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Is It Healthy to Be a Football Supporter? Why Fans Know the Score Die-hard football fans hit the heights when their team wins and reaches the depths of despair when they lose. Scientific studies show the love affair with a team may be as emotionally intense as the real thing, and that team clashes have gladiatorial power What's going on? Why do fervent fans have hormonal surges and other psychological changes while watching games? Why does fans' self-esteem soar with victory and plummet in defeat, sometimes affecting their lives long afterwards? Why do people feel so drawn to form such deep ties to teams? Is avidly rooting for a team good or bad for your health? You may find the answers surprising
Die-hard football fans hit the heights when their team wins and reaches the depths of despair when they lose. Scientific studies show the love affair with a team may be as emotionally intense as the real thing, and that team clashes have gladiatorial power. Is It Healthy to Be a Football Supporter? — Why Fans Know the Score What’s going on? Why do fervent fans have hormonal surges and other psychological changes while watching games? Why does fans’ self-esteem soar with victory and plummet in defeat, sometimes affecting their lives long afterwards? Why do people feel so drawn to form such deep ties to teams? Is avidly rooting for a team good or bad for your health? You may find the answers surprising
THE FANS PERSONALITY Psychologists often portray die-hard fans as lonely misfits searching for self-esteem by identifying with a team, but a study suggests the opposite. It reveals that football fans suffer fewer bouts of depression and alienation than people who never watch Match Of The Day. Hard-core fans also demonstrate a fierce and unbreakable bond It's possible to trace the roots of fan psychology to a primitive time when warriors fighting to protect their tribes were the true representatives of their race. In modern times, so the theory goes professional sportsmen are warriors of a city or country fighting a stylized war waged on a football pitch
THE FAN'S PERSONALITY Psychologists often portray die-hard fans as lonely misfits searching for self-esteem by identifying with a team, but a study suggests the opposite. It reveals that football fans suffer fewer bouts of depression and alienation than people who never watch Match Of The Day. Hard-core fans also demonstrate a fierce and unbreakable bond. It's possible to trace the roots of fan psychology to a primitive time when warriors fighting to protect their tribes were the true representatives of their race. In modern times, so the theory goes, professional sportsmen are warriors of a city or country fighting a stylized war waged on a football pitch
ITS WAR OUT THERE Some confrontations on the pitch are gladiatorial. In this respect, our sports heroes are our gladiators. A football match, especially between rival teams, isn't some light-hearted display of athletic prowess. The self is emotionally involved in the outcome because whoever you're rooting for represents YOU. So professional footballers seem to recreate the intense emotions in some fans that ribal warfare aroused in their forebears. It could even be that these emotions have fuelled the explosion in the popularity of sports over the past 20 years STATUS BY PROXY So, through football matches, it becomes possible to gain respect from your rivals, albeit vicariously. This means you can be highly regarded not for your own achievement, but through your connection to a team that wins. Or, if you like, by your connection to individual footballers for their skill, such as midfielder David Beckham, winger Ryan Giggs, and striker Thierry Henry
IT'S WAR OUT THERE Some confrontations on the pitch are gladiatorial. In this respect, our sports heroes are our gladiators. A football match, especially between rival teams, isn’t some light-hearted display of athletic prowess. The self is emotionally involved in the outcome because whoever you're rooting for represents YOU. So professional footballers seem to recreate the intense emotions in some fans that tribal warfare aroused in their forebears. It could even be that these emotions have fuelled the explosion in the popularity of sports over the past 20 years. STATUS BY PROXY So, through football matches, it becomes possible to gain respect from your rivals, albeit vicariously. This means you can be highly regarded not for your own achievement, but through your connection to a team that wins. Or, if you like, by your connection to individual footballers for their skill, such as midfielder David Beckham, winger Ryan Giggs, and striker Thierry Henry
The connection, however, can be fickle. Bragging sports fans tend to claim credit for their team's success, saying we won"to describe a victory, but distance themselves from a team's failure saying " they lost"describing a defeat LOYAL TO THE END A raft of studies has found that"highly- identified"fans - both men and women - are unlikely to abandon a team when it's doing badly. Anyone who's read Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby knows that this is true of the ardent Arsenal fan. Not only that, they tend to blame heir team's failures on a biased referee or on bad luck. rather than on Arsenal's mistakes or the other team's skill. It's not surprising that these avid fans get more psychologically aroused at games and spend more money on tickets and merchandise
The connection, however, can be fickle. Bragging sports fans tend to claim credit for their team’s success, saying “we won” to describe a victory, but distance themselves from a team’s failure, saying “they lost” describing a defeat. LOYAL TO THE END A raft of studies has found that “highly-identified” fans — both men and women — are unlikely to abandon a team when it’s doing badly. Anyone who’s read Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby knows that this is true of the ardent Arsenal fan. Not only that, they tend to blame their team’s failures on a biased referee or on bad luck, rather than on Arsenal’s mistakes or the other team’s skill. It’s not surprising that these avid fans get more psychologically aroused at games and spend more money on tickets and merchandise