10 Problems Only Football Fans Will Understand

8. The Importance Of The Derby

It is the first game you look for when the fixtures are released- your teams home and away clashes against your biggest rivals, whether they be local rivals or positional challengers. As a Liverpool fan I face such a divide each year with Everton as the local rival but Man United as the traditional rival. You wake up on derby day and there's something different, your stomach is aflutter with a mixture of excitement, nervousness and lets face it, a slight bit of fear that you may actually lose. Anyone uninterested with the world of sport will not understand the importance of the derby but it affects EVERYTHING. Whether you talk to certain friends for the next few days, if you're in for a night of misery or jubilation, if work on Monday morning is going to be the best day ever or your worst nightmare? For the hours leading up to kick off, you scour social media, the papers, TV and the radio for any hint of injury updates until the final team news is released. Then it's all about the debate, can this guy really beat this guy down the wing? Is he the right man to play in the centre of the defence? Why is there a youth player you've never heard of on the bench? During the game its every ounce of desire you have willing you're team forward when they have the ball, shouting for every tackle, heated reaction and slight hint of handball. Every set piece is greeted with cheers of encouragement or prayers that they don't score and naturally, every time they have the ball you just don't want to watch because you fear the worst. And then after the game, it is either pure ecstasy and a smile on your face that won't be taken away no matter how hard anyone tries, or of course its the other fate, and a lesson in humility for you as you have to listen to the joy of the opposition. All these different emotions crammed into just a few hours its no surprise non football fanatics can't understand it.