Why is there so much hatred in football?

In my opinion there is nothing better than watching your team score a goal. Supporting them, cheering them on, going mental when they’ve scored – it doesn’t matter if you’re watching it on TV or at the ground, it is an amazing feeling.

You genuinely get lost in the moment, even if it is just for a second, and go crazy. Grabbing he people sitting next to you, shouting, screaming – anything goes.

Love for your team is something that we all have as football fans, and it is that passion that makes the game as special as it is.

But there is a fine line between passion and love for your team and actually hating another team.

I’m not talking about rivalry, there are obviously always going to be rivalries either due to the geographical location of the teams or past games that have been particularly feisty.

But I can’t understand when someone says that they hate another team. I can understand disliking them, not wanting them to succeed on the pitch, the banter in the stands – but to hate a team, and by relation their supporters – is just nonsensical.

I was at a game last weekend where there was the usual back-and-forth between the home and away supporters and it started in reasonably good spirits.

However, as the game went on and frustrations increased people gradually got more and more incensed and there was defiantly and atmosphere in the air.

It is the ‘hate’ that people have for other teams that spawns the nastier side of football; the chants that take it that step too far, the chants that are simply horrific, the fights, the aggression.

What’s the need? I know we invest a huge amount into our teams, financially and emotionally, but is there really a need to hate someone because they support another team? Well, no, obviously.

Of course I’m not naive, the Manchester United V Manchester City derby will have a more heated atmosphere than Chelsea V Norwich, but there isn’t the need to overstep the line from passion to hatred.

James Haggis

Follow @footyfriends

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