The most interesting thing about football is not the fact that every nation in the world has millions of fanatical fans for it,
it is the fact that these fans have probably the most intensely subjective kind of affection for the game as you would ever find anywhere. I know what I am saying, trust me.
But I am not saying it is a bad thing.
Ohhh! Not at all.
I think people will really start enjoying their football, when they can be completely honest with themselves. Instead of minding so much, what other people think of them.
Are you tired of supporting a team that rarely ever wins anything? Then by all means, switch to another! Even the players who are payed millions of dollars by these clubs are not so loyal to them, why should you be?
Think about it.
For me, I don't give a rat's a## anymore.
Yeah! I used to be a confused "loyalist".
As a Juve fan, I must hate Torino.
As a Roma fan, I must hate Lazio.
As a Madridsta, I must hate the catalan club, Barcelona.
blah blah blah.
And I actually did hold my hatred for Barcelona for many years,
until Pep Guardiola (with lots of help from the legendary Lionel Messi) changed all that for me in his second season at Barca. And I will always be grateful to his purist/fundamentalist football tactics for restoring my interest in football.
Anyway, for me, it started long ago when I saw Maradonna dribble his way through several Brazillian midfielders in the 1982 World Cup. I was just a kid then, but I knew I was going to be watching a whole lot of this game from that moment on.
Then came the era when my elder bother's friend came into the house with a video collection of Maradona's games at his Italian club Napoli. In some of those clips, I saw how some other "unknown" stars made him look human on some occassions.
Those unknown stars (unknown to me at the time) were young gifted players like Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Roberto Baggio and Enzo Francescoli.
But things got completely out of hand after I saw these guys play at the Italia 90 World Cup.
It was amazing! My life was changed forever.
It was in that world cup that I discovered a certain bearded fellow called Martin Vasquez of Spain.
It was just one game. he didn't score a goal, he didn't assist a goal.
It was just about his dribbling and close control of the ball that did it for me. I was hooked!
I stopped asking for Maradona tapes, and started searching for Martin Vasquez.
But unfortunately, nobody knew who the heck he was. And there was no Google. No Youtube. :(
Then I found a Nigerian tv station that was showing old matches from the Spanish Professional League. And there he was......
Martin Vasquez, without the beard, in a club called Real Madrid. And that was how I became a Madridsta.
It started from teenage years.
But I have grown up now.
Never been to Madrid, never visited Spain.
Barcelona plays great football now, so I cannot hate them anymore.
I have changed.
I have loved Juventus, Lazio, Roma and even Sampdoria since I first became a Madridista.
People make fun of me here in Nigeria, but I am the one who's truly laughing. What should it really take to give your loyalty to something? Or someone?
I don't think I owe Real Madrid anything anymore.
I still support the club, and will probably forever have a soft-spot for it.
However, I realize I have really loved football more than anything else. And that is exactly what I hope to maintain.
If the Vikings can keep giving me great football, then fine! If they go back to the Mourinho days of negative, taekwon-do football? Then I will spit bile once again. :D
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