I ENJOY all sport but my main sporting passion is undoubtedly the round ball game. (From Warrington Guardian)

I ENJOY all sport but my main sporting passion is undoubtedly the round ball game.

With Dave Lawrenson

However, my love for football has been tested to the limit over the years.

You see, I am a devout Liverpool and England fan.

That is a lethal combination for anyone young enough to have missed the Reds' domestic domination in the '70s and '80s.

Football frustration is pretty much all that I know.

Apart from Liverpool's treble triumph under Gerrard Houllier and Michael Owen's wonder goal against Argentina, my life as a football fanatic has been even more miserable than an episode of Eastenders.

I have seen more false dawns than I care to remember and I have had to endure years of boasting from friends, neighbours and work colleagues that follow the other north west Reds.

Being the arch-rivals of Manchester United has not been a pleasant experience since the dawn of the Premiership in 1993.

They have dominated the English game with genuine superstar performers like Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane and David Beckham while Liverpool have managed to destroy their worldwide reputation with dull defensive football and numerous donkey signings.

Fans of potless lower league clubs are probably thinking: "You don't know how lucky you are, mate!"

They would no doubt give their two front teeth for multi-million pound signings, regular European football and a manager with a proven track record like Rafa Benitez.

But the thing that makes being a Liverpool fan in their early 20s so frustrating is the false hope factor.

For as long as I can remember, the club have been promising that 'we will be better next year'.

We have always had quality players on paper and a hefty transfer kitty. But despite blowing more cash than Michael Jackson we have been unable to find the final pieces of the jigsaw and I fear that we will always live in the shadows of our bitter Manchester rivals.

If only I was born 20 years earlier so I could marvel in the glory years that my dad keeps harping on about!

Or for that matter, 40 years earlier so that I could see England actually win a major trophy.

The national side is unrivalled in the world of football frustration.

The mere mention of the words 'penalty shootout' brings me out in a cold sweat and I can't help thinking that the England team is jinxed.

For every attempt to win a major competition seems to follow the same pattern.

The whole country gets behind the team but England make a slow start and the Press gets on their backs.

We then seem to come good, claiming a prized scalp or two and some of the players go public saying that we can go all of the way. A media frenzy ensues and just when we all start to believe, someone takes us to the wire, thumps a load of penalties past us and leaves one of the English lads with egg (or pizza

in the case of Chris Waddle, Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate) on their faces. The nation mourns the 'shock' exit and the sequence starts again two years later with an added sprinkling of hype.

How is a sport which causes so much heartache so popular? Maybe us football fans are just gluttons for punishment!