Off-side: To be a fan, or not to be, that is the question

Sports fandom is never defined by logic. Our unhealthy obsession with clubs or players stems from myriad reasons — we often follow in the footsteps of our parents or peers, or we rebel and opt for the other extreme. Sometimes, a dazzling star lights our way to a team. But once in, we rarely waver, religiously engaging in the worship of the cult, our days, our moods dictated by their fortunes, our social schedules governed by their calendar. And yet, the same loyalty is rarely reciprocated by the club or the players we adore.

Our heroes are fickle; their allegiances are easily bought and sold, and their loyalties change as often as the trends on X (nee Twitter) and TikTok.

But as fans, we are in flux. Should we linger with Barcelona, where Lionel Messi kept us hooked for close to two decades, or do we move with him to the Parisian shores and then to the desert heat of Miami as he embraces the life of an exceptionally well-paid nomad?

Do we forget the atrocities of a dictatorial regime as Cristiano Ronaldo makes Saudi Arabia his new home?

Or do we, too, move and recalibrate our affections? Not for us Ronaldo and the Saudi sands with their dubious human-rights record, or Jordan Henderson, who will no longer wear the rainbow armband with which he once championed the LGBTQIA+ community.

Messi and the allure of Major League Soccer, too, might be discarded as the timings clash rudely with our circadian rhythms, and the Reds — post their folly of joining the rich-only European Super League bandwagon — must learn to forge on without my endorsement.

We can choose to unfollow a team because of a foul-mouthed owner, an erroneous choice to overlook allegations of sexual violence, or simply the metamorphosis of a team’s hues. Our loyalties can shift even with the sudden revelation of a newfound love for our club by a person we irrationally dislike.

In our love for sports, no logic should hold sway, and our hearts should follow the same unique, undeniable human fickleness in discarding a player or a team as it did in choosing them in the first place.