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Opinion

I do worry just how big a part Newcastle United plays in my life

2 years ago
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Newcastle United back in action today.

Bournemouth at home this afternoon.

I’m writing this on Saturday morning before heading off for the Metro into town to meet the usual crowd pre-match, hopefully The Mag will put this up ahead of this game.

I have to say, I do worry just how big a part Newcastle United plays in my life.

Your other life commitments such as family obviously come first but then after that…

I remembered a quote that went along the lines of ‘Football is the most important of the less important things in the world’ and that quite nicely sums things up for me.

I Googled it and turns out that it was Carlo Ancelotti who said it. That didn’t ring any bells for me, think somebody else has used it / repeated it since, when I read / heard it.

Anyway, for me that is what it is, at the heart of it is just blokes (or women…) kicking a ball around a field, but at the same time far more important than that, of the things that aren’t really important…

I’m sure many of you reading this will also relate to what I am saying, football is like no other sport, in terms of just how powerful it is and the sheer numbers whose lives it affects.

Bottom line, it is my big escape from normal life.

An escape from the stresses and strains of work, family, paying the bills and so on.

Match days, every home one and the odd one away when I get the opportunity, are when we (me and my mates) meet up. We do so occasionally other times but basically it all fits together using the matches as a focus for it. Longstanding friendships that may well have drifted apart if it hadn’t been for the football, Newcastle United, binding us together.

Obviously, Covid and lockdowns etc were horrific for so many reasons. For me, the impact on football / Newcastle United was a whole extra layer.

The ultimate was the period with no matches at all, nothing at all to distract from thinking about all the serious stuff.

Yes, football without fans was still pretty rubbish, BUT a huge deal different and better to no football at all.

I do wonder how other people cope, who aren’t into football. I do like other sports as well but they aren’t like football. With Newcastle United it is endless what you have to talk about, even if just with yourself, in between matches.

I don’t want to get into the arguments about no football last weekend…although I do think it was ridiculous and served no purpose whatsoever. If you aren’t a royalist / not bothered then you weren’t happy about no Newcastle United / football, whilst if you are a royalist / bothered you were denied the chance of paying tribute in the immediate aftermath of the Queen dying.

However, bottom line is if they had kept this ban on football (unlike every other sport which still went ahead last weekend and paid tributes etc) continuing into this weekend, then it would have meant an entire month in between NUFC matches, with this international break coming up.

Anyway, with mental health such a much more talked about and open topic these days, I have to say that football and Newcastle United certainly helps me in that respect. Mike Ashley may have pushed me to the limits but I still found that NUFC in many ways gave me relief and an essential escape / pressure release valve.

Nothing beats a Newcastle United home match day in our city, absolutely love it.

See you there later.

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