Sorry club fans, I’m a great football lover first and foremost

I was a little disturbed this week when so many followers on twitter suggested that I should be thrilled because Dutch and Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie was injured. It got me wondering whether English Premier League fans in Kenya were football fans or just club fans and I’ll break that down for you.

A football fan is someone who loves to watch good football regardless of which team is playing. It could be Bayern Munich vs Hamburger SV or it could be an international match somewhere in South American. A football fan appreciates the beautiful game. A club fan is not necessarily a football fan especially in the Kenyan sense.

I know a lot of my female and some male friends who have become club fans just to be a part of the excitement that comes with the EPL and other European leagues. And just so that they can make jibes at teams that lose and claim to support another team. A club fan is like a Kenyan who doesn’t watch any football but will care whether Harambee Stars win or lose. They are patriots so they support the Stars but they don’t particularly care about football.

And it is the person who is a club fan first who will be happy that RVP is injured. I am a football fan first and a club fan second. I like to watch RVP play and even though he is scoring goals for a rival team, they are goals that I can say I had the honour to see in my lifetime.

I know I should be happy at his and possibly Shinji Kagawa’s injuries because it is likely to hurt Man United; but I would prefer it if Arsene Wenger could win trophies with fair competition. I want Arsenal to be a team that can meet Manchester United on a day when RVP and Wayne Rooney are in the starting line-up and say “We beat that Man United!” We were good enough to compete with the best.

The reason some Arsenal fans are happy with injury developments is because we know our team falls short of being able to pose a big challenge against full strengths sides and our only chance is against half-baked sides. Sad.

For the record you shouldn’t feel bad if you’re a club fan first; just don’t expect me to feel the same way you do. Now just to give you an update on Abou Diaby’s injury; Arsene Wenger says it isn’t serious and he may just feature for the club against Southampton this weekend. I don’t wish any injuries on my worst enemies and an injury can ruin a footballer’s career, so for now I would like to wish RVP and all the other footballers nursing injuries; all the best as they recover.

Talk to me on @CarolRadull on twitter or Carol Radull on facebook.