“Being a football fan entitles us to a temporary, recurring retreat, a short holiday from real existence. Our lives can be in chaos and nothing seem fixed. Nothing except how we feel on a Saturday at 3pm, when we are elevated into blissful and infuriating distraction. What a privilege that is.”
As written by Daniel Gray in his book, ‘Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football’ as a paean to the idiosyncrasies and whimsical joy of being a match-going fan. Because, for all its athletic achievement as a sporting spectacle, football, at base level, is escapism - a brief afternoon portal away from the humdrum, banality and frustration of life.
Which is why when reality and the game collide, it can be confusing, confounding and, to be perfectly honest, a bit annoying.
