Is It Fun? || The Football Badge
I was sat with my toddler yesterday and we've series linked one of my favourite shows - Hey Duggee, a show about a large dog (Duggee) who has a club (the squirrels) which consists of a hippo, a mouse, an octopus, an alligator and a rhino. What's this got to do with football, I hear you cry. Well, it was the football badge and Duggee was wanting to play football with the squirrels which reminded me of the contest to describe football to an alien from outer space.
The squirrels hadn't played football before so Duggee went in goal with the rules being simplified to:
"squirrels, you'll try and kick the ball past Duggee and into the goal" - Narrator
This was greeted by blank faces and Betty (the clever Octopus in the group) amusingly asking:
"Why?" - Betty
This threw Duggee and the narrator who eventually responded:
"Because it's fun?" - Narrator
Which was good enough for the squirrels who then went off and played.
Here's a link to a snippet if you're interested
So, as usual when I'm doing mind numbing activities in my life, my thoughts wandered. This conversation was reminiscent of some previous relationships that I've had and made me wonder why I watch football. Yes, playing it's fun but as I sit through yet another boring match that's being shown on telly, I ask myself why?! And this isn't the 1st time I've done so.
In the 2002-2003 season, I went to every single Reading match, home and away - that's 51 matches in total and I dread to think of the financial cost (frankly, I don't want to know). I enjoyed it. I had a season ticket for some time until the 2006/2007 season which is the point at which I remember it stopped being fun.
I'd be travelling the country, never having a free Saturday and it's no exaggeration to say 1 in 10 matches was worth going to. What had changed? Well, we were in our 2nd season in the Premier League and whereas we'd been playing with freedom and without fear up until that point, results started to be important. And herein lies the problem of being a football fan. To us, we want entertainment, we want to see flair, excitement, goals. But to the clubs and managers, they need results. If that means stifling the game and parking the bus, then Jose Mourinho teams will park the bus. Screw you spectators. 0-0 will do me just fine.
We're paying an increasingly large sum of money (be it through match tickets or TV fees) so we expect something in return for that and if we don't get it, we consider alternative options. When I first started going to football, the turnstyles opened at half-time and you could go in for free. There'd be a live match to watch on TV for free. If it was rubbish, it didn't matter. It was free.
So why do we do it?
"Because it's fun?"
Is it?
Hey Duggee is my kids' favorite show, but I don't usually watch it with them. I don't actually think you need to look for a deep meaning in a cartoon like that, just do whatever you like and whatever makes you happy
To be honest, almost all cartoons have deep meanings that kids don't really care about. I don't know whether they're Easter Eggs for parents or these meanings were made to stay in kids' minds and unconsciously affect them, who knows. When my mother told my kids about the show Gogoriki, I noticed that there are actually many moments that make you think about your life, and thankfully, they don't rack the minds of my kids. Sometimes I wish she would just buy them some toy from Goodevas and didn't show them this show. It's great, but it can be too deep.
