Why on earth do people bother with football?

[la gran siete]

When we have got a sport which is infinitely more exciting played by players who are not a bunch of massively overpaid prima donnas who squeel at the slightest bit of physical contact, take a dive where they think an opponent might get sent off, constantly show dissent at the ref, often behave like idiots off the park. A sport watched by real fans who always respect the opposition,repsect the opponents national anthem ,realise that IT IS ONLY a sport to be enjoyed but NEVER taken too seriously. A sport where players GIVE their all for the jersey- tough, single minded, physical but where friendships are made for life. That sport is rugby.
Over the weekend I have witnessed three utterly briliant matches where the participants played with so much pride , endevour and considerable skill. Where even when the cause was lost they never gave up. Both Ireland and Scotland can hold their heads up high ; their spirit has been most impressive. Ireland 43- 3 down with 30 minutes to go threw donw the gauntlet and scored 4 excellent tries as a riposte. Scotland down to 14 men because Scott Murray was sent off for what seemed like an inocuous tap on Gough's head fought and fought and only went down by ten points .Excellent stuff ! Two weekends of superb rugby!


Football??? Bah!Call it oikball more like or poofball!

[overkill]

Be thankful people do like football siete. If not, and they elevated rugby up to football levels of support and potential earnings, then surprise, the cheating would begin. Too much money = too much pressure to succeed.

Rugby still has an air of the amateur, and that can't be bad.

I agree as well, been a great six nations so far!

[LFC_SL]

It's still the "people's" sport. Anyone can play it; all you needed was a ball and handy jumpers as a kid

Rugby: can't be doing it outside P.E; messing ourselves up and all that
Cricket: (I know I'll rile some) pretentious middle class glorified rounders. Plus too much equipment and hassle involved in setting up a game

I'd go into other sports, but it'd either be too much hassle or involves like swimming, a specific enviroment

This is purely the 7 yr old inside me talking. 11 years on, criminally I can't play as often as I like

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Cricket: (I know I'll rile some) pretentious middle class glorified rounders. Plus too much equipment and hassle involved in setting up a game

There must be an awful lot of pretentious middle class people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as cricket is their sport of choice, every child plays it and dreams of becoming a Test player and they learn the basics of the game by bowling anything round at a wicket drawn onto a wall.

I've been to a large number of Test Matches and unlike football where the crowds have to be segregated due to the animal like behaviour of many of the supporters there is no segregation at rugby or cricket matches and I have sat next to Pakistanis when playing Pakistan, Indians when playing India and Sri Lankans when playing Sri Lanka and we all enjoy the match together no matter who is winning or losing.

[dc007]

Rugby players might be more respectful to the referee, but the violence they commit on eachother through punches, gouges and kicks is every bit as disgraceful as a footballers play-acting and dirty tackling. Just because they shake hands afterward doesn't make it right. For instance, that New Zealanders spear-tackle on O'Driscoll should have faced criminal charges.

[DJT75]

Rugby's basically a bunch of blokes who weren't any good at football at school.....

[Nebby]

We get it - you don't like football, you're more into minority sports like rugby.

Fair enough, each to their own. Get over it.

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by Nebby

We get it - you don't like football, you're more into minority sports like rugby.

Fair enough, each to their own. Get over it.

No I like a football I just dont like the idiocy that goes with it .Overpaid idiots , a sport that gets far too much coverage including a radio station almost entirely devoted to it, pundits spouting endless drivel, hooliganism,fans paying FAAAAAR too much to watch a game.Back in the early seventies it didnt cost much more to watch a game than to go the movies, now its about 4 or 5 times the price .Ridiculous!
Rugby is a tough sport of far higher intensity where tempoers are easily frayed hence the thuggery that went on the pitch. With the advent of profesionalism the rules against such thuggery have become more and more stringent which is why S Murray was sent off for a retaliatory kick to Goughs head. Being the man he is instead of skulking like a nancyboy footballer he went and offered his apologies which were accepted. Having said that there will always be an element skuldugery especially in the scrums because its difficult to detect- eg eye gouging. The French are particularly adept at that.
What I particlarly like about the sport is the ethos around it.The players play hard and with maximum effort but then share a drink with their opponents ie the game is over and no hard feelings( generally - there are, of course, exceptions). As for the fans ? All i can say is that they are the best always in good cheer, mixing with rival fans, having a drink without any bother at all.If their team loses a match? Well so what, tomorrow is another day. You dont get endless recriminations, calls for the sacking of a manager, insults delivered at rival teams. Mate of mine went to watch the WC final between Australia and England as well as the smi against France.Reckoned the best fans were -----the Aussies. Great sports!

Upon reflection I think OK is right. Better rugby stays as it is lest it attracts the more unsavoury aspects found in th e so called "beautiful game"

[LFC_SL]

Everyone says football/rugby...cheating..kicking blah blah

But there's a sport where blows to the head are legal and encouraged, which is more dangerous. I'm talking about boxing

Originally Posted by Ian J

There must be an awful lot of pretentious middle class people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as cricket is their sport of choice, every child plays it and dreams of becoming a Test player and they learn the basics of the game by bowling anything round at a wicket drawn onto a wall.

I've been to a large number of Test Matches and unlike football where the crowds have to be segregated due to the animal like behaviour of many of the supporters there is no segregation at rugby or cricket matches and I have sat next to Pakistanis when playing Pakistan, Indians when playing India and Sri Lankans when playing Sri Lanka and we all enjoy the match together no matter who is winning or losing.

I answered from the point of view of a sport viewer from Britain, as I thought was implied by the 1st post. You can't deny the more affluent favour cricket over football. May never happen, but if England where to win the football world cup, the celebrations of football fans I'm sure would put the back slapping celebrations of rugby and cricket sportsmen to shame. I'd think it'd put the over-used phrase of "nice to see the country behind us" into perspective

Football has too much cheating, diving and imitation to get fellow professionals into trouble. You can't deny that. There are too many dangerous two footed tackles. Yes. But it's still the number one sport in the world. The fans aren't quite put off just yet.

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

It's still the "people's" sport. Anyone can play it; all you needed was a ball and handy jumpers as a kid

Rugby: can't be doing it outside P.E; messing ourselves up and all that
Cricket: (I know I'll rile some) pretentious middle class glorified rounders. Plus too much equipment and hassle involved in setting up a game

I'd go into other sports, but it'd either be too much hassle or involves like swimming, a specific enviroment

This is purely the 7 yr old inside me talking. 11 years on, criminally I can't play as often as I like

cricket is the one sport which crosses the class divide ie people of all the different social backgrounds play and watch it. The days of gentlemen and players are long gone.Rugby Union is more your middle class sport but even that is changing

[Nebby]

No I like a football I just dont like the idiocy that goes with it .Overpaid idiots , a sport that gets far too much coverage including a radio station almost entirely devoted to it, pundits spouting endless drivel, hooliganism,fans paying FAAAAAR too much to watch a game.Back in the early seventies it didnt cost much more to watch a game than to go the movies, now its about 4 or 5 times the price .Ridiculous!

Er, the reason football gets so much coverage is because it's the most popular sport on the planet. That also might have something to do with ticket prices, don't you think?

And how can you say that footballers are overpaid? They get paid what they are worth, pure and simple.

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by Nebby

No I like a football I just dont like the idiocy that goes with it .Overpaid idiots , a sport that gets far too much coverage including a radio station almost entirely devoted to it, pundits spouting endless drivel, hooliganism,fans paying FAAAAAR too much to watch a game.Back in the early seventies it didnt cost much more to watch a game than to go the movies, now its about 4 or 5 times the price .Ridiculous!

Er, the reason football gets so much coverage is because it's the most popular sport on the planet. That also might have something to do with ticket prices, don't you think?

And how can you say that footballers are overpaid? They get paid what they are worth, pure and simple.

If a footballer is worth £2000000 a year then my doctor must be worth at least £30.000.000 and the teacher must be worth a good £20.000.000. They both do jobs which are infinitely more important than kicking a ball around.
Its about having a sense of proportion and knowing the worth of things

[DJT75]

Originally Posted by la gran siete

If a footballer is worth £2000000 a year then my doctor must be worth at least £30.000.000 and the teacher must be worth a good £20.000.000. They both do jobs which are infinitely more important than kicking a ball around.
Its about having a sense of proportion and knowing the worth of things

Absolute twaddle.. How many people worldwide could, if they wanted to, train to be a doctor or teacher v how many people worldwide can play football like Theirry Henry?

I get sick of people saying footballers are overpaid, yes some are but that's not their fault, the clubs are paying it. Looks at other sports around the world - F1 racing - the german git takes about £40million a year (& don't give me the danger factor - they pay him to drive not rsik his life). The average US Basketball player takes home more that the TOP world footballers, same with Baseball, Ice Hockey, Golf, Tennis..........

[mrtbag]

Originally Posted by la gran siete

Its about having a sense of proportion and knowing the worth of things

Shouldn't that read "Its about having MY sense of proportion and knowing the worth of things TO ME."

I understand your point LGS, but many a time you've swung your axe the football brigade. I like both Football and Rugby. I do think some of the wages in football are extreme, but that's the way the game is. It does not make me think 'Why do I bother'. I bother beacuse I enjoy the sport the same as Rugby. The one thing Football has over Rugby, is a smaller divide between the top flight and lower divisions. Most Championship football teams could afford a trip to the Premiership, only 2 or 3 Div 1 teams can afford the Rugby Prermiership.

[Nebby]

I assume LGS thinks it is just as obscene for Peter Jackson to be paid a $20 million advance just to direct King Kong (hardly anything of global cultural importance)...or is just footballers that he has a problem with?

Footballers are paid what they are worth...and so are doctors, teachers, nurses and so on.

If 'we' as a nation thought the latter were worth more, we'd pay them more.

They get what they get because we couldn't care less.