Keep football in its box

Is the beautiful game is in danger of becoming something it was never meant to be – a replacement for religion? A concerned Hugh Southon ponders the question.
 

THERE'S VERY little said about my football club that takes me by surprise after a lifetime of following West Ham United.

But I do remember my eyebrows rising just before the Hammers left Upton Park and a long time supporter looked at me and said: ‘It's not right to be moving from the club's church.’

Church? That was a reminder that to many the game has become a religion often bringing with it a tribalism and intense hatred, which can perhaps prove a tad difficult for believers.
A better man
West Ham plays a very large role in my life as the owner of a website, which has attracted more than 250,000 followers.

As a football journalist, I was fortunate in getting to know my hero, Bobby Moore. For a period of my career, I even found myself ghostwriting columns for the man.

We became kind of friends and the bi...