The last time I was sober watching Fulham at the Valley, was.1984, age 14! I’ve changed a lot since then, not sure the Charlton away end facilities have changed a great deal.
My 1st non-drinking era at football didn’t last that long , as I started boozing a year later…. Pretty much immediately binge drinking and watching football went hand in hand….
I’d be Drinking on the train, pub before , in the ground , then the pub after to celebrate or commiserate the result. With the inevitable internal battle of ..’I’ll get the next train…oh another drink…get the next train (repeat until last train).
⚽
Followed by the train journey , often falling into a drunken coma … missing my stop and ending up at the end of the line having to get a cab home.
⚽
The morning after , the inevitable post binge paranoia trying to retrace what happened in the blackout hours….
Did I act like a complete dick head….did i get into any bother?
Either of these were a distinct possibility …often nowt had happened…but my mind would play dastardly tricks, and implant memories of shit I’d done thhat never actually happened! |Holy shit that was fecked up.
Oh and the small matter of forgetting the score …let alone remembering the finer details of the game.
⚽
This Wednesday night was a tad different from them bingey days. Before the game …I had a cheeky vegan burger… then went to a pub by London Bridge Station, where I treated myself to a heineken zero…After the game, I made the earliest train possible home ..and in bed by 11 wiv ma vegan cocoa!
⚽
Football away games are a natural buzz for me .. There is no need for the sauce.
The dopamine is flowing ,simply , with the anticipation of the match experience.
Then … you have the connection..a tribe.. Ya all in this together…experiencing the good times and the shit.. I was on my own… but not on my own..ya get me 🙂 That connection shit gets the oxytocin flowing. Then chanting .gets the adrenaline flowing… How marvellous !
⚽
And as for a goal celebration.. Euphoria , ecstasy and… joy…. In an instant.. Incredible just a sphere shaped object crossing a painted line, can invoke that luscious shit..
As it goes… the quality of football on offer this Wednesday was most diabolical …and alas no goals so the thoughts of alcohol oblivion did cross my mind……Just kidding ….
Never going back to that binge drinking bollocks.
It's the ....Mindful Sober Vegan Blog 