We'll admit that we simply don't get it.
Football - to us at least - is about supporting your own (singular) team with all your soul, whilst maintaining a healthy dislike for the opposition. It is exactly this tribalism and partisanship that fuels passion for the sport for so many.
It is therefore bizarre and unsettling for us to see the growing number of 'half-and-half' scarves doing the rounds in this day and age. Now we appreciate that some visiting fans from foreign shores may want a memento of their once-in-a-lifetime match day, but perhaps tuck it coyly in your bag.
We don't like it. Not one bit. Especially when swagmen around fiercely contested and historic derbies are doing a roaring trade selling half-and-half merchandise to the match-going public.
The Manchester derby was the imperfect case in point. The very sight of the great Northern rivals featuring on the very same scarves jars with the traditional fanbase of the respective clubs...
https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/658252999735775232
https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/658262781716766720
https://twitter.com/ILoveMCR/status/658200654859608064
It's got to such a point that
Darren Webb, gatekeeper of Sam Platts pub near Old Trafford, has banned his clientele from adorning the offending items...
https://twitter.com/ManUnited_Hub/status/658259215400763392
It makes you wonder where it will all end. The shirt below may have been tweeted by a parody account but it's not all that divorced from reality...
https://twitter.com/Beijingcasuals/status/658270339718344704
On that note, we'll leave you with this nightmarish vision of the future. Don't tell us we didn't warn you...
https://twitter.com/DaOneToFollow/status/658271113433116672
