I only have one theory why football is so popular, not sure it will make any sense so feel free to correct me as you see fit.
Other than running and jumping (which can get a bit boring) I am struggling to think of a simpler game! To say simple is not to detract from football in any way but all you need is 2 people, something that resembles a ball and somewhere to kick it and you are playing football. A couple of kids can’t go out and play formula 1 or ice hockey. Okay 2 extreme examples but football is the simplest team sport to start playing. Cricket you need bat, ball, something to make wickets with. Rugby you can play with a round ball but not on tarmac or concrete, even touch rugby needs to have a structure or it becomes the big kid running with the ball (not much fun). Tennis, a ball that will bounce, rackets and a net. So what game did we all play when we were kids? FOOTBALL!!
So no matter how good we were, thought we were or bad we were, it is our game. Yes I am sure the first time you enter a ground (impressive in itself) and see thousands of people it confirms it for you but you are hooked from the minute you knew you could kick a ball. So you know what it’s like to play football and you know what it’s like in a ground where thousands of people go, people like you, people who know the same as you, people that although you don’t know personally, you have a kinship with. A fellow spectator will utter “REFEREE” and you may turn to him and finish his sentence, arm raised “THAT WAS NEVER A YELLOW CARD” you don’t know that person but you know what he was thinking and how dare this outsider (the poor referee) blight your team and one if it’s champions so unfairly with a yellow card. You are united as one in your defence of what is quite obviously a miss carriage of justice.
Whether your team is Chelsea or Chester, because it is your game (you used to play after all) you see the deficiencies, you see the potential, you know when a player isn’t trying or he is being played out of place. You know how to stop the oppositions star. You know who you need to strengthen the defence. Why? Because it’s your game! You read the papers the day after the game to see how each player has been rated, you probably disagree with a lot of the ratings. You check the league position “if we win our game in hand and the 2 teams above only draw at the weekend we will be 4th!”
Who’d a thought it, some women like football too! Well yes, at school a lot of the girls used to join in with our games of football, grounds are a lot more female friendly now (the bogs at Valley Parade used to be disgusting, thank god I could go standing up!) but I still laugh at comments like “well what does she know? She’s a woman! After Radio 5 have dared send a female to report on a game and not been complimentary about the team they support.
So in a nutshell, it seems to me to be something that starts at a young age, very young. You play football, you see professionals (at first on the telly) and watch and learn. You go to the ground (your team) and form a bond, not with the players as they are transient but with the club, you only want what’s best for your club and so what if they had a bad season last season, there is always the next season or maybe the next game or the next half or the next corner and everything will be okay again. Hope strings eternal for most football supporters.
I get all that! I really do. I said in an earlier post that football is not my game of choice, it’s not that I don’t like football, I can’t think of any competitive sport I don’t like, what I really detest is the cynical manipulation of the emotions true football supporters have! The cash cow approach that is endemic in the top flight. “If you are a true supporter you have to have a replica shirt, that’s £50 please!” Look, new season, new shirt and this year it’s £55 please! An away shirt? Yes of course we have they, another £55 please.
Get every top game on Sky, except for those on BT. So to paraphrase transporters,” I choose something else”, I choose to help at the local cricket club with a bit of coaching and will turn out for them when they are a man short, I watch and shout at amateur club rugby, I watch the football teams on the local pitches when I walk the dog on a Sunday morning.
I don’t believe money in sport is a bad thing, I don’t think big money in sport is a bad thing but I don’t think the top clubs with the money either inherited through rich owners or old money from good management of finances have any inkling that they might have a responsibility for the good of the game in general. Players used to come through from smaller (feeder) clubs or were signed as youths. I know this still happens but not nearly to the same degree. Why? Because this takes time, like nurturing a seedling, looking after it and then after a few years, you MIGHT get apples. So much easier to by apples someone else has already grown, most likely abroad!
Clubs I can think of who have lost out due to the modern era, Tranmere, (Merseyside’s poor relation) used to play on a Friday night. Ferries were packed from Liverpool with people who would support Liverpool or Everton on a Saturday but would enjoy watching a game on a Friday. Now Tranmere are told when they can play and who can afford 2 or 3 games in a week? Crewe had links with the big boys in Manchester, Danny O’grady was trusted to look after young “stars” of the future. Today’s young stars of the future are playing in France or Bosnia or Peru.
Think I have said enough, just
