Just look at this picture! It’s marvelous! It gets me every time. The passion, the gusto, the fact that everyone in this photo is lovin’ it. That’s not all that makes this photo so wonderful; it’s a great photo because it made me reflect and think.

I know it sounds ridiculous that such a seemingly whimsical photo could inspire any form of introspection but, alas, it did. It got me thinking about our relationship with our sports teams; the fact that we make such a massive emotional investment in what is basically a group of strangers playing a silly little game.

And that’s what sport is – a silly little game. But for some reason or other it is just so much more. Why is that? It’s strange that, in an increasingly globalised world, sport is the one thing where boundaries are not becoming blurred. When it’s time to compete, the borders between nations (or any other entity for that matter), which have become so fluid in this digital age of ours, become for that moment as staunch and real as a brick wall.

I think it’s because we’ll never get rid of our tribalistic inclinations. We want to be a part of a tribe; of a collective identity. The feeling we get from watching a group of people, or a person, representing us and our tribe is one that is such a natural and primal thrill that we simply can’t let it go. We live through these sportspeople vicariously; their success is our success.

And this is a good thing. Whilst we shouldn’t reinforce differences between our human family any more than we have, we should acknowledge that they exist and that maybe, every now and then, it isn’t really that bad to indulge our primal selves. So go nuts! Tattoo your teams emblem on your ass! Be proud of your community and the team that represents it. It’s yours to have and it’s yours to belong too.