Hope springs eternal in the human breast, wrote Alexander Pope. But hope in sports fandom is a curious, elastic thing. It bends but rarely breaks, even when the evidence suggests it ought to. Psychologists often describe hope as a cognitive-emotional blend: part belief, part desire, part refusal to accept that outcomes are beyond our control. For fans, this mix becomes a sustaining force. It turns a fixture list into a living narrative of collective resilience.
Reserves of hope were low nine days ago for the Republic of Ireland football team before its games against Portugal and Hungary. Two implausible victories later, supporters have been granted four precious months of additional hope until the World Cup play-offs in March.
They will no doubt feel the task of beating the Czech Republic away and then prevailing over either Denmark or North Macedonia is difficult but achievable. And they will point out that the second fixture, should the team win in Prague, will take place in Dublin. The stars, clearly, are aligned. If you squint closely enough.
Supporting a team is rarely a cold transaction. Fans link their sense of self to the fortunes of players they will never meet. A win delivers validation; a loss becomes a setback that must be rationalised. Hope keeps this emotional economy functioning. Without it, every defeat feels terminal and every year without progress a personal slight. With it, the most underwhelming team can still inspire talk of a late surge.
RM Block
There is also the psychological lure of unpredictability. Sport is one of the few arenas where improbable events happen often enough to feel routine. Fans carry memories of late goals, unexpected turnarounds and results that defied logic. These experiences teach the mind that, even if today is bleak, tomorrow might be different.
Sporting hope is communal, and shared belief is more durable than private optimism. When disappointment arrives, the presence of others softens the blow. Hope is not naive. It is an adaptive strategy, a way to navigate uncertainty while staying invested in something larger than ourselves.
