Why would someone stand in the wind and rain to watch a team of over hyped youngsters and 30 something journeymen that haven’t got a hope in hell of going anywhere?

It’s a club of no financial standing, one that relies on loaned players, and which will, for the foreseeable future, be in a temporary ground, or more accurately a converted athletics stadium that can hold little more than the players themselves. With an attendance regularly below 6,000 and the guaranteed prospect of some average football which normally results grafting a 0-0 draw or worse, I realise that it is not the winning that counts but the enjoyment of turning up to see your team. It is the sharing of the ups and downs that the season inevitably brings.

It is this same attraction that means there is such a good turn out and wave of enthusiasm for sports played at the university, both within clubs and for intramural sports. The new season starts this week for intramural rugby and football, and as a member of History Football Squad I greet it with open arms. Remembering back to last season, on our opening fixture we had one shot from 25 yards, changed our keeper twice every game and wondered how our lethargic, hungover defence managed to leak yet another goal.

All this, knowing that a series of comedy errors and Frank Lampardesque deflections will result in some ridiculous results, a relentless flow of banter and overall an enjoyable season. I turn up with enthusiasm, praying that my can of red bull will go some way to making up for inactivity during the summer months.

So next time when you see Rooney or Ronaldo tear another unfortunate team to pieces, and see Abromovich smirking in the stands contemplating which superstar he is next to purchase with his pocket change, remember that its not the top clubs which keep sport thriving. Instead it is the involvement of each and every person at a local level inside our university, who turn up not because they wish to achieve a career or particular achievement in a sport, but purely due to the camaraderie, spirit and a realization that they have something in common with each and every member of that club.

It is the enjoyment of competing that created sport in the first place, and through my experience of sport at Southampton, both with the cricket club and playing a variety of intramural sports, I can say with confidence that enjoyment is the key element. As a result I urge those that have a soft spot for a particular sport, whatever your ability, to get involved and see what its really like to be a part of a sports club at university.