FOOTBALL fan - the word is short for fanatic - but when fanaticism crosses the thin line into obsession lives can be ruined.

Having been a football fan since the 60s and after seeing England win the World Cup, I've had a continuing love affair with the game.

For some fans football is life, the rest mere detail. I know many football widows.

This well-researched satirical play by Peter Read deals with that obsession across the board.

It's not the other woman in Dave's (Adam Gordon Wat-sham) life putting stress on his marriage to Holly (Rebecca Griffiths), it's the other man - Dixie McNeil.

McNeil was the unstoppable goal machine during and after Wrexham FC's golden age season of 1977-78.

In the play we find all manner of other 'obsessives' pop-ping up.

Laddish Dave is joined by his mate Joe (Stanley Crabtree),

the hapless vicar whose sermons are soccer related. They both find Saturday afternoons a release from the boredom of their lives.

Joe's critical bishop is a religious obsessive.

Clingy Holly hasn't yet realised that, despite the strain, Dave is her obsession.

Direction by Antonio Munoz Bailey was solid, though he needs to add pace and sharpness early on.

Crowd scenes by the Stiwt Youth Theatre brought home the passion on the terraces.

My only criticism in the writing is that sparks never flew between the exasperated Dave and Holly.

In reality the tension would have resulted in blazing rows, compounded by the team's success as their relationship spiralled downwards. Instead, they went into denial, a kind of passive submission of failure.