Football attracts fans from all over the world whatever creed, race, gender, sex or age. The sport is competed across almost every country in the world and has fans attend live events, watch on the tv and support their teams loyally. When it comes to football, many claim that the fans are everything. Indeed, this has been made even more clear in the recent calendar year with the lack of fans in stadiums throughout the footballing world and it was stricken by coronavirus regulations. It’s been clear to see how much this game needs the fans and how much the fans need this game. They are synonymous, but just what is it that makes football so special to its fans?
Betting
As with most mainstream sports, there is a considerable draw to the game for many who are after a punt at the bookies. Football facilitates sports betting like no other sport in the world, with punters offered a multitude of bets, guides and our match predictions to help you make the best bets . Its wide and deep range which covers most leagues in the world and offers extensive markets on many teams allows the punter to really bet on anything when it comes to football.
Touches so many
The accessibility of football means it sparks interest in people around the world. Its reach touches every corner of the globe and within every community. People from all walks of life are intrigued, empowered and find passion within the beautiful game. With almost 4 billion people around the world footie fans there are a wealth of teams from boys clubs to professional teams. And with all these teams you are going to need some fans to back them to victory!
Passion
Many of these fans are just so passionate and really involved in this sport because of the culture and tradition which surrounds it from a young age for many of these fans. There’s people across the world that only support the team that they do because of where they were born, who their parents supported or what religion they are. These allegiances are almost inherent and mean that people are involved in supporting teams from before they could even comprehend what team they would actually like to support. This engrained nature of the sport on many people allows such a fiery passion to support their given teams. This passion is an all in support. Following their team fervently whether it be on TV, at their stadium or even to away days across the world. Shankly once famously said “Some people think football is a matter of life and death… I can assure them it is much more serious than that”. For football fans around the world this rings true.
Rivalries and Allegiances
With this almost inner built passion that people adopt from a young age there is an automatic allegiance which, normally, one side out of the two. There are some exceptions to this but within every major city in the world there tends to be at least 2 teams who will have a close rivalry. This rivalry can be purely based on football and geography or it can have other implications. These rivalries spur on fans to support their own team even further and it makes for the atmosphere at these rival games electric. When it comes to bitter rivalries it can get a little too heated and discriminatory with the Milan Derby and the Glasgow derby drawing out some of the worst bigotry in the footballing world. But it is football which acts as a vector to create this real rift in society showing just what impact that the teams have on these people’s lives.
Variability
The variability and unpredictability of football is behind the magic of the sport. Different teams are consistently playing each other in cups and international events and even within the league games which see the same teams playing each other, the games are always different with different events shaping them. The tactics and matchday experience are never the same. Because of this it never gets boring or samey and leads to many fans being able to consistently watch their team without ever finding it boring – that is unless you are a Newcastle fan this season…
Suspense and surprise
The intensity of football and the nature of the sport allows for constant upsets and surprises. Whilst there is a tendency for the big teams to go on and win most of the leagues and European cups, every week each league will throw an upset or spanner in the works which consistently builds the excitement for the fans. It’s almost like it’s scripted like Coronation Street or Emmerdale, except it’s real, it’s live and it’s exhilarating. This sports exciting nature gives it a raw touch which many other sports lack. It acts as yet another major attraction for fans to the beautiful game.