It recently occurred to me that a lot of my time is unwittingly (and unwillingly) taken up with football in some form or fashion: be it DS 1’s and 2’s obsession with having every English Premiership football kit, football war in the back garden each afternoon, retrieving footballs from the neighbours’ gardens, being quizzed on the English Premiership league table, the names of players, positions…..the list is just endless.

I am not quite sure how this all crept up on me.  DH is a football fan.  He has always kept up with all the latest in English football, watching games on TV and reviewing pundits’ analyses on games, players, transfers and the like.  This never bothered me.  I guess because it never seemed to take over anything.

But now, with 3 boys in the house, each of whom follows a different team, and who are all vying against each other with the same level of competition and determination expended by the Premiership teams jockeying for pole position (have I gottten my sporting metaphors mixed up??!!!), my life very much revolves around football.

Take last night for example.  Liverpool v Chelsea.  In ‘sitting-in-front-of-the-TV life’ this was DH v DS2 with DS1 only cheering on DH’s side out of the good old cause of ‘sibling rivalry’.  His side, Arsenal (DS2), needed Chelsea (DS1) to draw/lose with/to Liverpool (DH) so Arsenal (DS2) could retain their league table position or move upwards whilst Chelsea (DS2) would then have no chance of catching up.  Anything for one up on his big bro!

That’s just it.  It is no longer about just DH following his teams and keeping up on his own time.  Football has ignited what feels like tribal warfare in my front room!  DS2 turns on the TV at every opportunity and finds the sports channels repeating the football games he has missed (even if the commentary is in Arabic).  He has been known to rise at 5am, creep downstairs to turn on the TV (but then proceeds to betray his earlier cunning by turning up the volume to the maximum, and waking the whole house).  DD fights him tooth and nail over his excessive football watching.  Surely Hannah Montana is preferable…..eerrrrr….obviously not!  Whilst DS1 cuts out football related photos from the newspaper to stick to his wall, DS2 can be caught kissing the photo of any player in an Arsenal kit!   On the weekend, DS2 dressed as follows:  Arsenal away kit (for those of you unfamiliar with that – it’s black and purple, oh and, shame on you for not knowing that!), red Liverpool socks pulled up to his junior boxer shorts. and green canvas high top trainers!  I have to say, that was the only time I was glad I had to take DD and DS1 to a pool party!  Pool party with 2 kids v being seen with DS2, dressed as a stooge for Trish and Susannah???  No contest.

Last night as the boys shouted at the TV, DD and I gave each other a knowing look.  I think we both reaslised we need to find our own  distraction, something we can both enjoy without the boys!