Why do men love football?

I know there are many women out there who always wonder why men love football with so much vigour. I am sure questions always loom in their minds as why is that men can sit hours in front of a television set when football games are on, yet fail to sit still for fifteen minutes for anything else when at home.

What is the big attraction in watching grown up men chasing an inflated piece of leather? What needs are being met, what desires are being satisfied by watching football hour after hour, day after day, week after week?

To date, I think the folk women have failed to get answers to their queries. But one thing that I know that makes them happy about football tournaments, especially when they are conducted abroad, is the fact that the men remain home to take part in the madness called watching matches on television. This is the only time when wives think that their men behave like a sensible husbands.

During this time they get to enjoy the house because of the husband’s presence. Many of them supplicate day and night to have the football games be played every year just to get their husbands in the rhythm of being at home.

But on the other side, many women still think that watching football is something unreasonable. They say that it is indeed strange that the men should out of the blue cheer somebody kicking a piece of leather through goal posts. Why would one want to get involved in a war-like-sport with two teams opposing each other as if trying to defend their country’s right and honor? Despite their criticisms, sometime they sit to watch especially during major tournaments. Then they start asking about things like why wear stubbed boots and start running on green grass under the watchful eyes of a referee just to impress the cheering crowd. Why would people with sound intellect sit down for hours just to watch sweating men running on a pitch where they sometimes spit on?

Then they come to a conclusion that perhaps the greatest unspoken reason why men love football is because it gives many of them a few precious, uninterrupted hours away from their wives. They claim football allows men to escape the women in their lives and their responsibilities. They allege that football may be one of the last great hide-outs for men. Football presents one of the last great places where men can hide out. Men not only escape their women in their lives, but they also are able to get away from the world of adult responsibilities: Watching football presents an opportunity to escape into a less responsible mode and to recapture the boyhood exuberance and enthusiasm of rooting for your team with the other guys. This is what women think of football in relation to men.

For better or for worse, football is loved because it is good! You have every reason in the world to remain stationary for two to six hours; scream and shout like never before, and shove endless amounts of fatty foods and fizzy drinks into your system. Men watch football to meet deep psychological needs and desires. Like good therapy, football satisfies many psychological and social needs in the lives of men. It’s an inexpensive form of regular psychotherapy, available to millions of men, without an appointment. It’s therapy! And the women need to realize how important football is to men. Be guided accordingly and take care!

Nizar al Musalmy

nizar.nmh.musalmy@gmail.com