Bernard O'Shea: Supporting an underdog football team taught me to celebrate life's little wins

My daughter says you don't choose the team you support, they choose you

Bernard O'Shea. Pic: Moya Nolan

This was an unusual and exciting week for me. Nottingham Forest is back in the premier league. Probably not an important issue on the spectrum of current events, but nonetheless a massive milestone for my childhood friends and me.

Straight out the gate, I must report that I'm a Saturday night supporter. However, my friends from home are proper supporters and fulfill the remit of "genuine supporters." I'll watch the highlights on Match of the Day or YouTube.

Nottingham Forest doesn't conjure up the fantasy mindset that accompanies the Premier League for most people. They played in the 2nd and, at the time, the 3rd tier of English football for the last twenty years. They were tied emotionally to the wonderfully eccentric Brian Clough and, under his reign throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s, won leagues and European Cups. They were a stalwart of the upper echelons of English football.

I support Forest because my friends supported them. I could have easily chosen more glamorous teams, but I'm so glad I chose the light-hearted peer pressure route.

My childhood friends have travelled to see them play for the last 20 years. Leaving their homes at stupid o'clock in the morning and returning at stupid o'clock at night tired and weary after seeing them draw or lose to teams like Luton Town, QPR or Charlton, all teams who too once lived in the heady heights of the Premier League. I stayed at home and glanced indifferently at the results.

My daughter asked me on Saturday, "Why do you support them?" I explained why to her, and she shook her head and said, "No, why do you support a team hundreds of miles away?" I then tried to explain to her the influence of British professional football in Ireland and how Irish players predominantly ply their trade over there. I also explained that I had a soft spot for Longford Town football club.

But then I decided to turn the tables on her. "What team do you support?" She said instantly without hesitation, "The team I play for". She plays for the local GAA team. She was intrigued with "supporting" a team she doesn't play in, so we conducted a selection process to find her one.

Instantly, she had requirements. She didn't like red jerseys. I suggested Chelsea as they play in blue, are the current Super League Champions, and play for a top-four position in the Premier League. She wasn't sold on them. Then I thought of Spurs. As we went through the teams, she innocently pointed out, "Maybe they will choose me?"

She was right. The teams you support does choose you. Whether it's your home county, club, or foreign league football team. They have a habit of creeping up on you until you almost unconsciously blurt out your selection.

Nottingham Forest' players. Picture: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.

It's also, for me, a connection to the past, particularly my childhood. My father, a stanch GAA and Kerry man, loved Brian Clough and the entertainment of teams who "passed the ball to each other." One of my funniest childhood memories was holding up a TV aerial we built on the roof to catch the BBC reception when Forest played Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. He and my two friends were inside watching it. They had to roar out the window, "STILL 0-0"

There's romance and intrigue to those who follow the lesser-knowns. There was an innocence to football back then. Your team could win the league. Even kids today know that the teams with the money are the likely winners. But dare I say it, it's almost beneficial to support the underdog.

Author Cory Stieg, writing for CNBC says: "Being part of a fan community can also help people cope with losses. A 2019 study found that watching a football game with other fans helps to mitigate the adverse psychological effects of losing."

This is so true regarding the economy versus the society of supporting a team. I know many people who have lifelong friends in support groups for big and small teams. It's also a conversational glue that keeps disparate people talking and connecting. There's also a shared experience of the good times and bad, as Stieg elaborates.

"For fans of the losing team, sharing the pain may have protected them from losing self-esteem," Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University, said in a release. There are other things that fandom brings with it above and beyond the ability to bask in the team's successes," Wann says. "Watching sports can be a way to relieve stress or spend time with family."

So you might be thinking, 'What's interesting about supporting a team that doesn't win?' The thing is, we don't know what a win for that team is. Consider the new Netflix series, Drive to Survive. I've always loved F1, but people have asked how you can support a machine. Or a faceless car manufacturer? What that series did was show the internal struggles and personalities of the team and how it works. It humanised the sport. It showed that "surviving" was, in essence, the ultimate achievement. A 6th place finishes for a more minor team could be a massive win for them. When my own home county Laois beat Dublin in the hurling championship two years ago, it was a significant win for them and the county. It was worth celebrating.

So what? Well, it taught me to celebrate the little wins like going to the gym twice a week or not eating crap for dinner. Last Tuesday for example, I knew there were Choc Ices in the fridge. To the broader health-conscious public, it would mean nothing not to eat it, but for me, it was a massive scalp leaving it there and not touching it. It was the equivalent of Forest getting a 0-0 draw away from home in Anfield. In GAA terms, I'm taking my points because the goals will come. As for my daughter and her team? Who knows who is going to choose her? I'm suspicious that it could be a team that plays in red, after all.