But 85-year-old Doreen Simmons from Nottingham has taken things to a whole new level by becoming one of the top commentator on the ancient sport of sumo wrestling.
Ms Simmons studied theology and classics at Cambridge University, but became hooked on sumo more than 40 years ago after catching a glimpse of it on television.
And she is now a cult figure in Japan where she is regarded as the sumo wrestling equivalent of Match of the Day legend John Motson.
The pensioner, who moved to Japan with her then husband in 1974, has spent the last 25 years covering bouts for a top-rated television show despite being a complete unknown in her home nation.
And such is her devotion to the male-only sport that she lives in its heartland to the east of Tokyo in the suburb of Ryogoku.
It was while working for the Foreign Press Centre that she fell in love with the fighters’ intense battles and decided to make her hobby a job by becoming a commentator.
Alongside writing newspaper and magazine articles, she is the “English voice of sumo” for NHK, which has been described as the equivalent of the BBC in Japan, and loves the “good rapport” with the other commentators, who are known as “play by play men”.
She said: “I moved to Japan 44 years ago. I liked the challenge of living in an Asian country and I was also interested in getting to know a lot more about sumo and other aspects of Japanese life and culture.
“NHK set up the English-language commentaries 25 years ago to go out live at the same time as their very long standing Japanese broadcast.
“At the beginning there were three play by play men who had experience of broadcasting games like baseball but their knowledge of basic sumo was newly acquired and pretty limited.
“They wanted the colour provided by commentators like me who were hired because we were already knowledgeable about some aspect of sumo, and had gained our specialist knowledge in our own time and, mostly, at our own expense.
Ms Simmons landed in Japan in September 1973 and was hooked on sumo the moment she watched her first live bout the following January.
She added: “It’s the play by play man’s job to know the recent scores and stuff like that, and also the winning techniques but one man might have an extra impetus because of a new baby, that sort of thing.”
Ms Simmons says she still has fond memories of her years in Nottingham where she was a cricket fan and often went to Trent Bridge with a home-made score card and notebook.
She said: “When I came to Tokyo many years later I tackled sumo in much the same way.”
Her quarter of a century broadcasting is now being recognised with a prestigious Order of the Rising Sun medal, which has been awarded by the Japanese government.
Ms Simmons said: “I was amazed when I got the news of the award.
“I have simply never thought of myself in those terms.
“At church most of the friends who spoke to me after the service were recalling their experiences of seeing sumo with me or learning something from me.
“They were clearly sharing the excitement, not simply congratulating me.”