FOOTBALL SATISFIES OUR PRIMAL URGE FOR SAFETY
lately I've been pondering my own stupidity and landed in what sounds like the beginning of a masters thesis
Many a time I’ve asked myself:
Why am I still a football fan?
I look down at the Spurs tattoo on my arm that I got when I was 18 years old, passion was coursing through my veins and we were massive underdogs over performing with quite a decent team. All the excitement aside however, we had not actually won anything in quite some time, nor were we on course to (which is the case for most football teams, but still). I look at the current squad, the current season, and shudder. At this pace we’re not going to win anything either, and the “why” materialises as a very good question indeed.
Simple: it’s safe
Safe?! What the fuck is safe about football fandom you might think, except for the fact that you will develop some anger-management issues. Have you seen most football fans? They’re miserable! They fight each other, target individuals and groups to blame, or just sit at home crying into their pillow (again, me at 18). It’s like voluntarily subscribing to getting your heart broken on a regular basis.
Truth is that, through it all, football has prevailed as the one regular thing to count on. Like a grass stain on your favourite pair of jeans, it has persisted. The back drop of my life might shift, the scenery is constantly changing, flashing by, as is the nature of our lives. But through changes of location, work title, relationship status, feelings and people,
the football is there, trodding on alongside me like a stubborn stray cat. I KNOW that during the season, I can put on a football game at most times during the weekend. If it’s not my team playing it might be another team that I know of, or just a really exciting game (even as keeping up with the football schedule can be quite overwhelming at times.) In the northern hemisphere summers, when there’s the off-season for most European leagues, there's always an international tournament going on: Euros, Copa America, World Cup, Olympics.
There’s safety to the idiocy of holding onto something, even as it’s causing you pain, and safety is a very primal desire. Continuity. There is something in the ritual of checking the lineup beforehand, of pouring into the pub and pleading with a bartender to put on the right channel, or checking the score on your phone. Even knowing that you’re able to rely on the fact that your team is going to do something stupid is in itself a source of safety.
And you suffer. Of course you do. If you don’t risk anything, you’ll never win. Now, depending on the team you support you will suffer more or less, but at one point or the other you will curse the day you agreed to follow a team (and every day following that when you continue to make the same choice.) It’s a feeling we all know too well, and that too speaks to a sense of security. Yet another reminder that we all share those very human feelings.
The continuity (and idiocy) of bearing a piece of our hearts outside of our body.
P.S.
That’s why football clubs being run like businesses is so fickle, because the ones who REALLY care, the fans, are never considered. Decisions will always be made by external interests driven by profit margins (said in mediocre male board member: “because it’s a business”). Shamelessly exploiting fans’s emotional ties and history with the club, playing on everyone’s heartstrings when it suits them. This is disgusting. How do we survive as football fans with values that don’t align with a neo capitalist society? This is another newsletter. D.S.
P.S.2
At the same time, we would not get to see magical stories like Wrexham, who yesterday won the National League and are promoted to EFL League Two, if it wasn’t for the huge injection of money made by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Their documentary, available on Disney, is a cute moneymaker that follows the behind the scenes of acquiring and running a football club/business. That also means that it brings a lot to the community in the form of work, tourists, and love and hope for their football team. After some difficult years, I think many dreams came true yesterday. The owners also put a more human face on it, as they’ve been present at a lot of games recently and were seen crying in the stands yesterday. Does that matter? D.S.2