Passion for a Team

“Uniiiited! Uniiiited!” The chant still rings in my head.

Swarms of people were chanting while entering their home-away-from-home. Older men hugged and shook hands as if they hadn’t seen each other for years before they analyzed the awaited match. Streams of red, black and yellow flooded the streets around the lit-up old stadium. The high energy was contagious.

The rapid British-English dialect, mixed with multiple conversations fighting for importance over one another, created chaos between the hordes of people. It was overwhelming. But in this energetic atmosphere, a connection was made through one word – United

A group of twenty to twenty-five year old men, faces painted in intimidating red and black, progressively grew in booming unison…

“Uniiiited!, Uniiiited!, Uniiiiiited!!”

The chant continued to grow. Conversations stopped as Old Trafford’s corridor echoed from the shouts of the fans…

“UNIIIIITED!!, UNIIIITED!!!”

…it ended with a roar of cheers, claps from everyone and the group of men that started the chant exchanging successful “high-fives.” They had achieved their goal – they created passionate unity.

We searched for our section and climbed the small flight of stairs. First blinded by the bright lights towering over the pitch, I stood paralyzed by the sight of a perfectly cut field, the smell of meat pies and beer, and the sound of an array of chants. I was in a world of my own.

I was at a Manchester United football match.

I was living my dream, and because it had been my dream for so long it didn’t feel real, even though I was physically standing there. I was in a place where people understood how I felt about the game of soccer – football – and specifically Manchester United.

So what is passion for a team?

Love.

The passion for a team gives a person something to always look forward to, or fall back on, or confidently converse about with equally passionate people. If you’re passionate about a team you undeniably love the team and display this love through your knowledge of the team and the game.

That night at Old Trafford I felt connected to the fans through the incapability to describe the emotional bond to the game and to the team. When Dimitri Berbatov wound up and struck the ball into the upper left corner to make the game 1 – nil, the volume of cheers rose so high the city of Manchester could hear the celebration. The celebration of the team, Berbatov congregating back with Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, and other Man U members, truly choked me up inside. Looking behind me at the crowd, the celebration on the field resembled the celebration of the fans as people hugged and “high-fived,” regardless if they knew each other. Through the endless smiles and cheers, the passion was inevitably present.

This love, this passion I have is similar to the millions of others that have a passion for a sports team, a movie, an actor/actress, a food, etc., and I am proud to say I am obsessed because no matter what happens I will love MY team. Win or lose, I will be a Man U fan.

Forever the chants will gladly be embedded in my head as I reminisce in my experience and continue to support the mighty reds…

“Take me home, United road, to a place that I belong, to Old Trafford, to see United, take me home, United road…”