I was in love with this by only a couple of chapters in. The characters sucked me in, not just Simon and Declan, but the others especially Fran and Roger. Although it's the story of Simon and Declan's relationship, it's very much also a story of friendship. I think Simon's words at the end sum that part of it up: "In life, like football, you need a good team to support you." 
 I was wary going in with it being set around the game as I'm not a follower of sport in any shape or form, but the characters won me over, it was a part of their lives but the story was about /them/ - if that makes sense. 
 The other thing I really enjoyed was the fact it was set in Australia so a lot of the slang was familiar etc, and the references. Most of what I read is set elsewhere so that made me happy too. 
 This is one I'd highly recommend and it's going on my wish list for a print copy although I already have an ebook and I read the hardcopy from the library. I'm still rather old-fashioned that way.