I fell out of love with football years ago. It wasn’t a dramatic ‘that’s it I’ve had enough I’m off and I’m taking my CDs and the cat!’… no it was more of a sudden realisation that the game I had loved as a kid was no longer a major part of my life. It had been replaced by other things and life had just got in the way. The gradual moving apart started when I moved to Hampshire after University. During my time in Birmingham I was still able to get home to Liverpool regularly and watch Everton as I had done since the age of 15, when I first got a season ticket. Living in the Midlands meant I could go to lots of away games and still be home in time to go to the pub. In my final two years I also went to watch Aston Villa with friends but always went to the away end when Everton visited It was a good time to be an Evertonian; my final year culminated with an FA Cup win and the following three seasons resulted in two more visits to the Cup Final, two League titles and a European Cup Winner’s Cup. By this time, however, I had moved to a small town just outside Portsmouth and had started playing rugby again. More upheaval followed and I found myself working away from home; I developed an interest in motorbikes and just didn’t bother checking the footie results anymore. Marriage and kids then intervened and I was happy just to watch England lose in major tournaments. Football but more precisely, Everton, and I had grown apart and an amicable divorce followed; I got to keep the house and they kept the trophies.
Just by coincidence when I was a kid my second favourite team was Portsmouth. This was due to a combination of factors; first of all I collected programmes and one of them was a Portsmouth away programme which featured Jimmy Dickenson and how he had made over 700 appearances for Pompey; secondly there was a synchronicity as Everton had won the League in 1939 and Pompey had won the cup; thirdly, both teams played in royal blue. So living a few miles from Fratton Park I visited a couple of times before the rugby and work stopped me. I looked out for their results occasionally but couldn’t really be called a fan just an interested local.
Now I am a lucky man as my wife is a sports fan and also likes motorbikes, so watching the big games on the telly has never been a problem. She is also born and bred in Portsmouth and has always been interested in how Pompey are doing so we decided we’d start going to a few games. Soon I was hooked, the football was great, the atmosphere was fantastic and the camaraderie was superb. Fratton Park was designed by Archibald Leitch, who also designed Goodison Park, and is an old stadium showing its age. This, however, is part if not all of its charm. I fell in love with it as I was so much reminded of being a kid and the excitement of going to football. I also searched the net and perused the various fan sites, finally deciding on one which I found the discussions were frank but friendly with no name calling or offensiveness. Everyone’s opinion was valued and disagreements dealt with in a mature manner. I have since met a lot of the members and have made good friends.
So the club grew on me and now we both have season tickets. Everton are now the ex-wife I'm still fond of but no desire to live with again, and Pompey are the second wife which came complete with kids and a mountain of debt. In a few years I have been to Wembley 5 times, enjoyed probably the best European night ever (against AC Milan) and seen the club almost go out of business. Pompey’s journey has been less of a roller coaster ride, more of an entire theme park, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The season has ended now but I can’t wait for new one; this time with added piquancy due to Southampton having been promoted into the same division. Being an ‘incomer’ to the area I really don’t get the absolute hatred between the clubs. I was brought up on a healthy blue/red rivalry, families were split, your best mate supported the other team and although we detested each other’s side we didn’t hate each other and there being no derby game was unthinkable. It was also a little nutty; my great-grandfather wouldn’t have tomato sauce in the house as it was red.
I can't see the point of hating people for who they support or where they're from. I have friends and relatives who support Liverpool, I don't hate them. I even have friends from Manchester and Southampton!
The fixture list comes out on Friday. I’ll look to see the latest I can leave it to buy a tin hat. Maybe I’ll play golf that day.
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