The Ritual

On a Saturday lunchtime in late February, shortly before the suspension of football at all levels of the game, I sat in a pub near to my house in Sheffield and had lunch with my dad as Leeds demolished Hull City on the television screens dotted around.

Behind us sat a group of Sheffield Wednesday supporters that grew bigger as time went on, each new arrival greeted with warmth as the beer flowed freely.

The conversation touched on lots of topics, families, work, the bets on the horses that afternoon.

With Wednesday already destined at that stage to be neither in the play-offs or relegated (not withstanding the outcome of an EFL enquiry into a breach of financial rules) there wasn't really much to say about the football and as kick-off time drew closer there wasn't exactly a huge desire to get out of the pub and make the final journey to Hillsborough.

But eventually a couple of taxis were summoned and the group made their way to the ground.

I arrived home around quarter past three, by which time Derby were already a goal to the good with two more added by the half-hour mark. 

You could almost hear the cries of 'we should have stayed in the pub' that I'm sure would have come from this group of friends.

It's a ritual that could have been observed in many pubs around Sheffield and the whole country on that day and many others, the match itself as merely the backdrop for the ritual of meeting, chatting, eating and drinking.

The rituals are now suspended, of course, and who knows at the upper levels of the game when, and in what format, they will return.

But competitive, league football is back this coming weekend and there are lots of Saturday, 3pm, games for supporters old and new to watch and maybe form new routines as they wait for the gates to open again at their club.

For Ipswich Town fans, perhaps, at Ipswich Wanderers of the Eastern Counties League with admission to their game against Mulbarton Wanderers priced at £7 Adults, £5 Concessions and free for Under-12's, plus have a beer pitch-side.

Or Southend supporters who can watch Southend Manor for £5 Adults, £3 Concessions and free for Under-16's. They host Sawbridgeworth Town in the Essex Senior League on Saturday afternoon.