Much of what is said on the field, and in the dressing rooms, would violate the moral code of society similarly, much of what is chanted in the stands is X-rated-embracing racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism, laced with vitriol and sugar-coated with mordant humour and British wit. Those emotions are twofold: the emotions that run high on the field in 90 minutes of non-stop action and the immediate aftermath, and the emotions that exist among the fans, for whom the club is often more a way of life than merely another social institution. Other sports too are based on emotion but few in the mainstream-boxing, and football’s offshoots, such as the rugby variants-are as clearly and symbiotically linked to basic emotions. It may be a multi-billion-dollar business but its underpinnings are raw, primeval, almost base human emotions not for nothing did Desmond Morris call it the “Soccer Tribe".
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