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Thread: Done with watching top level football

  1. #1
    Master wildheart's Avatar
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    Done with watching top level football

    I’ve loved my football all my life. Life long Southend United fan since 1964. Most of my contact with top level football has been via television. Yesterday I watched Tottenham verses Manchester United, I witnessed players throwing themselves to the floor clutching their faces, it was pathetic. These over paid premadonnas are a joke. In the last few months great footballers like Colin Bell, Peter Lorimer, Diego Maradonna have passed away, they are the players I will remember. So sad that football has become like American Wrestling.


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  2. #2
    Grand Master
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    I agree, I’ve probably watched more football this winter than usual and the cheating/ play-acting at top level is disgraceful. Pretending to be hurt and squealing like a pig is pathetic, Sons performance in the Spurs game yesterday epitomised everything that’s wrong.

    Suggest you try watching Rugby League as a refreshing alternative, total opposite to football, players get hurt and pretend they’re OK.

  3. #3
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wildheart View Post
    These over paid premadonnas are a joke. In the last few months great footballers like Colin Bell, Peter Lorimer, Diego Maradonna have passed away, they are the players I will remember. So sad that football has become like American Wrestling.


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    Completely agree, watching Newcastle or Middlesbrough is exasperating. Stand around in defence hardly moving, watching the goals go in, whilst earning £thousands a week.
    I even switched the England qualifiers off it was so boring to watch.

  4. #4
    Craftsman
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    As I recall, Maradonna was quite “handy” at the sham acting too.

    Were there any particularly bad offenders in yesterday’s match? Was it one team more than the other, or are they equally bad as each other?

    Maybe VAR video could be used post match (so as not to hold up play) to fine/penalise the worst offenders? Penalties to include one match bans, as I don’t think fines will stop them.

  5. #5
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    I stopped watching it very early into this season. Yes there's all that you've described however it's VAR that's killed it for me. The intent was to identify and rectify clear and obvious errors but instead it's looking at offsides to the width of shirt material and once it started giving offside where an arm was the only part of the body in an offside position, despite you not being able to score with an arm, was the final straw for me.

    It's no longer the game I grew up loving.

    I find everything about the Championship and below much more honest and relatable.

    Re the rugby comments; I'd rather not watch sport than watch rugby. Honestly I've tried many times over the years but can't do it. It's so pointless and devoid of any skill. Pick the ball up, run a bit, run into someone, repeat.
    Last edited by TaketheCannoli; 12th April 2021 at 10:28.

  6. #6
    Similar feeling for me however I gave up 5 years ago. As an alternative, can I suggest supporting your local non-league team instead? They’ll be grateful for the revenue and you certainly won’t get any of the nonsense that we see in the higher levels. The quality of football is also improving.

  7. #7
    Master wildheart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tatters View Post
    As I recall, Maradonna was quite “handy” at the sham acting too.

    Were there any particularly bad offenders in yesterday’s match? Was it one team more than the other, or are they equally bad as each other?

    Maybe VAR video could be used post match (so as not to hold up play) to fine/penalise the worst offenders? Penalties to include one match bans, as I don’t think fines will stop them.
    Yea maybe Maradonna was not the best promoter of faking it, but man he got kicked to death. Maybe I should have chosen Frank Worthington. I was at Tottenham v Manchester United in 1973, One of George Bests last games for United, he actually scored. Cyril Knowles got the winner for Spurs if I remember rightly? Anyhow looks as though I’ll be watching non league with Southend next year or just playing more golf!


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    Last edited by wildheart; 12th April 2021 at 11:23.

  8. #8
    Master Papa Hotel's Avatar
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    In part it's the way the game is refereed; if there is no reaction then there was no foul. In order to draw attention to the foul, the reactions have become exaggerated as a signal to the ref.

    Not really the fault of the referee either, they're pretty good at spotting when someone is guilty of "simulation".

    But yeah, I totally agree, it's embarrassing to see grown men writhe around on the floor clutching their faces when they've had their ankle clipped.

  9. #9
    I’m surprised anyone has stuck with football over the last twenty years or so. Rolling around in the clutches of the grim reaper has been an oft occurrence since I can remember. It’s why I stopped being interested in football and stuck to rugby union.

  10. #10
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    Agreed, I'm going to start taking my youngest to home games of my local club, the mighty Blyth Spartans!

    Quote Originally Posted by Crammage View Post
    Similar feeling for me however I gave up 5 years ago. As an alternative, can I suggest supporting your local non-league team instead? They’ll be grateful for the revenue and you certainly won’t get any of the nonsense that we see in the higher levels. The quality of football is also improving.

  11. #11
    Grand Master magirus's Avatar
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    Some classics here.
    F.T.F.A.

  12. #12
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by walkerwek1958 View Post
    Suggest you try watching Rugby League as a refreshing alternative, total opposite to football, players get hurt and pretend they’re OK.
    This, really enjoyed the Saints v Leeds match at the weekend.

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  14. #14
    Grand Master Griswold's Avatar
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    Best Regards - Peter

    I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.

  15. #15
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
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    When I was a kid, I was a keen football fan, but by the time I'd reached my mid-teens my interest had faded to nothing.

    I'm not really sure why, but last year ITV showed the whole of the 1966 World Cup final and it was end to end, non-stop excitement.

    I do watch the odd football match now and then, but it's never like that, being bogged down in the mid-field, prima-donna's diving whenever they get in the penalty area, free kicks whenever someone gets near to tackling somewhere (accompanied by the obligatory dive and hammy rolling around the ground).

    Maybe football gave up on me, rather than vice versa?

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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tatters View Post
    Maybe VAR video could be used post match (so as not to hold up play) to fine/penalise the worst offenders? Penalties to include one match bans, as I don’t think fines will stop them.
    Unfortunately VAR was used. Son went down as if he had been shot, rolling around, the ref was asked to watch it back on the monitor and disallowed the goal. He should have booked Son for play acting and allowed the goal, shambolic.

    P.S. I hate Man United but despise cheating more.

  17. #17
    Grand Master Sinnlover's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli View Post

    Re the rugby comments; I'd rather not watch sport than watch rugby. Honestly I've tried many times over the years but can't do it. It's so pointless and devoid of any skill. Pick the ball up, run a bit, run into someone, repeat.
    I don't think thats fair at all.
    There is a lot of skill in both League and Union, its just more subtle, you try and accurately pass a ball 20m whilst running. Or accurately kicking to touch whilst knowing you are going to get smashed. Even jackling in a ruck takes a lot of skill, strength and technique. The subtleties of front row play are master class in the dark arts of getting one over your opponent - its a highly developed skill set.
    All sports requires skill, football is a much simpler game, I would rather watch paint dry than watch a game of football.

  18. #18
    Master MakeColdplayHistory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tatters View Post
    Maybe VAR video could be used post match (so as not to hold up play) to fine/penalise the worst offenders? Penalties to include one match bans, as I don’t think fines will stop them.
    This, absolutely this.
    If the post match analysis shows that a player who goes down clutching his face was merely brushed on the shoulder give them a retrospective red card and three match ban.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli View Post
    I stopped watching it very early into this season. Yes there's all that you've described however it's VAR that's killed it for me. The intent was to identify and rectify clear and obvious errors but instead it's looking at offsides to the width of shirt material and once it started giving offside where an arm was the only part of the body in an offside position, despite you not being able to score with an arm, was the final straw for me.

    It's no longer the game I grew up loving.

    I find everything about the Championship and below much more honest and relatable.

    Re the rugby comments; I'd rather not watch sport than watch rugby. Honestly I've tried many times over the years but can't do it. It's so pointless and devoid of any skill. Pick the ball up, run a bit, run into someone, repeat.
    Agree with this post, including the rugby. I’ve watched football since the early 70’s as a season ticket holder at Man City and then when I moved South watching Southampton a lot. Also watched most matches on Sky. The Premiership is killing football and Sons reaction was a joke and the referee should have done better.
    Over the last 4/5 years I’ve watched a lot of div 1 & 2 football (my son is a professional on loans from a premiership club) and it is so much more enjoyable than the Premiership. The fans, grounds and general atmosphere is more down to earth with few primadonnas. His contract ends this summer and he will be signing for a div 1 or 2 club and I’m really looking forward to watching agin at that level.

  20. #20
    I don't watch a great deal of football but when I do I prefer the WSL games, nothing to do with the fact there women I just think they seem to be more genuine when they play.

  21. #21
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    I never watched Rugby when I was young; my dad was an avid fan in the Eddie Waring days, but I just thought it was incredibly tedious. However winning the Rugby Union World Cup really got me into it, now I much prefer it to football. I just think Rugby is a lot more exciting, skilful and fast flowing compared to football. One thing I am not so keen on is the scrum - they really kill the pace of the game, especially if they have to be reset several times. However they are such a traditional part of the game, I can’t imagine they will ever be changed, except maybe for safety reasons.

  22. #22
    I used to watch a lot of football, now I only really watch the big games. Like others I find the cynical nature of the players around contact annoying.

    It's not just the diving, it's playing for fouls that annoy me. Tapping the ball past a player and running into him, running across players players to get taken down, dragging legs hoping to get clipped and slowing down abruptly when running with the ball to get hit from behind. You will see one for these every couple of minutes, I would say that getting on for half of fouls have been earned by the player with the ball.

    It's not a non contact sport, but if you are a defender you have to treat if that way.

    The commentary enable this behavior. "He had every right to go down" - "it looks like there was contact" - "you can't lay a hand on someone" all excusing some guy who's clearly played for a foul that wasn't there and thrown himself to the ground.

  23. #23
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    Agreed. Watch closely how many tackles centre halves make these days, maybe one or two per game, compared to the volume of free kicks awarded in that area of the field. It's now a positional, interception based game. There's more tackling in my daughter's U11 games. She looks like she's going to be a decent centre half and while positionally she's very good, she can also put a tackle in.

    Quote Originally Posted by guinea View Post

    It's not a non contact sport, but if you are a defender you have to treat if that way.
    Last edited by TaketheCannoli; 12th April 2021 at 12:26.

  24. #24
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    I'll always be a football fan (COYI!).

    The fact is the quality of skill in the prem is far above the Championship or anything else. We all like to see those sublime moments from the best players.

    I love cricket as well - but Rugby, men in skin tight clothes grabbing each other? No thanks.
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  25. #25
    Master KavKav's Avatar
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    Lost interest in football.
    Totally absurd VAR decisions and woke knee-taking have killed it for me.

  26. #26
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    VAR is a shambles. Watched Man City Dortmund game last week, Dortmund striker nips in, cleanly takes the ball off the toe of the City keeper, takes the ball, scores a perfectly good goal or so I thought. City keeper when losing the ball goes down like a sack of spuds, ref blows for foul which it was not but as he had blown before the ball had went across the goal line VAR could not look at it, absolute shambles!

  27. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crammage View Post
    Similar feeling for me however I gave up 5 years ago. As an alternative, can I suggest supporting your local non-league team instead? They’ll be grateful for the revenue and you certainly won’t get any of the nonsense that we see in the higher levels. The quality of football is also improving.
    Best advice of the lot. One caveat... Don't expect to see quality refereeing. The referees we see in the League of Wales range from abysmal all the way up to just about adequate. However the benefits are that it's not too expensive to buy a ticket, you can usually park within easy walking distance of the stadium and it's never too far to travel for away games.

  28. #28
    Master
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    enjoy playing it and gave up watching it years ago. Each to their own but seriously, what pleasure could one possibly get from watching these clowns?

  29. #29
    Master
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    I was a lifelong Arsenal supporter............... so perhaps I'm not considered a football fan

    But the greed of modern day players absolutely sickens me. I now look for Arsenals results out of a sense of misguided loyalty. That shower of over paid greedy gits are there solely for the money, the shirt means nothing to them no matter how many times they kiss the badge whilst celebrating. The sooner the game goes bankrupt and has to re-boot itself the better.

  30. #30
    Master blackal's Avatar
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    Was it Neil Lennon (Celtic manager) who when hit with a coin, waited about 2 seconds then fell to the ground like he'd been hit by a sniper?

    It could be fixed easily. The ref sends the prima-donna off.

    The rest of the game goes smoothly.

    You want to take the chance that your team becomes the first to go to 10 men?

    Who knows - maybe the remaining 10 give the 11th a kicking after throwing the game? You could sell tickets for that.

  31. #31
    Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tatters View Post
    I never watched Rugby when I was young; my dad was an avid fan in the Eddie Waring days, but I just thought it was incredibly tedious. However winning the Rugby Union World Cup really got me into it, now I much prefer it to football. I just think Rugby is a lot more exciting, skilful and fast flowing compared to football. One thing I am not so keen on is the scrum - they really kill the pace of the game, especially if they have to be reset several times. However they are such a traditional part of the game, I can’t imagine they will ever be changed, except maybe for safety reasons.
    In principle I think scrums should remain an integral part of the game, but the need to reset the scrum 2 or 3 times spoils the flow of the game. The Rugby Union purists will defend this, but I think the game would be far better if scrums took less time. Rugby League scrums have been a joke for years, they’re usually uncontested and the rules on feeding are very slack, but the outcome is usually the same (team with head and feed win the ball) so the game continues with minimal interruption. Currently the game us experimenting with no scrums, the game restarts with a play the ball to start a new set of 6 tackles.

    I think its very unfair to say there’s no skill in rugby, obviously its a far more physical sport but both League and Union require a lot more than brute force. However, I don’t think League is as entertaining as it was in the early 90s, despite players being fitter/ stronger/ faster the game is now very defence- oriented which can get a bit dour, but its still a great game to watch. Sky Sports shows Super League matches every week, I can recommend it even though my team ( Wakefield Trinity) are struggling at the moment........that’s putting it mildly!

  32. #32
    Master blackal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli View Post
    .

    Re the rugby comments; I'd rather not watch sport than watch rugby. Honestly I've tried many times over the years but can't do it. It's so pointless and devoid of any skill. Pick the ball up, run a bit, run into someone, repeat.
    I watch the 6-nations on TV and really enjoy it (but don't really understand all the rules)...............

    But - we go to watch the Melrose 7s, sit down at midday, and watch rugby non-stop, for six-and-a-half-hours. It is a truly-cracking tournament.

  33. #33
    Master sweets's Avatar
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    The shame of it is that Football could so easily sort itself out, but it shooses to make a mess of it instead.
    At heart it is a great game, but the highest level is full of so many things that make it awful to watch.


    • Buying fouls by tapping past and dragging feet for the contact.
    • Play acting huge injury when they've been tapped.
    • Appalling attitude to the referee (this is the one thing that has improved slightly in recent years)
    • Going down at the slightest contact because staying up means the foul would not be awarded.
    • Lengthy VAR reviews that end up with nonsense decisions over handball, offside, anything really.


    The top level has become really hard to watch, even though it is still occasionally peppered with the most sublime athleticism and skill.

    I have a Bristol Bears season ticket instead, which I glady renew.

  34. #34
    And now you have noticed it.

    Thats like a Golf fan suddenly saying they just noticed Golf is the most boring game of all time.

  35. #35
    Master sweets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xellos99 View Post
    And now you have noticed it.
    No, but it has been getting steadily worse, and the recent addition of VAR fiascos in the most recent seasons is what tips it over the edge for me, at least.
    VAR should help, but the way it polices handball, offsides, fouls, simulation and all the rest is a total joke.
    The only bit that works is goal-line.

  36. #36
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xellos99 View Post
    And now you have noticed it.

    Thats like a Golf fan suddenly saying they just noticed Golf is the most boring game of all time.
    Different strokes for different folks.

    Plenty of people enjoy watching golf. Not me, but I appreciate that our tastes are all different.
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  37. #37
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    I feel similar about footy but VAR is my problem. As a Norwich fan ive not had it this season but it's like you have to wait 5 minutes before you can be sure you have scored a goal .

    My main sport is bike racing , mainly Isle of man TT .

  38. #38
    Theres a funny YouTube clip called 70’s Rules football. I can’t upload it here as there’s some swearing but it’s very funny and relevant to this thread

  39. #39
    Master blackal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sweets View Post
    The shame of it is that Football could so easily sort itself out, but it shooses to make a mess of it instead.
    At heart it is a great game, but the highest level is full of so many things that make it awful to watch.


    • Buying fouls by tapping past and dragging feet for the contact.
    • Play acting huge injury when they've been tapped.
    • Appalling attitude to the referee (this is the one thing that has improved slightly in recent years)
    • Going down at the slightest contact because staying up means the foul would not be awarded.
    • Lengthy VAR reviews that end up with nonsense decisions over handball, offside, anything really.


    The top level has become really hard to watch, even though it is still occasionally peppered with the most sublime athleticism and skill.

    I have a Bristol Bears season ticket instead, which I glady renew.
    Another one where Rugby has it right. Want sent off? Get up in the grill of the Referee.

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