I have loved sport all of my life by playing, watching and being involved in the day to day grind of making it work;but football, my first love, seems to be leaving me flat. I watched the Olympics and was simply awed by the scale of endeavour and the self- sacrifice and passion; it was simply fantastic. Before that I watched more of the Tour De France than I ever have before; so much corruption in that particular form of cycling, but the Brits were simply superb (hope there are no dusty cannonballs in the future!) - real teamwork, real sense of working for it and sheer bloody guts to do that day after day. Wiggans - love him or hate him - try and beat him! I thought that was it and then I watched 'Team Europe'. I don't mind a game of golf, but it's a social thing for me; a good excuse to have a day out with the lads. But 'Team Europe', all of those pampered millionaires, the Dandies of the swing, how they impressed and thrilled. They topped a glorious summer of sport, they were the ultimate 'no-lose mentality', they were simply superb - they have inspired many - of that I am sure. Now I am left with football and I feel like I am looking into the bottom of a pool of habit, a pool of a few big fat fish snatching the lifefood from the minnows. Perhaps I am being too critical - all sports have top-end greed and self-importance - but I have been shocked at just how well the other sports deliver the human element, the sharing, passionate element, whereas football just seems to feed itself, endlessly. What, if anything, does football need to do to change it's public image?
Totally agree, all the sporting achievement and sportsmanship demonstrated this summer has highlighted the disillusionment I've been feeling towards football for some time. Obviously I still care passionately about City but I definitely feel differently about football overall. Too much money, too many egotistical overpaid twats that are terrible role models, clubs becoming rich mens's playthings, clubs and the premier league being seen as more important than representing your country, diving, players not respecting officials, devaluing of once proud competitions like the FA cup, anything to do with John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, overly ambitious chairmen prepared to risk a clubs entire history and existence just to get in the premier league, pricks like Tevez holding the club to ransom, there's so much wrong with football I really don't know why I still follow it!
well i'd lke to see more birds streaking at football. what happened to streakers anyway? i blame the internet
If any of these wonderful, dignified, inspirational sports became as popular as football, then they would have exactly the same problems. I loved the Olympics, The Ryder Cup etc... but I don't think that i'd want to watch them for 9 months a year, every year. If we did watch them for such a length of time, with such heightened attention, then you think there wouldn't be downsides? There wouldn't be big 'controversies'? Annoying aspects of the sport wouldn't come to the forefront of our attention? There wouldn't be annoying idiots who play it?
Well, don't count your chickens, football will reel you back in. While you're still in that disillusioned faze, you can wait til November to see the England Cricket team, devoid of that eijit Pietersen, who went through a similar saga as many footballers go through, get their arses handed to them by India in the subcontinent. After, todays dross in the T20, i'm sure it'll happen (i'm always happy for miracles to occur btw). I'm sure after that it'll boost your opinions of football back up.
Nothing at all, if you pust cyclists, olympians in our papers, on our TV's and out there everyday of every year then stories would come out and they would be exactly the same. Their are stories about what goes on at the Olympic village, and some Olympians have even admitted it, however unlike footballers its laughed off as a joke etc.... if that was Rooney or Terry or someone else it would be headline news for months and years.
i'll try. i don't get to city these days, but did for a long time. the close season would be a time when my enthusiasm would be rekindled for the next season. each season unfolded towards an unknown outcome, possibly heading for greatness and eternal memories, possibly heading for mediocrity, possibly for awfulness. but at the end of each season. no matter how good or bad, i was always pleased when it was all over. i always needed a break. i needed to forget about it, to recharge my batteries, to do something else. always, whether we'd been promoted or relegated or whatever. 2011-12 finished disappointingly but with much promise for the next season. we have had three and a half hard years at hull city. that's wearing. but there wasn't a gap from football; the euros soon followed, biting a month out of the break. okay, there's euros or the world cup every second year. so it isn't that unusual. then there was the olympics. in london and england for the first time in 64 years and for many of us for the first and only time in our lives. it was promoted differently to football. it roped in spectators with no interest in football. it was reported differently. it was treated differently by the crowds and by the television reporters and the news programmes. olympic runners were allowed to come second without being subjected to abuse. they were applauded for a brave attempt. they didn't get people questionning their parentage when they got beaten. they didn't get into the newspapers because they'd been out on the tiles. the media reported on the good things. it was unusually supportive. when did the media ever report the good about football? when was it ever supportive towards football? never, that's when. it looks to dish the dirt on football and on footballers. all the time. it's their bread and butter. it's how they sell papers to blokes, the soap opera of the premier league. for a sports fan this year you have had no chance to take a break from sport. in quck succession you got: season ends pearson out and barmby sacked saga euros olympics paralympics football season you need a break. next year you'll be back to normal. the year after that is the world cup again. there won't be a summer like this one.
And even if there is a streaker these days, the picture will cut away to the ref tying his boot or something similar. And if the commentator does acknowledge the fact, it's only to call said streaker an idiot. ****s. Back in the day you'd get a good eyeful. Only chance we got is if someone goes for it at the KC.
You forgot Andy Murray as well, not everybodies favourite sportsman but a Wimbledon final, a silver and gold at the olympics and a very impressive dramatic win in the US open final was no mean feat either! Jess Ennis, Mo, and of course our own Luke Campbell. Euros and British olympic football pales into nothing when you think about British sports this year. Of course it is true that the red tops love to treat the prem like a soap opera but they aint the ones that wrote stories about Jimmy Bullard snagging 45 grand a week then messing around teams for a couple of more years till he finally anounced his retirement yesterday. Football is choking itself, 100 quid a game to see Arsenal play at the emirates! and thats just to get in. The FA better watch out otherwise they might not have a product that people want to see 10 years from now
Sure watch the NFL, MLB, or NBA and then realize that english football has far more of the human element than what will happen if sports there ever get like they are here.
Some of those Ryder Cup players managed incredicle feats.. as a golfer I can't tell you what it took for say Justin Rose to win the last 2 with birdies to defeat the amazingly talented Phil Mickelson.. how Martin Kaymer held his nerve to sink the 4'5 footer to retain the cup.. Ian Poulter's 5 straight birdies on Saturday, Molinari staying with the gretaest golfer the world has ever seen all day long.. the calmness of Luke Donald, how the hell did Rory Mcilroy keep his emotions in check to turn up late without a practice swing and beat his man in the singles.. he'd have never forgiven himself if he'd lost - but he didn't.. I haven't mentioned them all, they were ALL magnificent, even the few who lost gave it everything.. did you see Olazabal?? he could hardly keep it together.. One of the finest team efforts ever witnessed - and no money in it - just pride.
I'd defend football, but it isn't a popular thing to say and I can't be arsed to be controversial right now. Actually looking at City1904 and x's posts, they pretty much sum up my thoughts. It's cool to hate football because it's so popular, a bit like Man Utd.
You really only liked the Olympics because they occurred in England. You most likely wouldnt have watched a minuet of it if you lived outside of the UK. I certainly didnt and I honestly dont know a single person who did.
i didn't watch much either. i watched the opening and closing ceremonies. the first, because i was staying with someone who watched it, and i also saw some of archery there. i watched the closing ceremony because in spite of myself i was impressed with the opening ceremony, but the closing one was rubbish for the first two hours. athletics is not something i want to watch but i watch very little football on tv, so maybe i'm just odd.
Winning makes a hell of a big difference to the enjoyment levels of watching sport.....All the aforementioned events, Olympics, TDF, Ryder Cup, US Open etc were all regarded as unprecedented successes for British (and European) athletes, say for the sake of argument that City had won the Championship last year and ENgland had won the Euros.....had that happened then your view of football would have been changed in comparrison would have changed substantialy. I can remember watching the Olympics in 1996 and 2000 when the British team were utterly pants, i remember watching Brookline in 99 and watching previous TDFs and tennis majors, and none of them come close to what we experienced this year as the achievements of the teams I supported were crap. So to answer your original question - what does football need to do? well City need to win the league, England need to get rid of Hodgson and all the players who have been consistently failing over the past 10 years and at grass roots level we need to follow the same footballing philosophy as the Dutch and Spanish, getting kids comfortable on the ball so we can drag ourselves out of the dark ages.
FYI - you can still get 10-1 on ENgland to lose the test series 4-0 at a few bookies. License to print money
