Following a recent brainstorm here at Synergy, I asked myself a quick, but thought-provoking question:

Are the football fans of England suffering from ‘burnout’?

Burnout, for those who don’t know is: ‘a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest.’ More common in younger sportsmen and women, burnout will occur if excessively high expectations are placed on an athlete by teammates or coaches and if the athlete in question is pushed too hard too quickly.

It was obvious, in my humble opinion, that this could well have been the case with the England Football team in South Africa. People can say what they like about their ridiculous salaries and the fact these young men are paid to train and play, but, ‘at the end of the day’ (sorry) these guys are only human and they need a break from work, just like the rest of us.

But is it now the football fans themselves who are starting to suffer from this physical, mental and emotional exhaustion?

The 2009/2010 season gave us a number of warning signs: half empty grounds in the Premiership, extortionate ticket prices, teams such as Palace and Pompey falling close to the precipice where Chester City now lurk, and if all this wasn’t bad enough, we then had to put up with what can only be described as a comedy show, as our National team flopped out of the World Cup with ease.

And 2010/2011 doesn’t seem to be getting better, with a number of top clubs still trying to flog season tickets to their once loyal fan base.

So my question is; ‘Is the football-loving UK now suffering from ‘burnout’ following the sheer amount of football we’ve had to endure every day of the summer – and ultimately the depression that followed our hyped up World Cup campaign?’

Well, I guess we’ll find out soon, when the new season starts on August 14th…

By Jonathan Gale on August 10th, 2010

Tags: Barclays Premier League, Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, World Cup

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