West Ham United's move from Upton Park to The Olypmic Stadium has given our most experienced journalist plenty of food for thought about the nature of identity
And so the last bubble bursts. When West Ham United FC first arrived at Upton Park, its ground for 112 years, the Port of London was in its pomp and the crimes of Jack the Ripper were a mere 16 years old. Now the club is leaving home to shack up with a younger, glossier model.
Word is that it’s all about money: the Olympic Stadium – or The Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, if we’re standing on opening ceremony – is likely to bring in lots of it. For a club with ambition it’s an enticing new dawn; but at Upton Park the lights have gone out, never to shine again in our time.
Inevitably, opinion on the move is divided. For some fans – perhaps most – this is the moment when long-deferred opportunity knocks. For others, however, this month’s frenetic final game marked the tolling of the bell; the hour when soul and body came apart.
Which raises a question. If the move to the Olympic Park represents such fundamental change, does the new model club constitute the ‘real’ West Ham at all? What exactly is it – for a sports club or anything else – that makes identity continuous?
Philosophers have long debated the point, most notably in the form of the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus. Writing in the late First Century, Plutarch describes how the Athenians preserved this famous vessel by replacing all the planks as they decayed, thus prompting him to wonder whether a craft without any of its original components remained the same ship.
In 1655, Thomas Hobbes upped the ante by revisiting a supplementary hypothesis. Suppose that a collector were to hoard the original planks and, once the last one had been replaced, reassemble them. Which of the two vessels, the reassembled or the repaired, would be the true Ship of Theseus?
In one sense, of course, the parallel with West Ham is not exact. Most of the ‘planks’ – owners, players, manager, fans – will survive the change of postcode intact. Yet there are instances in which relocation has meant wholesale change. When the old Wimbledon club left London for Milton Keynes and a new life as MK Dons, it lost not only its name, but most of its fan base too. In response, ex-supporters founded AFC Wimbledon to preserve the local connection. A classic Ship of Theseus conundrum: which of the two clubs is the ‘real’ Wimbledon?
For the Stoics, an entity retains its identity if we can trace it through time with reference to its own unique qualities. Thus the true Ship of Theseus is the one that bore the mythical Greek hero across the Aegean, regardless of how many planks have since been replaced.
In this light, it is arguable that the real West Ham is tied inextricably to Upton Park: the ground that rose from an Edwardian East End, survived the assaults of the Luftwaffe and cradled the greatness of Brooking, Peters and Moore. The Olympic Park may prove a lucrative reassembly, but it carries a price of its own. For what shall it profit a club to win the Champions League, and yet forfeit its soul?
You can read more of Richard's beautifully written articles by clicking here, like his recent tongue in cheek open letter to Her Majesty The Queen
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