The Beautiful Game

The title says it all really. The beautiful game- football.

Now this blog isn't going to review games or predict the season ahead, nor is it going to scrutinize or praise teams. This blog is purely to give football fans something to relate to.

It's very often said that the passion a person has for a football club is something which you can't actually explain, but despite this fact, we as football fans will spend our whole lives trying to explain it anyway. For those who don't quite "get" football, our passion is ludicrous, over the top, pathetic is another word I've heard to describe it. I suppose this blog can be written to show these people what passion for football is all about.

Now don't get me wrong, football isn't our lives. It is however a huge part of it. Football fans don't tend to go more than a day before checking up on Sky Sports News or reading up on new transfer rumors, managers being sacked or media speculations. It's something we enjoy talking about- it's our hobby, the same way as many other people have different hobbies. 

One of my favorite films "Fever Pitch", featuring the Arsenal obsessed Colin Firth, really does hit the nail on the head for me in his analysis of being a football fan. I often get goosebumps when I hear his speech, because after years of growing up around teenage females saying "football is shite I don't know why you like it", it's the only piece of discourse that even comes close to explaining to such people simply WHY I love football so much. 

"And the great thing is it that it comes round again and again. There's always another season. You lose the cup final in May, well there's the third round to look forward to in January. What's wrong with that? It's actually pretty comforting if you think about it."

And that's it. That's the quote which made me realise that, actually, loving football isn't against the norm at all, nor is it pathetic travelling home and away spending money, sometimes to only see your team maybe win once in two months. Actually it's the most comforting thing in the world. 

How many other things in life can you say for sure will never come to an end? You can save up and go on this amazing holiday, but eventually there will always be a plane home. You can buy the biggest most expensive car on the market, but in 6 months time there will be a model to replace it. The new iPhone is supposedly the "must-have" phone... but hey, it's okay if you don't buy it because no worries, next year there'll be another new must-have phone. The best job in the world is never safe. 

Everything in life has it's lifespan. 

Except football. Or in fact, most sports in general. 

And personally that's how you can describe it to someone. These girls used to try and convince me to go and shop or have my nails done. But in 2 months time, that £30 I've spent on a new top and good nails, the nails will have snapped and the top will be out of season. That's their preference, this is mine.

People who don't understand this whole football malarkey, never will, unless they begin to belong themselves. 

The love for a football club isn't pathetic. It's a family. You see the same people in the pub pre-match and the people who sit around you tend to be the same people every year. You all have the same wants, the same desires- you all feel disappointment at once, and you all feel elation at once. Yet another thing so comforting- being surrounded by people where you won't be judged by letting your emotions over come you. 

You lose in a play off final? Or you get relegated? Go ahead and cry, the person next to you will be feeling the same pain inside. Score a goal? Go insane because everyone else will. 

Once you have this connection, no matter how regular you go, you will always have a buzz, have an excitement. Some advert comes on TV and you see your stadium or when The Football League Show (if you can stand to watch it) starts up and you catch a glimpse of your teams badge, there's always a smug element of pride. 

We also have this passion of hatred against other teams. We make snide comments and abuse fans from rival clubs. Derby day is the worst day in the world. You wake up feeling sick, psyched out, angry, blood pumping- you're scared and anticipating the worst; you could barely sleep the night before... 

Sounds horrible to the average football loathing passer by, but we football fans live for these days. We thrive off the atmosphere, our hearts burning more every second that the clock ticks closer to kick off. There's a pure venom in our veins... despite the fact that in the opposing crowd are probably some really close friends, who regardless of the score, we'll be able to have a good chat with about the game on Monday. Take me for example- my other half is a Derby County Fan. People question it but in actual fact it's brilliant, fantastic banter and we both understand the passion.

People are supposed to be so professional, have to spend 90% of their week working, juggling children, bills, shopping trips, etc - wouldn't it be wonderful if at the end of a long week, we knew we had something to look forward to. 

The boss is an idiot on the Friday? Awesome, take it out on the referee on the Saturday. Shout and sing until you lose your voice. Nobody will even look twice. 

People also have this view of football fans being hostile and violent. Fair enough you get the odd idiot. We respect people. A death in the football community leads to complete mourning. No football fan likes to see the demise of a football club either. The likes of Luton Town, AFC Wimbledon, Portsmouth,Hereford United and up in Scotland, Glasgow Rangers have all been hit with financial difficulties and been on the verge of either losing, or lost their club. Believe me, even if we don't support the team on the brink of liquidation, we still feel a sadness inside- we wouldn't begin to imagine losing our own club. 

But football goes on. So do the fans. Plenty of these teams are on the come back and sure in the future it will happen again, but football won't die.

Football is changing. There's so much money involved and it appears you have to spend millions to even compete in the second tier of football. Stadium's change, in some cases, names change, kit colour changes, badges change, but the one thing that will never be changed?

Football fans. 

The gate prices for football fans to go watch their team is mostly astronomical. We get excited when we don't have to pay more that £20 to watch football- how wrong is that. Unfortunately there's no price on loyalty, though we will always be here. 

The FA and FIFA and even some clubs tend to forget that yes you need players to play, a chairman to put money in, a pitch to play on, but the actual heart and soul of a football club comes from it's supporters. 

Without Football Fans, there is no football. 

Young lads playing football in the park with a patch of grass and jumpers don't need a chairman or a manager, they're happy loving football in it's simplicity. Sometimes I think the big shots forget the actual loyalty and love behind the game. The game came from unselfish men who would go work down the pits and in factories straight after the game- our first footballing heroes were worshiped regardless of money earned, because they played football for the love and for the same passion we have. 

Money has transformed football- but it hasn't changed the people who stand and watch it. 

We're still there.

The Manchester United fans who saw their team's worst season in 25 years are still there. 

The fans who saw their team lose in the play off final's this May, will still be there if they lose again next May, and the May after that, and even the May after that.

So there you have it. To the people who don't understand football. 

Football fans are a family, the same interests, the same enjoyment. We feel pain when our family loses, and excitement when our family wins. We've usually been bought up to love football, our families taking us down to the match, remembering the first time you saw the fans go crazy...

It's memories that last forever.

Whether it's a local club or our international team, regardless of how often we feel disappointment or joy or damn right angry- we're always there. 

For those that say "it's pathetic" or "It's just a game". Like I said- It's actually rather comforting and it's a game that gives us something to be happy about. With everything that goes on in the world, is it wrong to love something which actually makes people happy and come together? I don't think so.

Whether you support Manchester City or Hyde, whether you go every week, or once a year, whether you sing all game or sit down quietly- you're one in a family of millions who share the same passion. 

Football.

Quote from Fever Pitch

Good Luck to all the clubs this season.