By edanTold by my nephew “Henry”…
Football is the hobby that means the most to me. When I think about when it really started to matter, I go back to 2023, when I was six years old. That was when it stopped being just something on a screen and started feeling important to me.
I was at home with my dad, watching my first Aston Villa match. It was Villa against Liverpool. I can still picture us there together, both watching the same game but wanting completely different things. My dad was a Liverpool fan, and I was a Villa fan, so right from the start we were on opposite sides, even though we were sitting in the same room.
The part I remember most is Aston Villa scoring. For a moment, it felt exciting. It felt like the kind of moment that makes you jump up before you even think about it. But then it didn’t count, because it was offside. That changed everything in a second. My dad was happy because it was good for Liverpool, but I was sad because I wanted Villa to score. I remember that feeling clearly, how one moment in a match could mean two completely different things to the two of us.
That is the memory that stays with me. It was my first Aston Villa match, at home with my dad, and even though the goal didn’t count, it made football feel real to me. I think that was when football really grabbed my attention, because I cared. I wasn’t just watching. I felt it.