The game itself is fine
I used to play soccer as a young 'un, until I went to a rugby-playing school in Somerset, and loved running around and occasionally sticking the ball in the back of the old net. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the activity in itself (it's just one of many team sports), but all the baggage you've mentioned completely turned me off the sport about 15 years ago. The ridiculous amount of hype and coverage, the grammatically-challenged pundits droning on about how "the boy done well", the ballooning pay packets, the moronic tribal chanting at matches, the fact that the audience has to be split into two for safety reasons(!), the way that many young girls see marrying a player as their primary career path, the racism and bigotry and the perception that if you don't follow the sport you're not a "normal bloke" all piss me right off.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Wed 7 May 2008, 8:54, Reply)