Everywhere I go, people ask me, who I am, and where I come from, and I tell them:
I’m Tim and I’m from Manchester.
And if I’m not in the UK, the next thing they say is guaranteed to be related to football.
Sometimes the question is:
“So which is it? City or United?”
or more commonly where English is less well spoken:
“Manchester United!”
What’s interesting is that really, Manchester has a worldwide reputation football, that no-other clearly Mancunian thing does.
Sure, various famous brands and things happened in Manchester, but no one has ever said
“You’re from Manchester – ah Umbro!”
or
“Manchester! Which do you prefer: Morrisey’s solo stuff or The Smiths!?”
etc.
The thing is, I’m not really a football fan. It’s just not my thing. I don’t really care about it, and even national competitions which we do well in get a good deal of disinterest. That’s not to say I’ve not been to Matches – I’ve even blogged about football games – but I just don’t really care.
What’s more, I’d struggle to name 5 members of the current United and City squads combined.
The difficult thing, is knowing how to react when I’m asked about football whilst travelling – obviously The Premier League is, to some degree, also a tourist export, just like the Royal Family is a tourist attraction amongst other things. Generally, I’m straight up and honest if we can communicate fluently, or will arbitrarily choose a side to support for that day otherwise, and smile and nod.
It does feel strange however that the first thing that people mention, whenever I mention where I’m from, is a sport that I am clueless about and very ambivalent of.