On not being able to see your team play every week

On not being able to see your team play every week

Going to university has taught me many things; shorthand, media law, Harvard APA referencing, how to live with people, just how big a knobhead landlords can be, how to make shepherd's pie and the value of a tactical chunder being but some of the highlights.

But one of the biggest lifestyle changes has been the realisation you can't get to see your football team play every week. From having a season ticket and going to the odd away game, lack of money leads to seeing a maximum of five games a season.

Furthermore, being a fan of a team outside the top flight means you become reliant on sources other than TV to get information on your team. With maybe three games on TV at most throughout they year, these other sources become your best friends.

For example, today, for the epic Reading-Doncaster game, I had on the go the BBC live updates, Sky Sports Scorecentre for results updates and live tables, the Reading official site for live text updates and Reading FC forum Hob Nob Anyone? for comment, flicking between each whilst attempting to work on the student paper at the same time.

The best part of this is, unlike watching on TV with other people, you are in your own little world when following the game, becoming engrossed in it while others go about their business around you. So, when something exciting happens, like Reading's comeback from 3-1 down to 4-3 win today, you genuinely frighten people when you punch the air for no particular reason.

Don't get me wrong, being there would have trumped that feeling by a long, long way but the other thing university has taught me is to make the most of what you can get.