Football.
I really dont understand what people see in football. Yes, I "get" the rules, and I understand that people lke to support a team, but I dont understand why it turns into such an obsession.

I dont understand the hatred - Some of my family support Rangers, despite living nowhere near Glasgow. They have an automatic, deep-seated hatred of anyone who supports Celtic, and this is pretty much the norm for many supporters. Yes, there is the underlying religious bollocks associated with it, but does that fully explain it or is one an excuse for the other?

I dont undertand the players - Granted, I hardly have an in-depth personal knowledge of them, but the majority seem to be barely literate thugs. Yet, their sporting ability seemingly makes them worthy of our worship? Why do people think that someone who spits on the ground every 30 seconds and can barely string a sentence together is a good role-model for kids?

The money - I really, really dont get the money involved. Club turnover, ticket sales, sponsorship, players wages...the sums involved are vastly beyond the comprehension of normal working folk. A quick Google shows that in 2006 the average premiership player earned £676000, which is £13k PER WEEK! If every premiership player were to donate a month or two`s wage into a fund every year - and lets face it, they are hardly on the breadline and likely to miss that money - just think of the genuinely good work that could be done with that sort of money - Hundreds of doctors and nurses could be employed full time, permanantly - hospitals could be refurbished etc etc. If they were to do something like this, rather than buying another obnoxiously large 4x4 and squirreling the rest away into an offshore account then I would have a lot more respect for them. THAT would make them a better role model - someone who uses their talent and the money they earn from it to help out their community.
(dave likes cheese, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 11:19, 10 replies)

Clickage for the true words.
But not just football, if you think about it there are plenty of people that get paid way, way beyond what would be comfortable lifestyle (well, rich to be honest) that could release the cash (that they will never use anyway, how many yachts or houses do you need?) into something that really, REALLY needs it.
Communism, anyone?
Ah well, mini rant over.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 11:32, closed)

While I don't for a minute believe that Premiership footballers are worth a fraction of what they're paid
the idea of communism, i.e. having everyone on a similar wage, doesn't work.

The majority of people will not work hard and strive for excellence when they're not going to get any financial reward. Yes, there's the satisfaction of a job well done, but if you can arse about all day for enough money to get by on, why would you do twice as much work for a minimal extra sum?

Extreme politics, like extreme anything else, is bad news. Communism doesn't work. Fascism doesn't work. You need some degree of capitalism to stimulate and motivate the economy, but not too much that it collapses like we've seen recently.

Fuck me, I've just posted a political rant, and I'm not even into politics!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:29, closed)

I agree
the idea is nice, but in practice doesn't really work.
It's a sort of "Wouldn't it be nice if...", might as well ask for a world to be populated by only badgers and bunny girls. See? It's a nice idea, but nah...
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:40, closed)

"I dont understand the hatred"
Human beings are social animals and by and large they have an instinctive need to belong.

Football offers a convenient arena for the expression of this tribal mentality: identification is simple since the teams each have easily-distinguished colours and emblems; the football matches themselves create direct conflict that (hopefully) establishes superiority over another group; the minutiae of match events, team selection, player performance and so forth establish a shared history that can be discussed and debated.

The same can be said of pretty much any other sport and even pretty much any leisure activity, it just so happens that football is very high-profile and tends to attract a particularly aggressive form of partisanship.

Lecture over.
( reallywittyname veraciously conspues lexiphanicism on, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 11:37, closed)

^this
But the wage figures involved -- particularly in football -- are stratospheric, offensive and a great many people would be delighted if they could be capped.

And, whilst diverting the funds to hospitals sounds altruistic, it's not really viable. Surely it would be better to keep the wages down (although not easy to implement), thus keeping the gate prices down, and letting the money wend its way into the economy from the fan's pocket.
(Super Jet Shoes, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:09, closed)

Keeping the wage down is impossible to implement
For example, say the English Premiership decided that 25% of all wages were to goto a charitable cause.

You would soon find all the best players, in fact almost all the players finding work elsewhere because foreign clubs would be able to simply offer more money.

The compromise is for football clubs to do what they can to help charities - which they do, in the thousands of pounds!
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:36, closed)

What I don't get...
...is how one can have any loyalty to a team that's composed of players in it for the money, and not necessarily born in the area of the club or whatever.
(Ladyfingers is in your wardrobe,, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 12:46, closed)

.
Yeah i was just about to say that, ladyfingers.
If, for example, I'd watched my son and his friends play in a local team, and they gradually won more and more games, until eventually they were in the FA cup final or whatever, I would most likely shell out £50 to go and watch the match. But why get excited about some strangers who couldn't give a fuck about your town, and fly off somewhere hot at the soonest opportunity.

And in any case, why is it YOUR team? All you do is stand there in the cold watching them, whilst eat a pie. You fat loser.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Fri 16 Oct 2009, 13:05, closed)

Hang on a minute...
...I pay to play football on a Sunday. What's going on there?
(SonoraAeroClub "OH SWEET HELEN OF BALLS!", Fri 16 Oct 2009, 16:54, closed)

cheridee
Loads of players contribute to good causes. Even the much reviled Craig Bellamy spends oodles giving to the needy. Sir Bobby Robson RIP spent the last months of his life raising money for Cancer. And nearly all clubs have outreach programs for the local communities where players donate their time for hospitals, schools etc.

I'm sure there are a few Mr. Burns like characters that just pootle around the stadium before retiring to count their money, but many of them are decent people who know how lucky they are and give accordingly.
(prescottsflu infected you at, Sat 17 Oct 2009, 5:17, closed)