Whisper it softly but we have all got at least one. No matter how much we protest our love we all have a secret fancy on the side, one we often indulge in a covert way but never admit to in public. My wife knows about one of mine but not all of them, that would be far too hazardous.


 As you might have guessed this has got nothing to do with Extra Marital liaisons (Kylie Minogue is still resisting on that score), it’s more to do with a form of sporting flirtation. When it comes to Football my allegiance have always been tied to the Blue of Leicester City but that doesn’t stop me have a (rapidly diminishing) soft spot for my second team, Hull City. Likewise in the often bizarre way these things work my Scottish team, and we all have one, is probably Third Division Queens Park thanks to a season ticket holding former colleague who frequents Hampden Park every other Saturday.


 So there you have it, what other teams and sports do you secretly follow? My Wife decided some time ago to give up supporting a ‘proper’ side and has since nailed her colours to the worst team she could find, hence East Stirlingshire have a fan in North West Leicestershire. For the record she has actually seen them in action and yes they truly are as awful as you might expect.


 Your ‘second team’ though can be from other sports as well as football. In the short period of time that American Football was viewed as a serious sport over here a lot of people acquired a team to follow, even if these days they only follow them on Teletext. During the mid 1980’s the team to follow was the Chicago Bears thanks to their Super Bowl Success and the inimitable William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry. This was a chap who could allegedly consume the contents of a fridge in one sitting. For the record I gather Abbo is still gearing up for the rematch.

 
 If some American Footballers were large they had nothing on the Sumo lads who also got coverage by Channel 4. One bloke I knew really got into it in a big way, and lets face it with Sumo everything is big. He could tell you all about the ancient Shinto traditions, the salt throwing, all the pre-fight rituals and what they were all about as well as the names for the various throws and techniques used. With all this knowledge of things Japanese the wrestler he chose to support was the one who was not Japanese at all. If I remember correctly it was some 37 stoner from Hawaii who revelled under the name of Konishiki or ‘Dump Truck’ to English speaking fans.

 
 The other bizarre fad that hit these shores was Aussie Rules Football. The main attraction of Aussie Rules was that due to the inability of the officials to send anyone off it frequently got more than a little bit tasty. The main downside was the coverage, such as it was, came on before H.W.O.T. (Hangover Wear Off Time) on a Saturday morning. However it got concerning when I suddenly realised I actually wanted the Essendon Bombers to beat the Fremantle Dockers. Why that would be I have never worked out.


As things stand I currently don’t have any allegiances in the worlds of Shinty, Kabbadi or Extreme Ironing but who knows what is around the corner? And whilst I can fully appreciate the sheer hard graft of Cycling if anyone catches me getting caught up in the team dynamic of the Tour De ‘Flipping Non Entity’ France you, in the words of Steve Redgrave, “Have my permission to shoot me!”