YOUTH MATTERS Robert Dalling...My home team games in Wales have to take a back seat now
Both of which I think are true, but my ‘necessary’ may differ from everybody else.
When it comes to supporting my home team Swansea, I am happy to travel a 400-mile round trip on a Saturday when I am available, despite living on the south coast of England.
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Hide AdBut as I found myself sat in a row of traffic with a glum face returning from watching them lose to rivals Cardiff, still 150 miles away from Hampshire, I asked myself, as many others have, why do I do it?
Blinded by the floodlights and a love for the beautiful game, when I moved here to study in Portsmouth I had the plan set out in my mind to work hard on weekdays and travel to Swansea for any home games.
I even naively retained a season ticket. Well, needless to say many tickets have since been ripped out and chucked in the bin as I underestimated the course title ‘Intense’.
Over the past four months instead of chanting from the terraces, my weekends have had to become accustomed to a new joy of staying in with my head in the books, my stomach rumbling under the weight of empty food cupboards and poor finances while metaphorical £20 notes lay in the wastepaper bin in the form of torn-up football tickets.
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Hide AdNevertheless, moving here has definitely been the right move. I had lived in South Wales all my life, and although the original thought of coming here alone was intimidating, it had been a long time coming.
Despite the odd bit of banter here and there and the age-old debate with my new English friends about whose rugby team is better than the others (which as the Six Nations currently stands, I am losing), my experience has been very enjoyable.
I have settled in very quickly, love the new area and although the studies are demanding, I love what I am doing day in, day out.
While there will still be room to catch the odd game, it’s time to put the sporting distractions on the shelf for a few years!