by Darren Douglas

Created on: October 25, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

Football; a pastime, a passion, or for many a release. It is usually argued that football is the biggest and most watched sport on Earth. Some people may stress otherwise and suggest cricket, think of the population of India alone for example and then add some. Or say a pub sport such as pool or darts, unlikely I'd say and in some eyes not 'real' sports but they do have large reservoirs of untapped amateurs.

In reality it would need a brave person to seriously debate that football isn't at the front of most categories in sport. The most watched, the most played and the most popular, it is difficult to see any other that competes. Football though like anything popular will have many detractors, and so it should otherwise the world would be a very boring place, a communist utopia perhaps (if such a thing could exist).

Where the sport doesn't actually get an abundance of credit is as a part of wider society, it has often been taken for granted as an avenue for people to 'get away from it all'. Certainly in previous periods of an economic downturn it has acted as a bastion for social classes, in particular the working class. In recessions past football was a source of entertainment where the masses could vent their spleen, meet up with friends for the day and forget their worries.

It is notable that whilst the First and Second World Wars brought a halt to the operation of the normal football leagues, every effort was made to maintain football in some form. Some famous players continued to play in a special wartime league which consisted of ten regional mini-leagues based around England. That effort was made in order to maintain some semblance of normality, it cannot be underestimated how entertainment and sport can be a tonic for the worst of times.

Not quite so endearing, but still relevant is how the Colosseum and gladiatorial combat was an early original equivalent. Quite a lot more blood-thirsty and amoral than football is now, it was more of a tool to appease the mobs, still you should get the point. As society has changed so has the role of modern sports and entertainment in it, but mostly it has been in context.

A simple test these days comes round every two summers, if we are lucky enough to pass the qualifiers. Certainly in England and similarly in other countries, when a nation plays in an international tournament there is a generally more positive atmosphere that can be felt, the sun may help with that but it is noticeable. It is one of the rare occasions

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