Lydia72

He's meant to be very intelligent by all accounts, speaks five languages fluently plus another three less so.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yes, but why is it only football? Everyone thinks the Aussies are a more aggressive nation than us yet you can go and watch an AFL game (a sport as popular there as soccer is here) while having a beer sitting within a mix of supporters from both sides and there is not a hint of trouble! One of the games I went to the police told a guy off for swearing and he duly apologised and sat back down, if that had been at a soccer match in England it would have been a full on riot!

Maybe I am missing something. Next time I go to F1 I will gather all the Hamilton fans together and see if they fancy starting a ruck with the Alonso fans ..... I doubt they'll be up for it as F1 tends to be followed by people with an IQ greater than that of a retarded gibbon! And that is where I think the problem lies! Football, while it is followed by intelligent people also seems to be a magnet for the terminally stupid!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Well I am sure the England fans hope one of those languages is football... I wouldn't hold your breath though!

hodgy0_2

the Aussies keep their bad behavior and violence firmly on the field of play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AbugTv3FzY

fighting in the terraces and you would miss the excitement

edit - I think there is a ball involved in Aussie Rules Football, but i am not 100% certain

Maz

iTrader: (34)

http://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I

Lydia72

To be fair though one of our neighbours covers their house in flags but there isn't a peep out of them. I don't need to watch the TV to find out when England are going home, I just look to see if their flags are gone. I'd love for us to win the World Cup/ Euro's if only just to see their reaction, they probably think the rest of us are miserable sods for not bothering.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

QED

dpb

Give em some credit, must taken some nous to get to Manaus

Turbohot

Historical roots leading to institutionalisation of aggressive behaviour; learning of it from the older ones who sow the seeds in you; lead given to such behaviour; patriotism that goes with it; accessible nature of this sport; glorification of it by the media; cultural tendency to display aggression with the little help of alcohol intake: all that comes into the context why it is football.

All one needs is a ball and two groups of people competing over it. Doesn't matter what background you're from, or what your mental ability and mental contents are. As long as you're good at the game with 'lad' mentality, you can go right up and be a millionaire. In contrary, you'll have to invest quite a bit in order to get into other sports, and even to come to conclusion that you're good at it.

I admire the accessibility of this sport, but this "I'm more of a man because I'm well into my football" and rough attitudes/behaviours associated with football are simply repulsive.

tony de wonderful

Domestic abuse apparently correlates with England games.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

This^^^^ and the stupid 'I'm more of a man because I can drink more than you' culture that still exists (and is all part of the football thing) in this country.

Lydia72

Do you attend many football matches?
You've said yourself on other threads that the media put their own spin on things, why should football be any different?

Yes there is a small minority who get drunk and cause fights, those who actually aren't interested in the game but use it as an excuse for a bash-up, but it's not happening with every fan at every match. You're not hearing about the ordinary matches with no hassle because it's not news-worthy.

I like football and am teetotal, most of the rest of my family are the same (and it's nothing to do with me being 'more of a man'!) My friend takes her 21-year old son to every match she can, he has severe special needs and it's one of the few places they can go where people aren't staring at him when he starts making noises.

The reason why fans don't kick off at cricket matches is because it's that boring they're all fast asleep

Chip

I agree with you Lydia. I used to go to matches 30 years ago and the fans just seemed to want to kick **** out of each before, during and after the match. I went to a few games last season and there was no trouble at all, at any match. They were noisy, all chanting away at the away fans but it was all good humoured unlike years ago.

It does seem to have changed and for the better thank god.

Funkii Munkii

What a load of boll*cks

Small mionority maybe like many other aspects of life in this country

Your dislike of football is on a par with PSL's dislike of the Tories with an added toxicity

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Firstly my brother is actually a steward at a Premier League club and despite his complete almost blind love of football even he says the atmosphere at most games is one of open hostility and aggressiveness. Yes they may not fight every week any more, but the tirade of abuse directed at opposing fans is hardly all sweetness and light and is definitely intimidating and unpleasant!

Secondly forget about the press. Go into any pub showing a match and listen to the pack mentality garbage uttered by a fair proportion of those watching the game. All the while of course swilling as many pints of lager as they can keep down.

In addition to that anyone who claims there is no 'hard man drinking culture' in the UK is either deluded or blind! Ask the long suffering police officers and ambulance crews who have to scrape these lowlifes off the street every weekend and see if they agree with me.

jonc

It's not just premier matches either. Some kids get into this mentality from an early age. I have heard from other parents who take their sons to junior football club training and when playing other junior clubs, parents are shouting and swearing at challenges on the pitch, throthing at the mouth swearing at the ref and lines man and opposing players with some parents being banned from attending such club matches. You can understand why some kids think this sort of behaviour is acceptable when they see their dads doing this.

Lydia72

I don't dispute there is a drinking culture in the UK but not everyone who drinks likes football and not everyone who likes football drinks.
I stopped drinking about six years ago so going out and getting bladdered in town doesn't interest me anymore, in fact I've just got in from the pub up the road, it's full of families, no 'hard men' in there.

It's easy, most of the time, to avoid people who are getting off their heads, just tailor where you go. I'd actually prefer it if I could go to a stadium/ arena to watch a gig and not have someone in front of me getting up and down to go the bar (and then get up and down to go to the loo) because it spoils my enjoyment but the venues are never going to stop serving alcohol so it's something I have to put up with. It doesn't mean I think everyone but me is a lager swilling hard man, I'm not superior to anyone who likes a tipple.

zip106

This is true.

My mrs beat the crap out of me for coming home pi$$ed last night after the match.

Dr Hu

nods

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

I have to agree, I don't live far from two premier ship grounds and one of the guys who works for me is a steward. I don't believe football has the same underlying violence as it once had.

Take the 96 for example, the way all the clubs come together, fans and players to support each other was/is amazing.

Martin2005

I don't hate football, but I do agree with your sentiments.

I was in a pub down in Kent for the England game; I was frankly embarassed by the way some people carried on.

Oh and another pet hate of mine is England flags with the word ENGLAND printed on them, I assume they are for thickos who don't know what the England flag looks like

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Doesn't happen according to Funkii Munkii and his ilk on here. The supporters and fans are a veritable paragon of virtue

Martin2005

The 'C' word has lost all its shock value after Saturday night's experience

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yep, that's football for you!

dpb

Flag seems to have been first used / representing Genoa, that's in Italy

Funkii Munkii

Didn't say that, said it was a minority and not the majority as you like to allude to, but you can read my post for yourself, you can read I take it ?

I'd be interested to know what ilk I belong too, always wanted to be a part of an ilk

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

It's not a minority though is it? Whenever there is a game on every pub is full of them for starters just as Martin experienced. It's pathetic as is your defence of it!

Your ilk - those who defend the indefensible!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

So now it transpires that Phil Neville has received hundreds of abusive Tweets some even wishing him dead! What serious sin could he have committed to receive such abuse? Ah yes, his commentary on the England game was a bit monotonic! What is wrong with this sport that it engenders behaviour like this?

The stupidest thing here is that some of the morons that sent the Tweets even sent them to the wrong person... a radiator salesman who shares the same name as the ex footballer. After all I bet their Twitter pages are just so similar so it would be easy to confuse the two

Funkii Munkii

This is not exclusive to football fans, but the growing legion of saddo keyboard warriors who have nothing in their lives except social media. The same type of people who abuse others on Twitter, Forums, FB and the like because they dont share the same views and can hide behind their screen/smart phone.



Ring any bells

Ant

Oh look another anti football thread like we had all forgotten you didn't like it