Football is gone, but us content creators are not: Why the show must go on

By Alfie Cairns Culshaw (Chief Editor)

Football plays a huge role in society. Not only does it provide tangible benefits to the economy- jobs, tourism, consumption (mainly of alcohol)- it also provides a mental and psychological release from the stresses of daily life for so many people; it is a form of escapism that is simply irreplaceable. Many would go as far as declaring that their happiness is determined by the success of the football team they support.

So when a global epidemic comes along and disrupts the sport from taking place, it leaves a somewhat large void in people’s lives. I, myself, have found that a lack of football in just a matter of days has had me questioning my own existence. There is a hole there that cannot be filled. People who don’t feel this same connection with the sport do not understand; they, perhaps logically, question our sanity when we chose to sit down and watch Arsenal play away in the depths of Eastern Europe in a dead rubber or chose to watch the highlights of a game we just attended.

The passion that is on show by football fans when their team scores a goal or claims a great result is unparalleled in any other industry. The emotional connection to men kicking a ball around on a patch of grass is irrational- but it exists and those who do not understand cannot suppress it.

With football perhaps months away from resuming, it’s going to be a difficult period for us all. Whilst of course it is secondary to the health and safety of people in society, and does not matter in context with matters of life and death, it is certainly difficult to imagine a period of such sustained absence of the sport.

We can’t get football back in this period, but we can still maintain the discussion around the sport. As a football writer and content creator, I feel a social responsibility to keep producing content in these trying times, as people look for distractions from the doom and gloom many of the mainstream media sources are creating around this virus. Whilst people always use football as a tool for escapism, in such a terrifying time they need it more now than they ever have.

As a creator with a somewhat limited audience, I am calling on all the bigger football content creators to produce at an even greater rate than they had previously. On this site, my Instagram, the podcast and the other various platforms and projects I work on, our content production will only be stepped up in this period.

With many mainstream sources of entertainment effected by this pandemic, those of us who are not need to take the lead and dominate this industry whilst people look for signs of normality in this uncertain period in history. We move.