Why, what, who?

My name is Joris van Duin and I’m a 22-year-old journalism student from The Netherlands. At the moment I’m studying in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, untill the end of december this year. This blog is part  of my ‘multimedia journalism’-course I’m following.

Why particularly this subject?
Watching how 22 guys chase a football and try to kick it in the goal of their oponent is a good fun; don’t get me wrong. But it’s not all about the game football itself. Actually, when I visit a footballmatch and people ask me how the match was, most of the time I barely remember a thing of the match itself. ‘But why did you go to that match?’ Well, to meet other people, to have a great time with them, to drink beers, taste the whole atmosphere. It’s about the experience, the differences between the fans, how they experience the match. Even though their team loses or wins, the fans’ emotions are brilliant to look at.

And yes. I think I’m able to say you have to be a maniac to be like this. I spent tousands of Euros only to visit over 300 matches between professional footballteams in England, Greece, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium and Germany. A ‘normal’ person prefers a holiday to Ibiza whith that money.

Just to make clear that football is not only the game itself, that there is more ‘behind’ the game, I started this blog. I will write stories about my own experiences, people I have met and people I will meet at footballmatches. I hope my stories will keep you being interested in reading and following this blog.

At the end of this semester I hope you have a good image of how a special group of football fans experience a match day.

Fans
Football is a people’s sport. Almost everybody is able to visit a football match, and that’s why I will mostly interview many different supporters from different clubs, from different countries, from different football cultures; How they experience a match(day), what their biggest rivals are.

Matches
But I will also interview fans in their ‘natural habitat’: on the gate, in the stadium. I am planning to attend matches of FC Pirin Blagoevgrad and CSKA Sofia(-Levski Sofia).

More info?
Contact me on Twitter: @JorisvanDuin, Facebook: Joris van Duin or send me an e-mail: briek@live.nl.