How does one come to support a team? Usually, it is fairly straightforward; you inherit it from your parents, or your community, or a friend, and occassionally, a stroke of serendipity. When thought of in this context, you can see why many people see it as a religion. In 99% of instances, it is something that happens TO you.
That still leaves 1% of the time where people go out and seek a team to support, and that is precisely what happened to me this weekend. As many of you know, I am embracing middle-age by becoming increasingly francaphillic, and thought that it might be worthwhile finding a French football team to support. While not the same as living in the 8th Arrondiesement, it is a way to build a connection to a place which I still know very little about.
The first and most obvious choice was Paris St Germain, aka PSG. There was a lot going for them; they have a STUNNING strip, they’re based in Paris, and they’re winners. Since 2010, they have won, or come runners up, every year. This year looks no different, being 21 points clear and having not lost a single domestic game all year.
And that’s the rub, I can’t just go off and support the best team (and only the best due to ridiculous levels of funding from their Qatari owners). Being a fan means the highs AND the lows, and were I ever to go to a game, I wanted to be the only tourist in the stadium. So PSG was off the list.
Marseille is a horrible place, so that was off.
Toulouse has a violet strip which made me almost vom-cano, so that was off the list.
Nice is, well, nice, in terms of both the location and their team. But again, a bit too upmarket, and the owners look completely clueless.
Eventually, after prompting my LLM for quite some time, I came to a decision; I now support LOSC Lille, the Mastiffs!
I haven’t been to Lille, but I can pronounce it, so that’s tres bien. The logo is very cool, which is a childish reason to support a team, but a reason nonetheless. And finally, while not the odds on favourite to win, they WERE champions in 2021, so success might not be too far away.
Does this mean that I am going to morph my whole personality around Les Dogues? Of course not. But I am trying to build an abundance mentality, so why not share the love?
Allez Lille!
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