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Story & philosophy from João Nuno Coelho:

"To be a supporter"


To be a supporter is to love football or a football team. But it is to love without the typical attitudes of today´s societies, always dominated by common sense.

To be a supporter is to be consumed by passion. Unconditional and uncontrolable. That’s why at the stadium grown up men cry, behave like children, and are not ashamed of doing so. That’s why we cannot honor the most beautiful goal if it was scored in our own goal…

To be a supporter is to be ready to suffer for the team. Together with other supporters, without any barriers of age, gender or social status.

To be a supporter is to make a choice and live it to the end. It is part of one´s identity…

To be a supporter is to pay to play. Which is much more poetic than to play for the pay. So we say “we won” or “we scored”. We also play, and sometimes with many sacrifices.

To be a supporter is to feel like, Bill Shankly, an English coach of the 70’s: “Football is not a matter of life and death, it’s even more important”. But it is also to know that there is always a next match, a next season, a next hope.

To be a supporter is to enjoy living on the edge, travelling from happiness to sadness, from depression to euphoria in a short whole, feeling emotions and an excitement uncommon in everyday life. Maybe football can’t make people better or worse, but it makes us feel alive.

More than all, to be a supporter is to love, care and respect football.

© by João Nuno Coelho

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