By the time students return to Cambridge, the football season will have been in progress for around two months, with gripping narratives developing nicely and the leagues vaguely starting to take shape after the initial chaos has subsided.

However, whether you’re arriving for the first time or returning to Cambridge, it is simply not as easy to keep abreast of your favourite football team during term time. The weekend game is sacrosanct in normal circumstances, with social engagements and family meals being arranged around twenty two men kicking a piece of vulcanised rubber around a muddy field. Term time commitments begin to erode the sanctity of 3PM on a Saturday, with personal sporting endeavours and – more likely – academic pursuits forcing even the most avid supporters to alter plans.

“Term time commitments begin to erode the sanctity of 3PM on a Saturday”

There are further issues hindering the practicality of following your team away from home. It’s highly unlikely that your college has a large screen TV screening live matches, and Sky Go is not exactly affordable on a student budget.

This leaves one viable option for the majority of students: the cathedrals of alcohol that are Great British Pubs. Without detracting from the glory of these establishments in any way, there are two main issues for students when it comes to pubs being a potential solution to their football viewing woes. Cost is the obvious one, with pint prices in Cambridge (besides The Regal, where football is very rarely shown) enough to cause high blood pressure.

Even if you were to be disciplined and ration two pints over the course of a 90 minute game (which, let’s face it, is unlikely to happen) you are likely to see close to £20 leave your already groaning student bank account.

“There is rather a temporary restructuring”

The second issue for many students is distance. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a central college, getting to the pub can be a trek. When you also take into account that the entire country will be cloudy, drizzly and around 10 degrees for the next six months – and that the average student is only equipped with a bike at best – the logistical problems begin to mount. What at home is just 90 minutes out of your day, will inevitably turn into an afternoon out at Cambridge – which could be considered a profligate use of time at an institution where most students have a workload that would keep a Wall Street Banker awake at night.

These factors combine to make watching your home team play simply too difficult for the vast majority of students, although as a Manchester United fan, I am not too upset if truth be told! Of course, not being able to watch your team doesn’t mean that your love for them dissipates. There is rather a temporary restructuring, where you may only be able to catch the highlights on Match of the Day or listen to a podcast on the walk to lectures.

If you play Fantasy Premier League, you will no doubt be frantically checking scores all weekend long with your phone hovering right next to your desk. At Cambridge, it is undoubtedly harder to follow football through the traditional means, in terms of watching games live as well as the associated TV programmes and buildup. Nevertheless, there is never a situation that forces you to switch off from the beautiful game completely, and it always provides a pleasant – or often unpleasant – distraction from the rush and busyness of student life.