Unemployment – The loss of my sporting passion.

The great Irish Summer offered so much to the sports fan whether on the television or attending in person.

When I became unemployed earlier this year I was advised by many people to make sure that I kept up with my sporting hobbies. Playing golf and watching League Of Ireland Football.
Your hobbies give you an outlet, time away from the pressures of searching for that job, if even for a few hours.
But as I have found like everything else hobbies cost money.

An average game of golf costs 30.00 euros; this is 1/3 of our electricity bill or ¼ of our weekly shop.
How can I justify spending that amount of money on a whim?

Although still reasonable a trip to watch a league of Ireland game will cost me at least 30.00 including match ticket, petrol, a packet of Alex Ferguson chewing gum and the cup of much maligned oxtail soup.
When I was working I would not have thought twice about spending this, but now that I am unemployed it cannot be justified.

Earlier in the summer when Kerry gave my beloved dubs a step-by-step lesson in how to win a Gaelic football match. I was obviously devastated by the performance and the result, but a small little piece of me was happy that I would not have to find a way to pay for a ticket for the semi final or god forbid even the final
So thank you Kerry football for taking my dilemma away. I will eternally be in your debt.

The golf clubs are now in the shed gathering dust, and every time I enter they seem to look back at me with utter distain.
Friday nights pass without me going to a match and I can wait until next spring at least before I have to worry about the Dubs.

I am now left with only one avenue to my sporting passion and that’s my satellite dish, my beloved sports channels. Now if this were taken away I would be truly lost. I would be half the man I am now.

In our current precarious financial state the dish should really be removed from the side of the house but I just can’t bring myself to disconnect it.

It would be like a priest arranging an exorcism, exorcising the sporting demons from inside of me. The dish would be removed and with that a little piece of me would die, to be replaced by a deep open void of nothingness

This really is my last view to the sporting world outside
My wife says is it really important who wins the third round of the Carling Cup? Why are you watching women playing golf at the Solheim Cup? Nascar racing is so boring dear; can we switch over to “Eastenders”?

Darling it’s very important that I have this information and by the way the crown green bowls from Perth Australia is up next.