Grassroots - 1:25 pm on Jun 17, 2006 (gmt 0)

Of course some American's will get it, my own home town team has supporter club's in America and other nations and when we did a pre-season tour of the States in 2000, we were well supported as a result. These supporters have no connection with my club, no blood ties, yet they are as passionate as I am with many actually coming to my home town to watch a live game or two. They do get it for some reason.

While they are passionate and get it, they will not however feel what I do for my team because the majority of feeling comes from identity, culture and pride which can only come from being born in the city or town of your football club.

You're born into football, if you belong to a certain City you will follow that club for the rest of your life, your father or peers will pass on football to you, you can't escape it because it is so ingrained in the culture and identity of the region and people.

I hated football up until I was 11 and now I've been following my club home and away for 15 years without fail, my kids will too and their kids and their kids.

A lot of it is to do with community and regional pride.

I'd say football is a very special social and cultural experience that no other sport can compete with or compare.

The US's roots in football are non-existant. It's a sport that is adopted as a form of entertainment and competition. In my own country, football started out as a game to be played for fun by the poor and working class - a form of opera for them or some other thing they couldn't afford if you like. Football isn't a form of entertainment, it's a way of live, part of life. It is the undisputed number one sport in the world watched by and played by over 2 billion people in all four corners of the globe.

Football isn't about class, wealth, education or status, it's a global sport anyone can enjoy and be a part of regardless of their class, race, religion or wealth.

The US are over in Germany participating in the WC, only a small fraction of the US is interested however. My own club has the support of an entire city and parts of the region, even those that can't stand football, those who don't go. They support the club because it's a part of their culture and identity too and is a beacon of regional pride so they want the club to do well, to win, even if they couldn't name who wears the number 9 shirt or who plays in goal.

That's a key difference and for me highlights just why the US for example will never ever get football like I won't get Baseball, because it's not in my blood. Football is however, there is a saying: cut us open and we would bleed black and white, the colors of my home town team. That is replicated all over the world for people and their club's.

It's very hard to describe to people what my own club means to me because I don't even know myself, all I know is that those 90 minutes during a match are just a snippet of what it means and outside of the match, when the final whistle blows and they chuck you out of the stadium, the "game" still goes on, 24-7. We live, breathe, eat and sleep football as one famous fizzy pop brand once promoted in a commercial of theirs.

One of the most often asked questions by non football fans is: What's so beautiful about the so-called beautiful game then?

Identity
Belonging
Pride
Emotion
Feeling
Passion
Community
Hope

And that's not even getting into what happens on the pitch. Did anyone see Argentina's second goal yesterday? Or how many saw Maradona's second goal against England (#*$! ;) in 86? That's beauty.