It’s not easy being a fan of the England men’s football team.
I’m not talking about the cycle of optimism before a major tournament (which, no matter how pessimistic I am a few months before it I get suckered into as the tournament gets closer) and then the inevitable disappointment at some point during the tournament itself which happens every couple of years. That is a topic for another time entirely and one which I can live with.
I am referring to the company that you keep as a fan.
People who don’t like football may (rightly) be put off by the sport because of the way some of the fans act. The majority of us who like football feel the same way, however the ones who act badly are generally the ones who are most visible.
Football is the sport that I enjoy the most. It is the one I have played the most and from the age of about 5, my dad who was a sports reporter would take me along to watch local football across the county on pretty much a weekly basis.
The shared experience of watching a local team together is one that I can share in my dad, brother, cousins and friends. We are all supporting the same team and wanting the same thing.
This is not something that happens when we are supporting our Premier League teams, and this is one of the greats things also about supporting the English national team. We all are watching the game and wanting the same outcome. It is a great shared experience.
There is often a lot of animosity between supporters of rival clubs which I find quite offputting about football and may be one of the reasons I have not watched the sport as much in recent years. There is just no need for the bitterness and aggression which is all too often passed off as “banter.”
Then there are those who take things even further – those who boo the players when taking a knee as a stand for equality, those who point lasers at opposing goalkeepers when a penalty is being taken, those who mock a crying child whose team is losing, those who get into violent fights and destroy property, and those who abuse their partners when their team loses (or even when their team wins).
These people give the game a really bad image and can often make it difficult to reconcile your support for the national team with the fact that these people are also claiming to support the same team as you.
This is why it can be difficult being a fan of the England football team which is a shame when the team themselves are doing such positive things both on and off the pitch.