Of Rivals and of Family

Well today is the day of the Liverpool versus Manchester United football match. One of the great sporting rivalries continues and in my family it is no different.

I thought I might pop round son number 1's house as he and his partner are both massive Manchester United   fans. I thought I would take with me for my beautiful baby grand daughter a Liverpool shirt. And I thought I would take also son number 4 (the young one ) with me too. Mainly because he's a massive Chelsea fan. Oh how the psychologist in me loves such days. The wickedness of teasing within the family.

But surely that is how it should be. Families who love each other should be able to do their own thing and at the same time know that the love that binds them will overcome the silly rivalries of sport.

Now I know before you say it that "Football is not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that" but I have to say that you should love the game, the challenge, the sport and the participation. I've read far too much over the years about the hostile nature of opposing fans. I've seen far too much nasty horrible behaviour by so called fans of football who are in reality no more than disorganised thugs. I've seen families who won't talk to each other on the day of the match because they support the opposite view. That is a reality in both Liverpool and Manchester where fans of Liverpool and Everton, and City and United are brothers, sisters, parents and children within the same family. Yet at the end of the day they will still love each other for that is what families do.

So I say to you all who watch the match today whatever red team you support remember that it is a game and in a while there will be a repeat of the game and then another and another. Sometimes you will be up and sometimes you will be down but that is just a reflection on life.

Enjoy the match, enjoy the sport, enjoy the beer at the end of the game but please remember it is just 22 people kicking a little ball around for 90 minutes. When it's all over and you go to sleep tonight it is the people around us that matter the most. The ones we love, even if they are far away.

And love comes in all shades of red, blue, black, white, green, yellow or even orange.