Why I Stopped Caring About Sports

As someone who’s grown up in working class England, you’re surrounded by sports and the sporting culture that involves:

• Drinking.

• Friendly hostility.

• Wild celebrations.

But in recent months I’ve found myself slowly, and naturally, losing interest in all sports, spending less time watching them.

Even when I do, I’m less emotionally invested.

Is it because my team is doing badly? My honest answer is no.

So, why am I losing interest?

Let me explain.

British Sporting Culture

British sporting culture is nothing short of spectacular.

When it comes to range, no other country in the world does it better than the UK.

• Football.

• Rugby.

• Cricket.

• The Olympics.

And there’s no other sporting spectacle in the world that beats English football.

The English Premier League (EPL) and English Football League (EFL) are huge brands, with loyal followings across the nation.

People follow their teams week-in-week-out travelling the country on weekends, in terrible weather, to watch their team play on a weekend.

And they get praised for it.

• “Class fans”

• “What a turnout”

It’s been engrained into working class British culture for generations.

1. You go to work during the week.

2. You head to the football on the weekend.

3. You do it all over again.

4. And again. And again. And again.

It’s a never ending cycle.

My Problems With Sports

Every week I load up my Twitter account and see a post from “FootyAwayDays” about a group of lads jumping up and down, screaming their faces off that their team scored a goal.

And then others will praise them for the way that they celebrated:

• “Class fans”

• “Great limbs” (limbs = celebrations/cheering)

• “That’s a proper celebration”

And then in the next tweet I’ll see a video of a WEF conference in Davos with some old guy talking about how there needs to be new “climate taxes” imposed on the working class, who are already struggling to make ends meet.

And my problem with the football is this… why?

These goals, and these sporting events have ZERO impact and ZERO benefit on our lives.

They give you a false sense of joy, for but a moment, and then come Monday morning, you’re back to the normality of working the job you hate and nothing to do except looking forward to the next game.

It’s a never ending cycle, and the working class will live this life until they’re old, putting all their effort and energy into supporting a team that doesn’t even know they exist.

And on top of this, you have this group of men that care about nothing except sporting results…

“John, are you struggling to pay your bills?”

“Couldn’t care less mate, we scored a last minute winner yesterday!”

I’m now starting to believe that the endorsement of sports is deliberately designed to get men to put their efforts, beliefs and energy into something that means nothing.

Rather than the things in the country that really do:

• Rich Vs Poor

• Inflation

• Living Crisis

You could be:

• Losing your job.

• In a heap of debt.

• Getting divorced.

• Getting evicted.

• Getting taken advantage of by the establishment.

But as long as your team is winning, life’s great.

What Needs to Change

The truth about sports is this. It’s an escape.

An escape from the misery of reality, so you can enjoy yourself for a few hours on a weekend before the vicious cycle starts all over again.

And the truth is, the lengths some British people will go towards supporting their teams show some remarkable traits.

• Unbelievable loyalty.

• Comfortable with defeat.

• Emotionally invested.

• Resilient.

• Can come together to support a common goal.

All these traits are hugely valuable.

It tells me that people, especially in England, are capable of so much more if they weren’t brainwashed into putting all their efforts into something that gives them nothing in return but a small spike of dopamine.

I want men to think about why you’re getting emotionally invested into something that:

• You have zero control over.

• Has zero tangible impact on your life.

• Is used to keep you in the working class.

I still enjoy watching sports on occasion, especially if it’s a big event.

But I’ve detached emotionally from everything, because I know it doesn’t matter.

I hope some guys take something from this and realise it’s all a farce.

If you can travel a 1,000 mile round trip on a Tuesday night in freezing temperatures to watch your team lose 3–0, think about what you could achieve if you put those efforts into something that will give you actual results in return?

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