There are two completely different ways of enjoying football. One dominates completely. The second is just embarrassing, at least according to those who hold the first of them. The most important elements in the first are to dedicate one’s life to football, to follow one club for life no matter what happens and to participate in the big conversation about football – preferably with countless details that only insiders have a clue about. Type 1 is a life choice, a religiosity. At least most people who are there like to think of it that way. As I write this, I have made a choice: I am coming out of the closet as one of the others – one of those who don’t count. A type 2. Horror and horror! We are otherwise in the habit of keeping our mouths shut about it, us “twos”. There is one word in the vocabulary of Type 1 fans that more than anything sets up the boundary between them and us. To be understood correctly, it should preferably be said on the exhale, with a frown. It will be extra good if the person who says it has just taken a real bite of a lemon: Medgangssupporter! Taste the word. Can you be any more pitiful? You’re the one who can’t be bothered to watch a relegation battle. At least not if it’s raining. You don’t have any football scarves hanging on the wall of honor in the living room. If someone asks you in July, you don’t know when this year’s cup final is. There is little hope for the accession supporter. TYPICAL TYPE 1: Football journalists and commentators are exclusively type 1, writes the chronicler. (From news’s EC studio) Photo: news There is something beautiful about type 1 people. Proper dedication is just that; beautiful. If one of them bothers to talk to me, me who’s not on the same planet, I’m in. Of course I am. Dedicated people are always interesting to talk to, whether they are talking about piano tuning, Viking graves, knitting – or football. I like to talk about football. I have realized that it can be a great conversation starter. If I’m sitting in a pub in England, a beach cafe in Croatia or a bar in Helsinki and feel like chatting, I know that football can be the topic that makes it possible to get to know people. Mostly with men, but sometimes also with women. Many people are interested in football, in different ways. It is one of the most widespread topics of conversation in the world. But the boundary between type 1 and type 2 is a problem. It doesn’t have to be. Type 1 and type 2 have enough in common that they can have a lot of interesting things to talk about. If they want. But maybe they never meet each other. There is no other sport that is as exclusionary as football – in terms of approved and non-approved ways of being interested. At the same time, there is another problem, a problem with which it is possible to do something. Football journalists and commentators are exclusively type 1. They don’t just have this position as a hobby, they have it as a profession. This means that they are constantly talking first and foremost to the 24/7 fans. They use a rather closed language that fits within the type 1 sect. That’s what it easily becomes, a cult. It shuts many people out. Those of us who have zero clue about “what happened in the thirty-fourth minute of the World Cup match between England and Argentina in 1966” (made up example, of course, I have no idea if anything special happened, and I don’t care – at least not until someone tells a good and entertaining story about it). I myself am a supporter of admission. I follow the Norwegian national team when it’s going well, and don’t bother when it’s going badly (phew, it was good to be told that). I feel the same way in all sports, team or individual, male or female. I like it when the Norwegians win, or at least fight and have a certain chance. And I suddenly have other things to do when they just lose. Maybe I’m a situational supporter? I choose from match to match. Based on what mood I’m in. Based on what else I have to do. SOUTRECUP RONALDO: When I saw that Slovenia almost managed to defeat the team of Soutrecup star Ronaldo, I changed sides, writes the chronicler. Photo: AP And then I have another supporter variant placed just below the football heart. I am an underdog supporter. I like when teams that aren’t expected to do well suddenly do anyway. Like Georgia in this EC. Or when teams that “deserve” it win matches. Ukraine. Or like Slovenia in the round of 16 against Portugal. I mean; I like Portugal a lot, but when I saw that Slovenia almost managed to defeat the team of whiner cup star Ronaldo, I switched sides. I became a Slovenia supporter on the spot! At least for the next hour and a half. My wish in the middle of the EC frenzy is that the football journalists and match commentators look further than their own. For example, to us type 2. We also watch matches, although not all the time. Speak to us in such a way that we do not constantly feel as if we have mistakenly entered a church of a religion we do not belong to. Cut the internal tribal language. Don’t count on everyone reading/watching to know every rule or remember anything in particular from what happened before. Those who are type 1 are lucky. They can continue with their hobby, and for some (as mentioned): their profession, with the whole world watching. They can do something no other professionals are allowed to do; spread their professional (and personal) views to the whole world. And it’s sometimes nice to watch, listen to. When in their ecstatic zeal over good achievements they convey deep-felt joy. But could the rest of us get a little more of what we need? Published 13.07.2024, at 11.14
ttn-69
Two ways to like football – Expression
