I haven't enjoyed this season for so many reasons, but it has made me realise what I do love about the game. As much as it must have been tough to watch what must be one of the best and most exciting Brighton & Hove Albion sides of all time from behind a TV screen (for the most part, anyway), I've witnessed my team slowly work its way back out of the football league and into the non-league abyss. If the league table wasn't enough, to give you an idea of just how turgid the football has been at Grimsby this season, let me tell you that 33 games in, our top scorer has scored just 3 goals, and that's a 19 year old centre-half.
Naturally then, it's unsurprising that this season has been heartbreakingly tough, but that's not the biggest issue. I just really struggle to watch games, even neutral ones, without fans in the ground. Without them, the whole thing just seems so pointless. More to the point, I miss being in stadiums (or rather 'grounds' at Grimsby's level) myself. THAT'S what I've really missed.
I miss meeting up with mates, having a few beers and a chat about nothing in particular. Away days. Rocking up in some random town somewhere, taking over a pub (not in an old school hoolie kind of way) and just being surrounded by hundrends or thousands of people, all from completely different walks of life, but who all have the same thing in common - where you're from and who you support. That's the thing I love about the game, and the big thing your average Man Yoo armchair fan will never properly experience. That's why I have continued to support a club which for the last 20 years has been a total basket case.
In many ways, this thread and having thought about the situation more broadly has been quite cathartic. I've accepted relegation as a nigh on certainty, short of a footballing miracle that has so far shown no signs it is about to arrive. That next season's fixture list will feature the likes of Wealdstone and Weymouth (sigh, for many years it was relegated PL teams who would have to go to 'the likes of Grimsby'). But it doesn't matter. The football on the pitch is what brings everyone together, but it's the coming together which matters most. So if the next time I'm able to attend a football match happens to be in King's Lynn then f*ck it, I'll be there.
Because football doesn't make me happy, it's the circus that surrounds it that does.
Naturally then, it's unsurprising that this season has been heartbreakingly tough, but that's not the biggest issue. I just really struggle to watch games, even neutral ones, without fans in the ground. Without them, the whole thing just seems so pointless. More to the point, I miss being in stadiums (or rather 'grounds' at Grimsby's level) myself. THAT'S what I've really missed.
I miss meeting up with mates, having a few beers and a chat about nothing in particular. Away days. Rocking up in some random town somewhere, taking over a pub (not in an old school hoolie kind of way) and just being surrounded by hundrends or thousands of people, all from completely different walks of life, but who all have the same thing in common - where you're from and who you support. That's the thing I love about the game, and the big thing your average Man Yoo armchair fan will never properly experience. That's why I have continued to support a club which for the last 20 years has been a total basket case.
In many ways, this thread and having thought about the situation more broadly has been quite cathartic. I've accepted relegation as a nigh on certainty, short of a footballing miracle that has so far shown no signs it is about to arrive. That next season's fixture list will feature the likes of Wealdstone and Weymouth (sigh, for many years it was relegated PL teams who would have to go to 'the likes of Grimsby'). But it doesn't matter. The football on the pitch is what brings everyone together, but it's the coming together which matters most. So if the next time I'm able to attend a football match happens to be in King's Lynn then f*ck it, I'll be there.
Because football doesn't make me happy, it's the circus that surrounds it that does.
