The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

The incredible lows and absolute highs of being a sports fan

Roar Rookie
3rd November, 2013
Advertisement
Just like in rugby, football fans also wear ridiculous outfits in support of their team during the Wold Cup. (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
Roar Rookie
3rd November, 2013
36
1280 Reads

Why on earth do I put myself through this every week? I spend the week convincing myself that there is no chance of being beaten – we clearly have the superior side, our form shows we should win, my fortune reader told me so.

Until the weekend rolls around and I understand why being a sports fan should come with a piece of advice: “Warning – watching sport should be considered a cruel and unusual punishment.”

Being a supporter of the Wallabies, Liverpool Football Club, the Waratahs, Australian cricket and the rest should just be downright illegal.

Now I have to grin and bear the witty repartee of my teammates at my adopted London rugby club.

I guess it is my fault for being an optimist; life would be much easier if I expected the worst and were surprised by any win. However, it pains me to think that my life would be more enjoyable if I had only made smarter decisions as a young child.

Like most sports fans, I am a terrible loser. Thus each loss is met with pouting, yelling and storming around the room, lamenting every poor decision that my 86-year-old grandmother could have done better.

Where were my parents and fortune teller to advise me that supporting any of these sides would usually end in disappointment? Why didn’t they just spare my feelings and tell me to support the All Blacks or Manchester United?

Instead, I spend my weeks trying to think up excuses as to why we lost, pretending that it doesn’t bother me, but it still burns a hole in my heart as I live off past glories to somehow get me by until our next game.

Advertisement

I feel I would be better off if I just quit sport all together – maybe take up knitting or the oboe and leave all the heartache and lows behind.

However, as I lament the problems of supporting teams that have been perennial disappointment and yell at the replay of the Wallabies game hoping that the score will change, I realise that I am hooked.

Like an addict, I keep coming back. Even though I know their will be some incredible lows, I keep looking for that absolute high that only sport can supply.

Until then, I think my only solution is to suck it up and just daydream about scoring the winning trying in the Rugby World Cup final.

Or maybe spend my days watching old Disney movies, where the only endings are happy and Aladdin never slips over and misses the winning penalty goal.

I think I know which option I’ll choose.

close