Im a fan of soccer myself but find it very hard to understand how people in this country are so obsessed with the premiership and english soccer teams in general!
Like ill walk into a pub on any given saturday and see loads of people sitting wearing man united and liverpool jerseys wathing a match. Im a big fan of soccer myself and bought into the hype in my earlier years and later realised that supporting spurs compared nothing to supporting mayo or ireland, because i had nothing in common with the club and i wasnt from north-east london.
So after a few years of caring less and less if they won or not kinda gaves up supporting them.
Some people go on about supporting teams like liverpool and man u for their history but i honestly dont believe that-not for one second wpould they support them if they wernt successfull. I mean Not Forest have a good history but you wont see many of their fans in this country.
I find myself having more and more of an interest in the eircom league now. Ok it isnt near the standard of the premiership but you dont see other nationalities on a massive scale supporting a team outside their country, in fact they find it hard to understand.
It's the "we" thats pathetic - we beat you last night - we being a English Permiership team, that the person in question has probably never saw playing live in their lives, that is owned by some European Consortium, that has 22 players - 2 from England and the rest from Europe, S'America etc. Think it steams from when you were a kid in fairness, the 40 somethings are leeds the teens today Chelsea, Man U etc - everyone just seems to pick a team that is successful and then when you ask why in later years, their cocker spaniel or something was from Liverpool. :)
When you compare fooball and soccer, there is no contest in terms of skill and entertainment but soccer has the 24/7 hype, global audience and presentation which lures people in.
for me, the acid test is that those who play and are decent at both sports, you generally will always see they love the football far more.
edit:
The sense of identifying with a team as your own appeals to armchair fans. how often do you get to shout at the telly at your gaa team or argue the bit out with your mate, who probably supports the same football teams as you?
Quote from: AMayoSheep on May 10, 2007, 10:58:32 AM
I find myself having more and more of an interest in the eircom league now. Ok it isnt near the standard of the premiership but you dont see other nationalities on a massive scale supporting a team outside their country, in fact they find it hard to understand.
Prepare to be called all sorts by the premiership brigade! :P
Even in england you get londoners who support man united, why? well because they win things and they're on the box all the time. I don't think too many sligomen or women support Shamrock Rovers. Whats the common demoniator? The fact that a club has a successful history or the fact that one is spoon fed to you through TV?
Its because the Sun and the Star tell them too ;)
Whatever about the Rovers boys on this board, at least they are supporting their local side!
I was the same, I supported Villa for a while (till about 94-95) and just felt it meant nothing to me, Other teams fans were giving me grief and i just didnt care enough to put up with it. ive stopped watching soccer altogether now.
Quote from: tayto on May 10, 2007, 11:21:20 AM
Even in england you get londoners who support man united, why? well because they win things and they're on the box all the time. I don't think too many sligomen or women support Shamrock Rovers. Whats the common demoniator? The fact that a club has a successful history or the fact that one is spoon fed to you through TV?
Do you think London is made up of only jellied eels fanatics? In England you generally find that people support who their mum or dad supported(or their arch enemy (sic)) that may be the team down the road, or if your dad was a scouser who moved to dat der london , you'll prob end up supporting them. What about all the lads running round London, Brum , Manc etc in Mayo, Dublin Tyrone shirts- all born and bred in England, they still refer to the particular county as we, are they wrong too?
The Cockney Reds (utd London fan base) have been around since the mid 20th century, a mixture of people who hailed from manc, who were mates with them etc. Utd have had a massive following across england for a long long number of years, long before sky , ferguson and trophies. Its not black and white.
The glory brigades stem from areas where there isnt a prem team nearby, coupled with a hollow need to be seen to be "into" football, as a hangover from Euro 96 , these people are sometimes referred to Hornbys. There are many many dedicated home and away fans who travel huge distance to get to OT or Anfield week in or week out. Would you rather a OOT(out of Towner) beside you every week supporting the team properly , than a local who goes once or twice a year, and spends the whole time complaining about oots?
I always find the following questions get your subjects (usually taxi drivers) thinking when they use the "We" word, when talking about their favourite American owned British sawker team;
You're originally from Liverpool/Manchester?
No
Ahh, your parents/ Grandparents then?
No
Were you living there, you've no accent?
No
You have close friends or family there?
No
Your Surname isn't "Glazier" by any chance?
No
You've got me there, what's the connection?
I love them, there (sic) the best.
Ahh a connoisseur of the so called beautiful game, tell me how many times have been to the Anfield/Old Trafford?
I just watch them on the telly in the pub, but i never miss a game.
Ahh, i never miss an episode of the Ear to the Ground.
Theres a parallel with the taxi driver and the wee girl from the hairdressers with a ticket for the AI for her first game in years?
Theres a huge diff in betwen the taxi driver, and the person who gets up off their arse and goes to the games?
Who gives anyone the right to dictate who someone else should and should not support?
Nobody is "dictating" anything to anyone.
Just making valid points, we arent saying you shouldnt follow an English team, just saying we dont get why you would want to.
Quote from: his holiness nb on May 10, 2007, 12:30:55 PM
Nobody is "dictating" anything to anyone.
Just making valid points, we arent saying you shouldnt follow an English team, just saying we dont get why you would want to.
Nail on head, and why do people from here be so passionate about the English team they have hooked up to, it's like they were togging out for them, i just don't get it!
I'd say the reason I would be so interested in Liverpool was because my two brothers were. Plus there is no shortage of hype in the meeja over here regarding the EPL so it was enjoyable to follow a team. Always enjoyed the banter with my mates who followed other teams.
I think people are analysising it too much. I would get over to the odd liverpool game, not near as many as I would like. But I would use "we" when talking to my mates. Not because i'm togging out for them or anything, just because it handy and they know what I'm talking about. And like anything that you follow for a period of time you can become passionate about the team. Not near the level I would feel for Tyrone or Ireland but still a big interest.
People need to identify with something and it's human nature to break into tribes. Psychological studies have shown that you can take a group of people, arbitrarily divide them into groups, assign each group a colour and in very short order they will get passionate and sometimes violent in defence of their colour and in attack of a different one.
TV provides readymade colours/teams and the pub/workplace/coffee-break an arena to defend your chosen one.
Jonathan Swift illustrated this human trait well with his Bigendians and Littlendians. Manchester United are just Bigendians and Liverpool are Littleendians. Or is it the other way around? Let's have a fight about it.
I've chosen a colour/end/team that represents the locality I was born in. I often succumb to the temptation to taunt those who have chosen Chelsea and call them "we" and that makes me feel good about myself and my loyalty to my roots, etc. But it's not fair really. If I didn't have Meath, I'd probably be calling Manchester United "we" or siding with the people who crack their egg at the big end and looking for Littlendians to argue with and making fun of people who get passionate about Big Brother contestants. Actually, that's something we can probably all agree on.
its great people have an interest in sport period. i was in the states for years and loved baseball but over here its hard to stay a fan when you dont see too much of it. same with soccer i support liverpool but its nothing like supporting kerry to me but i really get great enjoyment out of them. a serious point here: if all the premiership supporters here started supporting eircom league clubs the gaa would have a much harder fight on their hands for players/supporters/etc despite the obivious fact to me that gaelic football is a far superior game...
It's not that I feel sorry for those who can't understand the pleasure of supporting a cause outside of their immediate surroundings, but I do think they are missing out on something. It's like falling in love with HP sauce. You try it once for the craic, then it grows on you.
I support English Scottish and Irish soccer teams. I support an American football team. Support as in lend my support to them, mostly albeit from the comfort of my settee or in merchandise. It's life I suppose. Some people love climbing mountains. Some like prayers or saints' days. Some like sport and can be passionate about it. I suppose it's the same as gambling, only long term. You'll support a horse for 4 minutes, you'll support a team for life. I'd say that although those who cannot understand how someone can support something from afar may be missing out on that tribal pleasure, it's understandable that it's just not for them.
Growing up in Kildare in the early 80s there was very little sport hype certainly not compared to the Sky years and the only live GAA one saw on TV was the All-Ireland finals and if your county wasn't involved it completely by-passed you. On the other hand you always had Match of the Day, football focus, On the Ball, Saint and Greavsie and The Big Match. In the school playground it was easy to identify with an English Division 1 side, generally most kids went with the successful ones Liverpool, Everton and Forest, a lot of other kids would have been encouraged by their Dads to be Arsenal or Man U fans, clubs without much success in the 80s but always had great tradition and a strong Irish presence, I still have a birthday card I received from David O'Leary signed by the whole Arsenal squad. For Shamrock Rovers fans this was arranged by Mick Kearin who when Arsenal played Rovers at Milltown also got me into the Arsenal dressing room. So although it's years since I've been to an Arsenal home game I still try to watch their games although it's been a long since I've been passionate about their results.
But as I've got older the hype machine has put me off soccer and I didn't even sit down and watch any of the Champions League semi-finals, perfering instead to watch a couple of mates play Division 3 football and some other mates play inter-county junior rugby.
Anyway I can recognise apart of myself in the "WE" brigrade and have no problems with them but I think the next generation will have no interest and instead will be more interested in their county team and provincial rugby because that's were the identity will be. Kids aren't dumb and as they get older they will see through the Premiership for what it is.
QuoteFor Shamrock Rovers fans this was arranged by Mick Kearin who when Arsenal played Rovers at Milltown also got me into the Arsenal dressing room.
I think this was a pre-season friendly in 85/86 Dinny. Was at it myself .Rovers had some team in those days ( and a ground!!!)
QuoteI think this was a pre-season friendly in 85/86 Dinny. Was at it myself .Rovers had some team in those days ( and a ground!!!)
That would be the game, always had a soft spot for Rovers, even dated Mick Leech's daughter for a while. Sad to see what they have become...
Quote from: 5iveTimes on May 10, 2007, 03:33:44 PM
I am a child of the 70s, I grew up in a staunch GAA family, soccer was a "foreign sport", there was no Sky sports and I rarely got to see MoTD, but I have supported Liverpool all my life. I cant explain why I support Liverpool, I just do. I have no ties to the city of Liverpool other than the football team and Anfield. I dont hate Everton. I go to Anfield regularly (6ish games a season) I go to some of the away European games. I will be in Athens, I was in Istanbul. Does this make me any less an Irishman? Any less a GAA man?
Down are my number 1 team, but at times Liverpool come a close second.
And who said it did?
Effectively the English League is our top soccer league. Just about every good Irish player in my memory has spent some or all of their career in England and an All time Irish soccer team would probably have 11 players who spent most of their career in England.
If you like soccer and want to follow the best Irish players then English teams are your only option.
Quote from: 5iveTimes on May 10, 2007, 03:45:10 PM
I just get the impression that certain GAA members look down on people who follow soccer, English soccer in particular.
This thread was started by a self confessed soccer fan, its nothing to do with the GAA.
And nobody said you were less of an Irishman or less of a GAA man for supporting Liverpool, you need to chill out !
Quote from: his holiness nb on May 10, 2007, 12:30:55 PM
Nobody is "dictating" anything to anyone.
Just making valid points, we arent saying you shouldnt follow an English team, just saying we dont get why you would want to.
I don't get why intelligent people in this day and age believe in god or like certain types of music, but there you go. Everyone has different backgrounds and experiences.
Exactly, thats why theres many a forum about these topics too.
I'm a GAA man but also follow soccer nobody in particular but i would watch a match if there was no gaelic or rugby on.I was a lucky enough to go to man u v's benfica last december to see my first ever soccer match in england, what i could not believe was the level of support that Man u received for e.g when man u went a goal behind the whole stadium went wild to the cheers of united, if that happened in Gaelic and a team let a goal in or a player missed a free all you would hear would be F**KS and blinds. So while i don't admire the premership or the footballers because personally i think lot of it is over hyped and i'm sick of hearing Andy Gray going on about the commintment shown by the players that get paid a hundred grand a week i really admire the supporters who really do support their teams.
Have supported Liverpool since I was a nipper. Don't particularly feel the need to apologise for it. Not that I care anyway. Just started supporting them as they were on telly a fair bit and they wore all red and red is my favourite colour. It really is that simple. I remember supporting them in the Merseyside cup finals in the last 80's and bawling my eyes out when Michael Thomas scored the last minute winner to win the league for Arsenal in 89. As it turned out I started supporting Liverpool just before they entered the 90's and a period when we won f**k all relatively speaking and some of the worst Liverpool sides ever graced Anfield. I go over a couple of times a season but obviously not as often as I'd like but it's not easy when your work, family, various other commitments are so far away.
I refer to "we" when discussing Liverpool as their my team and to support a team you have to have a sense of ownership and identify with them in a collective sense. Otherwise you're just a neutral observer IMO.
For the record I also regularly go to Eircom league games to see Galway United.
I also love my club and my county needless to say and go to more matches than is healthy for my heart but I don't find the two things mutually exclusive and frankly I do get a bit fed up with the holier than thou attitude some take towards supporting an English football team. Live and let live I say.
Nicely put GBB. I'm in the same boat as yourself. Started supporting United in the 90s and so what if they were successful. I've no ties with the city of Manchester or any other city in England either that has a soccer team. And if you knew me, you wouldn't say I'm a poor GAA supporter either cos I've been at as much games as I can go to.
Quote from: Farrandeelin on May 10, 2007, 06:30:01 PM
Nicely put GBB. I'm in the same boat as yourself. Started supporting United in the 90s and so what if they were successful. I've no ties with the city of Manchester or any other city in England either that has a soccer team. And if you knew me, you wouldn't say I'm a poor GAA supporter either cos I've been at as much games as I can go to.
No-one is saying that anybody is any less of an Gaa fan just because they support an English soccer team.
It just iv found it increasingly strange as i went through my teens.
Like if it just say that someone like old-ham were the best team around then, you would have supported them....most people are glory hunters following teams like liverpool or united and whether they like it or not have bought into a product like sky who are only delighted that irish fans have such a keen obsession on the premiership.
But it this way, i am interested in the premiership but find it difficult to get passionate about a team that has nothing in common with me, that i have no links to!!
Or as someone said before just because i liked the color red they supported liverpool!
I support Liverpool because my grandmother & grandfather lived there during the 1930's & 1940's, 2 of my Aunts where born there. But to be honest when Liverpool lose Im pissed off for 20 minutes, when Mayo lose Im unbearable for 6 months. Liverpool I like Mayo is Life. The connection with Liverpool is vague, my particular family name(& the predecessors of the name as family, names only around since around 1000ad or something) have been in Mayo(areas now known as Mayo) since arond 500-600 ad, so thats a damn fine reason to give all my allegiance to my homeland.
GAA before Premierhship any day of the week.
Quote from: AMayoSheep on May 10, 2007, 07:20:05 PM
It just iv found it increasingly strange as i went through my teens.
The older I get, I find it increasingly strange that people could prefer football over hurling. Yet not only does it happen, there are far more people who follow this way of things than mine! Any insight into this state of affairs?
And before you get your knickers in a twist, that was a rhetorical question. People nowadays follow English soccer because they always have done. How this came to be is an interesting question, worthy of books like Who Stole Our Game? (http://bifsniff.com/sport/who-stole-our-game) But there's no mystery as to why people do it - because everyone does it.
QuoteOr as someone said before just because i liked the color red they supported liverpool!
What does it matter? I don't support them any less because of it.
Sure I only support Galway through an accident of birth. If I was born further to the north I'd probably be a Mayo fan.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 10, 2007, 07:59:28 PM
QuoteOr as someone said before just because i liked the color red they supported liverpool!
What does it matter? I don't support them any less because of it.
Sure I only support Galway through an accident of birth. If I was born further to the north I'd probably be a Mayo fan.
Just thank god that you wernt born further north and in mayo...... ;D ;D
Sure by your logic, cork must be close to your heart, see them on telly a lot and they wear red, plus seeing that they ar in the same country you would have more in common with them than liverpool!!
The reason you support Galway is because you are from there - they represent you and your place like galway united in soccer....liverpool doesnt!
QuoteLike if it just say that someone like old-ham were the best team around then, you would have supported them....most people are glory hunters following teams like liverpool or united and whether they like it or not have bought into a product like sky who are only delighted that irish fans have such a keen obsession on the premiership.
But it this way, i am interested in the premiership but find it difficult to get passionate about a team that has nothing in common with me, that i have no links to!!
Or as someone said before just because i liked the color red they supported liverpool!
whats wrong with glory hunters or bandwaggon jumpers? i'm going to keep an eye on sunderland next year. thats the beauty of it for some people they can pick and choose. its all a bit of craic mayosheep and you been a sheep you should know that ;D
i think the point was that when they were young red was the favourite color thus they picked liverpool. nothing wrong with that either...
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 10, 2007, 07:59:28 PM
Sure I only support Galway through an accident of birth. If I was born further to the north I'd probably be a Mayo fan.
And the counties are English administrative creations, not lines etched on the map by God and the source of competitions dating back to Cúchulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill
Quote from: deiseach on May 10, 2007, 08:08:23 PM
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on May 10, 2007, 07:59:28 PM
Sure I only support Galway through an accident of birth. If I was born further to the north I'd probably be a Mayo fan.
And the counties are English administrative creations, not lines etched on the map by God and the source of competitions dating back to Cúchulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill
Ya but I like to think it was God who interceaded when an Englishman drew that map of Mayo & yes indeed it was the bigman who create Gods own County.
Ive been to 37 united games so does that give me the right to say "we" are premier league champions??
also play GAA & iam from tyrone but i would pick the 99 champions league win over our 2 all irelands ever time!
Quote from: new devil on May 10, 2007, 09:18:13 PM
Ive been to 37 united games so does that give me the right to say "we" are premier league champions??
also play GAA & iam from tyrone but i would pick the 99 champions league win over our 2 all irelands ever time!
Shame on you!! :o
Quote from: new devil on May 10, 2007, 09:18:13 PM
Ive been to 37 united games so does that give me the right to say "we" are premier league champions??
also play GAA & iam from tyrone but i would pick the 99 champions league win over our 2 all irelands ever time!
Each to their own, yet this does have to be a joke.
Quote from: AMayoSheep on May 10, 2007, 10:58:32 AM
Im a fan of soccer myself but find it very hard to understand how people in this country are so obsessed with the premiership and english soccer teams in general!
Like ill walk into a pub on any given saturday and see loads of people sitting wearing man united and liverpool jerseys wathing a match. Im a big fan of soccer myself and bought into the hype in my earlier years and later realised that supporting spurs compared nothing to supporting mayo or ireland, because i had nothing in common with the club and i wasnt from north-east london.
So after a few years of caring less and less if they won or not kinda gaves up supporting them.
Some people go on about supporting teams like liverpool and man u for their history but i honestly dont believe that-not for one second wpould they support them if they wernt successfull. I mean Not Forest have a good history but you wont see many of their fans in this country.
I find myself having more and more of an interest in the eircom league now. Ok it isnt near the standard of the premiership but you dont see other nationalities on a massive scale supporting a team outside their country, in fact they find it hard to understand.
I have been to the City Ground in Nottingham at least a dozen times as my best mate is a Forest fanatic,and was actually just talking to him tonight about going to Play Off Final if they get there.
I've been a Liverpool fan all my life and am sick and tired explaining to people why i support them(my grandad was from there btw) im sick of hearing this shite about having no connection to a team or calling them "we" etc.
Get a life lads FFS it's only a sport at the end of the day same as Gaa,and if someone wants to support a club thats in England or wherever than so what,don't be spending your time worrying as to why that individual calls a team "we" lifes too short
Gaa is great and i'd prefer Laois to win one All Ireland than for Liverpool to win next ten Premierships but at the end of the day both are only sports and some people here get too caught up about it all and let it rule there lives,Liverpool winning the Champions League in a few weeks will be great if they can do it and i will be over the moon same if Laois win All Ireland,but neither will compare to my first nephew being born this September or seeing my youngest sister getting married in a few weeks.
Well saig.
I was in primary school in the late 60s/early 70s...I absolutely idolised George Best and this in turn made me follow United...remember now they won f**k all in the 70s apart from the FA Cup in 77 and the Second Division :-\...still do follow them to a certain extent but not as fanatically as I used to...last time I got really excited about them was when Eric (The King 8) 8)) was playing.
Watching soccer over the past 10 or 15 years has made me realise what I always knew....there's more excitement, passion and honesty in a club U 12 game than in most premiership games .....
I challenge any of you to disgree with me.
What gets me is the anti-English people who wear Liverpool/Utd/Arsenal tops out to the pub.
Like yer man wearing the Celtic jersey whilst holding the placard "no to foreign games" outside Croker before the rugby.
People like this should really be taken out and shot - they have nothing to offer society and the chances are they'll breed like rabbits thus creating more brain dead little cretins that are of no use to anyone for anything.
My take on the English football thing.
I've followed the fortunes of Spurs over the past 20 years. For much of that time, I was a bonafide "we" man. I even made it to White Hart Lane around a dozen times, and went on a few away trips too. As recently as 5 years ago, I would have cancelled everything if Spurs were on the box, and made my way to a pub (normally on my own) to scream at the tele.
But in recent years, I've found myself having less and less time for soccer, and consequently less time for Spurs. Put simply, the game bores me now. Even when Spurs are on the box, I find myself playing internet poker and keeping only one eye on events.
Don't get me wrong, I still love playing the game. For me it beats Gaelic Football hands down in terms of playing. Less emphasis on speed, fitness and strength, no emphasis on training. Just turn up and kick a ball around. Tactics? None. Pure fun. Anyone with a resaonable standard of co-ordination can play a role in a soccer team, somewhere.
But watching it, for me, has become bloody hard work. Overkill. Games last an eternity, nothing much ever happens, and the players mostly come across as overpaid cheats, liars and actors. Sky Sports has turned the Premiership into a 24-hours-a-day theatre, and everyone seems happy to play the role they are cast in. There's wily Alex Ferguson. Thuggish Joey Barton. Arsene the intelligent. Local boy Carragher. Greedy Anelka. And all their clones. It's a bit like death by chocolate. At the start it was exciting and everything seemed great, but repetition has now set in. I'm sick of it.
There are now so many things that grate me. Too much money, too much coverage. Premiership teams play 38 games, yet half the teams are solely interested in securing enough points to avoid relegation. Teams finishing second (like Chelsea) and regarding the season as a disaster, talking wholesale changes, and fans up in arms about underachievement. For crying out loud, only one team can win the league each year! Just accept that it's not your turn.
But above all, another thread on the board this week summed up for me everything that is wrong with the game. Manchester United have just won the league, and in a rather stylish manner. They played open, entertaining football, scored sackloads of goals and conceded none too many. Statistics would suggest that this is a vintage United team. There is certainly a balance about their side that has been improved upon by few teams I've ever seen. No square pegs in round holes there. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, producing one of the greatest results of all time en route. They have an FA Cup final to look forward to next week.
Yet rather than accept this as a vintage United side, and maybe work on improving it a little more by training together, United fans on this board piled in with suggestions for three players that would improve "their" side. In other words, let's not waste time applauding the efforts of this team, but instead let's dismantle it and start again. That way, they'll have something to complain about next season.
Maybe it's because so little actually happens on the field, but soccer fans seem obsessed with off the field affairs. Like little Veruca Salts, they always want what someone else has, even when everything they need is right in front of them.
Man Utd were beaten by AC Milan, not because Utd are a couple of players short, or because Milan are a better side, but simply because Milan's two world-class midfielders both played to form on the one night. On another night, it would have been Ronaldo and Rooney on form, and the result would have been as convincing the other way.
You could spend billions on a team, and you'll never be able to stop this happening. It is actually one of the most beautiful things about "the beautiful game".
And this bullshit attitude filters down to the lowest level of soccer. Teams that start a season in the Carnbane League in Newry - junior soccer at its most junior - are often unrecognisable from the teams that finish the campaign. During the season, average players come and go, replaced by other average players, as managers strive to improve results by cutting corners. After every game, those managers don't talk about improving their defence thorough organising it better, but through getting a lad in from the club next door. Repeat the trick three weeks later, and so so.
f**k, I'm ranting.
So what are you saying?
I think he's saying
Quote from: thewobbler on May 11, 2007, 09:54:22 AM
My take on the English football thing.
I've followed the fortunes of Spurs over the past 20 years. For much of that time, I was a bonafide "we" man. I even made it to White Hart Lane around a dozen times, and went on a few away trips too. As recently as 5 years ago, I would have cancelled everything if Spurs were on the box, and made my way to a pub (normally on my own) to scream at the tele.
But in recent years, I've found myself having less and less time for soccer, and consequently less time for Spurs. Put simply, the game bores me now. Even when Spurs are on the box, I find myself playing internet poker and keeping only one eye on events.
Don't get me wrong, I still love playing the game. For me it beats Gaelic Football hands down in terms of playing. Less emphasis on speed, fitness and strength, no emphasis on training. Just turn up and kick a ball around. Tactics? None. Pure fun. Anyone with a resaonable standard of co-ordination can play a role in a soccer team, somewhere.
But watching it, for me, has become bloody hard work. Overkill. Games last an eternity, nothing much ever happens, and the players mostly come across as overpaid cheats, liars and actors. Sky Sports has turned the Premiership into a 24-hours-a-day theatre, and everyone seems happy to play the role they are cast in. There's wily Alex Ferguson. Thuggish Joey Barton. Arsene the intelligent. Local boy Carragher. Greedy Anelka. And all their clones. It's a bit like death by chocolate. At the start it was exciting and everything seemed great, but repetition has now set in. I'm sick of it.
There are now so many things that grate me. Too much money, too much coverage. Premiership teams play 38 games, yet half the teams are solely interested in securing enough points to avoid relegation. Teams finishing second (like Chelsea) and regarding the season as a disaster, talking wholesale changes, and fans up in arms about underachievement. For crying out loud, only one team can win the league each year! Just accept that it's not your turn.
But above all, another thread on the board this week summed up for me everything that is wrong with the game. Manchester United have just won the league, and in a rather stylish manner. They played open, entertaining football, scored sackloads of goals and conceded none too many. Statistics would suggest that this is a vintage United team. There is certainly a balance about their side that has been improved upon by few teams I've ever seen. No square pegs in round holes there. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, producing one of the greatest results of all time en route. They have an FA Cup final to look forward to next week.
Yet rather than accept this as a vintage United side, and maybe work on improving it a little more by training together, United fans on this board piled in with suggestions for three players that would improve "their" side. In other words, let's not waste time applauding the efforts of this team, but instead let's dismantle it and start again. That way, they'll have something to complain about next season.
Maybe it's because so little actually happens on the field, but soccer fans seem obsessed with off the field affairs. Like little Veruca Salts, they always want what someone else has, even when everything they need is right in front of them.
Man Utd were beaten by AC Milan, not because Utd are a couple of players short, or because Milan are a better side, but simply because Milan's two world-class midfielders both played to form on the one night. On another night, it would have been Ronaldo and Rooney on form, and the result would have been as convincing the other way.
You could spend billions on a team, and you'll never be able to stop this happening. It is actually one of the most beautiful things about "the beautiful game".
And this bullshit attitude filters down to the lowest level of soccer. Teams that start a season in the Carnbane League in Newry - junior soccer at its most junior - are often unrecognisable from the teams that finish the campaign. During the season, average players come and go, replaced by other average players, as managers strive to improve results by cutting corners. After every game, those managers don't talk about improving their defence thorough organising it better, but through getting a lad in from the club next door. Repeat the trick three weeks later, and so so.
f**k, I'm ranting.
New job, I only have time to post beginnings and middles, but not ends.
Effectively, what I'm saying is that I find watching soccer a bit boring these days and that I dislike the emphasis on spending money to improve teams.
Personally, I'll never again have an affinity with a team that changes so often and often so illogically, that charges ridiculous prices for an often substandard product, that is in effect a badly managed, greedy bastard business with a sporting front end.
If others want to do so, well that's their choice and there's no point in me worrying about it. I'd imagine most will have their eureka moment someday though.
Only coddin
Division III colleges in the US for a season, although it's debatable if the standard was regularly any higher. Players were infinitely fitter though.
I used to be a Man Utd fan (got caught up in it in the 90's like everyone else my age), but haven't supported them for the last 5 or 6 years. We went to Park Head twice with my secondary school and I had a great love for Celtic after that but now while I look out for their results and hope they do well I'd never really watch any of their matches. My favourite non-Irish team would be Sunderland and not because of Roy Keane and Niall Quinn, but for some reason I always liked Sunderland, would watch the odd match of theirs and owned a few of their jerseys. To be honest now though, I'm 22 and while I'd watch soccer I wouldn't support any non-Irish team but would always look for Sunderlands and Celtics results. In Ireland I would follow Galway Utd, but use the term "follow" loosely as I have only ever been in Terryland Park once.
What I have come to notice down the years is there are many better sports than soccer. Our own Gaelic Games of course, but I'd also rather American Football, Rugby, Boxing and the list goes on. IMO soccer is only popular over the world because its such a simple game to get into (no complicated rules like Hurling or American Football), also the fact it costs nothing to play, all you need is a round ball so its easy for people in poor countries to play, where as for other sports you need to buy a lot of gear that can cost a lot of money.
Had a cousin who played for QPR years ago and was a big fan of them in the early eighties when they got to a cup final, moved to a being a Utd supporter after that mainly due to the amount of Irish players involved in the 80's and early 90's.
Cant really say I support anyone anymore, since I've got involved in Munster Rugby from the late 90's I have lost interest, the last straw was when I went to Japan in 2002 for the world cup (a sporting event I wanted to see) , I had socceritis after that and find it hard to watch a game nowadays.
As for scottish soccer, thats some joke, one or 2 teams in a crap league
Thank Christ for the GAA.