Fever Pitch

“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.” 

In the opening essay of Fever Pitch, Hornby describes his first visit to a live football match with his father. It is the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the sport, but also one that brings him immense pain and suffering because of the intense obsession that develops around his support for Arsenal F.C. Hornby uses this analogy between his football fandom and romance because both are often uncontrollable and unplanned, but also because both can cause pain when loss occurs.

“The audiences I had hitherto been a part of had paid to have a good time and, though occasionally one might spot a fidgety child or a yawning adult, I hadn’t ever noticed faces contorted by rage or despair or frustration. Entertainment as pain was an idea entirely new to me, and it seemed to be something I’d been waiting for.”

One of the primary things that stands out to Hornby during his first trip to Highbury to see Arsenal play is that the mostly male crowd members are obviously not enjoying themselves because of the club’s performance. The concept of paying for entertainment and then being upset by it is new to Hornby, but it is one he will come to understand when he becomes fanatical about the club. This concept reinforces the book’s primary theme—the obsessive nature of fandom

in that those who become fanatical about something have a hard time accepting when their expectations are not met.