Football is a funny old game, some have tried to explain it as similar to a religion, with your church (club) being a place you visit once a week and so on.

For some, football is just a game, for others it’s something you can get a bit worked up about every once in a while.

But for others, football is more than that, much more than a religion, it’s a key aspect of life.

In some ways, football is actually like a drug.

I grew up in Charlton, in Charlton there’s a football club, and not much else.

I started going to Charlton games with my father and younger brother regularly in 1995. Since then we’ve missed maybe ten home games between us.

One of my childhood dreams was to play for Charlton, even now I would give everything I have in the world up to play for my club. Even though I know that I’m useless at football.

Something that can’t be explained is why this affinity for football exists quite so strongly in so many.

The best way to explain it would be to compare the sport to music, film or another art, something that can really rip away at your emotions and bring you to the greatest high, or the lowest low.

But even that description is rather weak.

On Monday night, I joined over 20,000 other Charlton fans at The Valley to watch the mighty Addicks attempt to turn over a one goal deficit against Swindon Town and progress to the League One play off final.

Charlton won the game after ninety minutes, but as this meant the game was a draw on aggregate, extra time and a penalty shoot out was required and sadly, Charlton lost the game on penalties.

So you move on, it’s only a game after all.

You can say it as much as you want but for many football fans, it’s not that easy.

The knowledge that football as a sport is financially in great trouble doesn’t help, having seen what’s happened to clubs such as Portsmouth, Luton Town and Chester City strike all football fans with fear that their club could be next to fight for its existence.

An existence which, for all football clubs mean roughly a hundred (or more) years of history, where generation after generation have fallen in love and had their heart torn to shreds by their football club.

My fear is that, as a result of loosing on Monday, Charlton may have to sell their best players and may once again struggle to survive in the league they play in. (an occurrence which saw Charlton relegated from the Premier League in 2007 and the Championship in 2009)

I’m not alone in my fears for Charlton Athletic, but these concerns aren’t unique to my club either.

If you talk to any football fan, they will be able to reveal similar concerns about their own club, whether their club are Manchester United or Macclesfield Town.

Football is a universal game, a way of life for many who are far more passionate about the game than me, and with one kick of a ball, you can cry with joy, or see your dreams fall to shreds.

But now, the football season has finished for fans like me, and our passion turns to our respective countries and the World Cup.

In a few weeks, London, along with most major cities around the World will be transformed into a hub of great national pride for countries competing in the Football World Cup in a sight which will disprove the theory that football is only a game.