....ladies, don't be fooled, football comes first.

..we saw it yesterday (Man u-Chelsea game), we will see it today (Arsenal-Leyton Orient game), we will see it in the weekend, and we have seen it for the past weekends, during the World Cup and many years back. A man will give up everything to join fellow men to watch a football match.

This is always done at the expense of something LESS fulfilling and MORE intimate-members of the female gender. We love you ladies, we really do, with some part of our heart. The other part, the bigger part, is dedicated to soccer. Yes, that noble game where eleven grown-up men run after dead leather, as some will put it. We talk soccer, we live soccer, we wear soccer and we think soccer- formation, transfers, accidents (injuries) and player’s private lives.

We do this because men hate predictability (read soap operas). We like the adrenaline rush of being on the edge, and the orgasmic feeling after your team has won, or the sad and engulfing web after the loss. And our emotions are restricted to soccer.

We are always willing to forfeit something special, like a dinner-date or any other date, family gatherings, weddings and household chores just to give 90 minutes to something entirely so sweet that it lacks superlatives to describe it.

Ladies, look at the number of times that you have been stood down, forced to tag along with his buddies, your calls not going through, talking to him while he is busy fondling his phone for the match report, or minute by minute (MBM) report, or getting sulks and moods swung your way. Isn’t disgraceful and insensitive? Boys will always be boys, and girls will be caring and understanding.

So, the next time you are planning for a date, or something special, research to see if there is an important match, because that is more SPECIAL to him. And remember to celebrate with him or give him the shoulder when he is really down. Or better still, keep off him tell the match has ended and a day had passed.