| By :
Debra Smith
As you approach a football stadium for the first time you'll realise this is no fabric structure, but an arena made of concrete and plastic. But what else is there to look for in your match day experience? 1. Singing A lot of people go to football matches because they love the atmosphere and feel a sense of belonging. Sometimes the game itself is hard to watch, but during the duller parts the fans will always start up a song or tune. Football songs don't really vary from team to team, with most chants just being variations on others with a player's name changed or some other lyrics slightly different. They're often also pretty rude, but that can add to the enjoyment of the song. Amusingly, the swear word is sometimes sung in hushed tones, as if the singers are worried that the police are really going to eject them for bad language. 2. The Food Food at football matches has improved a lot in recent years, but in general it is really pretty dreadful and grossly overpriced. Those negatives, however, don't mean that it isn't something you look forward to at the end of a turgid first half, as the cold of a winter afternoon seeps through your body. It is surely for this reason alone that Bovril is sold at all in any place. It's basically a warm, comparatively cheap liquid that doesn't taste too terrible and is seemingly only sold at football grounds. But it is sold at all football grounds. 3. The Football Ah yes, the reason hundreds of thousands of people rearrange social engagements for thirty-five weeks of the year and spend thousands of pounds following a team. It can't be the singing packed with naughty words or the pies packed with questionable substances, it has to be the sport itself that is reliably entertaining. Not so. Depending on where you are going the skill level can be mixed, but interestingly enough the entertainment factor is not dependent on the quality of the play. A Sunday league game is likely to have more goals in it than the final of the World Cup, and yet the latter attracts a much larger audience. 4. The Stadium Obviously the stadiums are massive outdoor structures, steeped in history and built to exhibit football as well as possible to everyone who is there. Fans will bring scarves and banners and occasionally hang large pieces of fabric from the tier showing support of their team. These are often shown on TV and can be a great way to make a point. There are many reasons why people go to football games, some of which are pretty obvious and many others which are a complete mystery and somewhat less clear. What is clear, however, is that our national game arouses emotions in us that not many other things do.
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