Argus's thread got me thinking earlier. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/179272-Why-fans-have-become-more-demanding I'm surprised more haven't commented on that thread too. As for the TV overkill. I was talking to my Skunk neighbour about this the other day. I was channel hopping and an FA cup game was on terrestrial TV I paused for a couple of seconds, went meh! And continued channel hopping. He said he did the same. When I was younger the highlight of my TV viewing was watching the live random FA cup games. MOTD and Shoot! You would be lucky to see any of your own teams games this way apart from a couple of minutes on MOTD. (Nothing has changed for SAFC they still only show a couple of minutes of us on MOTD. ) Footy on TV was something to be savoured. The World Cup was amazing, live matches one after another, glued to the set for every second. My old man even bought a second hand TV when he heard live different matches would be shown simultaneously. We made a point of making sure to watch a live match as it was special. The same with snooker my Da and I would be hooked from start to finish, usually once a year and the odd series of Pot Black. We even went to a few championships. I went to the Jameson in skunk land, and had the pleasure of Higgins turning to me and my Da sitting behind him and saying of Steve Davis. "He's a lucky **** isn't he?" Me and my Da just nodding in agreement. I actually can't remember when I last watched the snooker. (And I used to love it.) It just seemed to be on none stop. I'm getting the same way with Footy, I still love the game and SAFC. But! Apart from SAFC I just can't be arsed to watch it at the moment, unless it is a big game or a world class player is going to be on show. I also find my self picking faults rather than the good bits. Watching us at the moment it is hard to pick out the good bits mind. As the bad out weighs the good. The money brought into footy by TV imho has made us more demanding as the obscene money the players are earning makes us think "Earn your ****ing money!" I'm watching Napoli Milan and would probably have turned it off if the control was closer. (Yes I am that lazy!) It was the same with Norwich ManU earlier, I actually lost interest in the game and spent more time reading here on the forum. My feeling is this is going to get worse before it gets better. The TV bubble has got to burst eventually. (Sky can't just keep increasing prices as peoples pockets have a limit.) But by then are the majority going to be TV supporters who aren't going to turn up for a live game on wet windy winter days and nights?
Thing is, with the way internet technology has moved on you can pretty much watch any game in the world these days. As you say, those were things I savoured watching with my father as a kid. I remember us listening to the boxing on an old tube radio that took longer to get going than the coal fire. If the TV bubble ever does burst & I believe it will, then football will seriously have to draw it's horns in.
I hope it does burst, I have felt for a long time that the players are to removed from the fans these days as they get more in a week than most fans get in two years. They can not understand how the average fan feels.
With you all the way mate. Then you get comments from highly paid footballers saying they don't even like football. FFS I would have paid them to let me play at a high level, I loved the game that much. What is also scary is players willing to take a wage to warm the bench, rather than move on to get playing time.
The funny thing is though, for me anyway, the more footy there is on the TV the less I find myself watching and the more I look forward to going to the match to watch live games. I don't watch Champions League games anymore until the Quarter final stages and knock out and hardly ever watch the match on a Sunday as I have my daughter and better things to do. I cant remember watching England live since the Euros (never watch friendlies or meaningless qualifiers) and only watch MotD if I can be arsed. More TV football has turned me off and much more excited to go to the game live.
It should be done like the NFL, but its impossible as our TV is not regional. If a game is not sold out 3 days before, the networks cant show it in their region, they can show the 49rs in New York, but they cant show the 49`rs in California, unless like i said, the game is a sell out. Here everyone gets the same game regardless of how many is at the game. You also have the fact of the internet, which in a way is the FAs/Clubs fault, they sell the rights to show every match in the PL on foreign TV, so streams can be had by everyone, if they didnt sell the rights then we wouldnt be able to get the streams for everygame, so the clubs are suffering with dwindling crowds, but their income isnt taking a hit because they get the TV cash anyway, which is why I never really agreed with NQ and the pubs fiasco.
Good thread and definitely too much football on the box these days. I mean look at the dross that's on this afternoon
In my dim and distant youth the only footy on the box was MOTD on a Saturday night and the Big Match on a Sunday. Then you had the odd England game thrown in and that was enough. Like Cest said earlier if we are not involved I tend not to bother watching and, makes it even more of a privilege (sort of) to actually go to a game.
Was a good thread And then you have to spoil it all by saying something stupid like....................
Probably, the best thread I have ever read on here. Basically, it sums up a lot of the disillusionment people are feeling with the game. I find the game has become very dull with its constant stoppages for minor incidents that would have been laughed at in the 70's/80's. There is far too much analysis and I found myself in exacyly the same position as you, last week I also stumbled across the FA cup game I watched about 30 seconds then turned over and watched an episode of Frasier (that I had already seen). I also used to watch snooker and darts but now that is of no interest. Furthermore, I have very little or limited attention span nowadays, this maybe a side affect of the emergence of the internet and nowadays even the newspapers seem to operate in small 'sound bites' that you don't really have to read . Everything seemed a lot more enjoyable in the 1980's and all we have now is a microcosm of society itself that favours the big boys and kicks the little guy. We have a league that only 3 maybe 4 teams can win and the higher you finish the more financial reward you get to widen the gap farther but if you are struggling you get deducted points to make it even harder for you. Therefore, basically IT'S A TOTALLY UNFAIR SYSTEM. tHIS week we have seen £75 million wasted on elections to vote for police commissioners, no one is bothered about yet people are been laid off all over Britain to cut costs. If we all came to our senses we would boycott (apologies to any mags reading for missing out the u) the premier league/sky sports altogether. The odd thing is we all know we are being conned yet continue to allow ourselves to be conned. Superb argument from the original poster
I still watch a lot of footy on TV and still enjoy it. The odd Spanish or Italian game occasionally lives up to the hype, not impressed with most Dutch or French games but watch almost all premier league games. Still watch the lower league matches as well if poss.
Bobby's jig, light hearted I felt and no problems with that what so ever. Tend to agree there is too much football. Re not showing the matches on regional TV sadly the Internet has ended that idea. Most people watch the games on the Internet. It's free and u get the whole match, sometimes you even get the bonus of foreign commentary which is better than the drivel you get from the sky coverage. Champions league groups I don't bother with. Just don't watch the Europa league. Few premier league matches I do watch to be fair. People must watch though otherwise it wouldn't be on all the time. Anyone know what kind of viewing figures sky gets for the games on a Sunday?
they get about 1.5million viewers, that probably doesnt count clubs/pubs though, so its probably a hell of a lot more than that if you take into account ppl going out to watch the matches and who dont have sky in the home. I watch every football match i can, along with every NFL game thats on, I will even watch Newcastle if they are on the TV, what I wont do though is watch Newcastle on the net, if we are on a different time, like a lot of mags do with us.
You make a good point regarding the commentary to be fair, it's one of the main reason I watch a lot less football than I used to. Some of the commentary is utter garbage, Waddle, Keown, Hinchcliffe, Wilkins, it is literally enough to make you turn off. Wilkins in particular commentates as if he is still best of pals with all the Chelsea lads!
