please empty your brain below
Same here.

Also with relationships.

Johnny B | 11.07.18 - 7:40 a.m. | #

I stood up in a beer tent in Foreign on Saturday full of 400 people and belted out In-ger-land, In-ger-land, In-ger-land, and it felt GREAT. But I don’t believe.
Patriotism/nationalism feels good - you should try it!

Jimmy | 11.07.18 - 7:48 a.m. | #

Is it belief or hope?, for those I know who are religious, it gives them something outside of their experience that life is shit, that there is something better, somewhere, if you took away their religion then they might give up.

Other people have different escape mechanisms, from the harmless, like reading fiction, to the destructive, like drink and drugs.

Of course this can take solid form in the shape of a real person (Trump) or an idea championed by real people (Brexit and Socialism), normally this occurs when the hope levels of many people in the population are low (as are their religious beliefs) and they need something to believe in.

Still Anon | 11.07.18 - 7:50 a.m. | #

I have often wondered why clearly otherwise intelligent people say a prayer for x, y or z. It clearly makes no difference: The subjects still die, lose or whatever was not the direction of the prayer.

scrumpy | 11.07.18 - 8:06 a.m. | #

Football supporters actually in the stadium can impact a match from encouraging the team, influencing the referee or intimidating the opposition.

Messiah | 11.07.18 - 8:15 a.m. | #

@Messiah
Scientifically proven? Surely that is hope.

scrumpy | 11.07.18 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Don't you believe in the Big Bang, spontaneous appearance of living cells and evolution of 'higher' life forms; or are you truly, truly agnostic?

RogerB | 11.07.18 - 8:32 a.m. | #

I try to assume any group of youths I encounter will be friendly unless the evidence otherwise is overwhelming, and am pleasantly surprised by how often I am right.

Andrew S | 11.07.18 - 8:44 a.m. | #

@Messiah - not sure that is really true. Arsenal had a better home record than Liverpool last year. Arsenal suffered very poor game atmosphere; Liverpool supposedly the best.

Chris | 11.07.18 - 9:06 a.m. | #

belief is essential.
Self preservation of emotions yields limited rewards. The euphoria from belief outweighs the disappointment when things don't happen as you expected.

I suspect its possibly too late to encourage this approach

But nothing wrong with believing a diety does love you for who you are.

And it's coming home!! (even if it doesn't)

louise | 11.07.18 - 9:09 a.m. | #

The EU was one of the few things I believed in.

| 11.07.18 - 9:20 a.m. | #

@Scrumpy, @Chris I don't know if what Messiah said has been scientifically proven or not, but you often hear entertainers saying how their performances are influenced by the mood of their audience so why not football too? Is it not just another form of entertainment?

Cornish Cockney | 11.07.18 - 9:27 a.m. | #

Scientifically proven? I suppose we could ban supporters from some matches to test the null hypothesis. But statistically, football teams generally do win more at home than away. I expect home support is at least part of that.

As I understand it, football matches show more variability in results than most other sports, due to the impact that just one goal can make. (Compare runs in cricket, or points in rugby or basketball.)

"Belief" in the Big Bang is not the same category as belief in a creator God, in the same way that a scientific theory (a coherent explanation of the evidence, confirmed by further experiments) is not just any old idea. For a start, I am not aware of any religion that predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Andrew | 11.07.18 - 9:47 a.m. | #

"I should make clear that most supporters of political parties are pragmatists"

Perhaps. But I think we all know who's stolen the car and driven off in it. Our political parties right now (the two that matter, at least) appear entirely driven by ideology over pragmatism. It doesn't matter how that goes down with pragmatic voters as there isn't any realistic alternative. (For most. I have a LD MP though.)

Chz | 11.07.18 - 9:50 a.m. | #

I think DG believes in plenty of things, most ardently that areas should remain free from commercialism; both the places he blogs about, and this blog itself.

This always feels like a very unusual part of the internet in that it has no interest in selling me anything.

Tom | 11.07.18 - 10:02 a.m. | #

In 1982 I stopped being a rabid football supporter. Up until that moment football was my life. Results of matches would determine my mood for days. My family put up with this behavior, but they were not happy about it.
Then 25th June 1982 The disgrace of Gijon. After watching this match on TV, I never got caught up in the hype/of football again. It became just a game and no longer a matter of life a death.
This was a turning point in my life, for the better.

YDU | 11.07.18 - 10:06 a.m. | #

I’m with you on belief and blind support / faith DG, but you did slip a ‘we’ve’ reached the semis comment :-)

Lux | 11.07.18 - 10:44 a.m. | #

I dunno. I'm with you on not having blind faith in a football team (I've never been interested in football myself besides the World Cup), but I feel you come across as a little condescending here. Those saying "it's coming home" I feel aren't doing it out of blind faith - many of them are doing it purely out of happiness for how well the team is doing this year.

Muzer | 11.07.18 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Many football supporters believe,
which is what I said,
is by no means the same as
Most football supporters believe.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 11.07.18 - 10:54 a.m. | #

Scrumpy - there have been surveys of the impact of home form in a number of different ways - statistical analysis of results, getting referees to re-analyse decisions made during the course of a match on video afterwards with no crowd noise etc. There will have been various amounts of rigour.

However, if you want empirical evidence a crowd affects the way a game is played, I suggest you go and actually watch a match - for example Liverpool before the Manchester City European game this year - the atmosphere affects the game. (This can of course be a positive or negative impact on the home team).

Messiah | 11.07.18 - 10:55 a.m. | #

Nicely put.

Milo | 11.07.18 - 10:59 a.m. | #

Totally with you on all your comments. It would be nice to win but....

Religion was nicely summed up for me in 1964. Doing a bit of hospital portering to earn some pre-uni money I met up with a chap I had last seen at prep school some 10 years earlier. His father was a vicar and he had just graduated from Cambridge (having read English, he then went on to be a BBC producer, are you reading this RH?) and I recall clearly what he said: "God is a psychological need". I've been an atheist ever since.

J | 11.07.18 - 11:26 a.m. | #

ENGERRRRLAAAAAND!

Antipodean | 11.07.18 - 11:34 a.m. | #

the only english team that I have ever felt near total confidence in, was the 2003 England rugby team. They were so good they just didn't really seem properly english.

As it was, despite the aura of invincibility they only just won the world cup that year with pretty much the last kick of the game!

Michael | 11.07.18 - 12:09 p.m. | #

Am I the only DG reader who has no interest whatsoever in the World Cup and actively avoids it, e.g. switching off whenever it's mentioned in news broadcasts?

DG's spectrum needs a purple box to the left of the cyan one: 'NO WAY !'

Gerry | 11.07.18 - 12:35 p.m. | #

I know it's your blog, but talk about self indulgence here - "I" this and "I" that etc. etc.

Sir Biton | 11.07.18 - 12:39 p.m. | #

@Gerry
No you're not.

mikeS | 11.07.18 - 12:44 p.m. | #

Patriotism and the sporting equivalent always seem fine as long as they bring you joy and no-one else pain. I have to admit, when one of my preferred sports teams is doing badly, I tend to just ghost away. Fair-weather or bandwagon fan, I suppose.

But then, if a TV show I liked gets worse, I stop watching. If a book I've been reading bores me, I stop reading. Inviting unhappiness into one's life feels unhealthy, particularly when there are so many other interesting things to enjoy, and so little (relative) time we get to enjoy them.

Ben | 11.07.18 - 1:07 p.m. | #

Crowd support is probably a factor but other factors may also be involved, such as familiar surroundings (both in the pitch and in the dressing room), acclimatisation, and not having to travel a long distance to the fixture. It would be interesting to see whether there is still a "home advantage" in games that have been played behind closed doors

timbo again | Homepage | 11.07.18 - 1:21 p.m. | #

This article advances the thesis from the book "Scorecasting" that the main difference the home crowd makes to the result of a football match is on the performance of the referee and a resulting bias in the award of fouls, cards, added time, etc.

Andrew | 11.07.18 - 2:21 p.m. | #

Gerry, no you're definitely not, but I don't need to go further left than 'indifference'. I don't 'get' it at all to be honest [plus I couldn't name a single player and barely know the rules of football!], though I suppose I understand that 'wanting to be a part of something bigger' phenomenon.

And J - love your mate's quote. Perfect.

Sashina | 11.07.18 - 3:45 p.m. | #

English football matches have been required to be played behind closed doors so some data points do exist.

Mike D | 11.07.18 - 4:19 p.m. | #

I was out walking on Saturday too, bursting out of the forest into downtown Chingford just as the match started, and hearing an almighty racket from the packed pubs.

A bit later, waiting to catch my train at Paddington, some beer-breathing (literally) red-necked oaf bellowed "It's coming home!" in my face. I stopped, expressionless and still. While he searched my face for a response. To be honest, I was so surprised by his approach I didn't react at all. He tried it again, closing his eyes tight, opening his mouth wide so I could see his tonsils and yelling "Ittttttsssss commmmmmmminggggg HOOOOOOOOOOOME!".

Again, I didn't respond - this time because I actually sensed he might want a bit of a ruck and I wasn't up for that at all. Seconds felt like minutes....

....and then he sort of whimpered apologetically: "it is mate - its's coming home..." sounding almost wistful about the whole thing.

Strange business, football.

Mike Newman | Homepage | 11.07.18 - 4:58 p.m. | #

I plan to go shopping at 7pm and hopefully have no queues at the checkouts.
As dg was in Paris at the start of last nights game, and France won maybe as he is in London tonight England will win.
At a pub lunch today someone told me that a pig called Mystic Marcus has been used to forecast the football result. People believe in all sorts of things.

John | 11.07.18 - 5:43 p.m. | #

I have deliberately scheduled some work in the garden between 7pm and 9pm (9.30pm if necessary). It will be pleasantly cool and useful jobs will get done.

popartist | 11.07.18 - 6:35 p.m. | #

It's just a bit of fun; there's so much bad news about. It's also just a game but if makes people happy for a while then what's the harm? I think every one of us practices a little magic, consciously or unconsciously, in the hope that we might make good things happen.

Darren Eddy | 11.07.18 - 7:10 p.m. | #

God, I love this blog (although I don't necessarily believe in an Ultimate Deity except possibly in extenuating circumstances - like imminent death).

Ian | 11.07.18 - 7:21 p.m. | #

I have seen a documentary at some point that also talked about levels of testerone on the home team being higher than the away team. Not sure whether a specific cause of this was identified.

Messiah | 11.07.18 - 8:03 p.m. | #

Well that post certainly got everyone thinking. Me included. I think I’m more of a hoper. Maybe a fervent hoper. Not quite a believer.

Sally Hirst | 11.07.18 - 9:24 p.m. | #

Beautifully put.

Sarah | 11.07.18 - 9:26 p.m. | #

2-1. A painful reminder than belief can be misplaced.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 11.07.18 - 9:38 p.m. | #

"Our brave young boys are coming home"

popartist | 11.07.18 - 10:00 p.m. | #

Thank You DG. I love your blog too, like Ian. Never know what we're going to get, that's the joy of it. Apologies for not commenting more. I'm an avid reader though. It's the first thing I look at every morning after checking emails. I quote you to my other half ... "DG says this, DG says that, OH, guess where DG's been?" The comments are almost as interesting as the blog some days. Thanks again.

Neesy | 11.07.18 - 10:50 p.m. | #

When I saw my betting account gaining money I knew something's wrong. My condolences to DG and everyone.

Patrickov | 12.07.18 - 1:02 a.m. | #

BTW the pig Mystic Marcus predicted Croatia to win.

John | 12.07.18 - 7:34 a.m. | #

The thing that really gets me regarding belief is that even when presented with proof to the contrary, the believer often dismisses it as being a trial sent to test their faith!
As so beautifully portrayed by 2 Synths in the penultimate or ultimate episode of Humans recently.

You see it with some people who are willing to swear the sky is orange rather than admit they have been misled/duped, whether it is in religion, politics or any other strongly held belief. Their belief is so tied up with their identity.

Like an elderly man I know who is struggling with what the Conservatives are doing (to us and themselves) with his life-long support for them. Everything he thought they stood for is crumbling before his eyes.

Cornish Cockney | 12.07.18 - 10:46 a.m. | #

I know I'm a little bit late with this but this seems like an appropriate place to put in a quote from John Cleese in Clockwise:

"It's not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair. It's the hope!"

X-Plaistow | 12.07.18 - 1:41 p.m. | #

But DG, you do believe in truth, justice and a balance between individual liberty and communal obligation (or if you don't you're an extremely good liar).
Don't stop believing in these because this is what makes your blog so interesting.

RogerB | 12.07.18 - 1:57 p.m. | #

That's got to be one of the best blog pieces I have ever read.

As for the football, I'm afraid I find it mostly dull with a few worth-while bits here and there - and extra interest if it starts to get 'historic'. Some say that life's like that. Fortunately there are those whose endless curiosity and constant interest in the world around them shows that it can be anything-but.

Thanks a million

NickW | Homepage | 13.07.18 - 12:42 a.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy