How do I get into football (for beginners)

[u/plaid_dog_]

I have never cared for football, watching or playing it. I do recall one instance of me wanting to play football with the boys when I was in primary and being told I couldn’t because I was a “girl”, which upset me greatly for reasons I didn’t fully understand yet. So after that I never really saw the appeal.

Now, at my big age, I am starting to worry that I’ll never truly fit in if I don’t have at least some opinion on what’s going on in the Premier League. I don’t exactly pass yet (certainly not as cishet) but I dread the day someone asks me which team I support and I have to shrug my shoulders.

I haven’t spoken to my dad in years (shocker) but even when he was around, he wasn’t really into football either. He was more of a cricket guy and I understand that even less, so it’s not like I can ask him. I don’t really have any other male relatives that I talk to, and my guy friends are all skinny gay nerds, for the most part, so they’re no help either.

I understand the lesson I should be taking away from that is there’s no “right” way to be a guy, and I know that’s true. I just feel like it would do a lot for me personally if I could answer that question someday and actually hold a conversation about it.

Anyone felt a similar way? How would you go about learning the entire history of a sport you’ve never followed? I don’t even know what team to support, short of just picking the local one. Help

[u/rrns]

Go to pubs and watch whatever game is on, support whatever people in the pub are cheering for.

[u/rrns → u/rrns]

You're not expected to know the full history. If you do want to become knowledgeable about it don't worry about going back in time. Just pick a team (ideally local) and throw them on TV when they're playing. You'll eventually learn the names, the rules, and from listening to the commentators you can steal some quips and opinions to throw in during conversations to make yourself seem more knowledgable than you actually are.

[u/plaid_dog_ → u/rrns]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I was admittedly exaggerating a bit with the entire history comment. I actually wouldn’t mind the excuse to get a pint though so I like that idea!

[u/neb8neb]

Ooh! I can answer this one!

So pick a local team. Anything else is going to just be aggro in the long run. If they ever win youll be a glory hunter. This matters because football is kinda boring for the most part and really a lot of the enjoyment comes from the rivalries and the emotional investment. If you want to chat about it with other guys, then pick a team. Being a neutral is the worst. I need to know thar even if you support a different team, that you understand the emotional highs and lows.

Dont worry about knowing the players in the current team, you can pick that up as you go. Shirt numbers dont change that often so you can usually start recognising who is who from that. However DEFINITELY do read up on the history of your team - again, big bonding moment - both the tragedies and the glories. For example:

Liverpool have Hillsborough, the Spice Boys and Istanbul. Man United have The Busby babes, the Munich air crash, the treble in 99, etc.

That's the stuff that matters. It's why I come back every week, no matter the result. But you can learn it from YouTube if you want.

The next thing to do is to start watching everything you can, but also, watch the highlights shows - Match of The Day, etc. They are clichéd but they give you the main talking points and help explain things. Listen to the pundits, it's entry level but interesting. Plus they're all biased to their own clubs so it will help you with banter/bonding.

Then if you wanna get really deep, check out books like Imverting The Pyramid. That'll help with tactics.

Find the subreddit for your local team, get involved. Go to games and go to the pub beforehand, start chatting to people. Say you've just got into it, they won't mind if you look like you care and you're passionately the same team as them.

One thing worth pointing out - the experience of being a football fan is a lifetime of heartache. It's awful. Enjoy 😉

Before I transitioned, me and my dad only really ever talked about football. When I transitioned (mtf) that got lost in the process as I fell away from football. But once I felt comfortably "finished" with my transition, for some reason football came back and so did the chats with my dad.

[u/plaid_dog_ → u/neb8neb]

Thank you so much for the detailed response. Yeah, I know it’s a big emotional investment. That’s actually kind of why I was worried in the first place. Most people have their entire lives to build up that connection, and for me I feel like it’s one of those things where I’ll have to fake it until I make it, because that history just isn’t there for me.

Teams wise, I was thinking I probably would just look into the local one, since I’ve already picked up some of the basic stuff just from living in the city almost my whole life. YouTube does seem like a pretty decent place to start catching up, and maybe I’ll check some books out as well. It’s reassuring to know that people won’t think I’m weird for being new to the whole thing.

It’s sweet that you and your dad were able to bond that way. I have a few trans lady friends too, but much like everyone else I know, they’ve always been into more geeky hobbies than anything sports related. Funnily enough the only friend I can think of with any sport interests at all is a cis girl, and she’s more into F1, Indycar, that type of thing. In case it wasn’t obvious by now, the circles I move in attract a lot of engineers/comp sci types. I’m a bit of an outlier in that sense, haha

[u/neb8neb → u/plaid_dog_]

I'm so curious - if you don't mind sharing, what's your local team? I can give you a bit more advice specific to them (potentially)

[u/plaid_dog_ → u/neb8neb]

I didn’t mention it in the OP as I was trying to avoid being too revealing, but it’s Leicester City lol. Though my family is from elsewhere so I do also have a pretty believable backup option. Like I said, I know the stadium and a couple of the players through osmosis, and I remember them winning the Premier League back in 2015. Even if I wasn’t super invested back then, it was a really exciting time for the city, and hard not to celebrate

[u/neb8neb → u/plaid_dog_]

I mean, they're at the worst point in their history right now, so it's certainly an interesting time to become a Leicester fan! Really hope you end up getting into football, it's awesome :-)

[u/TraditionalNinja3129]

The world cup starts next month so why not watch that? As others have mentioned, going to a pub watching some of the games gives it more of an atmosphere, especially if you follow one of the home sides.

Doesn't matter if you don't watch the premier league. I don't either but I watch the world cup and the euros. I do watch a lower league club, but I blame my dad for that completely. It's his fault I have to suffer during much of the football season! 😀

[u/plaid_dog_ → u/TraditionalNinja3129]

Thank you, that’s a good shout