Today's the day of my first football match. In England anyway. A champion's league match, CHELSEA v CFR says the ticket. Kick off at 19:25. Stamford Bridge Stadium, WEST STAND LOWER, GATE: 2 ROW:21 SEAT 0034 25 pounds. PERSISTENT STANDING IS NOT ALLOWED.
Oh, and no smoking.
I'll be out by 4, walk around central London, window shopping, a cuppa coffee, scribbling ideas, before I join the not very big crowd. I hope.
The subject supporting football teams has always fascinated me. I can understand well enough to support you local team, pride and all that. But how does an outsider, who has no affiliation with clubs or local teams chooses who to support?
Personally, I've supported Chelsea since my college days. Before that I wasn't into football much.
A close friend of mine was an ardent fan of Chelsea. This is before they suddenly had millions of pounds in their pockets courtesy of Abromavich. Before Mourinho and before their first title win in 4 decades. I never asked him how he came to support the blues but I suspected it's because of one Frank Lampard.
He would go on for ages how Lampard never missed a match, was never switched out and how amazing he was. Eventually I got to be pretty good friends with this chap and slowly it grew on me. Then one day I decided, just like that, out of the blue, I'm for Chelsea. And that's what I've been saying for 3 or 4 years now.
And that's my bland, boring uninteresting anecdote to how I became a Chelsea guy.
I've not done research, but I'm willing to bet that many Manchester United fans, Arsenal fans and Liverpool fans outside the UK will have a similar story. A friend, a family member, or a figure in authority will have played a very important part in which team a football fan comes to support. Influence of peers, and individuals around oneself.
AH football. So wonderful and yet so divisive. Bringing people together and pushing then further apart at the same time.
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