Lets Talk Football

Tools    





Hmm, that may be, yet we’ve heard it all before… I’m no particular fan of Mr Johnson, he’s way over his head, but he delivers what people want, take it up with the people.
Then hopefully he'll deliver a referendum in Scotland soon.



They don't have their own tv channels? They have to watch Fox USA etc?
Local (read: Canadian) news is not really a problem in that sense, but in terms of pop culture, stuff from America drowns out local output for the most part.



They don't have their own tv channels? They have to watch Fox USA etc?
…who says it’s Fox?

And again, the above sounds purposefully provocative. It’s not about whether they do or don’t have their own channels (his wife mostly watches the Québécois stuff, as far ad I know), but the TV offerings are definitely US-centred. As, one could argue, they are worldwide.



…who says it’s Fox?

And again, the above sounds purposefully provocative. It’s not about whether they do or don’t have their own channels (his wife mostly watches the Québécois stuff, as far ad I know), but the TV offerings are definitely US-centred. As, one could argue, they are worldwide.
Are you talking about sitcoms and boxsets?

I'm talking about waking up, turning on the 24 hour rolling news channels and watching hours of news about covid restrictions that literally applies to another country, and does not apply to me.

Does that happen in Canada?



The trick is not minding
The fights breaking out after the Soccer matches reminds me how many react after football games end. And basketball. And hockey (sometimes even during a game!).

Point is, while the above video is awful, it isn’t exclusive to any one nation or sports fans.



The fights breaking out after the Soccer matches reminds me how many react after football games end. And basketball. And hockey (sometimes even during a game!).

Point is, while the above video is awful, it isn’t exclusive to any one nation or sports fans.
This.

Football for me was never a thing.
My daughter played for a while, meaning I followed her and her team's progress, then she quit... and I went back to not caring.

I watched the final on Sunday simply because it was my country's team in a final... but I have little interest in the sport.
My own disinterest toward Football comes from many places, and hooliganism is certainly one of those things, but not the main thing.
Now though, Twitter and Farcebook are packed with controversial posts, racism and xenophobia toward the players, hate posts toward fans, trolling, arguing, baiting.

Football is the biggest game in the world, has the most fans, the biggest budgets and wages...

... and, as I pointed out on Twitter earlier, the media loves to get involved when bad stuff happens.

The Football Hooliganism from a small percentage of England followers, I say followers, not fans, real fans don't act like that... but, the Football Hooliganism from a small percentage of England followers, is something the media will latch onto, heavily, repeatedly, because it's such a reoccurring incident.
Then, it riles people up, who then take to social media... it's a vicious circle.
They're the same people who go to regular matches, say Man U or Chelsea or whatever, just to cause trouble with the opposing audience.

And the media loves it. Because it sells.

Being a decent fan of Football, or any sport for that matter, does nothing to help newspapers make money.
Going to the match, and congratulating the opposite team for winning doesn't sell.

Basically sportsmanlike conduct between fans and/or players, doesn't sell papers.

My own sport is Snooker and Pool.
Ever noticed how the only time Snooker makes the papers is if one player or another throws a tantrum, or says something controversial in a post-match interview... or two players have a disagreement during a match... or someone match-fixes and brings the sport into disrepute.

Then it's everywhere in every news outlet for a few days... with everyone commenting about how cue sports never left their shady roots of underground gambling and dodgy pool halls behind and slagging off the players and fans on social media.

There's never any reporting of sportsmanly conduct during a meet of two teams in whatever sport they're playing.
There's never any "gracious in defeat" headlines. Because, again, that doesn't sell papers or get people clicking the websites.

Unless it's all just a coincidence of course

Enjoy your sport, whatever it may be... and avoid social media on the subject



"How tall is King Kong ?"
Given the violence of English hooligans, it's true that many of us are happier to see them frustrated than satisfied. But I live next to France, and damn is France annoying when victorious. They act like mankind superior race for 50 years, they insert football victory chestpounding in every subject matter for decades, it's really crazy. So, they also have their "anyone but them please please please", actually both in France and around France. Generally, countries that are particularly prone to arrogant nationalism, and prone to over-exploiting idiotic kicked-the-ball sessions as symbol of national might, tend to be wished to lose. Just as there are sore losers, there are bad winners. Usually the ones who give too much importance to it.

But it's like the eurosongs. Once you start seeing it geopolitically, you end up with a full list of "please not them" and "please not us" (because every country is horrible, being made of humans and all that). Which becomes quite ridiculous in itself. As I don't care for football, each play I was hearing of ended being "oh I hope those ones won't win, oh I hope their opponents won't win either", for sports-unrelated reasons. Which is as bad and parasitic as nationalist mindsets. What matters are the people who enjoy the game in itself, especially those who can root for a team independently from their birthplace.

But my point is : hoping that the obnoxious neighbor (or the obnoxious self) won't win is quite natural and commonplace. It's not specific to England. When the German ordoliberalism was spearheading the violence of the EU financial crisis, setting the rules, asserting its dominance and punishing the less economically powerful states through obvious double standards, the German football victory felt quite unwelcome. Which, again, had nothing to do with football, but intertwined symbols, geopolitical moments, bitterness, projections. Flags flags flags.

In this case here, the over-investment of football by English hooligans is notorious, as well as the current hyper-nationalist moment of English history, and both are sufficient reasons for "eeeeh England maybe not". Thing is, these inter-national contests carry way too much symbolism, and those who -like me- denounce it do exactly the same. I feel genuinely sorry for people and players who simply wish to enjoy the game for its own sake.




I asked that we keep this about football and that clearly hasn't happened, so I'm locking it for a few days.

I'll reopen later this week and hopefully we can continue without the political stuff.



Rory Smith, a Manchester-based British journalist who writes for The NY Times, wrote some terrific articles for Euro2020. This excerpt from one of his articles really resonated with me. Interesting POV, I think.

Solipsism does not fully explain England’s many and varied disappointments over the last 55 years, but it is certainly a contributory factor. Before every tournament, England asserts its belief that it is the team, the nation, that possesses true agency: the sense that, ultimately, whether England succeeds or fails will be down, exclusively, to its own actions. England is not beaten by an opponent; it loses by itself.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



For me the main problem with England (and possibly one of the reasons we've done well in the last 2 tournaments) is that we 'believe' in a messiah player. Keegan, Gazza, Beckham, Rooney. We took three of those to major tournaments injured because they 'had' to be there in order for us to win. Also, we 'had' to play 4-4-2 until about 15 years ago because the players 'couldn't' play any other formation with competence. Therefore, we played players in positions they shouldn't have been just to make space for them. The biggest change in English football in the last 15 years, IMO, is the quality of the managers who have plied their trade in the Premier League. That and St. George's Park.
__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.



Bet nobody correctly predicted the score in the Zambia / Netherlands game at the Olympics today - now I know why my bookies didn't offer any Correct Score market on that game



For me the main problem with England (and possibly one of the reasons we've done well in the last 2 tournaments) is that we 'believe' in a messiah player. Keegan, Gazza, Beckham, Rooney.
Surely other countries do this too? Argentina & Brazil spring to mind.



Surely other countries do this too? Argentina & Brazil spring to mind.
To an extent, yes. They both have, but they've both done it with truly generational talents. Argentina have been especially guilty, but then, they've also done it. With Maradona and the recent Copa America, with Messi. Brazil are pretty much pinning everything on Neymar currently (and have failed thus far), but they've won the World Cup 5 times and the Copa 3 times since their last World Cup win in '02.

We've won the World Cup once. With a team. Semi finals in '90 and '96, with a team and most recently with teams. I'm not saying there weren't any stars in these teams, but there wasn't the same dependency on one player. It's a team game and I''m hoping that this current crop of England players (and the Italy win) along with some of the really good team play around Europe will counter the last 10-15 years of prominance on crap like the Balon D'Or.



We've won the World Cup once. With a team. Semi finals in '90 and '96, with a team and most recently with teams. I'm not saying there weren't any stars in these teams, but there wasn't the same dependency on one player. It's a team game and I''m hoping that this current crop of England players (and the Italy win) along with some of the really good team play around Europe will counter the last 10-15 years of prominance on crap like the Balon D'Or.
Speaking of the 1966 win, it was cool to see Sir Geoff Hurst in the stands at euro2020.



To an extent, yes. They both have, but they've both done it with truly generational talents. Argentina have been especially guilty, but then, they've also done it. With Maradona and the recent Copa America, with Messi. Brazil are pretty much pinning everything on Neymar currently (and have failed thus far), but they've won the World Cup 5 times and the Copa 3 times since their last World Cup win in '02.

We've won the World Cup once. With a team. Semi finals in '90 and '96, with a team and most recently with teams. I'm not saying there weren't any stars in these teams, but there wasn't the same dependency on one player. It's a team game and I''m hoping that this current crop of England players (and the Italy win) along with some of the really good team play around Europe will counter the last 10-15 years of prominance on crap like the Balon D'Or.
Brazil is the best team in the world. I don’t care about rankings. Mark my words, Brazil will win the World Cup. Neymar Jr. is a beast.