Reply With QuoteIt either resonates (possibly a tribal thing) or it doesn’t.
Rugby Union, Twickenham, Passion Personified.
I don’t mean personal exercise or playing a team game with some mates, I mean the obsession with big named teams, leagues, matches, etc. I have never understood why so much air time, web space and news paper coverage is given over to artificial tournaments which seem to me to replay a few variables over and over again, with mildly different outcomes. I just don’t understand the fascination with following or supporting (too often) overpaid people to kick, throw, or hit a ball or whatever it is they do.
Am I the only one who struggles when the conversation drifts to football/rugby/cricket? I’m not trolling and I am not attacking those who do follow sport, just wondering why I don’t get it and who else feels the same.
It either resonates (possibly a tribal thing) or it doesn’t.
Rugby Union, Twickenham, Passion Personified.
Last edited by Chinnock; 14th May 2020 at 22:45.
“Don’t look back, you’re not heading that way.”
I’ll watch World Cup, 6 Nations etc. and things like that - but I’ve never really followed a particular club/team in any sport
It's just a matter of time...
Don’t mind watching the six nations but don’t watch much else. Was a Chelsea supporter until I was about eleven. Then went to a school which only played rugby and lost interest in football.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I have never liked sport of any description.
At school every aspect of games felt like some bizarre and unusual punishment. It seemed totally illogical to me and being as have no competative drive I could see no point at all to it.
Even as an adult it has been difficult to avoid - it would appear that barbours and taxi drivers have to pass a special exam relating to how to talk about sports of all types at the drop of a hat. One reason that I find haircuts and taxi journeys so stressful.
I do understand the utility of having something that is essentially mindless and trivial to focus on as a retreat from the harsh realities of everyday life. Sport doesn't help me from this perspective - however it seems to help many others so that's fine.
The David Mitchell sketch 'The Football Will Never End' just about sums it up for me.
I used to enjoy Test Cricket and Formula 1, but fell out of love with both, largely around the time that the BBC lost the broadcasting rights to them (and to a lesser extent with the passing of Johnners and James Hunt). I might watch European and World Cup football if England are doing well. The daily Tour De France coverage can be good if you watch from the start.
Other than that I couldn't really care less.
I have what is close to an active dislike for big league football. I also find that football supporters are boring in the extreme, and can't talk about anything else (TZUK football fans aside; you're obviously not boring).
Think it’s just that we are all different. Most people I know would think it ridiculous to spend more than Ł20 on a watch.Originally Posted by Gurmot
For my part, I’m very disinterested in food and have no interest whatsoever in all the food and cookery programmes - which must get more airtime than sport, certainly on free to air TV.
It is an odd feeling when you’re “missing”/not “getting” something that others can obsess about. I enjoy live football but have zero interest in, say, Formula 1 and athletics.
Modern football is a competition to see which player is the best at falling over.
We tried to watch the world cup a few years back and the play stopped every 60 seconds for a falling down incident.
A professional athlete should be able to keep his balance, and not roll around on the ground like a naughty 3-year old every time someone bumps into him.
Rugby players must be laughing their socks off.
Football, no thank you.
This thread reminded me of this article from a few years ago:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/steph...dont-care/amp/
It’s not too far off!
The words sweeping and generalisation spring to mind!
I try to be sensitive to the interests of others and wouldn’t dream of pushing my hobbies onto others who don’t share. There are plenty of other things to talk about. That’s one of the benefits of forums like TZ. You can connect with like minded people.
The Olympics is worth watching. The sportsmen and women are actually trying to succeed. The Paralympics is even more impressive.
The big buck sports are entertainment. They are just a big show now, and always have been.
Including some of my old motor-sport favourites from the 90`s - bike racing, world rally, F1, Touring cars.
Give me grass roots motor-sport, Sunday league football, or pub darts any day of the week.
Over the years I’ve lost interest in most top- level sport, as a former runner I still enjoy watching athletics but not with the enthusiasm I had in the past. I don’t watch much football, but really enjoyed a day out to watch a local non- league side (Ossett United) earlier in the year.
However, there’s one sport I’m still really passionate about and that’s Rugby League. I’m a season ticket holder with my local side (Wakefield Trinity) and I’m really missing the games at the moment. Where I live the game is almost a religion, it’s part of the local culture.
Only watch the world cup, until England fall out.
Never been into watching sports and don’t understand the appeal. I’m definitely in the minority. Always feel it’s a disappointment to someone I start working with or getting to know when they ask me what team I support and I respond’I don’t really follow football’.
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I completely concur with the OP - I’ve never had any interest in watching sport, I just can’t muster any enthusiasm at all. If I try to watch football for example, I find my mind wandering and will slope off and make a cup of tea, even if it’s during an ‘important’ bit like during the penalties in a World Cup final (having convinced myself I should make the effort to watch as everyone I know tells me it’s brilliant)! - honestly I feel like I’m from another planet sometimes, why is kicking a ball about, hitting a ball about or driving around fast an exciting thing to watch? I grew up playing Rugby at school and quite enjoyed it (probably because I was 6’2’’ and about 13 stone by the age of 14 so I could run into people and they would fall over!) and I think playing is a different thing, but I really don’t understand the tribalism and support of something so intrinsically dull to watch. I mean, an ‘amazing’ striker on millions seems to miss 99% of goal opportunities and on the odd occasion one actually goes in, apparently he’s a genius and it gets played endlessly in slow motion. I mean, this is all these people do all day, they should be good at it!
I know most people just don’t understand where I’m coming from and will always list sports I ‘must like’ because they can’t fathom my lack of interest. I think it’s because I’m quite a ‘blokey bloke’ and in other ways ‘one of the lads’ but in my mid 30’s I decided to stop pretending I had a passing interest and just admit it bores me rigid. This seems to make some people genuinely quite angry (which I find quite amusing tbh - why do they care what I think?). I have been to a few Football and Rugby matches over the years, but I would genuinely pay good money to avoid having to stand in the cold watching stick figures run about until it’s all over and time to go home!
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I now respond to Barbers and Taxi Drivers pushing me as to what football team I support by laughing and saying I couldn’t name a single England football player (I genuinely can’t) - the look on their faces is a picture!
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If you don't like sport then why spend time writing about not liking it? Why start a thread about not liking something? Just jog along. (Yes, I know) Probably better to start a thread about something you do like. Crotcheting maybe, sewing, knitting ? If you really don't like sport you could always discuss driving a computer console around a tarmac circuit or suchlike.
F.T.F.A.
Rather like spending time commenting on Rolex watches if you don't like them perhaps, instead of simply jogging along?If you don't like sport then why spend time writing about not liking it? Why start a thread about not liking something? Just jog along. (Yes, I know
Last edited by oldoakknives; 15th May 2020 at 00:38.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Of all the worlds sporting events the one that holds the most theatre and drama for me is without question the Ryder Cup. I have never felt European in my life but there’s something about that event - maybe it’s the chanting or the wearing of uniforms in what is normally a solo sport. Not sure - but on Singles Sunday there’s no place I’d rather be than watching it.
Having played a few things to a reasonable level, I understand some of the commitment and drive it takes to excel at something as downright competetive as sport, especially at the highest level.
And how the it takes enormous effort to achieve a relatively small gain or advantage.
This makes most sporting contests fascinating and engaging, to me.
It does matter to me which team wins in many contests, but watching a great game is more enjoyable than an easy win.
I coach a bit (now just rugby, but other sports previously), am qualified as a low level Ref and have a season ticket at Bristol Bears (which has been everything from sublime to ridiculous this season).
There is a whole row of our mates from hereabouts in the stands, which is great fun. It is socail as well as sporting.
It has been very frustrating being without that over recent weeks, although I am very cogniscent that the absence of professional sport is one of the less "important" aspects of the coronavirus epidemic.
I have no problem with someone who doesn't like sport, there are a few sports that I do not appreciate myself. But to not understand any sporting contest is, to my mind, very odd.
Sport, at its best, is a miniature war of skill, ability, athleticism and mental fortitude. We are naturally disposed to finding this stuff fascinating, as it can give us distilled versions of the heroic struggles and dramas that everyday life doesn't afford many of us.
Some sports are obscured by technical aspect that not many appreciate, but most people will find something compelling in sport, somewhere. Because we all understand striving for something, and the satisfaction of achieving it.
The Coe Ovett rivalry, or that of Federer and Nadal.
The incredible feats of Redgrave and Pinsent over so many Olympic games
The grace in brutality of Ali
The athletic perfection of Usain Bolt
The triumph and determination of David Wier
I grant you, standing in the driving rain watching a bunch of non-league footballers swear outrageously at their referee has very little of these lofty ideal. But it should.
I'm not trolling either but I wonder why you put "sport" in quote marks in the thread title?
As to why you don't get it, did you ever enjoy doing any sport? Did you find something you liked and were reasonably good at? Good enough maybe to appreciate just how good the top level of players are at any sport and appreciate how much work they have put in to hone that talent?
Have you ever pursued excellence in anything? Maybe tried baking the perfect cake, taking the perfect photograph, playing a musical instrument? painting a portrait?
I'm not saying achieved it but just tried and enjoyed the journey? When you have attempted something and appreciated the difficulty, that is when you understand what you are watching, eating, seeing or hearing is something special.
Almost all sport bores me to death. F1 in particular, just the same bloke who wins it every year so how is that worth paying money to watch? Someone should try to explain that one to me.
I think you either get it or you don't, depending on whether you played a lot of sport as a kid or not
I grew up on an estate were we played football every day (there was sod all else to do) and 35 years later I still play a 7-a-side game every week (pre-CV19)
I don't like all sports, but generally anything which requires skill over strength/power
I genuinely feel a little sad for anyone who doesn't follow any sports. There are few places where you can get such an immediate adrenaline rush (in a safe environment!) as when your team/country scores a late winning goal/try/6 whatever. And being able to share that joy instantly with so many people, across generations, social divide etc. I'd struggle to think of anything that brings people together as much as sport.
You shouldn’t feel sad for anyone who doesn’t invest their emotions in watching Sport. To enjoy the highs you need to suffer the lows too.
I don’t follow any sport or team in particular, I’m not emotionally invested in any of it. But in I’ll watch it a bit and read about it.
Oddly I do enjoy sports documentaries more than the sport itself. Netflix F1 documentary is excellent, as is The Last Dance (Basketball), and last night I finished watching Sunderland ‘Til I Die. After seeing that I’m glad I’m not a football supporter - it’s horrible to see how worked up people get about things completely out of their control.
I have played rugby (Union and a bit of league) since the age of 10, I am now 39 and still playing a few vets games every year, I absolutely love the game, love going to watch Quins; a team I have followed since I was a kid a few times a year and I try to get to every England Home game. That’s said I very rarely watch rugby on the TV as it’s just not the same for me, I don’t follow every result or game either. For me it’s partaking that is the enjoyable bit.
It’s the same with boxing, I like to train, spar and even fight (- must get back in to it) but to watch on the TV sends me to sleep. To chat about it is the same, a snore fest.
All other sport (Olympics aside) has absolutely no interest to me.
Playing sport has given me a lot more than it has taken out of me - mainly blood and teeth!
By “sport” I was trying to separate the mainstream spectator sports from the wider term which can be used for everything from fishing, to darts and fox hunting. It’s the tribal and sometimes fanatical following of things like football, rugby and to a lesser extent cricket that I am highlighting as something I don’t get. I identify with the comments about taxi drivers and barbers!
Yes I played the usual sport at school and in the street where I grew up. Lots of opportunity to participate and I was average or better at most things and could have been pretty good at some but I never saw the point from an early age. I was more into things like bikes, guns, fishing (which I don’t consider a sport) and taking things apart to see how they worked. I’m not a loner and have always had plenty of friends, but I tend to be the one they go to when something is broken.
In terms of achieving things, I have always been described as very driven and I try to do my best in the things I choose to do. I suppose that this is most evident in my professional life where I have done reasonably well.
I have a wide range of interests but few of them include watching other people do things, unless there is something new to learn.
It is reassuring to see that others feel the same, although I do recognise that we are in the minority.
Thankfully, we all like different things.
Thread complete!
Not into football, overpaid and underwhelming. 2-3k a week for maybe a couple of games, ridiculous.
Golf is totally boring, a good walk spoilt.
Athletics is the best for me, I was a pretty decent javelin thrower 😁, love going to Gateshead stadium when there's a big meet.
Brilliant Ian
No, not in the slightest.
I can sort of understand people who DO sport, but I can't really get people who watch people do sport.
I like eating but don't like watching other people eating as entertainment.
As has been said in this post, many are overpaid and "celebrities" really not bothered if sport never happens again after lockdown.
Never ever watched porn then ?
Watching people eat would be more of a fetish
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I wish I did find it interesting as not knowing a thing or what is being played and when seems to exclude you from a great deal of male conversation. Happy to go to Six Nations games for the atmosphere but that's it.
I'm always ashamed when English football fans go abroad so I'm always willing us to lose so it doesn't happen.
I've always preferred playing more than watching others.
Have to say I would rather watch paint dry than watch twenty two millionaires kick a sack of wind around.
I always find it bizarre when the world cup comes along, brings out all the people who don’t watch football. I can’t stand football - just because it’s the world cup i’m not starting now - doesn’t make any sense?!?
For me, the world cup is about national pride and watching your country's team do well (dare I say hope to see them win). I enjoy the game when I watch the world cup, and I enjoy it when I watch it and it isn't the world cup, if it's a good game. I just don't have the motivation to follow a team and keep up with the world of premier league football.
I hate the nationalism angle when it comes to the World cup, all the dark elements of English stupidity come out. I avoid it like the plague, the world would be a better place without all that hassle.
Boxing used to be everything to me, as a fan and as a competitor.
I've got hundreds of magazines and books plus programmes from my own amateur fights.
My interest started to wane some years ago and even when I coached I didn't hang around after our own kids had boxed.
I don't follow the modern fighters much but still like watching fighters from yesteryear.
I preferred Athletics to football once I'd stopped boxing and wasn't a bad distance runner
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Agreed.
I find it hard to understand why flying a Chinese made flag on a foreign car is seen as patriotic during world cups.
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Played rugby during my youth and partake in the odd veteran / dads vs coaches at my local club, standing on many sidelines (in all weathers!) watching my boy when he was younger, going to Twickenham, Paris, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town during World Cups, 6 Nations, Lions tours etc, being their live for me is what it's truly all about.
The atmosphere is electric, the joining of Nations, the camaraderie, spirit and passions of so many people all at once is magical. Not one to watch too much sport on tv tbh, unless shared with fellow supporters and a pint!
Only sport I will happily watch alone if necessary is MotoGP - then again, I love motorbikes, speed and danger!
Bringing people together, being social, sharing your passions is I'm sure, just like TZ, something to be appreciated and cherished.
Last edited by Chinnock; 15th May 2020 at 10:47.
Funnily enough the same thing applies, I don't think I'm hungry let's watch Jamie Oliver, I'm horny let's watch porn.
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Used to enjoy motorsport a while back but F1 fell by the wayside when the rules became too restrictive and nobody overtook any more, Rallycross dropped off the telly, Touring cars got boring after the cossie stopped competing and it was all vectras and volvos, similarly WRC and it being all fiestas and minis.
Football, rugby, golf, etc. all left me cold, never understood the obsession with wasting time watching instead of doing.
If you follow a team / sportsman then great, I just don't get the idea of idolizing someone who can do something skillfull with a ball when there are sop many more out there deserving of your respect.
Watching the game with some friends and rooting for your country is enough. No need for extremes!
I used to enjoy watching golf When I used to play a bit before the bad back set in,but my mum would drive me nuts I would be trying to talk to her and she would be watching athletics on telly and listening to a cricket match on the radio at the same time
I think many people who do or did sport are the keenest watchers of sport. I play the guitar very badly but also very much enjoy watching and listening to (some) people who do it well!
Obviously, some people just watch and don't participate but then that's true of me watching films and TV. I've never acted but enjoy watching other do it (and if the market determines that they are worth Łmillions for their performances, then I'm jealous but good luck to them).
Last edited by David_D; 15th May 2020 at 15:21.
At last, the voice of reason.Bunch of weirdos
I love watching West Ham and England Cricket test matches.
In the US I'll happily watch NFL and Baseball.
It's human drama - far more than you will get from any film that lasts about as long.
Cheers,
Neil.
What about those people that read lots of books but never write them? What's up with them? ;-)
will watch the occasional boxing /TT /rugby and thats about it , never had any interest in football at all and have tried going to a few things when younger >
football matches (tried a couple) - bored out my mind
one day international (england vs SA ) - got drunk fell asleep woke up - it was still going on so got drunk again and fell asleep again till someone woke me up to tell me we had won and it was over
playing golf - bored after 3 holes and started a aiming for a squirrel that was running round the course (this actually turned into 3 people aiming for a squirrel at a fiver a time for the closest ball - squirrel was not harmed and i was 30 quid down at the end of it )
i still enjoy lifting weight in the gym and used to do some boxing /kickboxing training when younger but have never competed.
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