When I was growing up, I never understood how people could like football so much (for my American readers, I am referring to ‘soccer’ here). I grew up in northern England where football is basically a religion. The stadium is at the center of the city. Every other weekend the locals come out in their masses and eagerly walk the streets to watch the game. The outcome of the games genuinely affects the moral of the people. If the team wins, everyone is in a good mood for the week. If they lose, everyone mopes around analysing how this was possible. Either way, conversations are normally dominated by the previous or forthcoming football game.

I have friends that know literally everything about football. They spend their weekends watching multiple games a day. They invest a great deal of time to finding out the most esoteric facts and figures. Their forté is pub trivia nights when they suddenly become…