The passion of European and South American fans for the sport of Soccer is no secret, just take a look at the often over the top celebrations and sadly even outbreaks of tribal violence that mark the avid Soccer fan and you can see just how rabid they can become. So the question is can the tribal passions for your favourite “football” club be transferred to the world of motorsport. 

We may find out at Donnington in a bit over a weeks time when the first round of the Superleague Formula kicks off.

The concept is simple, racecars and teams sponsored and branded with the colours of some of Soccer’s biggest clubs. AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto, Sevilla FC, Corinthians, Rangers and, most recently AS Roma, Tottenham Hotspurs and Liverpool FC.

I happily admit to knowing nothing about Soccer except for the fact that it was the sport played at school by the kids who weren’t tough enough to play real football (of the Australian variety) but even I know that these clubs aren’t our second raters, they’re some of the most powerful and richest sporting clubs on the face of the planet, and they have some seriously sophisticated marketing staff at their disposal. 

So what do these clubs expect to get out of Superleague Formula? “We are always keen to develop our range of commercial partners and working with Superleague Formula gives us an excellent opportunity to do that,“ said Ian Ayre, Liverpool FC Commercial Director.

“This also provides an interesting and new dimension for Liverpool Fans to support their team in a different way and in a different sport. The opening race at Donnington is a great chance for our UK based fans to see the car in action and the short and long term plans to grow the series will reach out to our fanbase globally.“

For the motorsport fan the series brings some interesting machinery. The cars will be built by Don Panoz’s Elan Technology and will be powered by 4.2 litre V12 engines from English based engine builders Menard Competition Technologies. The engine weighs in at only 140 kgs and pumps out an impressive 750 BHP at only 11′750 RPM.

The series will kick off at Donnington in the UK with other races planned for Nürburgring. Zolder, Estoril, Vallelunga and Jerez. In year two the series plans to expand to nine rounds with the 5 year plan looking towards 17 races including 4 outside of Europe.

Of course the question needs to be asked, for those of us in Australia or the USA where, let’s face it Soccer, despite it’s recent advances is still a relatively minor league sport. So how about opening up the rivalry not just between clubs and countries but between codes.

Imagine a a car from Australia’s biggest and most popular AFL club Collingwood. They’ve got the money, and they could even get Alan Didak or Heath Shaw to drive it. Russell Crowe still has plenty of money to piss up against a wall despite his recent run of flops, so how about the ‘Coachwood and Mertle” of the famous South Sydney Rabbitohs.

In the good ol’ US of A we could see something from the Dallas Cowboys (they’d have the grid girl thing covered) and a car from the Detroit Pistons would be a no brainer.

No this things got legs, there’s only one problem, while Soccer fans might follow their team with a passion, one would assume that much of that passion is for the game itself. Will football followers, rabid though they may be, be willing to transfer that passion and loyalty to a totally different sport just because a car is painted in team colours, would Arsenal fans follow their colours into battle if they were on board a race horse, a cricket team, a basketball team or European Handball? I think not. So why the hell should motorsport be any different. A rose by any other name?