What is Football?

If you've know me for long enough to see me move, you'll probably know I'm not the world's greatest sportsman. Stick two bits of wood on my feet, push me down a snowy hill with a bunch of other skinny white middle class people and I'll be okay, but other than that, fail will inevitably ensue.

However, I've been Chelsea fan due to family-default since I was born. And over the last couple of years, this season especially, I've gotten into football (following, not playing. Oh no.) more than ever before; to such a degree that I've started to think about the whole idea of football a little more.






So, here's my question. I hope you'll reach an answer with me.

What is football?

Obviously, it's a game of foot and ball. Haha. But what is it really? Or what is it now? In terms of locals teams, which have grown into the teams and leagues we see today?

I suppose it all began as healthy sporting fun. We spiced up the competition by playing against people from elsewhere. The locals would turn out and support their team and so football became part of COMMUNITY. That, I think, was a massive step for football. Possibly the biggest. It became part of expressing and supporting your community, your tribe, your colours, your boys.

So it grew from there; and as we moved into the 20th century, television grew with it. The face of football began to change. Especially in the higher tiers. I think football nowadays has become mainly ENTERTAINMENT. That's not inherently bad, I'm sure people always watched it to be entertained as well as to support their locals. But now, especially in the Premier League, it's almost purely entertainment. The sense of real community, as far as I've seen and heard, is slowly evaporating. The bigger stadiums get quieter. I went to Old Trafford this season where Chelsea beat them 2-1, and the Man U fans, at a match that could potentially have decided the Premiership, were deathly silent! It was a travesty! The real fans there, I'm told (and at other Premier League grounds) are broken up by fans who buy tickets simply because they're a big premiership team. According to older football fans I know, lots of Koreans and other non-English people, who don't really know or love football like the locals do, buy up the tickets and that just kills the atmosphere. Because the season tickets are priced beyond the reach of normal, local fans and bought up by wealthy foreigners or fans who live at the opposite end of the country. People only there for entertainment. But then you have a manager like Mourinho who is an incredible manager and creates champions, yet plays football that is severely uninteresting to watch. But we still pour out to be entertained by it. Why?

I think, on the flip side of the fairweather fans, you have people for whom it's just HABIT. Plenty of people turn out every week at the home ground because it's what they've always done, even if the community aspect is vanishing. It's still part of their IDENTITY. For some people, it's everything. It's what their friendships are based on, what their weeks aim towards and what their weekends revolve around. That, to me, is genuinely saddening. I have met peope for whom, genuinely, their team is everything. It's the highest pursuit in their life. And that's so sad. And I think I know why they're like that, partly.

Linked to football becoming simply entertainement is the fact that it is a massive testament to the power of MEDIA AND ADVERTISING. The sporting press and media in Britain pump out this insanely funded and orchestrated campaign to put football everywhere, to suck as many untold millions out of it as they can. It's advertising and media that convince us that, what is arguably just 22 blokes play footy is an industry worth billions. That it's worth paying hundreds for a guarantee to watch that every week. That it's worth paying to watch that at home, and, of course, in HD. Essentially, we get this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM

Those are a few thoughts on what I see football as, at least in the Premier League in 2010. Maybe you disagree. Maybe I'm totally wrong. I'm far from the fount of footballing knowledge. Do feedback to me.

QUESTION: Is football more than 22 blokes kicking a ball around for 90 minutes?