Should you find yourself attending a Liverpool FC match it is possible you will catch sight of a simple banner. The words ‘Passion Beyond Reason’ with two Liver Birds emblazoned either side.

I was reminded of this at 445 am on Saturday morning. That was the time I had set my alarm for the trip to Ipswich to watch Liverpool start their latest Premier League season. This was for a game that was being televised live in many pubs. I’m heading towards sixty, been married and had a family. I would consider myself to be a rational and level headed person. Yet I have now been doing this for approaching fifty years. As I stumble out of bed I ask myself for the umpteenth time in that period ‘Why?’.

In fact the narrative above barely does the ridiculousness of the situation justice. The objects of my affections are all multi millionaires. Despite their badge kissing routines they would probably struggle to locate the city of Liverpool on a map. Any overtures to them from other ‘big’ teams would almost certainly put them in an awkward position loyalty wise. Worse still in terms of your chosen team being successful, to any significant extent, you will largely be dependent on your owners being both billionaires and generous. These people would also be struggling to locate Liverpool (or wherever they decide the project is) on a map.

Anyway, from a sporting perspective you will, if you’re interested enough, already know every aspect of how the day turned out. Beyond the bare score line you can find how often a player touched the ball, expected goals and a million different opinions on social media about each player’s performance. Along the way though I did find three major reasons to be able to answer the ‘Why?’, all of which had very little to do with the football itself.

By Ipswich train station there is a pub unsurprisingly named ‘The Station’. This had been designated as the pub for away supporters to drink in. Many life long friendships have grown in such places but often between people who only really see each other during the football calendar. As a consequence and more especially on the first day of the season there are more hugs and handshakes occurring than even usual here. There was the first and simplest answer to my why, friendships.

As football became gradually more sanitised through the increasing involvement of Sky television they tried hard to convince everyone interested that rather than raw tribalism football was a force for good that brought people together. Although I’m far from convinced that is the case between regular match going supporters of rival teams it certainly is true within the group of people I travel to games with. This covers a wide age range of people with vastly differing backgrounds who would never have been brought together without the catalyst of football. In this respect football gives you a different perspective on life. A second reason right there. This different perspective extends to places you may travel to supporting that you would otherwise probably never think of visiting. For example Carlisle, Oldham and Yeovil in England or Kiev, Sofia and Moscow further afield.

We ended up in the ground a good hour before kick off, where it seemed that Ipswich had slightly let themselves down by already running out of lager. It is in the away end of a football ground that you will truly learn the meaning of what psychologists call ‘a sense of belonging’. This sense is described as ‘the subjective feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences’. It is regarded as a fundamental human need that predicts numerous mental, physical, social, economic and behavioural outcomes. Hemmed in on all sides and outnumbered by at least ten to one by home supporters the sense of belonging in here is palpable. The third and final reason.

Next weekend brings the first home game of the season at Anfield and the subject for the next blog.