Play Your Scarves Right - Looking Cool, Feeling Warm

Is it time to dig out the football scarf yet? The timing is of course crucial. Start wearing it too early and you end up sweating at the game, too late and you could endure what feels like the coldest couple of hours ever!  It’s been a really mild autumn so far, which has followed on from a surprisingly decent summer in the UK, so it’s really complicated the issue this time around. Usually by the end of October, scarf wearing season is in full swing but not so this year.

However, as November approaches, I can just feel it in my bones, that the trusty scarf will need to be fully operational soon. Of course, there are all kinds of football scarves and I have owned a fair few over the years. There’s that first one you get when you are a kid – at the time it’s really cool with your team’s name and badge plastered all over it and when you are not out at the match, you sort of hang it from your bedroom wall as a banner. I still have that one somewhere, but it’s not looking its best these days.

Then there’s the first football scarf you buy as a young adult – it still has your team’s name on it but it’s a bit more conservative and it’s something you tend to wear for football only. As soon as you get home from the match…it goes into the wardrobe or onto the hanger and stays there until next match day. It certainly doesn't get draped from your bedroom wall – especially if you have a girlfriend by then!

Then there’s the football scarf you inherit from a fan of the opposing team – this seems to happen more at international matches (perhaps less frequently now than it used to and perhaps not at all at an England v Scotland fixture), when after the game everyone is in good spirits after a friendly draw and some jovial (and a bit drunk) chap comes up to you and asks if you want to swap scarves. You don’t (want to) of course, but feel a bit intimidated and on the spot, so you reluctantly hand over your colours and hope your pocket is big enough for these new strange colours as you try and stuff it all in there before any of your friends see.

There is also the scarf you buy by mistake, either at the club shop or from one of those ropey street vendors selling “official” merchandise. Your forgot yours (or it was in the wash) and you desperately need a scarf for the game, so you look for the cheapest one you can find and hand over your fiver, feeling pretty pleased with yourself! That is, until you realise that it barely wraps once around your neck! You might be wearing your team colours but you look like a complete idiot.

Then finally, there is the designer football scarf. This is the one with a branded name on a tiny label and the one you are willing to pay a bit extra for – because it has that branded name on a tiny label! However, if you play your scarves right, this one turns out to be of real quality and although it doesn't have your team’s name splashed across it, it’s the right colours and it does mean you can also safely wear it down at the pub on a non-match day.

There are a few different companies that sell this kind of designer football scarf but I got my mine from Appleberry and it really is impressive! The first thing that struck me about it was the length – it must be nearly 6ft long! It’s so warm too, apparently it’s made completely from wool and it certainly feels like it. I don’t rejoice in watching fellow spectators shiver but I certainly feel a bit smug when I am all snug - wrapped in my toasty warm scarf! Check them out if you are looking for your next really cool football scarf.