Redkop

These type threads are so pathetic

The perception by some, that associate the whole game with thugs & violence, is really a bigoted view. There is an element of organised violence, done mainly by Combat 18 and splinter groups. But to link the whole game to it, is being totally blinkered. Big football competitions like this are only every 2 years.

So let the people who enjoy them, enjoy them in peace and cut out whingeing like big girls.

Muffleman

I fail to see your point in your initial post, just the spouting of derogatory terms about something a lot of people are passionate about. Hardly the best way to 'make a point'

I enjoy both football and rugby. I DON'T have a flag on my car, and never will. I DO support my countries endeavours (footie or rugby), and I'm really looking forward to Euro 2004.

Your views on 'the average football supporter' are both insulting and archaic. I would concede that there are still those that have more interest in causing a fight than supporting the actual football, but it's hardly fair to generalise on this basis.

If you looked at a typical footie stadium on a Saturday, there could be somewhere around 30,000 supporters. Yes there will be a few braindead lagered up f*ckwits in there, but not exactly a majority !

There's probably the same %'age of idiots in the rugby supporting fraternity, but seeing as that's only 9 people - it aint a problem

Matt

ajm

Just registering myself as another football hater for the same reasons my fellow football haters have already eloquently explained above!

astraboy

I think there is a scope for a whole new sport.
Think about it, International brawling championships. How much of a draw would a match like the Millwall bushwackers v. the Galatasary Nightwatchmen be?
It would be a licence to print money. More entertaining than football too. Especially if they showed the pre ruck taunting.
astraboy.

ajm

How about letting the people who don't enjoy them get on with their lives in peace without sweeping disruptions to TV shedules, blanket coverage across all media, vast crowds taking over peoples home towns, not to mention the inevitable violence and mini crimewaves that follow.

Faire D'Income

A point well made for a change. I concede that my initial post was a little derogatory but it was made in irritation at yet another advert on the radio about Euro 2004.

As for my views being archaic and insulting I think you are a little confused as I've made no reference to football violence or the thugs that perpetrate it. I guess if you have the nerve to say you don't like football then you have to expect to personal attacks and comments involving "pathetic" rather than anything constructive.

Redkop

Shouldn't be such a tele addict then There's 4 more terrestrial channels and countless SKY ones that wont have it on

Don't know where you live, but it doesn't happen where I live, even with the EBF based here

ajm

Its not so much an addiction of television, moreso a disgust at the diminishing number of watchable programmes I get for my licence fee, bt thats another topic!

I live in a small town on the outskirts of Bristol, right at the edge of the Bristol Channel. We have had some fans staying in town over the last couple of weeks and getting a boat over to Cardiff for the football. They then returned and vandalised the floral displays all down the high street, pushed over bins and generally made a nuisance of themselves. Statistically, if the oiks were really such a minority, one would expect that fans in such a small town and in such small numbers would manage to behave themselves!

unclebuck

I think the reason people get so defensive about football is because they know that the ‘low rent’ associations that the game has in this country are as undeniable as they are obvious.

Constantly referring to the players as ‘heroes’ and ‘role models’ (as the media does) just reinforces the stereotypical image that it attracts the lower achievers from within society.

andypugh2000

Had exactly the same yesterday when i visited farnborough, but they were competing in the chav heirachy of who could have the most flags on top their crate of plop plops, its not cool and its not sport more like a case of hey dont i look cool, no you look like a complete ****

football = chav

andy

Dazza01

Oh FFS,so u don't like football, whoopee fooking doo i don't like cricket much, but i don't bleat about when i see an advert on tv or hear it on the radio.

With the run up to ANY big event, not just sport either, it's plastered all over the tv & radio for max publicity.


And yes i did watch the Rugby World Cup.........and enjoyed every minute of it, or because im a "FOOTBALL SUPPORTER" am i not allowed to enjoy it ?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

I suppose you could liken football to smoking couldn't you? it only takes one smoker to ruin it for every non smoker, then the non smokers will whinge about their rights to a smoke free atmospheare but the smoker will whinge about his constitutional and human rights to smoke where and when he wants. Both parties are right in their own mind but you can't help feel the smoker is getting the better deal out of it. One smoker smoking in a room of non smokers will polute the air and make the clothes stink of everyone in the room.

There will always be people who like football/don't like football Smoke/don't smoke, if more consideration was taken by people for each other then there would be no need to have snidy coments and arguments.

The smoker wants a *** he nips outside, for 5 mins to have his *** leaving teh air clean for the non smokers, everyone is happy and no arguments, if the football fans and the media stopped ramming this one sport down our throats tehn again everyone would be happy. Also giving more airtime to other sports would be good.

We now have Tennis for the next 6 weeks on most of the terrestrial channels, sooner or later there will be threads on here whinging about that then the tennis fans will start on the non tennis fans, then the skiing season will start and we will have the same all over again.

Now if they showed more than half an hour a week of the World Rally Championships everyone on here would be happy we also do not want 2x5 minute commertial breaks in the 30 minutes of rallying we do get.

Faire D'Income

Another well structured argument. Are there any football supporters out there who can actually defend their game and understand that there are many people who don't like the sport (as witnessed on this thread) and get cheesed off with it being rammed down their throat?

tiggers

I'm with ajm, Faire D'Income et al on this one.

OK so here's a typical scenario in the middle of Euro 2004.

Decide to turn TV on - first channel showing Euro 2004. Next channel has the news - watch this for a bit even though England team mentioned in the headlines then get to the sport section - 10 minutes of Euro 2004 - no mention of any other sport.

Switch TV off. Pick up paper - front and back bedecked with England Euro 2004 news. Look at sport section - 16 pages of football - mainly Euro 2004 although some focus on the progress of Chipping Sodbury one legged ladies team reserves. One half page covering all other sport full of factual errors and spelling mistakes.

Turn to front of paper - 16 pages of news about celebrities supporting England's Euro 2004 campaign, the hotel England are staying at, how they are getting there, what their mummsies put in their packed lunch, blah, blah, blah.

Throw paper away. Decide to go out for a drink. Wander round locality desperately trying to find bar/pub not full of brain-dead pissed up morons staring inanely at a big screen showing the umpteenth replay of Beckham's latest hairstyle. Eventually locate one only to find that the morons at this particular drinking establishment are in the beer garden at the back watching said replays. Leave disgruntled.

Eventually find pub where the large screen TV is broken and the bar is completely empty. Order drink from the relief barman (the usual barman has been carted off to hospital for treatment to his wounds sustained when breaking the news of the dysfunctional large screen TV to the group of morons assembled in his establishment to watch 'the game'). When about half way done with said drink pub is invaded by various buffoons who have finished watching their hallowed sport and have converged back in their local as the beer is 1p a pint cheaper there. Get approached by several of the mob who's opening line is always:

'Did you see the game'?

'Yes I'm very well and pleased to meet you too' I reply before drinking up and leaving as group as now surrounded me and is calling me queer for not uttering forth the correct response to their opening gambit.

Decide to go for a walk and put personal stereo on to sooth my frayed nerves by enjoying some relaxing music while I walk. I get 50 yards down the road before I'm grabbed by some pissed up **** who demands to know what the score is. I ask him what score to which he replies 'Are you taking the f**king ****?' pointing at the headphones. I explain I'm listening to music and get called queer (again).

Back home I decide to go for a drive. On my way out of the town I have to navigate around various groups of revellers who having finished watching the replays are now stood outside the pubs playing 'I'm harder than one and a half tons of metal' with the passing traffic. Out in the country I'm free at last, but not for long as I am nearly forced off the road by a bunch of Saxo/Nova boys who whilst driving along are trying to adjust their stupid little England flags which causes their driving to become even more erratic than usual.

Return home and check my email - more than 50 spam mails containing Euro 2004 information and racist jokes about the teams facing the mighty England in Euro 2004. All the Internet news sites are full of Euro 2004 so I turn the computer off.

Cat is now frantically scratching at the door so let it in to find someone has sprayed a lovely red cross across it's white fur - spend two hours trying to clean said cat before finally crawling into bed.

Lie in bed in the darkness and pray for it all to be over. Unfortunately while sleeping have dream about dying and going to heaven to find God in an England shirt - Noooooooooooo!!!!!

tiggers.

Redkop

There was an hour of it yesterday afternoon Steve

Chris L

I'm with Matt on this one - summed up my feelings exactly. I enjoy football - been a Palace fan all my life (and god knows, we have had our ups and downs). In 20 years, I've been (un)lucky enough to witness a violent confrontation at a football match only once (Palace/Millwall) - not for the fainthearted. That said, the drinking culture has a lot to answer for and I reckon there are more punch ups in an average Saturday night in London than there is in an entire football season.

I think we need to get a little bit of perspective here. Liking or disliking the sport is one thing, but disliking the sport, never attending an actual game and then stereotyping all fans is another thing all together.

I can't stand the flag thing on cars and I also object to stereotyping of all football fans - especially England fans. The press has a fair amount to do with this aswell. The violence element is very ugly and the game doesn't need it. What I find more disturbing is the view that this is just an English 'disease'. The domestic game in Italy especially have been plagued with very serious problems (there have been several murders in recent years). In fact just about every league in Europe, if not the world has some kind of problem with a violent minority. The problem in England is considerably better than it was 20 or 10 years ago - we should be pleased about that. There will always be an idiot minority. You just have to hope these guys don't reach Lisbon.

Chris

SD

Not to mention the irony of all these England flags being stuck on French, German, Japanese etc cars. Oh, we know how to be patriotic all right.

Don't you drive a BM' Tiggers?

Simon.

Dazza01

Didn't realise u had to start an argument to post on her

Why do i need to defend football i don't need to, both my family and my wife's family are BIG supporters of SPORT and inparticular FOOTBALL, but having said that we were all in the pub watching the RUGBY matches


understand that there are many people who don't like the sport and get cheesed off with it being rammed down their throat?

I understand there are.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Lynne yep your right and there was 3 or 4, 5 minute commercial breaks in it how many commercial breaks do you get in football ????

one that is at half time.

in rallying we get them every 10 15 minutes, in Grand prix there are 4,5 or 6 breaks and most of the action happens during the breaks so they need to show you replays and during the replays someone else crashes, it is the same with Superbikes 2 laps from the end they will go to a commercial break when it takes a superbike 1.5 minutes to do a lap they will have a break of 5 mins.

The wouldn't dare do that during a football match so why do it during other sports especially motorsport when anything can happen at any second.

Ted Maul

I've always been a bit wary of the bloke that doesn't like footy, something not quite right.
FDI - what did you play in the playground then? kiss chase?

Faire D'Income

Good stuff tiggers.

OllyK

There are enough dedicated SKY sports channels out there so why does any sport have to encroach on to the rest of the channels?? You don't have a couple hours of some sad old bird trying to flog necklaces on BBC1 in an evening, that stays on QVC etc etc.

The terresterial 5 should remain with general programming IMHO, drama, soap, odd bit of natural history etc and general entertainment. Besides which I can do without the whinging from the Misses that Corrie / The Bill / Eastenders etc has been bumped, yet again because of football. If it was JUST Euro 2004 then it would be less of an issue, but it isn't, all through there year special "big" matches and friendlies etc get aired on a weekday night so you never seem to know what you will get when you turn ITV on these days.

Oh in case you didn't figure it out - I am no great fan of football!

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

And what is wrong with that?

At least in kiss chase you get to kiss the girls in a football match the blokes kiss each other I know which I would rather be doing

Redkop

Can't answer that Steve, but yep F1 is interrupted a lot since it went on to ITV with adverts, could be something to do with Sponsors, dunno really.

Must admit, constant replays get on my nerves, even in footie. You don't get a replay at a match, your own fault if you aren't looking same should be applied to watching it on TV.

OllyK

I thought kiss chase and football were the same thing?? Seems everytime I am unfortunate to catch a couple of minutes of it there are 2 or more half naked guys kissing and hugging.

Dazza01

Now lets play a game of change the words, in the quote above, delete EURO 2004 and replace with RUBGY WORLD CUP

hmmmmmmmmm

Faire D'Income

Oooh, that was funny Ted. Does that make you feel better now? Does it make you think you've scored a point or don't you have anything constructive to say? I'll indulge you assuming it may have been a serious question - we used to play touch rugby/British Bulldogs/cricket/skateboarding and occasionally football.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

British bulldog is illegal now as it is to dangerous for the kids.!!!!

we played it all the time on our concrete playground and if you didn't get cut or scrapped and blead you weren't trying hard enough

ajm

Except in kiss chase the players are more sportsmanly in their conduct. You wouldn't catch any cheating going on, such as pretending to be injured infront of the dinner lady just so another kid gets sent to see teacher!

Dazza01

Hmmm thought u didn't play footy