KICK IN THE ARSE
I am a football addict.
But I may be ready to kick the habit.
I say that because I’ve already come to terms with my favourite football team failing to reach the Europa League championship match and missing out on their best chance of competing in Europe next season.
If you follow football, you probably know which team and which game I’m talking about. Arsenal and their tame semi-final exit from Europe’s also-ran competition when they drew 0-0 at home after losing the first leg 2-1 at Villareal. And if you don’t follow the game, you know now… and you are in a better position than most fans… as in fanatics, to appreciate how unimportant that result should be to my outlook on life.
But ever since Denis Bergkamp joined the club and I became a supporter 26 years ago, Arsenal’s performances have had a huge impact on my moods. When the gunners won, I was cheerful and full of energy, but when they lost, I was likely to be down for several days. And when they lost a big game, I was shattered.
I had a pretty good idea my behaviour wasn’t healthy, but I loved to watch the team play so much that I decided to carry on doing it whenever I could and live with the negative effects Arsenal losses had on my work and my family life.
Okay, I may be overstating my addiction a bit here. But only a bit. There is no doubt Arsenal’s results affected my emotional stability, but I don’t believe the team’s failings have ever driven me into depression.
The reason I started out talking about my football problem and my willingness to carry on watching even though I knew it could be bad for me is because I want to highlight how easy it is to get addicted. And how hard it can be to break any habit.
I never enjoyed smoking cigarettes, so I had no trouble steering clear of that addiction, and I’ve always been wary of recreational drugs… but I do quite like beer, wine and whiskey. The thing is, I was aware of the addictive nature of alcohol before I was old enough to get served, so I’ve always been on my guard, and whenever things seem to be getting out-of-hand, I cut back.
When I started watching football, however, I had no such worries, so I only realised I had a problem after I was hooked. And I think that may be the way things have gone for many of the people who are addicted to their phones and to the social media chatting that seems to demand so much of people’s attention these days.
I don’t know for sure, because phones are a bit like cigarettes for me. But I have noticed a lot of people, including mums and dads with their kids, staring at their phones in the blinkered manner I normally reserve for watching Arsenal play on TV. It makes me sad for what the parents are missing, and worried for how totally addicted to their phones those kids will most likely become.
It also makes me wonder what I missed while I was watching football on TV.