Football was a way of life as I was growing up. From the age of four I was taught to chant the names of the Liverpool football team by my big brother. My father taught me to bow my Rupert Bear in reverence as I said the sainted Shankly's name and at the age of five my brother kept me in a headlock until I swore undying allegiance to the Reds! (he was sixteen I complied!) Saturday nights depended on the result at Anfield and beyond. My brother and his friends never missed a game home or away. If Liverpool won he came home, kissed us all, had tea, dressed up and went out for the night. If, heaven forbid, they lost, he stormed in, slammed the door, glared, charged up to his room and we didn't see him again till Sunday!
I never had an early bedtime on Saturday night. Match of the Day was considered compulsory viewing. From the age of six I could explain the offside rule and why the referee and linesmen were blind! But I never went to a proper match - not till I was twelve and I am not sure that would count - it was at Marine's ground to see Liverpool Ladies vs Everton Ladies and I got to meet Kevin Keegan! Oh I was so impressed!
A few years later and I was regularly at Rossett Park (as the Arriva stadium was called then) with my friends watching Marine play - and what a team they were! You had to be quick in those days there were no boards as there are now, just metal rods with rope strung between them - if a player made a sliding tackle you learned to jump quickly to avoid getting stud marks up your legs! But it was live football with dishy young players and we loved it.
As we moved towards our late teens we graduated to Anfield and stood in the Kop - which isn't great when you are only 5ft and half an inch. Didn't see much but it was the atmosphere and someone always told me if there was a goal! My adoration for King Kenny Dalglish grew with every game. I wasn't as brave as my brother and only ever went to one away game - at Birmingham - we got lost four times - if we had been playing Aston Villa we'd have nailed it!
Then one spring day in 1989 a young boy who used to be in our church choir went to see an F A cup semi final. A bright young boy, brilliant cricketer, full of life and enthusiasm. He was just 17. He never came home.
From that moment I lost all enthusiasm for football. I swore that I would never set foot inside a football stadium again. I forgot about the game. I went to ballet, the theatre, I took up tennis again. I didn't even watch the FA cup final any more. If my brother went to a match I would get a build up of panic inside even though stadiums were now all seater. Gradually that subsided but, apart from memorial services, I never set foot inside a football ground. .
I met my husband in 1996. He hates sport of every kind and we never really talked about football apart from when April came around. He had no real idea of the enthusiasm I used to have for the sport. I never went near a match for 24 and a half years - until last September. My son had been pestering me to take him to a match. He, I am sorry to tell you, is an Evertonian. I suggested Marine - that's where I started. I spent the entire week psyching myself up, telling myself that it wasn't a betrayal going to a football match. When the day came he decided he didn't want to go but my daughter said I'd built myself up too much not to get it over with. About an hour before the match I sobbed to my husband I felt so guilty. He quite rightly told me that I should remember that everyone of those men and women would have been back the next week and what good did I think staying away would do? He was right.
We went. It felt strange for the first 15 minutes being back at a match but I soon got into it and was running through the finer points with my daughter who was aghast at how much I actually knew about football.
Within a few short weeks we were at every home game and my daughter was complaining that the Mum who took her to Copelia and Giselle was suddenly yelling at refs and giving them the benefit of her knowledge!
These days she gives me orders before we leave. I have to be a good girl "Don't yell at the ref, he knows the rules" (actually there are no rules in football only laws but I want her to come with me) "Don't accuse the opposition of diving" (they frequently do), "Do not suggest you train the team!" ( don't remember actually saying that) and "even if our goal keeper does save a goal, under no circumstances are you to tell him you love him, he's about 23!" (to be fair he had just saved a penalty!)
And so football has become part of my life again. It has been a tough year but getting out to my football match has made such a difference to my spirits. My husband even suggested he dropped me at a couple of away matches when I was particularly down. It helped. At the beginning of the season he was complaining that he had married a nice, quiet girl who went to the ballet and now lived with a football yob! By the end he told me to get my season ticket for next season and was arranging our social lives around Marine home games!
When did I know I was truly re-hooked? Well, probably when I found myself at a pre season friendly on our wedding anniversary, having had our night out the day before (dreadful woman I hear you say). Our new season has started properly now. I will be cheering us on against Trafford on Tuesday and, no, I don't feel guilty about being back in a football stadium, though I will never go to a Premier league match again.
So what of this season? Well our first match didn't go as well as expected but our pre season friendlies have given me much hope and enthusiasm. My Marine are a team to be reckoned with again - oh and this guy
our number 7 Andy Fowler is a name to look out for on my Twitter feed cos he'll be scoring a heck of a lot of goals this season and, as for me/ - I'll sit in the stands and be as quiet as a mouse! Well unless the referee makes a wrong decision or the team need my support or the opposition need putting in their place. I shall repeat "I am a quiet girl who likes ballet, I am a quiet..." No actually - Once a Mariner Always a Mariner and if my team need me and my support I shall be there!
