“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
16 years ago I was pushed to the ground by some of my 7 year old, Spurs supporting contemporaries, and forced to change my allegiance from Sheffield United to Tottenham Hotspur (note that in Ireland, geography has little baring on ones choice of English football team to support).
Now, on the cusp of being 23, still a Spurs fan (almost certainly a bigger one than those that bullied me into the choice) and in the midst of a quarter life crisis, I believe that that moment and its outcome had a major influence on my maturation into adulthood. I also believe that it continues to colour my view of the world and of life in general.
To paraphrase Danny Blanchflower, its about glory!
While there is certainly no glory in merely losing, there is also no glory in merely winning. Glory arises from the manner or style in which either losing or (preferably) winning is achieved.
Style is the classic preoccupation of the Spurs fan; but I feel there are other, more contemporary traits which can be traced to the clubs less than stellar recent history. Namely, the belief that even though things may be going shit or indifferently, Spurs still possess an innate greatness which endows them with potential to achieve great feats.If and when such feats are achieved, it will be all the more sweeter and glorious because of the many years of misery.
There is also a superiority complex which others may dismiss as delusional. Where these others are supporters of the perennially mediocre and stagnant, the Spurs fan will take solace in the aforementioned innate greatness/potential which West Hams and Newcastles so clearly lack. As for the big 4, they have had little or no experience of hardship and suffering and are therefore utterly devoid of character. To them, its about winning. For Spurs, its about glory.
Such is my view of matters relating to Tottenham Hotspur……. and of life……its about glory.
