During the lockdown, every stadium has displayed ‘Football is nothing without the fans’. While that is correct, today it’s the fans who are ruining the game. Sounds cruel, well asks the players how they feel, when they read what there own fans write to them on certain platforms.
The term ‘reactionary fan base’ was coined by the hardcore loyalists to distance themselves from the volatile fans that surrounded them on different platforms. Terms like ‘agenda merchants’ have also been developed to define the reactions of certain fans.
Actually, this is where the trouble really started, the division of the football fan base within a club has deepened since the turn of the millennium and has only accelerated further in the last decade. I see today the first tendency is to blame an increasingly connected world for giving a platform that promotes hate. But isn’t that limiting our reasoning to something that is deeper and infact an ill with the psychology of a football fan.
How is it in any world okay to call names / abuse a player / coach of not just your own club but any club. Criticize them by all means, but since when did hurling abuses become justified in a professional sport. I see some comments during football matches and wonder if the adrenaline rush for certain fans is coming more from mocking the team than the actual football match.
Would such fans find it acceptable, if whenever they failed in their own workplace, only for there to be an army of colleagues in office social media groups calling them names and mocking them?
Have we forgotten the beauty of football lies in the joy / adrenaline rush it provides, and that it is a professional sport that teaches us to be resilient in the face of adversity. How could you possibly enjoy the beautiful game, if for 90 minutes and beyond all you can do is mock those whenever something goes wrong.
The fact that in the last week alone, several clubs have had to call out the horrific incidents their players have faced is ample evidence that something is seriously broken in football and sadly it is the supporters who are breaking it.
I agree with what you have written. But I would take it further, that unfortunately this is true across industries. Due to the 'anonymity' of social media, anyone literally can abuse a top level performer. We see film stars and celebrities trashed ruthlessly, and the same is playing out in the world of football as well. Sometimes, we need to wonder, where does all this in- built hatred stem from!
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