There is a double magic to being a Football Fan. Firstly, a fan has a love for the game. How many of you played football during break-time whilst the girls skipped; or played heads and volleys down the park or alley? How many of you would play a game right now if you had the chance and the company to do so? I would.
This passion is transferred seamlessly into the watching of the game. We who have kicked a ball know how fantastic are the skills and talent of the professionals on display in the upper echelons of Europe's leagues. Good play entertains whilst bad play frustrates. You don't need to be Alex Ferguson to tell the difference between the dire and the divine.
Yet as satisfying as appreciating the game may be, the real drug of football lies in supporting a team. We do so through thick and thin, until the very end of our lives. Supporting a team represents a massive emotional investment. Every weekend we place our hopes in eleven men over whom we have no influence whatsoever. If your team wins you are elated, if they lose, then you are miserable. Perhaps you follow a team that tends to win, but when they lose it's all the worse. Or you could support a team that tends to lose, so when they win it's all the more ecstatic. It's a weekly and unconditional gamble. Hardened football veterans take this in their stride, but let me make this point so that it can spread to those who do not follow football: You who do not support a team - you may avoid the catastrophic lows, but you'll never have the chance of the dizzying highs that make the tens of thousands jump to their feet and scream pure joy.
When my team wins the Champions League, you'll never get me down.
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