It Far Better Just Being A Fan Of Football

[Dave]

I did a rare thing this morning and that was go onto two Torquay United Fans forums sites and read some of the posts made on both of them. I ended up with a big smile on my face and felt so glad I made what for me turns out to be a very good decision to stop supporting Torquay United.

I know that feeling well; you know the one where you believe if they cut you open your blood would be yellow and blue, the feeling that your heart almost belongs to that football club. It’s why one can end up crying like a little baby when said team gets relegated, or loses some big game that could have meant so much to the club and its fans.

Supporting just one club can be a very emotionally roller coaster type of journey and if that clubs happens to be Torquay United, the likelihood is there will be far more downs than ups. Its understandable when the club fails to get the support of the local people living in Torbay, but then I have always taken the view it’s the clubs job to make people want to attend home matches and they have failed to do that.

One thing I have learned recently is there is a huge difference between a fan of a football club and a fan of football. The fan of a football club really has no choice when it comes to that emotional roller coaster ride, if they get on it then they will have to go where ever it goes. This weekend TUFC fans are down once again because the team failed to win, some are angry, some even stating they might not attend another match at Plainmoor this season.

I have found over the years that fans of a football club can so often be very fickle, one week they love their club and the next they think its rubbish, that’s not all the fans by the way as there will always be some who try and look at the bigger picture. Those types of fans maybe are the real fans of a football club who will stand by it and love it no matter what is happening out on the pitch.

But those types of fans seem to becoming more of a rare breed and I believe one of the main problems is fans expectations these days always seem to be far too high. Yes when you go to watch YOUR team play you want them to win and if they don’t then in some cases, someone’s whole weekend ends up feeling ruined. It’s true in life you need to experience the lows to fully enjoy and appreciate the highs, but there can come a time when being up one moment and down the next, becomes something you no longer want to keep experiencing.

The mentality of some fans of a football club seems to demand that anyone else who claims to be a supporter of that club, must always attend home matches and stick by it for the rest of their whole lives. But what if you no longer enjoy what is on offer? What if you feel you are no longer getting what you are looking for and what if you feel the price being asked is not worth paying for what you are getting out of it.

The answer is a very simple one really, you simply stop giving your support for that club and find other things to do on a Saturday afternoon that not only gives you what you are looking for, but also does not take you on that very emotional roller coaster ride. Lets be honest when you work all weekend you look forward to the weekends and hope to get as much enjoyment you can before having to go back to work on the Monday.

Life is all about the choices we make for ourselves and surly we must always try to make the ones that will make us happy and for fill our needs. Mind you we could become a gluten for punishment and allow ourselves into getting brainwashed into believing that our place on a Saturday afternoon can only be up at Plainmoor. Well we did once dare to call ourselves a fan of the club, but where was it ever written that had to be for the rest of our life?

Or we could actually exercise our right of choice and you know what? By doing so you may just end up having a far better time than you dared to imagine or even thought was possible. Did I really love just one football club? Or was I really more in love with the game of football? I now know the answer to that question and why I now call myself a fan of football instead of my old title, a football fan of one club.

What does this really mean for me? Well one thing it means I no longer feel I have to be at Plainmoor when Torquay United are playing at home, no longer feel the pressure of some of the fans of that club to be there. Instead I have found a wonderful new feeling of freedom and that can’t be a bad thing in my book.

It’s a freedom that now allows me to choose just where and when I want to watch a game of football and make the choice of what team I want to go and watch play. Winning or losing is no longer very important, it’s now all about just hoping the game I have chosen to watch is an enjoyable one. Yes if I find myself at the Heath I want Buckland to win, but I won’t get that pain in my gut if they don’t.

I get the added bonus of being able to take match photos and write reports that I hope others enjoy reading, the big difference is clubs like Buckland welcome having match pictures taken and unlike up at Plainmoor, won’t throw me out of the ground for doing so. It makes perfect sense if your other big love in life is photography, to try and combine that with your love of football in the same afternoon.

It goes without saying the first thing I do when I get in my car to drive home from a local match, is to put on the radio and check on how Torquay are doing in their match. You can’t be a fan for as long as I was without still caring and wanting the club to do well. But the thing is when they lose it no longer hurts that much and when I have enjoyed a great afternoon watching a game on a local park and then read how pissed off some of the TUFC fans are after watching another poor display, I know for me I made the right choices.

Money has ruined the game at the highest level for me and while teams like Buckland do pay their players and I understand why that needs to happen, I hope I never see the day when players in the South Devon League get paid. There are claims that some teams in the South Devon league are paying some players, but I hope that is not the case and does not become the norm.

Grass roots football should only be about the game of football itself, lads playing because it’s a game they love playing and not playing just for the highest bidder. Teams winning on merit and not simply because they were able to get all the best players due to offering them money to play for them. Lets keep it all about the game of football and then that way I can call myself a fan of football until the day I die.

[Dave]

I decided due to Torquay United poor recent form, to read some of the members views on the TFF, the forum I created over five years ago. What I read was nothing I did not expect to read and it was also no real surprise who was expressing what views. Its hard to keep the faith when your team can’t buy a win, its not hard to question if its time to stop the pain and give some games a miss for a while.

Torquay United have always struggled more than they have ever enjoyed success, that’s not the fault of the club as such, sadly for so many reasons the club is not that well supported and maybe just might be in the wrong part of the country. Torquay is not a football town and while there are many rich people who live here, there are far more living on the breadline. For those the cost of football has just risen too much and they may well be looking to get better value for their money as far as entertainment is concerned.

For the lovers of football but not necessarily Torquay United, if they are going to be asked to part with £18 to watch a game, then they are going to want to watch a good entertaining game of football played at a decent standard. Are Torquay United fans getting treated to good entertaining football? Not by the sounds of it judging by some of the match reports I have read.

The problem is things are not likely to improve very much, small crowds will always mean smaller playing budgets than many of the other teams in the league and the location of the club also plays a big part. Players do not want to up their family roots to come all the way to play for a team in South Devon when if they are based in the Midlands, can choose to play for so many teams right on their doorsteps.

It is far too early for fans to talk about relegation, but one wonders if Mike Bateson was right when he said that Torquay United were playing in a higher division than they really could afford to be playing in. Torquay United did very well to get back into the football league and I for one would hope they can find a way to ensure league football is played at Plainmoor for many years to come.

I admire the fans who stick by their football clubs through think and thin, its something I did for most of my life as a Torquay United fan. But I have no regrets making the decision to give up watching them and instead watching local football matches. I have given all my reasons why that is the case so no point in going over them all again, it was simply a personal choice and one I’m glad I made.

StuartB who is a Daves World member came up with a good idea to try and help the club, but its one I sadly feel would never get off the ground and even if it did, would not get very much support. If you are struggling to find the money to watch the team play, you are hardly going to be in a position to find £10 each month on top of everything else. Sadly the TUST seems to have died a death and that’s a shame as other clubs have moved forward with the help of a good supporters TUST.

One wonders what the score is going to be against Portsmouth and if the team will slip into the bottom two, if that happens I can imagine just how the fans are going to feel come 5pm tomorrow afternoon. I will learn the news one way or the other on my way back home from watching what ever game I have decided to watch. Yes I would be saddened to learn Torquay United were in the bottom two, but it won’t hurt half as much as the fans who were there hoping and praying for the right result.

I will soon forget as I get closer to home and get excited about viewing the match pictures I have taken and start thinking about writing a match report. Football can no longer get me down at weekends, but that is because as I have said, I’m now a fan of football and not a fan of any particular football club. It’s far less painful and far more enjoyable as the result is no longer the most important thing, only watching the game itself is