Going to a football match on the spur of the moment got me thinking along the lines of my MA thesis again: how popular culture functions in similar ways to religion. It’s not often I get to a professional game. In fact, it’s probably the first game I’ve been to in 10 years. Not only was I surprised by the sheer reliance on swearing to express any emotion, but I was also struck by the general tendency to follow the crowd. Bias evidently leads people astray. There was hymn singing (chanting), preaching (leaders of said chant), patriarchs (ref, linesmen). Not only that, but the linesmen were often called on to make dubious decisions confidently and stick to them come what may. *Ah* for the carefree MA days…