Look, she's just a football fan. Inside out. She enjoys watching football games, eversince she was a little kid. Thanks to the boys of the house. Thanks to her circle of friends too. There's this one thing when you play sports - you would tend to be curious to discover other sports that you're not good at too. Football, rugby, hockey, badminton, whatever. To wait for my friends to be done with their football trainings once I'm done with my basketball drills was my daily/weekly routine back in school. So my life pretty much revolved around sports, in a way. I understand how it feels like working in a team, under high pressure, and you have no one else to push you beyond your limits but yourself, backbones at home, positive teammates and coach.
But hey, it's a whole different atmosphere once you've stepped your feet on the pitch (in this case, I'm talking about football obviously hehe) - there's another one big unsung anchor which often goes unappreciated. The fans.
The supporters who crazily spend their money on buying tickets just to watch their favourite team playing their hearts out for 90 minutes. The whole satisfaction that these people will bring home once the game ends is something that none of non-football fans on this earth will understand. Well, that's pretty fair. We don't get the whole hype of why you have to suffocate yourself through the massive crowd cheering for your favourite band to appear on the stage and start singing already. Uh-huh. See the logic? :)
I started watching football at home of course. It's my family routine. Mum and kakak can never kacau our football sesh alright. It's like a golden rule at our home. We just have that special privilege on weekend nights. I guess, majority will always win. As I grew up, cousins and friends started dragging me to mamaks to watch live games there. To indulge myself in such crowd is a bliss. I truly thanked them for that. It's like a place where strangers meet and can mock each other in an acceptable and funny way. Silaplah if you turn up in an Arsenal jersey alone at a Chelsea territory hahaha ( that's what happened to me at Khalifah Section 7 Shah Alam. I totally had no idea it was The Blues' territory though lol but I survived the game, though my Arsenal boys didn't. Oh well. All these bahan-bahan other football clubs thingy are so fun weh, if you do it in a right way of course. And don't go beyond the lines. There's always a limit. You'll get used to it if you stay in this whole scene just a little longer. I've learnt it the easy way, and the hard way too. Just, don't go overboard.
Anyway, since my brothers started joining this Ultras scene few years ago - my home is surrounded by their chants 24/7. It didn't annoy me though, it didn't annoy anyone at home as far as I'm concerned. In fact it triggered me a little, look - I've never bothered to watch our local football games before. It's always been EPL and UCL for me. One day I was moved to join them on a random trip to the stadium. T'was just me alone, sitting next to the curva enjoying the game. But what made the random trip memorable, was the fact I was accompanied by their amazing chants throughout the whole game. THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE GAME. They didn't even sit for once, all they did was just chanting, singing, jumping, non-stop. And I thought, look - if this is the kind of atmosphere I'll get every single time I come and tengok bola at the stadium, it would be crazy to just choose to sit at home and watch our local football teams playing on the television. You won't even hesitate to put your team's jersey on and march to the stadium on a freaking match day.
Here's one thing about Ultras that made me realise. You'll be able to comprehend this better if you happen to play sports as well. What keeps us going in trainings and drills sessions is our teammates and coaches right? (Well that's how I always see it). The whole atmosphere will change once the game has started. You're totally on your own. Yes, your teammates are there. Your coach is on the sideline just to keep you on track. But you're on your own in terms of keeping track on your motivations throughout the whole match. Here's where the fans, and especially The Ultras come in handy. You miskick a ball, you give a bad pass to your teammates, you make an unnecessary foul, your teammate screams at you, your self-esteem goes down, you feel demotivated, you hear some of the fans cursing at ya, - frets not boys. These Ultras will still keep on chanting to keep your spirits up, will still keep your motivation fired up to keep on going, to freaking keep on going till the match literally ends. And that's what players need the most. That's what we need the most when we're almost on the edge of giving up too ( we realise that one of the biggest factors that can keep us going when we look out for that one little voice telling us that we can't give up, despite whatever. We gotta fight till the end, we really gotta fight till the end. Excuses are totally unacceptable.)
You'll realise too, that these Ultras are the little voices in the players' head that won't stop pushing them to go beyond their limits. If only the whole stadium (the fans together with the Ultras unite in one voice, and roar an echo everytime they chant. It's surely one hell of an atmosphere you'll get to feel right there.) - Uhh, even the thoughts of it send shivers through my spines.
The players need to be constantly fired up.
The fans are there for a reason. Really, the fans are there for a reason.
Food for thought people, your favourite football team can't hear your chants through the television. Get up, dress up, and go the stadium to feel all these beautiful feelings. Words often fail me anyway.
