Blue Is the Colour

At last a film that appeals as much to those who have never set foot in a football ground as to the true fanatics inured in football culture. Charting the highs and lows of a group of Chelsea supporters following their team around Europe, this film puts paid to the myth, still engendered by recent releases such as 'Football Factory', that fans of the beautiful game are a uniform set of low-life, violent scum sporting Burberry baseball caps.

'Fever Pitch' has been acclaimed for its accurate depiction of the agony and ecstasy of the love affair that is following a chosen team. By employing a documentary format with real people, 'Blue is the Colour' reaches another level by enabling the viewer to actually experience it. Watching, one becomes aware of the scent of aftershave, alcohol and onions, the touch of warm winter coats and beery breath in the cold evening air and the electricity of anticipation, joy and despair pulsing through the assembled mass of humanity that is a football crowd. The cut aways to interviews with devotees and opposition supporters provide time to catch your breath and gain an insight into the mentality and ethos of the fan.

For Chelsea supporters, this is an opportunity to live through our champions' league campaign all over again, made all the more poignant with the foreknowledge of the ending. More than this, it reflects the the shared consciousness of all long suffering 'Blues'. The normal post match tube journey from Highbury, surrounded by smug Arsenal supporters is normally something to be endured having taken yet another pasting. 'Blue is the Colour' records for posterity the moment when, for once, the tables are turned.

Football atheists and agnostics, watch this film and discover what it is that drives your spouse/friends/colleagues to eat, drink and sleep their team with the inevitable bout of indigestion on Saturday night/Monday morning. True believers, season's highlights DVD on sale from the Megastore will never be the same again. Follow the posh bird, depressive opera lover, health food freak, down to earth cabby and the opposition fans they meet along the way as 'Blue is the Colour' rampages (well, embarks on a pub crawl) across Europe.