“Sergio Aguero! He’s won the title for Manchester City with the last kick of the season! What a turnaround by City!”, my heart sunk. Being a Manchester United fan, I couldn’t take it. I was watching the match sitting in my living room. I had planned to watch it at the Manchester United Café, but for some reasons I couldn’t make it there. My brother was in the USA watching the match and I called him instantly, “What just happened?”. And all I heard was silence for five seconds and then came the words, “We’ve lost it!”.
It was humiliating. Switching between the channels, all I could see was utmost joy on one side and signs of despair on the other. Unfortunately, we did not make it this season. But after a fair reflection on the season after a few days, I thought that it was probably good that City won the title, because we couldn’t beat them in both the matches in the season, and we lost convincingly. Back in England, I am sure all the United fans would have had to face the taunts of their city rivals.
Only a football fanatic can know what it is being involved with his team. You share the victories with your team and stand by your team when the road is shaky. When the manager growls at the touchline and swears at his players, you just know that it’s a lot more than just a game. It’s about respect, attitude, loyalty, talent, arrogance, humility and much more.
The fans are the people that make a football match special. They are there to sing songs of their teams, players, beat drums and sometimes beat the rival fans to death. Fans have a special place in every football club and in every nation. For the players, sometimes it’s just about playing for the fans and making them happy. Some sensitive fans take many things to heart and strongly condemn some players.
Well, regarding booing a player by the fans, I am against it. It actually depends on what the player did to piss the fans off. It’s justified most of the times, but still I do feel that when the player plays for a club or country, he is looking out for support from the fans. It destroys his confidence when his own team’s fans boo him in a match. Secondly, it creates unrest in the club and attracts unnecessary attention towards the club.
Fans are literally the heart of any club. The passion they bring to the game motivates the players to perform better. I know about Anfield and we’ve seen quite a few comebacks by Liverpool at home when the crowd gets behind them. It’s almost impossible to hear other players’ calls and it makes it difficult for the away team (not recently though). The fans act like the 12th man.
The fans reserve a special place in the game. It’s maybe not what they do when they are present, it’s about what we’ll miss if they are absent. The joy of winning the title, the agony of getting relegated, tears dropping out of joy and sadness. All these things make football, what it is today. It is life.
