Football matters. I cannot tell you how many weekends have been salvaged by last-minute goals or ruined by offside flags. It is the escape valve of passion, enabling people, historically men, to express feelings of joy, despair and everything in between because the normal rules of emotional suppression have been suspended.
Football marks out the important moments in our lives. I only recall the date of my bar mitzvah party (held at Highbury, in keeping with religious doctrine) because it took place the day after Arsenal lifted the 2002 league title. It also works for events before our time. That is how I know Britain adopted decimalisation in 1971 — the year Charlie George lay down on the Wembley turf.
