i don't generally read newspapers but this morning found myself eating with the commonery at a motorway cafe. I read three back pages in the papers, the sun, the mail and the express and all had more articles on the rugby (a friendly) than the England game. I'm not complaining, although so desperate to talk about football, one of the articles compared Rooney to Bobby Charlton which is like comparing Reams to the Dalai Lama. As the rugby World Cup is only 11 friendly games away, will we see Rugby become the back pages?
I think my point is that Rugby is being pushed by the media as the 'other sport' with a view in my opinion to take over football eventually It is a better game to play in your adulthood, it is thoroughly British, it is sporting and has proper ethics, England are better at it than football, you can be good at rugby as a minor nation NZ and Wales, for example. The players are more human, the twickenham experience far outdoes the Wembley thing. It is not run by FIFA. It does not support Rapists. It has a honesty that football does not have. Wayne Rooney or David Beckham don't play it. In short I will be watching the England rugby and not England football today
OK, I can't stand Rugby but I have definitely lost interest in football in the guise of Premiership and England national team. Rugby has it's quota of nasties but I will concede that it's probably the will to win rather than the will to enhance a pay packet that drives them on. Top level football, as defined above, leaves me cold. Perhaps it's the media hero worship or the fact that the media ignores lower league football. I dislike the sponsership associated with it all as well. It's the Premiership not the Barclays Premiership. It's the FA Cup not the FA Cup Bought To You By Budwiser as it has to be announced. I watched a Serie B game last week, pretty honest football. I also watched a West Sussex County League Division 2 match the other week. Much more fun than watching Chelsea or Citeh.
Oh. Fair enough. It's too middle class and complicated for me. But I agree with West Stand Willy about the national team and Premier League. I would never describe myself as a Football fan now; only a Charlton supporter.
Typical, the Sun, the Mail, the Express and rugby. I see a pattern there. Any hope of Vol switching to rugby as well?
I understand why rugby is being pushed this weekend. It's England, no one likes international break apart from groundsmen. It's Slovenia, Rooney will score get to 100 caps and be up there as a 'great' although he's a waste of Space in my opinion and is no where near the player he should be. Let the Rugby have it's spot in the lime light.
I find it staggering the amount of people I know who have lost interest in England. I am posting this while in the queue at Tescos. I have no idea or interest in what the score is.
I've been watching a Queen documentary. Kept up to date via Twitter, but have no urge to read/watch anything from it.
Although not fully understanding the rules of Rugby, the Scotland New Zealand rugby game (well the last 20 minutes which I watched) was far more entertaining than the England football match, which I fell asleep in!
To be honest I could not bring myself to watch the England game yesterday, I heard the groans of my family at the inept passing and failure at most levels but couldn't raise myself to leave the desk I was working at to go and watch this. I remember fearing that Woy would be another Howard Wilkinson and fear that I am proven correct. He may be a master of the manufacturing process but he is not an inventor or a design genius. He is just delivering the same old dross off the production line and not investing in new technology because he doesn't understand it. So we will continue to have a car with a gas guzzling engine that doesn't accelerate very well but wingers with go faster stripes, a the airbags are good and the sunroof doesn't leak but it is never going to be formula one. Added to which the world of sport is fast moving to being the world of entertainment rather than true competition. The premier league is in danger of losing its audience to a new blockbuster from America whether that is a sport or a new game of thrones or another drama series about the mob. The couch potatoes who watch football as an entertainment and wouldn't dream of going to a match are easily manipulated. The governance is corrupt at the top level and inept at the national level and the turkeys at the championship level have just voted for Christmas by abandoning financial fair play because it might hurt ( I have news for them - Insolvency and financial ruin will hurt). All in the game that was invented in this green and pleasant land is in a mess. Is there a glimmer of hope? Well yes, I support a club that is living within its means and still punching above its weight, it regularly attracts more than 15k people on a Saturday. What else needs to be done: Fifa: This is one of the occasions that we need to be outside of the tent pissing in. It might upset the boys from ITV but I would walk away until it is resolved. FA: route and branch reform but not the type that the luvvies want - It has got to be hard hitting and commercial, dealing with the reality of the situation we find ourselves in not some idealised world scenario. The premier League: I would bring them back under the control of the Football league so that we retain the one thing that is good about English football which is the four tier system that allows clubs from all over our land to aspire to greatness. if the Manures; Manshitties; Chelski's and Arselovers don't want it because they are outlawed by Fifa (see above) let them go and join the Europlatini league. The premier league, will still attract players who have higher salaries than all bar the top two in Spain so kick Fifa in th ecrotch by refusing them international breaks - Money or national loyalty - I doubt whether many of the overseas stars would risk their bank accounts. Football League : make them work with the FA and the grass roots fans of the game to protect English football not try to emulate the corrupt world of the international game. Rant over - time for a bacon sarnie.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ngland-beat-Slovenia-6-3million-watch-TV.html To be fair it did feature Kris Akabusi
We've got 2 local derbies coming up. Charlton Vs Millwall, and Scotland Vs England. The majority of fans I've spoken to didn't even know that England were playing Scotland, and none of them are interested. The Millwall game, on the other hand has been keenly anticipated for weeks, which just shows how disinterested we are in international football.
