“The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. Its the way I see football, the way I see life,” said Bill Shankly. Anyone that says politics and sport cannot mix are unaware of the work Philosophy Football does.

2014 sees 20 years of Philosophy Football, a company that uses T-shirts as a “utilitarian platform well suited to the expression of dissent.”

Set up by Mark Perryman, the voice, and Hugh Tisdale, the eyes, the company has “actively supported the efforts of fans to promote a soft patriotism around a reinterpretation of supporting ‘Ingerland.’”

The first T-shirt produced meant for Christmas presents for friends and families. It had an Albert Camus quote which read: “All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football.”

But two decades on, the use of the T-shirt symbolises what the Premier League and its foreign owners are slowly taking away from the beautiful game.

Football shirts these days are full of corporate sponsors, far from all promoting a positive image. You only have to look at Newcastle’s Wonga sponsorship to see that football is no longer for the everyday person and is more about exploiting the working class and taking as much money as they can. £60 for a shirt which after a year is out of fashion or £90 if you want the latest England shirt.

But Perryman and Tisdale still believe that sport, not just football, has the power to bring people together.

In 2003, Philosophy launched its very first dissenter campaign shirt. Up until then, the messages on the shirts had been from the world’s greatest thinkers and their thoughts on the beautiful game.

From Shankly’s socialism quote to Eric Cantona’s sardines comment, Philosophy say they have: “discovered a particular niche, cotton cult-shirts of ‘intellectual distinction,’ in contrast to the mainstream, official, heavily sponsored nylon shirts filling club shops.”

The Stop the War Campaign shirt raised £5,000 and helped finance a speaking tour of Britain of “Americans Against the War.”

Tisdale has travelled to Palestine to drive a vehicle as part of the “Viva Palestina” overland convoys to break the blockade of Gaza. The convoy, kitted out with garments and graphics, shows how powerful the message on the T-shirts can be.

In the past they have joined Hope not Hate in Barking to campaign against the BNP as well as working with the TUC, Unison, Unite and other trade unions.

As well as their work in Palestine, Philsophy has also campaigned with Kick Racism out of Football, Venezuela Solidarity and Counterfire.

And Tisdale still believes that the work they are doing is not in vain as football continues to fight against the evil in the world.

Speaking at the Camus, Clough and Counter Culture exhibiton celebrating the 20 years of Philosophy Football, he said: “It would be perfectly possible to view modern football very negatively indeed.

“The corruption in Fifa, the moneytisation of sport in the highest levels is every reason to stop following the sport. But I measure out my life in World Cups. 

“I really enjoyed the last one and still think Fifa considers the game belongs to them while I consider the game belongs to us, and that’s the fundamental difference between us and them.

“I still see football as a perfectly possible way of bringing a great deal of good and will continue to think that. In South Africa there are examples of sport being a way of resisting the oppression they were under and see the same in the West Bank in Palestine. All around the world I still have faith in the good of football to improve people’s lives.”

It is a view shared by David Goldblatt, author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football and his new book Game of Our Lives: The Cultural Politics of English Football.

Goldblatt said: “I think you have to draw on the strength of what is the most extraordinary thing about English football, which is that despite 20 years of management by TV, an industry that has attempted to turn the experience of the game into a completely media-based spectacular the crowd resists, consciously and unconsciously.

“Football has to deal with the fact that there is a bunch of real people in the stadium who have real social relationships between them. 

“We may not sing quite like we used to but, the fact that people are still singing at all seems to me an extraordinary act of communality and possibility of imagined community.

“Football generates, through its performance of collective ecstasy and invented ritual, invented solidarity and the possibility of creating solidarity around other issues emerges.

“It seems to me in this country, because we have such a weak provisional civil society and such pathetic local government structure, that actually in most of the country football clubs have become the most important and emblematic instrument for establishing urban identities.

“There is enormous power there and we are beginning to see in the last few years at the grassroots level, really interesting protests and self-organisation be it fan ownership or people resisting foreign owners.

“I love the fact that Blackburn Rovers fans threw a dozen chickens on the pitch in the middle of a game after Venkys, the disgusting Indian poultry conglomerative, came over and screwed the club up, I think there are more of that to come. We have to hit them with humour as well as with politics.”

But there is more to the company than just producing T-shirts. In 1997, Perryman witnessed Italian fans create a huge tricolour in the Curva Sud of Rome’s Stadio Olimpico during their national anthem for the game between Italy and England.

He took that idea back with him to the FA and while they remained sceptical at first, an England match at Wembley these days is never complete without the St George’s cross being raised by the 90,000 fans in attendance as Wayne Rooney and co mumble God Save the Queen for just over a minute.

Tisdale, Perryman and a host of other volunteers spend the days prior to the match laying paper cards and rubber bands for fans to “Raise the Flag” — the name of the initiative — and when completed is a truly remarkable piece of work.

Tisdale and Perryman have also seen their work displayed before Champions League finals, NFL matches at Wembley as well as a “No To Racism” message created on behalf of Kick It Out before England played the Netherlands at Villa Park in 2005.

Camus, Clough & Counter Culture is a free exhibition to mark the 20th anniversary of Philsophy Football at the Rich Mix in Bethnal Green until the end of the month.