Irritable? Sad? Feeling empty? It could be World Cup withdrawal.
The post-mortem on South Africa’s World Cup drew a near perfect score, but locals are now grappling a once far-off question after a month of celebration and rare unity: How are you going to get your life back?
With a touch of the blues, say experts.
“This World Cup has provided us with a fantastic natural high,” Cape Town psychologist Helgo Schomer said.
“Now we have to replace it because within 31 days and a few games you get hooked,” he said.
As many as 40 percent of British soccer fans, their days no longer filled with World Cup matches, are at risk of Post Tournament Depression (PTD), according to a survey yesterday.
The reality of having to wait more than a month for the new soccer season and until 2014 for the next World Cup has left many fans feeling flat.
The average British male thought about soccer 43 times a day during this year’s World Cup and watched nearly 30 hours of the World Cup during the past month, the survey found.
The poll, for a shopping Web site, shows that nearly a quarter of respondents missed or were delayed for important appointments during the tournament.
Fifteen percent of people abstained from sex or canceled dates to avoid missing matches, and 6 percent of relationships actually broke down as a result of the World Cup.
Meanwhile, All of South Africa’s social barriers had come down during the month-long tournament, which is not often seen, Schomer said.
“We are a social animal. We need to admit that something like this in a group in a stadium with 60,000 plus people cannot be replaced by anything else,” he said.
“Humans among humans are the most happy people around. We forget about our worries. Nothing like a World Cup event alleviates worry about the mundane,” he added.
Some fans were already feeling the blues before the last whistle on Sunday.
“I’ve already started suffering from post-World Cup depression,” said Melanie George lining up for the Cape Town fan park eight hours ahead the final on Sunday.
And next?
“Sulk. Save for 2014,” she said.
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