When I go to a football match, I am there to watch football — not to be told that I am what’s wrong with the world because I am not LGBTQIA+, don’t support a particular political cause, practice a certain faith, or follow whatever happens to be trending at the time.
Football, for me and many others, has always been an escape. It’s a place where you can switch off from everything going on in everyday life and just focus on the game for ninety minutes. That has always been part of what makes football special.
If women’s football was built on the support of the LGBTQIA+ community, then men’s football was built on the backs of working-class supporters. Yet the people who control the modern game often seem to forget the majority of its fan base and instead lean heavily into political and social messaging.
It now feels like things have reached a point where a lot of supporters are becoming tired of this being pushed at every game. I would guess that most fans, like myself, have zero interest in other people’s political ideology, sexuality or religion when they go to football. We just want to watch the match and escape from the same issues that already dominate everyday life.
There needs to be a balance. At the moment, just like in everyday life, everything seems to be pushed too far in one direction or the other, and the middle ground has been lost. Until that changes, we are going to stay stuck in a cycle where everything is seen as offensive and everyone feels the need to take offence.
Football should be something that brings people together, not something that divides them further. For many supporters, the game is still about the simple pleasure of watching their team and sharing that experience with others.
Sometimes, ninety minutes of football should just be ninety minutes of football.
