40,000 voices filled the air in song, the entire stadium almost vibrating with a palpable sense of anticipation.

Alongside me, the team captains towered above, each lost to the concentration of the game to come. Ahead, the narrow exit of the tunnel beckoned, through which the noise of the crowd was being funnelled.

I looked down at my hands, both visibly shaking with nerves.

‘Here you go lad, take this.’

The referee, sensing my unease, thrust the ball my way. I grabbed it greedily, welcoming something to do other than stand there filled with awe and dread in equal measure.

At five years old, I wasn’t really meant to be a mascot at the game. Too young to handle the occasion, a rule that in my nervous state suddenly made a lot of sense. But, through a friend of my Dad’s, I had slipped through the net and now stood, clothed in a kit clearly too big for me, ready to take to the pitch.

A muffled shout from somewhere outside gave the signal for us to move.

‘Ready?’ the Referee asked.

‘Yes’, I lied, knowing there was no way to back out now.

I hadn’t been sure that my legs would do their job, concerned that some anxiety fuelled disconnect might fail to give them power. But they did, carrying me forward towards that exit and the awaiting crowd.

In a breath, the relative shade of the tunnel gave way to the blinding light of a summer’s afternoon as we emerged onto the pitch, there to be met by a roar so intense that it felt as though sound had solidified.

Despite the sensory overload, when we reached the centre circle, I had enough presence of mind to remember my dad’s departing instruction:

‘Make sure you salute the home end.’

I hesitantly raised my hand towards the fans. The crowd reacted. Another roar, but this one more personal, something I had created. The response filled me with pleasure, that connection with the supporters banishing the anxiety from my mind.

Looking back, I think I only liked football before that day. But in that moment, my arm aloft, the crowd cheering, that ‘like’ blossomed into something deeper. It became a love affair. And one that has remained with me since, shaping my life in ways that would have been inconceivable to my younger self.