Are smartphones eroding the experience of watching football?

"In November 1980, I was 13 and making my way to Firhill from East Kilbride alone, arriving at the game to discover there was no manager in the dugout. It seemed very strange but, as I went on my own and was too shy to speak to anyone while I was there, it wasn't until the next day that I found out via the Sunday Mail that Bertie Auld had resigned and gone to Hibs."

"I recalled this story after a recent Thistle home game that was being broadcast on TV. Two or three rows ahead of me, a young couple were watching the very match they were attending on a smartphone. Admittedly, the game was fairly awful, but they seemed to be following the action and commenting on the referee's decisions to those around them. Definitely offside. Stonewall penalty. Should have been a red. What becomes of diehard football fans who stop going to matches?"

"Of course, there was much harrumphing and hard puffing of pipes all around me as we all thought in unison: How bizarre. Why pay to come to the game then ignore the on-field action the living, breathing existence of a game of football merely metres away? But it started to make sense. A few necks began to crane and soon everyone around them was shouting over to confirm a decision, ask who was offside or whether Stuart Bannigan should have been sent off."

At 13, a fan traveled alone from East Kilbride to a Firhill match and found no manager in the dugout, later learning Bertie Auld had resigned and joined Hibs. The loss felt devastating because Auld had been the fan's first manager throughout Premier League seasons. Decades later, at a Thistle home game televised, a young couple watched the same match on a smartphone while attending in person. Their focus on the broadcast provoked surrounding fans to question whether long-term supporters will stop attending. Mobile viewing prompted immediate crowd interaction as nearby spectators used live replays to confirm offsides and fouls, shifting collective engagement and prompting nostalgic unease.

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