Football, or as many also know it “The Beautiful Game”, is the most famous sport in the world, with an estimated amount of 3.5 billion fans, with the next being cricket fans at an estimated 2.5 billion, showing a huge difference of nearly a full third of extra fans. Football achieved world records of viewership as well nearly every world cup (which occurs every 4 years), with each world cup final of the previous 3 averaging more than 517 million people during the full game, and having more than 1 billion different people tuning during the game. With this in mind, the super bowl pales in comparison considering the most viewership it had was 114.4 million in 2015.
Passion
Football fans are perhaps the most passionate fans in the sports industry. The banners the fans hold up show that football is more than just a game, with all banners holding a deeper meaning than implied. For example, F.C. Barcelona’s famous motto of “Més que un club”, which means, literally, “more than a club”, is the best example for the passion fans show clubs, and how clubs treat their fans in return. In this case, it means that this is not just a club, but a family instead, including fans, which teams would not be motivated to play without. Another famous motto is Liverpool F.C.’s “You’ll never walk alone”, which fans chant before, during, and after matches are played, regardless of the result. It is especially used when Liverpool lose a heroic defeat, in which fans show their appreciation to the team’s hard work by chanting that they will be with them, regardless of the results.
More Than a Sport
It is said many times, that sports should be separated from politics, and any surrounding issues. However, football is still involved with these issues, inspiring people, and being a positive influence. As a team with as many fans as nearly a 100 million, Liverpool’s fans use this as influence, or respect in memory of an occasion. In the picture below, we can see Liverpool fans holding a banner of “YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE” with the Ukraine flag colors, in support with the unfortunate events going on in Ukraine right now. Furthermore, all Premier League clubs wore T-shirts with “Black Lives Matter” instead of players’ names written on the back of the shirts, for the entirety of 9 match days, due to the events which occured in the U.S with George Floyd. They also took a minute while taking a knee as a symbol of pride and identity, inspiring change. Liverpool fans also held banners on the top of their stadium saying “WE NEVER WALK ALONE HILLSBOROUGH” in memory of the victims of the “Hillsborough Disaster” where football witnessed one if its greatest disasters in 1989. The semi final match featuring Liverpool and Nottingham Forest witnessed 97 deaths, and 766 injuries, due to overcrowding and literal crush in an entrance to the stadium. 20 years later, and these fans are still showing the respect owed to the victims of the unfortunate event. This goes to show that football is not just a sport, but can be much more.
A Comfort Show?
For many people, plenty of TV shows have been their comfort shows, with each person having his own comfort show while growing up and up till now. Personally however, sport entertainment has been my comfort show since I was a kid. Waiting for my favorite teams to play, on matchday enjoying the matches, and supporting the team through ups and downs were the most fun times of the week. Weeks with Champions League nights were especially the best as I enjoyed 4 days of football matches a week instead of just 2. As a kid, I remember napping through the day to be able to stay up late and watch the matches without losing sleep. It is especially most fun the day after the matches, when everyone is talking and analyzing matches together, teasing the losing team and taking it all with a grain of salt.
When I was younger my brother would force me to watch football with him, we used to get so excited and obnoxiously loud while watching the matches which was a great source of entertainment.
Football is a huge part of my household but I never got into it as much as they have, however, I can definitely understand the comforting aspect of the game. Especially since if you grew up with it, you definitely have memories of the screams and cheers of every match. It can definitely bring together family (or bring chaos to a family, especially if they favor different teams). I do enjoy the sense of community with strangers and the entertaining interactions that happen when the other party states their opposite team.
What I love most about football is all the memories associated with it. When I was younger, I recall having HUGE family gatherings that would consist and revolve around watching football games. It was always funny to see my family members who were strongly cheering for totally opposite teams interact with one another while watching a game between Barcelona and Real Madrid!
The World Cup is the only time I really watch football, but I can see how it brings people together and creates a very competitive environment
Several relatives of mine are also expressive of their support of sports entertainment. I’ve never understood the entertaining aspect of sports, especially football, however, it seems much clearer with your thoughtful blog. Lately, I’ve been intrigued by figure staking as an entertaining sport since it opened my eyes to the type of spirit one indulges throughout competition matches.
I also use football as a comfort show. Whenever i am overwhelmed by my studies, i like to unwind by watching football. However, i support Arsenal, which sometimes gives me more stress than the University itself.