The recent England games have been a rollercoaster of emotions for enthusiastic fans. There’s the anticipation created by a long build-up, the split-second changes in the fortune of the teams during the games, the possibility of victory suddenly replaced by crushing defeat. All of this throws fans from one extreme to the other, leaving them drained and exhausted, much as though they were actually playing.
Why does this happen? What is it about football that causes such intense emotional reactions?
People like being part of a successful group
Human beings are very social creatures. We evolved as part of communities, and much of who we are and what we think is based on how others in our groups behave and act towards us.
People also want status: We feel better if the group we’re part of is demonstrably better than other groups that we’re not part of. One way in which people can both belong to a group and experience group success is by showing support for a football team. Anyone who identifies as part of the group known as “England supporters” is going to be invested in them succeeding no matter what their chances, or who plays where, and will react accordingly when the team succeeds or fails.
The exact neurological mechanisms behind this are tricky to pin down, but some studies implicate parts of the brain such as the cortical midline structures, temporo-parietal junction and the anterior temporal gyrus, all brain regions that can show increased activity when processing social stimuli. However, this is an incredibly nuanced and complex process, as well as being hard to study in the first place.
People prefer to watch major games like England World Cup matches as part of large groups; if they can’t go and physically be present for the game in the venue, they’ll congregate in pubs or each other’s houses. While this may sound like just an excuse to hang out and drink, being part of an emotional group can have genuine psychological effects.
As mentioned, people are already emotionally invested in being part of the group and seeing their team succeed. But if you’re surrounded by others who feel the same in an uncertain situation (eg watching a football match) this can make things far more intense.
People in highly aroused groups (eg angry mobs) undergo a process called “deindividuation”, where the emotional state of the immediate group overrides our own judgment and thinking, making us more impulsive and less self-aware. That explains normally quite meek fans screaming horrible abuse at the TV in a crowded room.
When your team scores
So those watching the football are already in a state of high arousal. The body’s biological control systems, not quite grasping what’s going on, can flood the body with adrenaline, as part of the fight-or-flight response. We become flooded with the hormones and glucose necessary for quick action, and this needs to be expressed somehow.
This is why the anticipation of football can be so aggravating: fans are physically primed for action, but can’t vent it. If a goal is scored, as well as the select dopamine release associated with anticipation and reward, there’s the relief of finally being able to vent your excitement. This may be why celebration of a goal can seem so hysterical to the uninvolved observer.
The same physiological mechanisms apply, but this time it’s disappointment, not happiness. Disappointment has been associated with a brief decrease in dopamine activity. This then spreads through the “group mind”, amplifying the grief. There’s also the effect of cognitive dissonance: everyone in the room is emotionally invested in England being the best team, and their losing would undermine that. The human brain doesn’t deal well with information that contradicts its previously held views, so this adds to the general anger and confusion. Add the depressant effects of alcohol, and any loss can hit people pretty hard. Much of the above can help explain why enthusiastic football fans end up behaving as they do, but if the effects are so fundamental, why isn’t everyone caught up in it? The obvious answer is that people are different. Some people define themselves by the group they’re part of (eg football fans, England supporters etc), others define themselves by actively rejecting such groups .
Some people don’t grow up with any particular positive association with football, and thus lack the emotion or enthusiasm that makes people fans of the game. They may enjoy different sports, or their interests may lie elsewhere. Perhaps they have a passing interest in football, but the media saturation means they’ve become habituated to it (ie it’s so constant and familiar that they’ve stopped responding to it).
Whatever the reasons, for those involved, watching football can cause a dizzying range of experiences. And that’s meant literally, as adrenaline can lead to dizziness. There’s a remedy for this affliction of course: just don’t watch the World Cup. But then this is one sickness that millions of fans don’t seem to want to be without.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd