It’s not easy being a football fan. Some could think it is, but it’s not. Being a supporter is exhausting, stressful, nerve racking and tearful. But would I change a moment of it? No.
Let’s say it’s a Sunday morning and your club is about to play in the evening or midnight (La Liga). You wake up and the first thing you do is check all the news on the team: you check your players’ injury status; you check the comments made by the players; the coaches, or anyone else who you can relate to the team; and then you, of course, log into Twitter or Facebook or whatever it is, and share your opinion on it, discuss the upcoming match with your friends, get insulted by a few rivals in the process; write about the match on your blog if you have one, and by then, it’s only noon.
You suddenly realize there is something you were supposed to do today, but you might as well do it tomorrow; and if you’re trying to study on a match day, you’ll just end up drawing tactical maps everywhere. I am sure I am not the only one with this problem.
football fan
Then there is this endless wait of the official lineup. You see people discussing who should play, who is in a terrible form, who could benefit the team the most, who desperately needs a rest, who is ready to return from an injury, who looked shaky in the previous match, and the list goes on. Usually you actually miss the official announcement of the lineup cause you’re too busy guessing it with a fellow supporter. Then comes the lineup.
So now you know the lineup but things are not over yet. Somebody complains because their favorite player isn’t in the lineup, somebody is excited because an individual player gets to start and someone is probably busy blaming the coach for a brainless lineup. You post your own opinion, which no one notices because they’re too busy sharing their own.
And then finally, it’s match-time. You shake, your palms are sweaty and the funniest part is that the match hasn’t even kicked off yet! Sometimes (rarely) you’re chill and confident thinking it would be a good match, but most of the times you keep coming up with horrible scenarios on how the opponent will exploit the flaws in your lineup. Let me remind you again that the match hasn’t even kicked off yet.
Then the match finally begins. If your team doesn’t score early, you won’t have any fingernails left by halftime and you’ve probably pissed off a lot of people who just wanted to know “Would you like something to drink?” Not that people would consider you nice, but then again, they need to understand that speaking to you during the match is forbidden.
During the match you come up with different strategies and tactics that you believe could work right now. You literally smash your head against the wall thinking that why isn’t the coach listening to you. Some of us, including myself, are under the impression that, had they been in-charge, they would’ve won the game already. But as the match comes to a close, you end up realizing that the coach actually knows better – at least better than you.
Okay so then your team wins the match. You’re excited, happy, cheerful, and you share your great mood online, and probably show-off about it. You unintentionally upset a few rivals – not that you mind though. Then you go to bed smiling and fall asleep dreaming of the win.
However, when your club loses or draws, it’s a different story.
When your team loses, there will always be people who blame the coach, the players, the conditions and then there are those who believe that the referee had everything to do with their loss. Like seriously? Sometimes you find yourself doing exactly the same thing as well, but that’s usually just a few moments after the match when emotions are running high. Then you cool down a bit, and probably cry and then you go to sleep wearing that jersey ( I know I am not the only one, right?) and that match alone pretty much sets the mood for the next week.
This starts again, the endless circle of life; you go through these moments every week without even realizing them.
Written by Moeed Yousaf.
Moeed is a big FC Barcelona fan, and you can follow him on Twitter at @Mo_Eddy94 .
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