Globe-trotting footballers will often tell you that as they move from country to country, one thing that is consistent is the sport itself.
Tactics may differ, intensity, quality, but the fundamentals and basics will more or less remain the same.
That theory was put to the test on a grander scale for supporters this year. When Covid-19 led to football being brought to a halt on a worldwide basis, there were one or two exceptions and those who wanted to watch a live match still had a choice.
The Nicaraguan league was late at night, but in Belarus there was a friendlier schedule to attract an audience desperate to watch the sport they love.
The circumstances behind it were not as romantic. The country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, insisted that the league play on during the pandemic. It receives a huge amount of funding from the government.
He declared that sport "is the best anti-virus remedy" and that drinking 50 millilitres of vodka a day was also recommended.
Lukashenko was, in many eyes, using football as one of the means to show the country could continue in normal life, with no lockdown.
The players were rightfully concerned. Dinamo Brest striker Artem Milevsky said it was "a little scary" in the early stages.
Momo Yansane, a Guinean international with FC Isloch, took to Twitter in May with a worrying revelation that "several members of our club are sick of Covid-19" and added that he wanted "sanitary measures including quarantine for several days before any continuity".
Two days later, he said he tested negative twice and had received new guarantees from his club.
Attendances fell by up to 75% for some clubs and on average 60%.
But remarkably, just two matches have been called off to date. Officially 343 people have died from 57,000 cases.
For the undoubted dangers of playing on, and a grossly unfair stance on the players, the one benefit has been to the game itself.
Aleksandr Aleinik of the Belarus Football Federation, admits it was not a strategy.
"Of course the popularity of Belarusian football increased, but this wasn’t a specific plan. It just turned out that the league was the only one remaining at a certain period of time.
"We had 12 countries purchase broadcast rights to our league. We decided to stream the games on YouTube in territories where the rights have not been purchased, applying a geo-block.
"This made the league more popular as well as we saw a significant increase on our social media channels. On YouTube, we also create highlight packages and player features so fans can see the players and catch up with the league even if they miss games."
The feature event so far was the Belarusian Cup final, a competition which almost took a year to complete and saw league leaders BATE Borisov take on last year’s champions Dinamo Brest.
BATE won the game with a dramatic goal in the 121st minute in extra-time, with over 65,000 views on YouTube and the biggest global audience a domestic game has ever had, but that was not replicated in the stands.
Aleinekj explains: "With the situation around Covid-19 getting worse the crowds decreased significantly at the end of March/April, while a number of precautions were also applied at the stadiums.
"We only sold 25% of the tickets for our Cup final on 24 May.
"A total crowd of 5,761 saw BATE beat Dinamo-Brest in Minsk, which was the season's highest attendance.
"At the moment the two clubs also have the highest average attendance in the league 1,777 spectators for Dinamo Brest and 1,536 for BATE Borisov.
"In general at the end of May [as Covid-19 cases dropped] the attendances began to increase again at most games."
As fans in stadiums largely stayed away, it was early March where new fans outside of Belarus came on board. Various websites ran articles that helped you pick a team at a time when every other league was shutting down.
FK Slutsk became the chosen side of many, with a Facebook group of now 7,000 fans donating over €3,000 to the club and an American fan has written an anthem, which is now played at games as the players enter the pitch.
That money has proved vital at a time when Slutsk, a small club that were reliant on the funds of the local businessman who was a major figure in the sugar industry, face more challenges moving forward.
A Slutsk worldwide fans banner is flown at the stadium, the team enter the pitch to the new song and the star player has been in touch with the group which began in Australia.
Shane Robinson, a supporter of Adelaide United, and his friends, chose Slutsk as their team and it took off immediately.
He tells RTÉ Sport: "We thought it'd be a bit of fun and banter to keep football fans going while there was no other football on around the world.
"The club are very excited at the donations, and people are still continuing to donate, even though the big European leagues are all coming back.
"We got a heap of interaction from the club, and even players, all via the Facebook group. Due to the Covid restrictions, the club hasn't been able to send any merchandise out. But we are hoping in the future, that might change.
"The fact that we've created something special keeps me interested. There's a genuine hope that we might have helped to save the club, which is an amazing feeling. Artem Serdyuk, the star striker, called me on FaceTime and he has been pictured with an Australian flag."
The Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga are back underway, yet the Facebook page is still a hive of activity. The positive start to the season by Slutsk indicated an unlikely title challenge but they are on a long winless run which brings talk of more crisis, it's all part of the story.
"Even though form has dropped off from the start of the season, I don't think people have been put off. There are plenty of people who post their frustration on Facebook, which shows that they genuinely care about the results and the club."
Ticket price range from €1 to €5 throughout the league for those that actually attend, BATE are top of table and are well known to fans of Irish football for their various battles with Dundalk, including the famous win for the Lilywhites.
They responded to that defeat by getting back into the Europa League and even a remarkable result against Arsenal last year – in which they also secured headlines for celebrating with a morning breakfast of airport burgers – but are no longer the power that saw them win 13 league titles in a row between 2006 and 2018
Nothing rubs salt into the wounds more than sitting next to Alex Hleb and the BATE team while they celebrate beating Arsenal by wolfing down a Double Whopper meal at 8am pic.twitter.com/7DOW4XYsXE
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) February 15, 2019
However, they are not attracting the new floating supporter, it's the lesser lights that need it even more.
John McAllister has established a social media service for Neman Grondo in the UK, and it is not a handful of fans. Neman scarves have been snapped up by members.
He explains why he took on Neman and how it gathered interest.
"I liked the fact the official Twitter only tweeted in Belarusian instead of Russian. That coupled with the fact their fans resembled those of my own club in Wales, Barry Town, I had my team. Creating the Twitter account was the logical next step, it started as a way to translate tweets for people but now I consider it its own entity.
"We have hundreds of people who follow our page, interact with us and follow our matches both on YouTube where they're legally streamed weekly and also on Twitter with our page.
"I wanted to get my hands on some merchandise. I started off trying to obtain shirts but this was pretty difficult, especially in a fairly large quantity, so to begin with, I gained permission to create an order of fan scarves, these proved successful.
"I'd be foolish to say that major European leagues coming back won't affect interest, it obviously will. But I do believe that a lot of people who sought comfort from Belarus will stick with us, along with more and more people who are joining daily.
"The general relaxed nature of the league keeps it interesting, the standard is also a lot more entertaining. I can't remember a game in Belarus all season that was more boring than Aston Villa vs Sheffield United."
Slutsk hosted Neman last Friday just prior to the meeting of Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United, two games watched all over the world, albeit in differing numbers.
However those figures are at least getting a bit closer because of the last four months and while Sky Sports had every conceivable camera angle available, aerial camera shots are now being used in the Vysheyshaya Liga, thanks to the new investment into football in the country.
The Belarus FA admit they do not know what the future holds, but as Ireland missed the opportunity to attract an entire new audience when it couldn't find a restart, football proved again that the global appeal will always be there.
