Why do we support football clubs we love?

WHY DO WE SUPPORT FOOTBALL CLUBS WE LOVE?

"This is stuff out of which dreams are made, but this is real life". They say  situations of great entropy are statistically favoured .Things that are  statistically favoured tend to happen, especially my romance with this football club, which had already begun. As I scream the roof top off along with my football fanatic friends we involuntarily turn our rapturous celebrations into frenzy. As someone echoed the immortalized words that football is something which is much more than life and death, I was in the middle of a glaring example. My eyes couldn't have been dreaming. The feeling was yet to sink in. As I contemplate why so called "faithful fans" take the pain to support the club week in week out, I realize the grass is always greener on the other side and the sun does cast its glittering rays on the darker faces. What drives us to support a foreign club from almost half a world away? What makes us go crazy as the ball hits the back of the opposition's net? Why do we support the club through thick and thin? Where does the passion come from? From the by lanes of Kenya to the post streets of America and across cosmopolitan Dubai, it's those 90 minutes which matter. All the eyes seem to have been glued by an invisible adhesive, only one place matters. The azure skies above Anfield reflect an entirely different story. As the head grounds-man instructs his subordinates to cut the grass to perfection they realize a job is on their hands. It's not long before there will be not an empty seat in the stands as the iconic anthem , "YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE" is played and everyone soaks into the atmosphere. One of the banners reads "ITS ANFIELD AND WE ARE LIVERPOOL FC". There is never a dull moment when Liverpool FC  play at their iconic stadium at Anfield. It's not anyday, anywhere in the world the fans have such creativity in their chants and the humming of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" for the favourite manager takes over from the goals scored on the pitch.

Football is a game like no other. You have to go out there and score by putting the ball past the opposition's net. The only difficulty though you can't use your hands.  You have to fight for that space, for that inch and have to be the first on every inch of the pitch lest you will go down and be buried in the ashes. The difference between winning and not winning , no I would not call it losing has its its own set of explanations. You can plan a lot sitting in the dressing room but if you don't execute the plans out on the pitch you will get murdered by the rivals. Switching off the television set after we played out hearts but still lost gives pain like none others. It's the brutality of a defeat hanging beside our favourite club drives us to that excruciating pain which we no  longer bear. The suffering might wither away with time but wounds are still there  longing out to heal.

What goes into supporting this very club? Why are we still an integral  part of the club even though we are miles away? Why do we jump up in excitement as the final whistle blows and we are crowned victorious? No answers. Keep guessing. Why do feel like smashing the screen as we witness our fierce rivals give us a an absolute thrashing? Have you got the answers yet? Keep guessing. What is there in the game? What is there in it which drives matured men to jump like infants and babies in a playschool? The answer is Liverpool FC-where dreams are a reality. Where history is witnessed like never before. Where the battle has just waged into a war. Where the banter never seems dull. Where form is temporary,class is permanent.This is where no one ever walks alone. We are not a football club. We are a family. A family whose size is not determined by the number of members. A family where respect has no barometer. A family who never gives up in testing times, for at the end of the storm there is a golden sky.

It had been six years we had won a trophy. Everyone was busy calling our team a foregone conclusion. We had been shamelessly handed the tag of "History channel" by rivals. Some had gone too far to suggest us a "TIME MACHINE" so that the current crop of players could watch their grandfather play the beautiful game. We hadn't reached a cup final since our remarkable FA Cup triumph at the Millenium Stadium,Cardiff in 2006. By the twist of fate we faced the very team on whose home triumph we had won our last coveted trophy. Cardiff City colours bemoaned in front of our players.120 minutes of high drama which saw the two teams being engaged in a see-saw battle, however it was long before the outcome would be in front of us. One team had to win, the other didn't deserve to lose. The tension before the dreaded penalty shootout had reached its brim. Many of us were biting our nails. The pub was full of anxiety, hope and desperation. Six years of silverware drought was not something we were used to in the past.Our trophy cabinet at Anfield was in search for its new family member.

As Paul Gerrard,our captain fanastic Steven Gerrard's cousin nervously went to take the crucial penalty for Cardiff he had a simple yet so challenging job on his hands. Rather his foot, as I would put it. He had to score for his side to keep the match rolling on beyond two and a half hours. The pressure seemed to have got to him as the ball hit the post and rolled out. There was almost those 10 seconds where we would just stare at the screens and realize what had happened.....................................

Eighteen league titles, seven FA Cups, eight record League Cup titles,five Champions League titles, the highest by an English club, three UEFA Cups and the same number of UEFA Super Cups as well. This is a testimony of a club which is an epitome of success, determination and sheer grit which will remain unparalleled in the coming years. "It's not a Football club ,it's a way of life", echoes round Merseyside whether you enter a pub or strike up a conversation with anyone associated with the club and you would be awestruck by the amazing knowledge everyone has and are aware of their history which they are so proud and passionate about.

Why won't they be? Was this why I love this club or is it my way of life? I don't want an answer, I have one, and yes I know it.