For young football fans there is never a dull weekend. Every Saturday and Sunday the rollercoaster of emotions associated with competitive football is set in motion. And when May rolls around the ultimate elation and heartache associated with football truly comes to a head. And then, after all of that, it stops.
The ultra competitive beautiful game simply ceases operations for three long and arduous months. No Match of the Day, no Super Sunday, no online videos of football fans shouting their wildly unpopular opinions down a microphone. All the things young football fans love, and in some cases live for, go away.
Missing the action
As a young football fan myself I have always found the summer months to be particularly challenging. Watching football matches, either in the flesh or on television, is a massive part of my life. And it’s not just for myself individually. A large part of my social circle also finds a great level of enjoyment in the whirlwind experience football brings. In fact, one of the reasons I’ve been able to make some truly great university friends is because of our shared love of the game. So, when summer rolls around and the season comes to a close, we really are at a loss.
This upcoming summer is going to be particularly tricky for young football fans. Normally we would have a summer tournament to look forward to where our chosen national team, England for me, can raise our expectations and ultimately let us down by the tournament’s conclusion.
With the ludicrous decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup, this has been taken away from us, as the high temperatures mean this year’s tournament must take place in the winter. In spite of this, football fans in England can at least look forward to the Women’s European Championships taking place in England this summer, which will give a much needed boost to the exposure of women’s football.
What we live for
Even with international football available to us, the majority of young fans associate with competitive club football. The regular week in and week out experience of excitement, ecstasy and devastation is what we live for. So I wondered how other fans would be faring as that fateful time of year rolls around once again.
Jack was one of the fans I talked to, and he explained to me that he would always be keen to migrate to other sports to maintain that feeling of excitement and competition.
‘I would always watch sports like F1 which runs over the summer,’ he said.
‘While football is always my favourite, it is good to have something competitive to follow’.
So, with other sports available to us young football fanatics, I suppose not all hope is lost.
Of course in the grand scheme of things the summer break from football really isn’t a big deal. Young people face far greater challenges in this day and age than simply not being able to watch their team week in, week out.
However, the nature of football is inherently addictive. The three months spent without that hit of adrenalin can leave young fans longing for that first click of the turnstile at a match, that first big roar from the crowd or that first appalling pint upon arrival in the stadium. But my goodness, when football does eventually return, it will have been well worth the wait!