Wednesday, 3 May 2006

This is my church

I’d say that I’ve solidly supported Chelsea F.C. since the ‘92/’93 season and yet it wasn’t until last year that they won the league. Sure, we took a couple of F.A. Cups and a European Cup Winner’s Trophy but you couldn’t make a solid argument for them being the top, or even one of the top teams in the country until Jose came along and whipped the boys into shape.

So what did I get out of following them for over ten years with only limited success? I’ve been living overseas for most of it so it’s not the camaraderie. Since I’ve been away I’ve found one fellow member of the Blue Army who has enough knowledge of the team that I could reminisce with him about the glory days back in the mid-nineties when the team seemed to be a veritable clan of short, big headed, mediocre players. Roops started following Newcastle back when they when they had Kelvin Koogan at the helm and came 2nd in the league but when their fortune took a down turn and they swapped David Ginloa for David Batty why didn’t he jump ship and start following Man U or even the Arse? He went against just about every member of his family by turning his back on Chelsea to follow Toon and yet he’s stuck with them through Sourness and Boumsong.

Why do football supporters follow lost causes? I can’t imagine a situation that could arise that would stop me supporting Chelsea. The only explaination I can give is that following football makes you a wee bit daft in the head. If you accept that all the supporters are not quite right upstairs, suddenly the hooliganism, the chants and the post goal celebrations make a lot more sense.

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