Football means different things to different people. For some people it is their living. For some people it is a passion. For some people it is almost a religion. Some love it, some like it and some find it quite enjoyable. Of course, many people think it is a waste of time and many others actually dislike it with an intense hatred.
So what is it about the game that can bring about such different extreme reactions in people?
It isn’t like art or music or a film or TV Programme. People can be passionate about these things but it is rare for someone to hate them in the way that some people hate football. Even those who are passionate about these subjects are unlikely to spend a majority of their salary on them, have the name of who or what they like tattooed on their bodies and spend their entire lives talking, reading or thinking about it.
As a footy fan, you may have a club that you love and display most of your passion about, but you can also get quite excited by your national team and even by watching other teams playing the same game about whom you really don’t care. (I accept that as an England fan the comment about getting excited by the national team is somewhat exaggerated.)
So there we are, we are part of a worldwide club of millions but we are also part of a group of people regarded as being very sad individuals indeed by millions of others.
Twenty-two men chasing a ball around a field. All they need to do is kick a ball into a great big net to score a point. Sometimes they can’t even do that! They run around for over an hour and a half and the game finishes exactly as it started, with no score. (I think I have just summed up the general American public’s view of the game!)
Only once in my life have I tried to justify and explain my love of the game. I was asked by someone at a party why on earth I got so excited about such a silly pastime. Unfortunately I had enjoyed the party rather too much by that point and what came out of my mouth in response sounded pathetic even to me. In fact, the non-sensical ramblings of this sad, middle aged drunk probably reinforced the questioner’s views on football fans! I’m sorry, I fear I may have let the members of our club down.
When I sobered up the next day I thought about the question I had been asked. I also thought about what I had done to that pot plant in the corner of the hosts lounge, but that is another story!
When I tried to think about why I love football so much and why it has such a disproportionate importance in my life I couldn’t do it. I could not come up with one sensible, convincing reason to explain its prominent position in my priorities.
When people say it’s only a game, they are absolutely right. Of course it is more than that for people who earn their living within the game but for the rest of us that is all it is.
I love Watford Football Club but did their failure in last season’s championship play-offs really have much of an effect on my life? I love England, but in the big scheme of things, did their failure to qualify for Euro 2008 really change my life for the worse?
Sadly, the answer to both of those questions is yes. I can’t explain why, but the answer is very definitely yes. My life is less happy and less fulfilled if my football team is doing badly. I laugh at train spotters and stamp collectors and people with perfectly normal and healthy hobbies and fail to see that I am obsessed with something of such little global importance.
I honestly believe that if nuclear war was a distinct possibility, my biggest worry would be if the next weekend’s matches would be affected.
So what I need is help. I either need psychological or psychiatric help with my footy obsession or I need help from you to understand what it is about our game that makes it what it is.
By the simple fact that you are reading this site you must be, whether you like it or not, ‘one of us’. So help me. Explain why it is so important.
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August 23, 2008
Yeah well, for me football is the only thing left in this world that hasn’t been infected by politic, religion, etc… YET!!
Football is the only thing when we can see courage really does matter, and not every big thing comes from big thing. We can see how the majestic Chelsea failed to make a point out of their great ambition of summoning great players.
Football is only GOOD THING left in this world….
August 24, 2008
It’s pointless to think about why millions are obsessed with the game. It’s just the way it is. An instinctive function to place yourself in a group (in this case, football club) which you are forever faithful to.
August 25, 2008
i have tried to explain this to my friends many times and i found myself stummbling on my own words. people art my school always say o football is gay i think this is part of the fact of how the american public has affected this game in america even so it is constantly growing
liked your article
thanks
August 25, 2008
i have tried to explain this to my friends many times and i found myself stummbling on my own words. people art my school always say o football is gay i think this is part of the fact of how the american public has affected this game in america even so it is constantly growing
thanks
August 25, 2008
The 2 biggest things I have to explain to people is the liking of the sport and the club I support. I live in the US and support Man Utd. Glory Scum I know…I’ve heard it all. Explaining that part is somewhat easy. My mom’s, cousin’s husband is from Manchester. He went to the Academy there and even play for United. of course it was their school games and a handful of reserve matches, but none the less, at 12 years old that was the team I liked. I had a family member play for them. I’ve supported the club for 11 years now and the bigger they get the more I hear the words glory scum. doesn’t bother me though. I get excited when they win and saddened like anyoen else when they lose. The 2 years of watching Chelsea on top the table were terrible! of course the 99 treble was great but I was 14 at the time. only been watchins for 2 years, so it was just a high point in saying the team I supported was unstoppable. Last year was the greatest season I’ve witnessed now as an adult. I cheered my team on. My cousin is an Arsenal supporter so it was nice to watch those games with him 2-2 and the 2-1 win later in season was nice to rub in his face.
I agree with everything in the article. It’s hard to explain why we as football supporters have the passion we do for the game. I watch American Football and been a fan of my “home-town” team for almost 20 years, but it doesn’t excite me as much as when it does to see Tevez score the winning goal after a long fought match, or giggs running down the sideline to cross in a header for Rooney or Ronaldo.
August 25, 2008
i do loves football and and i do think it is part of my life. i have been watching it for years and still i want to watch it ..
August 28, 2008
I’m 17 and I’ve been watching football for 6 years. I’m a great United fun and I’ve supported the club in good times and bad times as well. I find it very difficult to explain what I feel for football. It’s more than passion: whenever I’m sad or having a very severe migraine, it’s either because Man Utd has been scored or a ManUtd player is injured. I love Brazilian soccer as well: THE RIVALDO’s era was the best. My favourite players are Kaka and Ryan Giggs because they never disappoint, they play with great passion and determination. In school, my friends find it rather intriguing to find a girl loving soccer and I tell them,’Soccer relaxes the nerves”. So Jason, Keep on loving football and Keep on supporting the RED DEVILS coz we’ve got a lot to prove this season.
September 10, 2008
To start, great article. I am relieved to hear that I am not the only one that has difficulty in pin-pointing my passion for the game.
What exactly was the trigger that reeled us in? How did we evolve from that of a simple fan and admirer to a full fledged fanatic? I belive that in one way or another, this beautiful game has touched us deeply and left a mark in our heart on a very personal level. As for myself, football has always been there for me through the ups and downs of this journey we call life.
I did not choose to becme a football player and fan. Football chose me.
I am proud and honored to be a part of this sport.
January 28, 2009
i support portsmouth and they ere the best team in the world
May 19, 2009
west brom goin 2 go bk up
May 19, 2009
west brom an goin bk up
December 7, 2009
For me the football is an art, a well composed and performed symphony music. The Manager (Boss) is the conductor. It is not an individual sport but a teem sport. Every player must go for its physical strength vie training, diet and positive life and to improve it endlessly and to convert this strength into technical skills. Football is not a street fight, it is a skilful fight. Players, managers and teems can improve endlessly, towards 100%, which, of course, is unreachable. The strive for perfectionism as a colective exercise, put and guided by the manager, is the beauty of the game. THE BEAUTIFUL GAME. That’s what make the people to follow it and millions to love it. That’s roughly what I think.