Soccer, football, whatever you call it — it’s definitely a sports sensation that’s sweeping multiple nations.
If you’ve ever gone to a soccer game, you might have noticed something a bit different from the basketball, football, or baseball games you’re familiar with—the soccer fans lining the arena are crazy about their sport!
From singing to dancing to passionately supporting their teams (and booing the others), soccer fans are among the most passionate sports fans you will ever see.
Don’t believe me? Check the following YouTube clip to see it from yourself.
Screaming throughout entire games, getting into fights in public with strangers over which team will win the match, traveling thousands of miles to see their team in soccer games in different countries — the passion exhibited by soccer fans may be strange for those not familiar with the sport to behold.
Is there a reason for this? Why are soccer fans so passionate?
These are some reasons soccer fans are so passionate:
- There is a lot of tradition and history in soccer.
- Soccer is a global sport.
- They love to sing, dance, and chant.
- Soccer is easy and fun for everyone to play.
- There’s a clear time limit, as well as ultimate goal.
In this article, we’ll break down the specific reasons why soccer fans are so passionate.
Heredity and Traditions
More so than other kinds of sports, soccer seems to be a genetically linked phenomenon.
With American football and baseball, everyone likes to watch and talk about it together. On the flip side, cheering at soccer games and following your team is more of a clan-like situation. It’s handed down from parent to child and is likely celebrated since the child’s extreme youth.
This means that those who have been given these traditions carry them deep within their hearts. We take things that we share with others -particularly family and close friends – much more seriously than we take things that we discover on our own.
Therefore, another reason that soccer fans are passionate is that they were raised in the sport — and will likely raise their children in the same way.
Soccer is the World’s Sport
Whereas some very popular sports are bound by geographic limitations, soccer is truly popular in almost every single country.
Very few sports bind the entire world together like soccer.
Take, for instance, the World Cup, which nets more viewers than any other sporting event!
Something which can truly unite different people from different nations, countries, and continents is something that can ignite passion even in the breasts of the stodgiest individuals.
If a sport can transcend language barriers and cross seas as well as stand the test of time, it’s certainly a sport worth watching!
Singing and Dancing and Chanting, Oh my!
At soccer games, the fans in the grandstands can be yelling and shouting for the entire game. This is because the history and traditions associated with soccer invite the fans to be part of the experience, egging on their teams and supporting their players, through loud chanting of universally known cheers.
At games I’ve been to, there are whole sections of the fanbase that are literally standing up and singing the entire time. I’ve seen mascots encourage this as if they’re pretending to conduct the fans. There are also video screens putting up the words to popular songs, and parents teach their kids that this is simply what soccer fans do.
Watching a soccer game is certainly not a passive experience — and this undoubtedly contributes to a soccer fan’s passion.
For one thing, it’s simply more fun to go to a game where you’re not sitting down and staring the whole time! Getting up and moving around pushes adrenaline and endorphins through our bodies. These hormones and neurotransmitters are addictive!
Once a soccer fan has gone to one game, that soccer fan will undoubtedly want to go again. Building up repeat fans from people who were just going for a good time is something soccer’s really good at — in short, it’s difficult not to get obsessed.
If you feel like you’re a part of something instead of just watching it unfold before you, you’re going to feel much more invested in the outcome of the game and each of the players on the field.
Why other sports don’t do this is unclear — but it’s wildly effective in engaging the hearts (and lungs) of soccer fans across the world.
Soccer is Easy and Fun for Everyone to Play
Soccer fans are also passionate about the sport because they’ve probably played it at some point in their lives!
Whether they played officially on a team, or just in a yard with a ball, almost everyone attending a soccer game has personally experience playing the sport.
Soccer also doesn’t exclude people based on height, race, religion, gender, and ability, among others. Anyone of any body shape or talent level can kick a ball around.
The game also requires lots of verbal communication between players, which forms unshakeable memories in our brains as we learn to play. The versatility of the gameplay and the low amount of equipment needed makes this game truly one that everyone can participate in.
Therefore, part of why soccer fans are more passionate is because when we’re watching a game occur on the field, we feel like we’re on the field ourselves — or at least, we could be.
With Soccer, There’s a Clear Time Limit (And Clear Goals)
Watching soccer is a more accessible experience than, say, watching a game of baseball or a game of American football.
There’s one simple reason for this: the rules of the game are easier to understand, and the stakes are much clearer.
With only a set number of minutes on the timer and a clock that does not stop, it’s a much more transparent and exciting experience to watch your team fight against that ticking time bomb.
The simplicity of the rules helps aid in comprehension of what’s going on down on the field. Very infrequently do people have to stop to explain or ask what’s going on.
Every second of the experience is about understanding and supporting what’s happening on the field. This makes going to a soccer game one of the most oddly focused experiences you will ever have.
Even the smallest of children can understand that the teams are trying to get the ball into the net! It’s this simplicity that helps us out so much: the goal of the game is hard-wired into our systems.
We crave that moment when the ball hits the net—to the extent that it’s almost physically impossible not to feel elated when our team has scored a goal.
With other sports, the inherent complexity of the rules and the starting and stopping of the clock (or, as in baseball, the absence of one entirely) doesn’t inspire the same urgency as the game of soccer does. And with that urgency comes passion!
After all, the area in our brains that is turned on by danger is adjacent to the area that is turned on by passion. The two are inextricably linked.
Final thoughts
Soccer fans are passionate for several other reasons:
- Positive memories associated with the sport
- Bonds formed with family members and friends.
- A history of playing the sport themselves,
- Traditions of heading to games and screeching out beloved chants while supporting their favorite players.
If you’ve never been to a soccer game, you’re in for a treat. Get ready to be blown away by the passion of soccer fans everywhere.