"I sometimes joke that I'm not sure I actually like football, just Arsenal. Hate-watching rivals aside, if a game doesn't concern the Gunners it probably doesn't concern me, such is my one-club tunnel vision. Even then, there are occasions where my love of Arsenal appears debatable. As a friend recently put it to me: I've watched Arsenal games with you. I'm not sure you like Arsenal and yet you're possibly the most fervent Gooner I know. Ah, the torturous dance between joy and torment."
"The Big Defeat Headloss begins immediately after the final whistle with an extended period of doomscrolling Reddit and Bluesky. Eventually I'll accept that fans here are too reasonable and fall well short of the uncut hysteria served up on Football Twitter, where a terminally online mindset meets the zealotry of football fandom. So l log back into the X account I'm trying to quit (at least I no longer post) and bathe in the mire of blame, agenda, ragebait."
A fan identifies as a one-club supporter who cares only about Arsenal, sometimes questioning whether they love football or only the club. Post-defeat emotional collapse leads to immediate doomscrolling across platforms like Reddit, Bluesky and X, followed by consuming blame, agendas and ragebait. Homeward walks after matches are accompanied by distracted phone use and indifference to safety. Social outlets include WhatsApp groups that shift from supportive therapy to conspiratorial outrage accusing officials and media bias. The emotional cycle oscillates between reasonableness among local fans and extreme hysteria on broader football social media, producing intense communal venting after losses.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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