Wallet damage and Emotional torture, why does it seem so worth it?

One of the craving questions amongst many a non-football fan is just why football is taken so seriously amongst many, why does 22 men kicking a piece of leather across a muddy piece of turf mean so much? Why do we spend money we can't afford to follow it? And let it determine our mood for days on end? Well i'm going to attempt to answer it.

Everyone in life has a passion, agreed? This passion of course isn't just sport, it can be a numerous amount of things from studying in order to achieve good grades to pursue a career, or something as simple as train spotting. This passion to you is everything though, it's what makes the bad times worth persevering with.

Well for me that passion is football, when I was first hooked on the football drug aged 6, it began to take more and more out of me as the years went by, by the age of 8, i was compiling a list of every game in the UK every weekend, and writing out score predictions for those games. I would spend hours drawing up the games from the English Premier League to the Scottish Second Division, and I would carefully predict the outcome of each tie, and try and use any possible logic in the process, which with the likes of Airdrie Utd and Elgin City wasn't always easy! But for some reason I got huge satisfaction out of calling the correct outcome over 90 minutes between a tie of the magnitude of Stockport County and Rotherham Utd. I would mark the games at FT, and then proceed to tell everyone how successful I was this week, they would sympathetically nod, and probably question my sanity at the appropriate time.

But that's just how it was for me, It became an obsession, and to this day, 11 years on, the interest doesn't seem to have shifted, and doesn't look like shifting. It's amazing how you remember the most bizarre memories in selecting the team you would follow, the team that would leave you elated one week, and damn right dispondant the next. I recall my moment quite clearly, I remember sitting on my bed age 6, and reading through a matchday programme of a game that my dad had attended previously, on the back, typically, was a list of the squad for that particular game, and by using nothing but process of elimination, I selected who my favourite player would be, the fortunate character to be selected was defender Steven Tweed. Tweed was then the first man to be placed on the back of my first Stoke City shirt, and despite him being frankly absymal! I got a great sense of pride from it.

My first game fell at the hands of Welsh opponents Wrexham, now at the age of 6, even the most incapable players like Kyle Lightbourne are your heroes, you can do nothing but admire their ability to miss from 6 yards, and bask in their joy when they finally do hit the back of the net. The highlight of the day for me was entering the recently constructed Britannia Stadium, the moment I entered the stadium, It was like stepping into a picture, a picture you had painted for so long, and craved to be part of, now at the age of 6 that probably sounds a ridiculous thing to say, but I kid you not, I was flabbergasted. Unfortunately, I chose to be born in an era where my first game happened to coincide with witnessing one of the worst Stoke City teams for several years, and the 3-1 home defeat confirmed that. I remember us trailing 3-0 at the time, but when Icelandic veteran Larus Sigurdsson bulleted home a header to reduce the deficit to a slightly less gut-wrenching 3-1, I have never felt so excited in my entire life, my celebrations probably represented those of the England fans in the era of 1966, but I guess everyones first goal brings the same emotion.

But from then on, despite being dished up a performance that would leave even the most obsessive Stoke supporter depressed, I continued my addiction, not only with Stoke City, but with football as a whole. I eventually reached an age where I acquired internet access ( we aren't all rich folk you know! ) and that's when my passion for Stoke City increased another decibel, I now had the opportunity to listen to the games online that I couldn't attend, the worldwide web had effectively robbed any childhood from me from that moment, but I couldn't be happier. It was also at this point that I registered to the popular Oatcake online Forum, a popular place for Stokies of the more miserable nature to remind us all how bad things really were, in a way that only a Stoke City supporter could. I learnt alot through reading of the experiences these people have had through following Stoke, and I learnt more about players, managers, tactics, and upcoming fixtures, it was brilliant.

As the years progressed, we came upon the 2007/2008 season, at this point I was aged 15, approaching 16, and by this point, I was writing tactics in the back of my books at School, purchasing every bit of merchandise on offer, and sacrificing an average teenage night out ( under-age cider comsumption in the local park ) to sit at home and keep upto date with Stoke's away-days at the likes of Scunthorpe United. It was a season that would later prove to be the pinnacle moment of my years of supporting Stoke, it was the year that Stoke City returned to the top flight, the Premiership, the prawn sandwiches of the english leagues. The moment we secured promotion was a feeling that will never leave me, many emotions rushed through me in the space of seconds, elation, dis-belief, relief, excitement, it's impossible to put into context really, just imagination chasing a dream for years, and then finding it, it was quite similar, if not indentical.

So anyway, the premiership, by coincidence, gave me the opportunity to travel to games more frequently through the ability to sort out regular transport with someone via the oatcake messageboard, not only was I living the premiership dream, I was living the dream of being sat amongst the passionate supporters week in week out. I was spending money I couldn't afford, but it seemed so worth it.

And I guess this is where I reach the point of just why it is worth it, not just for me, but for football fans in general. Well, one of the first things you will find when you become actively involved in football, is the sense that you are part of something, you aren't scoring the goal on the pitch, but you are vocally attempting to carry your troops over the line with yells of encouragement and support. People may think this has no baring on what a team and an individual player can produce on the pitch, but believe me, it does. A yell of support can make a player find that extra 10% he didn't think he had, and maybe, just maybe give him the motivation to beat that defender, strike that ball, and win his team the match.

You will also find a football fan, when travelling to a game, enjoys every aspect of the day, not just the 90 minutes, it can be from making their way to game, via foot, train, car or any form of transport, you enjoy mixing with your own fans, sharing opinions, meeting you people, and participating in banter with the opposition, it all falls in line with a great day out. I've visited many places in England that I would never have visited without the opportunities I've had to follow Stoke City. Away days in particular bring a different sort of feeling, you are part of a group of 3000 or so, amongst a stadium of 20/30,000, or more, you feel like you are invading on their terrority, and doing your upmost best to make it your own for the afternoon.

In regards to finances, well you pay for tickets, travel, etc. each week for a reason, not only do you enjoy it, but you feel it's your responsibility, a common phrase amongst fans when asked why they bother is " well someone has too " and that couldn't be more true, the team give you an emotional rollercoaster, so you repay them with your loyalty.

To sum things up, you when football gets you, you find it is held very close to your heart, and even when you aren't at games, or following games via the radio or TV, you are checking for information for your team on a daily basis, whether that be transfer rumours or injury to a player. I find myself on the internet researching the goings on at Stoke City, and Football as a whole, on a daily basis, possibly hourly! I just do it without thinking, it's become routine.

Every football fan has their own story, how it begun, how it progressed, how you experienced the good and the bad, every football fan has an opinion, on a player, on a result, on a manager, and you can argue them with fellow fans for hours and never reach a conclusion, its great. If we lose tomorrow against Wigan, I'll be disappointed for days on end, but I'll be back next week just like any other fan, because It's in your blood.