How football gets us through hard times

“My life is Liverpool. It means absolutely everything. I can’t put it into words. It’s just a complete escape. There’s absolutely nothing I love more.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house over the Christmas break as footage of twelve year old Dáire Gorman shedding tears at the pre-match emotionally charged rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ at Anfield went viral.

“As soon as the song played…just an emotional breakdown,” Dáire recalls, shaking his head in disbelief at the golden memory. “I tried to sing a couple of words but they just wouldn't come out of my mouth. The way my life has been…I’ll always listen to it - [knowing] that I'll [too] never walk alone.”

Dáire was born with a rare condition called Crommelin Syndrome, which has affected the growth of his upper limbs along with his femur bones in both legs, confining him to a wheelchair.

Despite the challenges he has faced, with support from his family, and his unmatched passion for Liverpool FC, the boy responsible for The Reds 16-0 FIFA thrashing of United maintains a positive mindset.

“Dáire is definitely one in a million, he has a massive personality,” says his mum, Shelley. “What he has come through over the last 12 years, and he is still smiling, is amazing. It’s like Liverpool Football Club is his best friend.”

Watching Dáire's clip in full, where he is subsequently invited to meet Liverpool’s management and players, I can't help but feel a gratitude for the joy that this sport can bring, along with that sweet sense of belonging we as individuals feel when we strike a kinship with a football club.

Furthermore, what really strikes a chord is the way in which a football club can bolster and shelter fans as they navigate through those inevitable stormy periods in life, whether their roots be physical, mental, financial, relationship based, stemmed in work or a mix of all five.

Take diehard Clarets fan Alastair Campbell, who explained in an hour long BBC2 documentary ‘Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me’, how watching his cherished Burnley Football Club helped to curb his severe depression.

“Football and watching Burnley FC, win or lose, always helps.” Mr Campbell revealed. “It doesn’t make the depression go away but when I’m watching them play it is so intense, I get so involved it eases it for the time being. If I am having a bad day watching Burnley FC, whether they play well or badly, makes a difference.”

“Supporting Burnley and the relationships I have built up with fans” He continued “…players, managers – including Sean Dyche – have alway helped keep me connected to something else, even when I am having a bad time.”

As part of a study conducted by the philanthropic social enterprise Better, one in two of all sports fans said watching a match encouraged them to socialise more with friends and family. 

Over a third (35%) said it increased their sense of belonging within a community, while 33% claimed that it motivated them to become more physically active.

“Sport and exercise is brilliant for physical, mental and cognitive health. If it was a pill it would make billions!” stated Dr Josephine Perry, a sports psychologist who conversed with Better as part of the study.

“These [a.k.a sports] help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, make us behave differently, boost our self-esteem and means [that] we reduce any feelings of loneliness by becoming more social,” she added.

In a piece for The Athletic, a 22-year-old student confided to journalist Katie Whyatt how watching football helped her cope with the unrelenting ache of such loneliness and depression.

Recalling a period in her teens when depression threatened to overtake her, she discussed how watching her favourite player, the dual citizen keeper Karen Bardsley, kept her at a safe distance from the precipice.

“The emptiness I had felt — well, I didn’t feel so empty,” she said. “I had found my outlet. When I’d feel like shit, I’d go on YouTube and watch highlights. Even for a little bit, it just gave me an enjoyment. I didn’t really have an interest in music or anything any more. How can a player save your life? Watching the player gives you something to forget the pain, even if only for a little while.”

According to Dr. Richard Shuster, clinical psychologist and host of The Daily Helping podcast, a key process in the regulation of our brain’s reward and pleasure centers, that of the quick fire release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, is responsible for the positive shift in mood felt by football fans when their team wins or is playing well.

Yet like anything we may rely on solely to lift us in low moments, there is a pay off.

When our team fails to capitalise on a chance to hit pole position in the League, 

or worse, suffers a hammering to our nearest rivals, the brain produces cortisol, a hormone cooked up within the adrenals that the body expels when as fans, we experience stress.

“Worse, our brains may produce less serotonin, which can lead to increased anger and depression,” Shuster added.

Speaking as part of the Netflix documentary ‘Sunderland ‘Till I Die’, then manager, Chris Coleman, spoke to the heaviness felt on his person when the team (who were relegated from The Championship to League One during his tenure) were performing badly.

With the 3rd highest ‘hidden’ unemployment rate in the country, as reported in The Cities Outlook from thinkthank centre, Sunderland City, with a population of 275,000, currently supports 120,000 jobs, its unemployment rate of 8.3% higher than the national average.  

Due to such economic difficulties, fans of the Black Cats (which includes the staff), are heavily dependent on their club to be the life force of not only their City, but their own lives, and as a result experience feelings akin to despair when their side are underperforming - something Coleman was painfully aware of.

“They're great people,” he told Netflix, dark circles visible under his eyes. “If you win, they've won the lottery. They don't actually care about money. Sunderland have won a game of football. If you lose, and you keep losing, it effects them so badly, it really does.”

Given the fickle nature of the beautiful game, the purpose of this piece is therefore not to prescribe two nights of Sky Sports Football per week in favour of therapy, visiting your GP or speaking to family and close friends when in times of trouble.

Football, as any fan will know only too well, can be unpredictable. 

Anything can happen. 

It's why we love it so.

What it is however is a nod. 

A nod to every football club, big or small. Every footballer - professional, semi- professional or amateur. 

Every club coach and their staff.

The numerous unpaid volunteers.

With every ninety minutes facilitated and played, you gift us a slot of time where we can forget ourselves.

Where we are captivated and feel an unrivalled fervour.

And as the gently spoken Jürgen Klopp summarised to the young Dáire.

“Life without emotions- imagine that. How boring it would be?”

Very.

Leal commits to Athlone Town for new season https://t.co/hbhYqjw7pmpic.twitter.com/yjbiUyPXRD

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) December 31, 2023