Player loyalty is always a hot topic in the sporting world. When trade time rolls around, sports fans everywhere fear the worst.
They begin to express their love and gratification for their team’s most prized out-of-contract stars, as if their words will somehow reach the athlete in question and make them stay for another season.
Nervous hands surf the internet, fearing an update that brings the unthinkable news.
When trade time ends and a fan’s favourite player is secured for another season or two, they breathe a sigh of relief and their attention turns to much more important matters such as organising their fantasy league team.
In recent years, Arsenal supports have been deprived of their sigh of relief, and instead are suffocated by feelings of grief.
While they may have not been too sad to say goodbye to Almunia, the pain of losing Fabregas is yet to heal. And most recently, the departure of Robin van Persie has left some fans inconsolable.
While I am certainly no psycholigist, the reactions of Gunners fans have led me to realise that the five stages of loss and grief can be applied to a fan’s mental attitude regarding the trade of a sports star.
So here are the five stages of loss: A fan’s perspective.
Denial
At first, it is not uncommon for a supporter to simply ignore the reality. The immediate shock and pain of losing a cherished player is covered by ignoring the trade.
Denying the player’s actual ability is also common, however this is only experienced by slightly less loyal supporters.
Anger
For the majority of fans, this is stage one. Denial is not necessary and the truth cannot be ignored.
Instead, fans display anger towards the player, the coaches, the list managers, their neighbours, the bus driver, a passing bird, a cereal box.
It is at this stage that fans also feel comfortable expressing their pain, through passionate, yet horribly abusive, tweets, Facebook posts, and for the less confident, a series of anonymous emails.
Bargaining
When one’s spouse/friends/teacher/bus driver/local wildlife/cereal boxes cannot take any more abuse and begin to express their disapproval of the fans actions, he or she must get over their anger stage.
These feelings of anger are most commonly bottled up deep inside the fan, to re-emerge at next year’s trade.
Nonetheless, the fan has moved on from publicly displaying anger, and begins to bargain with themselves in any conversation slightly related to the topic. Common terms to help a suffering fan bargain their way through a crisis include: “If only we had more money”, “We will be alright without them”, “(**Insert name of unloyal, money grabbing, heartless sports star here**) isn’t that good anyway.”
This bargaining is often a weaker form of denial.
Depression
After the fan realises the truth cannot be ignored any longer, they fall into a deep, inconsolable sadness. It is a painful state that is not dissimilar to anger.
Acceptance
This stage is ignored by the majority of fans. The loss of a favourite player is never fully accepted, and while the event may not be at the front of each conversation, it is never far from the surface.
An unbelievable level of hatred is shown for the player.
It is undeniable that a true fan feels pain and a sense of loss when a player is traded. The most one-eyed supporters have adopted players into their extended families, and shouldn’t be expected to simply accept the departure of a relative.
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