal. But for Perry, even clubs of the level of Leeds and Southampton aren't what he's after. With all due respect to them, Perry and his friends reserve their love and support for English clubs from the third and fourth tiers and below. Clubs most football fans have never heard of – they don't know the town, and don't even know the club's name.
What's wrong with Chelsea? Liverpool?
Nothing, but they just don't speak to me. The better-known, more famous clubs involve businessmen, and just like in Israel, you can never know exactly what lies behind their declared intentions. One thing is clear: there's a lot of money there, a lot of publicity, a lot of intent to win at any price… It's a business in every sense. And when those are the goals, it comes with a feeling of alienation, of distance… Whereas with lower-league clubs – that's where a football culture develops.
What is a football culture?
What characterises these clubs is precisely their grassroots nature, the family feeling between players and fans, belonging to the club's community. Most of the players are home-grown, playing for the town, for the badge, nurturing a sense of local pride. That's why we gave the tours we organise the name 'The Cinderella Project' – meaning marginal, overlooked clubs from the third tier and below that manage to do it for us.
Perry gives this support practical expression once or twice a year by organising a trip to England to watch several clubs play and visit the clubs themselves. In England, every town has a football club. "The British love ceremony. We arrange the visit in advance and present them with a plaque of appreciation that reads: 'We are the Cinderella Men. We love grassroots, local football, free of glittering stars and big money. We are driven by the inexhaustible power of England's beauty and culture, and the wonderful heritage of the home of football.' This respectful approach opens the hearts of the club officials, and they treat us with respect in return. The staff honour our presence, are happy to give us a tour of the club's inner sanctums, introduce us to the fans at half-time as 'our friends from Israel', and tell us about the players, the club's activities and its relationship with the fans. We go with the fans to the local bar and have a beer with them… We feel we're doing something good for the club."
Perry's connection with football began as a child growing up in Rehovot, on the border between the Marmorek and Sha'arayim neighbourhoods, and he developed a love for both those clubs. When he was 12, his parents gave him an electronic football game in which each player had a name, and all that was left was to identify the teams and play. "My good friend Oren Wilner and I loved playing it. For the game, he adopted Macclesfield and I took Yeovil Town (we deliberately picked marginal teams so we'd have somewhere to climb). We used to meet almost every day and play…" The distance from Israel didn't deter the two teenagers. As time went on they got to know the clubs, started following their league positions and matches, got to know the players, and became loyal fans of both clubs – in Israel. "On one occasion we swore to ourselves that the day would come when we'd go and see them play for real, visit the club, and everything…
17 years passed since that teenage pledge. Perry and Oren married Leah and Liat and started families, and for their 30th birthdays their wives jointly decided to give their husbands a plane ticket to anywhere in the world they chose. "Oren and I looked at each other, and without saying a word it was clear to us where we were flying. We didn't mind that it was a cold winter season; we wanted to fulfil the promise we'd made ourselves at 13," Perry says.
In 2010 they set off for the first time, aiming to visit the two clubs they had supported from afar for so many years. "It was the first time we encountered a football culture. We saw ordinary people consciously choosing, in the middle of the week, to make quality time for their club and its fans, together creating a community whose whole world revolves around football and the club. They come father and son, grandfather and grandson, gathering in whole families and travelling hundreds of kilometres to see a match. Hundreds of thousands of fans arrive 3-4 hours before kick-off, gather in the local pub, eat something, drink a beer and sing songs in support of their team. Season tickets are passed down through the generations there, the locals told me. It's a cultural experience like no other."
What impressed you on the first visit?
On every trip we try to visit several clubs. On this trip we also went to Millwall Football Club, one of the better-known clubs on the British Isles – more because of the extreme behaviour of its fans than its achievements on the pitch. We got off at the train station and started walking with the fans towards the stadium. Lots of fans, like a river of blue denim between alleys of grey houses, murmuring in heavy British. We felt we were getting closer and closer to a battlefield. We reached the car park, packed full of souvenir sellers and cars, and approached the ticket offices, which ran in exemplary order. Mounted police on their horses and police vans patrolled the area. We hurried to get our tickets and went into the stadium. During the match our eyes mostly followed the ball, which spent most of its time in the air. Looking around us, we discovered that behind every seat there was a sticker with the local police's phone number, which you can text to grass on the person sitting in front of you if he's misbehaving or swearing – anonymously and discreetly. That's how we saw a few hooligans pulled out mid-match by police officers, without knowing who'd grassed. Great idea! At half-time we went down from the stand and found ourselves in an orderly queue to buy a burger and two beers in plastic bottles made especially for football grounds. By the way, the whole food area was full of small TV screens showing our match live, as well as live coverage and breaking news from the rest of the league matches taking place at the same time. At the end of the day we left the stadium soaked in excitement from the British football experience and in high spirits. We'd caught a good match, we congratulated ourselves, and declared the experience worth every penny and every effort. Hoping to 'stumble' on a match like this on all our future visits.
They say you never change your mother or your football club – but that doesn't apply to them…
That saying holds true for Sha'arayim and Yeovil Town. Those are two clubs I've followed since childhood, and there's no substitute for them. As for the other clubs, I've already said it's not the club, it's the culture. And it speaks to people who love football, who are curious about it, who see it as much more than a game. People who connect with what Bill Shankly once said: "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
The English football experience affected Perry so much that he thought to himself, "Actually, if I'm having such a great experience, why not share it with football 'nutters' like me?" Since then, Perry has run 'The Cinderella Men Project'. Every year he organises small groups of friends who want to experience real football, and together they set off on the British experience. "On the first visit there were two of us, and this year we're already six football fanatics like us. We come back loaded with experiences, stories, photos and rare souvenirs – and we carry on to the next club, hoping to visit as many clubs as possible until we're old and tired."