Football fans: When it comes down to it what matters to you? Is it seeing your team score a last minute winner? Is it your club beating a rival to silverware? Is it seeing football’s greats perform moments of magic? Samsung are currently pushing the ‘Because it matters’ campaign, that asks fans the question – ‘In footballing terms what matters to you’? There’s a bounty of great prizes and goodies for the best answers so why not head over here and have your say?
So, what matters to me? I think it’d have to be the sense of community that you feel amongst football fans. I realise that sounds incredibly cheesy. But there’s a real sense of communion that comes with supporting a team through thick and thin.
Either you’re in, or you’re out. Either you get it or you don’t. Chances are, if you’ve ever uttered the phrase: ‘it’s only a game’, you just don’t get it. Football inspires kinship amongst those who are genuinely passionate.
It gives people who would otherwise have precisely nothing in common a chance to bond, communicate and connect. It brings people together in a way few other activities can! I think it’s fair to say that golf fails to inspire the same level of passion.
Of course, football has it’s ugly side in this regard. Passion can boil over into something more possessive, something darker. Nobody likes to see football hooligans terrorising the public and tearing apart cities. Some of the chanting that goes on in the terraces is really out of line (labelling people paedophiles or murderers is just too much). Fans seem content to cross the boundaries of the appropriate. Banter often breaks down into something more malicious.
And yet, with the right group of people, you can have a laugh about the rivalry that exists between your different teams. You can offer fair and considered critiques of certain players without them immediately jumping to their defence. There are fans out there that aren’t completely blindsided by their team. Connecting and reaching out to these people is an extremely rewarding process.
That’s why watching football down your local is considerably better than watching it on your lonesome in-front of your living room TV. So yes, it’s a cliché, but football really does bring people together. And that’s why it matters to me: it’s a force for good in the world.
So that’s my piece done. Why don’t you have your say?