The Xenophobe's Guide to the English (Xenophobe's Guides) by Antony Miall & David Milsted

Author:Antony Miall & David Milsted [Miall, Antony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908120304
Publisher: Oval Projects
Published: 2008-04-17T23:00:00+00:00

But the English person’s true devotion to sport involves watching other people play it, ideally surrounded by snacks. Watching sport provides a vent for pent-up emotions, as well as the comfort of tribal solidarity. Vast numbers of soccer fans will sit up all night with beer and bags of potato crisps to watch the 44th repeat of a goal being scored. Even if they cannot afford the fees for TV sports channels, they will ensure their children have their team’s new strip regardless of the cost, or how many times it changes.

Hard-core supporters will show up in the flesh to barrack the opposition in spectator stands or from touchlines, often in sub-zero temperatures or force ten gales with the ever-present threat of a downpour. Nothing can dampen their ardour.

The average English football fan is inured to failure and even derives a sort of masochistic pleasure from his team’s ability to snatch defeat – or if he’s lucky, a nil–nil draw – from the jaws of victory. The exception is the Manchester United supporter who expects his team to win everything all the time and whinges bitterly when it doesn’t. Manchester United has the biggest following of any football club in the world. Each issue of the club’s magazine sells in vast numbers – 30,000 copies in Taiwan alone.

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