WHY do we love football so much?

At about 3.50pm last Saturday afternoon I wasn’t fond of it at all.

The Town were 2-0 down at Vale Park and quite frankly I would have rather have been in front of my Devon log fire.

All the talk at the break was of how could Swindon be trailing after dominating a game so much?

So settling down under the shelter of the away end, thank goodness, we hoped for better fortune in the second half.

Well we got it didn’t we?

Nile Ranger’s header, Alex Pritchard’s free kick and Nathan Byrne’s poaching, got the Reds the deserved win.

It’s times like this when we know why we’re addicted to this sport.

Just under 300 Town fans in full voice, sounding like 3,000, watching their team beat Vale and the elements on a filthy Potteries afternoon.

Dr Desmond Morris, a native of Purton and of the TV programme ‘Zoo Time’ fame for those of us of a certain age, wrote a book called “The Soccer Tribe”.

He oddly preferred a team from along the A420 but in his book writes about the gathering together of groups of fans in a way which goes back to the ways of our ancestors.

The feeling of being as one when in a group.

That’s how it felt last weekend. People gathered together who generally don’t know each other but share the common love of Swindon Town Football Club.

It wasn’t a cup final, but it was a great afternoon at the “Wembley of the North”.

I write this as the wind and the rain once again batters my window.

The dreadful floods that are afflicting our country right now of course put sport in to perspective.

However thank goodness for last Saturday and days like that.

They’re why we love football.