How To Keep Yourself Entertained On A Footballing Away Day

It’s Saturday morning, your team are away and you’ve got a heck of a lot of travelling to do before reaching that 3pm kick-off. You need to hope your trains are on time, your phone battery doesn’t die, and after all of it you end up with the three points you so crave.

That journey from door to ground can often be a tedious and dull one though, especially if you typically travel alone. However, that doesn’t need to be the case. There are plenty of ways to keep yourself entertained on your way to the match, and to give you a helping hand we’re delivering you our top five…

Plan Your Pubs

Often when you arrive in a new town or city to watch your team, you may have a few hours to kill beforehand. In which case, there’s only one thing for it – the pub.

But don’t just walk into any old boozer, the train or bus journey to the game is the perfect opportunity to do your research. Firstly, consider what you want and enjoy from a pub. If you want to watch an early kick-off on television before going to your game, then sites like Matchpint are great in helping you find local pubs showing live sport.

Perhaps you want some quality local brews? Again a bit of research will help you along your way. Apps such as Caskfinder can help, while you’ll also find plenty of top 10s if you’re visiting major towns or cities. You can then figure out how far places are from the ground and plan your pitstop accordingly.

Play Games

Mobile gaming is huge these days and whether you’re on your way to the match or commute to work, they offer a great way to pass the time. So much so, let’s face it, most of us do it.

There are tons of games perfect for a long trip to the match. Naturally, there are tons of great football games you can play, such as Football Manager, FIFA and the many quiz apps you can find in your app store.

Podcasts are a brilliant way to while away the hours and there are plenty of football ones to keep you going throughout the journey. You can start the day with live radio and Fighting Talk on BBC Radio 5Live at 11am, before moving onto your podcast platform of choice and listening in to the many programmes that offer a look into the beautiful game.

Among our favourite football podcasts to listen to currently include:

• Quickly Kevin Will He Score
• The Famous Sloping Pitch
• Athletico Mince
• Football Weekly
• Golazzo: The Totally Italian Football Show
• Socially Distant Sports Bar (covers all sport)

Place Your Bets

If, like thousands of football fans up and down the country, you’re into placing an accumulator or a few bets at the weekend, a long train journey will give you the opportunity to be as informed as you can with it.

It’ll give you the time to not only place your bets, but also do plenty of time to do your research, read up on what pundits are saying, and also review any betting tips that have been posted online, giving you the chance to sum up everything and make more educated bets.

If you want to take your mind off football for a little while though, there are plenty of other options. Horse racing is as popular as ever and with Cheltenham around the corner you can always put on some Cheltenham bets instead of on the footy.