Football Existential Crisis

[jimmyriggle]

Whilst watching the Community Shield game on Sunday I had a strange, sour feeling towards the whole affair which spread to thoughts on football in general.
It probably didn't help that the game was being contested by two of the most repulsive clubs in the country/the world, but it was the fans behaviour that I found somewhat depressing. Throughout the game there was constant swearing, abuse, booing of the ref and obnoxious, irritating chants from both sets of fans. Typical Chelsea/City fans. But then we're no different really.

Ok, it may just be a side effect of watching a truly glorious Olympic Games. An event that totally took me off guard in terms of how proud I've felt watching the athletes perform and, more importantly, the British people coming together to support not just Team GB but everyone involved. I was extremely cynical before the games but am happy to have been proven wrong about most things. The atmosphere in London has been palpable, even though I've not been to a single event.

But football's football right? It's nothing new. Pretty much all of the things above (shouting, swearing etc.) are the reason I decide to sit (stand) in Park Lane lower instead of the Paxton or East Stands. It's every fan's right to stand on the terrace and act like a cunt for 90 minutes. It's a fucking laugh being loud and obnoxious at football.

There's been a lot of debate about the difference between footballers and Olympic athletes, but I think a lot comes down to fans. Football is never going to be athletics or Rugby or Cricket, but there is definitely a fine line between terrific support and just being horrible cunts for the sake of it. It's sort of childish and pantomime really.
I always prefer to sing songs supporting our own team and players than slagging off the opposition. Much like at the Ultras event at Charlton. But then, in the heat of the moment we all become hypocrites. If John Terry or Jack Wilshire come within 10 yards of me I feel compelled to hurl all sorts of abuse at them because I feel they deserve it.

It's hard to say how I'll really feel until I arrive at the Lane on the 25th. Chelsea and City's success last season already really dampened my faith in the sport. But I'm worried that after seeing the amazing and generally positive support throughout the Olympics, I won't take the same pride and pleasure from being a football fan.

Didn't read Lol etc...

 

[Flav]

Quality post. Front page!

 

[spooky]

Number of years ago I would have laughed at the possibility of falling out of love with the game. Far more likely to happen now though.

 

[jimmyriggle]

Quality post. Front page!

blush. :bae:

Had to get that off my chest really. I'm sure once battle has resumed and we've actually signed a striker I'll feel more positive. I just think football this season more than ever is going to be under the microscope and we as fans have a responsibility to the sport we love to do it proud. Perhaps we get the players we deserve? if fans of teams were a lot less forgiving of their own players who dive, abuse the ref or hold the club ransom for ridiculous wages, then maybe they'd fall into line.

Then again maybe billionaires would just replace us with holograms and canned applause so it looked good on TV in Malaysia?

:avbfacepalm:

 

[S.L.R]

Good post and I know exactly where you're coming from. Slightly off topic but seeing Mo Farah give an articulate interview after winning a gold medal made me reflect how inane and thoughtless most footballers sound when asked for their comments. I dunno, it just pisses me off sometimes.

I dislike the negativity towards our own players, and the sense of entitlement among fans, more than the abuse towards John Terry or whoever. The sound of the Lane turning the racism of the trogs against their beloved captain, "John Terry, you know what you are" was something I'll never forget. But the silence at the ground on many matchdays does my head in, and booing if we aren't winning - compare that to the sound of 80,000 people cheering home a British runner who's coming in 8th and it's obvious what's preferable.

Yeah, I respect the spirit of the Olympics. But Mo Farah could have won another ten gold medals, and it wouldn't be a patch on watching Spurs, emotion wise.

 

[Blanchflower]

What are you going to talk about for the rest of the year?

The Olympics is all well and good over a 2 week period, but if it were 2 weeks in 50 rather than 2 in 200 you'd be fucking bored of it.....

If you can find something else that manages to draw you back year on year please let me know.

I'll leave you with a quote:

"'Whether you're a player, manager, trainer, director, supporter, reporter, kit man or tea lady, football possesses the power to make the week ahead sparkle with a sense of joyous well-being. No play, movie, TV programme, work of literature or music induces such emotion on a weekly basis. We curse football for having this power but, conversely, it is football's power to corrupt the emotions and senses that is the addictive and enduring appeal of the game. It's an intangible power, existing somewhere out in the ethers. It is the heart of the game.'"

 

[Cripps14]

I always prefer to sing songs supporting our own team and players than slagging off the opposition.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

There's been a lot of talk about the apathy for the football season now that the Olympics have finished. But I am not convinced they are that comparable. First of all, the Olympics isn't quite the same as supporting a club. It involves a sense of nationalism that club football doesn't have. Secondly, it is amalgamation of many different sports instead of just one. If athletics, or dressage, or cycling were in any way as popular as football they also would be multi-million pound industries with prima donna players. But the fact is that they are not.

So really, the comparison between the two is apples and oranges. It's a simply a case of coming off of a sense of great nationnal pride and then walking into a split tribal enviroment that is giving rise to this feeling of deflation. The only reason te comparison is being drawn is ecause of the word "sport".

 

[LLB Part Deux]

People supporting the Olympics is 'nice' in the same way that it's 'nice' when people get behind England for a World Cup. It's like a friendship you have with your mates.

Club football is the opposite of nice. It's tribal, it's who you are ALL the time, not just every four years. It's like being in love with someone wonderful but deeply flawed, like a crack addicted glamour model who does a lot of work for charity. Football makes you do mental stuff like not eating Kit Kats because they once employed Sol Campbell for an advert.

Yet I kinda feel the same in a way. The unworthy Chelsea CL win is going to be hard to recover from. It's inevitability almost as hard to stomach as it's reprecussions. For the first time, when that happened, I wondered if the relationship I had with Spurs was worth it... yet I know, always know, that the next moment of joy Spurs gives me will make everything seem worth it again.

Just as long as we sign a decent striker, eh?

 

[Belgian Spur]

Number of years ago I would have laughed at the possibility of falling out of love with the game. Far more likely to happen now though.

same here , still follow it very closely but it's sometimes more a habit than a passion nowadays.

Nice post Jimmy , although i cant really agree , i kinda like hurling abuse and hate at the opposition. But i do prefer the comical abuse or the creative chants.

 

[Éperons]

People supporting the Olympics is 'nice' in the same way that it's 'nice' when people get behind England for a World Cup. It's like a friendship you have with your mates.

Personally, I think nationalism plays a large role (as Smoked Salmon said), but I think this "nice" bit, as an extrapolation of the Olympics' continued ability to milk the idea of "amateur" athletes, is even more important still. Cheering on amateurs—athletes doing it (etymologically) for the love of the sport—makes everyone feel all good inside. It's the same fantasy as curried by college athletics in the US.

And despite the machinations (doping, angling to play for the flag that will put you most in the spotlight, etc.), a naïve sense of wonder settles on the games as a whole, like a nice, refreshing, summer rain.

Here in Lithuania, most people knew that a medal in basketball would be especially tricky this year. Lithuania's in a transitional period, waiting for Valančiūnas's coevals to grow up and take the ball from journeymen like Jasikevičius, whose body can't keep up with his basketball IQ. And since basketball is the only sport around, everyone follows the team closely and is full of commentary and complaint. And when an unknown young woman wins gold in swimming, and another frequent champion (but in a marginal sport) gets gold, the country goes batshit. These athletes followed their love of their sport to its logical extent; they didn't take the obvious path of playing basketball from age 2 in order to secure a professional contract (as all the players on the Olympic men's team have).

Seriously, why would you swim competitively if not for the love of it? Why would you do modern pentathlon? Basketball is the only sport in this country that really pays, so everyone gets all :wub: when someone bucks the trend.

Anyway, I understand that this post comes off as a bit naïve, but I think the Olympics do a great job in appealing to the idealistic and romantic side of its viewers, making us all naïfs for two weeks every few years.

Like Bono says, "For love or money money money money money…"

(I just quoted U2? :harryfacepalm: )

 

[jimmyriggle]

With regards to nationalism. I certainly preferred the Olympic version to the Enger-land football one. Euro 96 was a bit like that though. Jut lots of people really buzzin off the atmosphere even of they weren't usually football fans. Definitely helps when the tournament is in your own country. I hope this cunts at FIFA can now see what a terrible decision it was not to away is the world cup. (can I worms alert!)

 

[sammyspurs]

I never have, or ever will be able to get it up for any other sport in the same way

 

[Flannerz]

We're probably more down on football as we're all moaning cunts collectively moaning about football which is making us more annoyed with the game

 

[LLB Part Deux]

Here in Lithuania, most people knew that a medal in basketball would be especially tricky this year. Lithuania's in a transitional period, waiting for Valančiūnas's coevals to grow up and take the ball from journeymen like Jasikevičius, whose body can't keep up with his basketball IQ.

I went to see Lithuania (LIT-U-VA!) vs. Tunisia in the mens group stage. There were loads of Lithuania fans and they weren't at all happy when behind by 12 points at one stage - I even thought it would kick off when one guy kept on jumping up and cheering Tunisian baskets.

 

[Abbey Yid]

The Olympics is all well and good over a 2 week period, but if it were 2 weeks in 50 rather than 2 in 200 you'd be fucking bored of it.....

If you can find something else that manages to draw you back year on year please let me know.

I would sort of disagree there, there doesn't seem to be too much of a fuss when the Olympics are on every four years, it's just a nice event which most people watch a bit of and possibly cheer a few gold medals (in my view).

What made this year so 'special' was that it was a home Olympics, and events that would otherwise be ignored (the things such as dressage, greco-roman wrestling for example) were cheered by tens of thousands of fans. The home Olympics had an atmosphere far better than I could ever have imagined- I thought it was going to be shit.

In four years time at Rio, although there might still be some buzz on the back of this Games, it will be nowhere near the same level. I think the point that jimmy was making in his opening post was that it was a very visible sense of collectivism from the nation.

Also agree with the main points; football is something of a release for a lot of people, myself included. I can't shout obscenities at everyday pricks at work or in the street, so football at the weekend is the perfect place to let go of steam and scream whatever you like at overpaid cunts who won't hear you (or even if they do, don't give a shit).

 

[Cripps14]

I think the Olympics brought out a national pride in us which football teams haven't been able to do recently, what with Scotland, Wales and N.I being rather unsuccessful and England fielding a bunch of cunts.

The Olympics gave us something we've been missing from football recently, successful British athletes and a team we could be proud of.

 

[BernardMatthews]

Number of years ago I would have laughed at the possibility of falling out of love with the game. Far more likely to happen now though.

same here , still follow it very closely but it's sometimes more a habit than a passion nowadays.

Nice post Jimmy , although i cant really agree , i kinda like hurling abuse and hate at the opposition. But i do prefer the comical abuse or the creative chants.

Gave up my ST this year and the love has definitely gone for the game, I'm not buying into this competition anymore and the club is just a business out to maximise the £s out of their clients, or fans as we used to be called.

Still love the atmosphere in the Park Lane next to the scum on NLD day.
But hate sitting in the Paxton with my boy while some asshole calls all our players cunts, all the opposition players cunts and everyone else a cunt. But yeah that's what he pays his money for I suppose, the right to shout cunt.

As for the Olympics it's like a make believe world where everything is good and honest and sportsmanlike. With performance enhancing drugs thrown in.

 

[Dannyboy]

I wonder how many of us will show the same intrigue and feel equally passionate during the Commonwealth games?

I like athletics; for a fortnight I loved a variety of sports that I had no real intentions of ever watching (BMX - brilliant! Diving - riveting) but the truth is how much time do we have? I love cricket, boxing and rugby but I also love going out, having dinner with my family and have a job that requires me to work late at least twice a week. I can only invest my attentions so far.

I will always watch bits and pieces of any meet; I like to see who is up and coming but does it stir the same emotions in me that 2.55 on a Saturday does? Not a chance.

The truth is, and I have said this for years; I wish I didn't care so much but I do and that is both a curse and a joy that I am happy to live with.