Hurrah! This Saturday marks the start of the Premiership football season, an event which I have regarded with the utmost indifference forever. But not this year! Following a conversation with a friend who challenged my assertion that being a football fan is boring and pointless, pointing out that this it’s not really fair to be so disdainful of something that I’ve never tried, this season I have decided to pick a team and follow it, to see what it is actually like to be a football fan, in order to ground future disdain in genuine experience.
I’ve long been fascinated by fandom because I don’t really understand it. I mean, I really like reading and dogs and baking cakes and riding bicycles, but I’ve never been moved by any of these things into the kind of frenzied emotion often demonstrated by otherwise very reasonable people, especially men, when it comes to the performance of a number of highly-paid young men running about on a field (yes, I realise that I have a rather long way to go with a bad attitude like that). I don’t understand the singing, I don’t understand the tattoos, I don’t understand the occasional violence, I don’t understand the degree to which supporting teams influences individual identity. I’m interested in what it says about expressions and perceptions of masculinity. Last year when I was on a business trip to Mauritius, the man driving me around - a man who had never left Mauritius - told me that it was his dream to one day travel to Liverpool (Liverpool!) in order to see his beloved football team play. I was confused. But also intrigued.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not a total hater; my attitude is one of bemusement, rather than loathing. I like football, inasmuch as I loved being the goalkeeper on my university (women’s biology department B-team) football squad. But I’ve never even tried to watch it, not really, with the exception of one incident with my ex-boyfriend. ‘My,’ I remarked. ‘So many things have happened in such a short time in this game.’ ‘Jean,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘It’s the highlight reel.’
How better to learn about it than to try it myself? Here is the project I have set myself. I am going to pick a team. I am going to force myself to read two articles in the newspaper about that team every day (I hear that good football writing is really good). I will find out my team’s fixtures and track the scores. I will possibly listen to some games on the radio and I will watch them on television and if I am really dedicated I might try and go and see a live match. I’m giving myself until Christmas, when I’ll decide whether I should carry on for the rest of the season or whether I’m still indifferent. (And obviously, I’ll write about it.)
So! First up is the question of which team I should pick, a task with which I would be grateful for your input, dear blog reader. My only criterion is that they should not be very good, as it is apparent that supporting a mediocre team evokes a greater roller coaster of emotion than a successful one. Suggestions?
