Barbelith Underground > Games & Gameplay > Does 'Fantasy Football' sully your love of the beautiful game?

So, I have to admit that I've been a relative latecomer to the joys of football having always been the kid that got picked last for sports at school.

It's only since university that I've really got into it, in part as a social lubricant (for work etc.) but mostly because since school I've met loads of people who are bright and interesting and like sport as well.

The biggest aid to my appreciation of the game has been Fantasy Football which has raised an unusually competitive and dedicated side of me and has led to a perhaps unhealthiliy detailed following of Premiership player performance, formations, tactics, injuries, transfers and the like.

So in lots of ways FF is great - I've learnt loads like I say. It means matches that in the past I had no desire to watch or follow are given extra significance if one of your makeweight players are on the pitch. It means I'm pretty much going to be obsessed for the whole season.

But, and it's a big but, I've noticed myself, on occasion, but increasingly, rooting for players playing against the club I support because it'll benefit my FF team. A number of my friends have dropped out of our league precisely because they'd needed to reconnect with their passion for their real life teams.

Any lithers out there similarly hooked and feeling the need to talk it out? Is Fantasy Football and evil that robs supporters of the spirit of the game?