Heres a question for football fans – as it appears that some are assembled.

Football – and in no small part English Premier League football – is probably the most watched and enjoyed sport in the world.

Given that

1. The most exciting bit of a football match (I imagine) is when someone scores a goal

and

2. Goals hardly ever get scored and its not uncommon for no goals to be scored at all

If the rules of football could be changed a bit (more or fewer players, a different sized pitch, bigger goals) so that a football scoreline would be something like 12:7 or 28:22 or even 116:106 instead of a dizzying 1:0 would you enjoy the game more or less – seeing your team score more goals and seeing more goals being scored generally – and would the sport as a whole be improved by that or would it suffer?

Soccer. For all those awkward times when you’ve got nothing interesting to say to anyone about anything but you need to talk anyway.

I think there is a middle ground between the haterz and the loverz.

Maybe we can all meet there and play a game of football like the German and British soldiers did during WWI 😉

If the rules of football could be changed a bit (more or fewer players, a different sized pitch, bigger goals) so that a football scoreline would be something like 12:7 or 28:22 or even 116:106 instead of a dizzying 1:0 would you enjoy the game more or less – seeing your team score more goals and seeing more goals being scored generally – and would the sport as a whole be improved by that or would it suffer?

The Americans had a few ideas…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjI-qh37xf0[/video]

It wasn’t on that 606 wasn’t on on Sunday. I was looking for the mushroom cloud over North Laaahndon as calls for Arsene to go hit critical mass 😀

Has anyone mentioned egg-chasing yet? Apparently thats a much more civilised affair. With fans all hugging each other over a pint of Scruttocks Old Nobchomper, andplayers who stop the match to help little old ladies across the road, and get kittens down from trees. Not like the n’er-do-wells and rapscallions that watch and play football 😀

Soccer. For all those awkward times when you’ve got nothing interesting to say to anyone about anything but you need to talk anyway.

Soccer?

ITS A HEADSTRIKE IN THE SCOREZOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!!

The most exciting bit of a football match (I imagine) is when someone scores a goal

You are correct. Maybe.

The reason it’s exciting is it doesn’t happen very often.

Basketball is what you’re describing. Perversely, failing to score is more interesting than scoring a basket, because that’s what’s expected as the end product of every attack.

I cannot believe Costa escaped a red card for that second challenge and he should never have been on the pitch to score

….and I can’t believe you watched that scumbag instead of watching Cav going round in circles for (what seemed like) hours last night! 🙁

I watched Cav

I also watched Cav.

We have the technology.

I turned Cav over, with the intention of watching the last 10 laps or so, mistimed it and got the Italian on his victory lap. 😐

The reason it’s exciting is it doesn’t happen very often.

I think the reason football is exciting as a whole is that its unjust. The scoreline can never reflect the comparative merits of two reasonably match teams – such as two teams in a league. There will be all sorts of other metrics on the screen – possession, attempts on goal, shots on target – measures that Team A is performing better than Team B but the result doesn’t reflect that.

I think football benefits massively from that – that its all unfair. Thats the romance isn’t it?. That your little underdog team could one day be the giant slayers through what is basically a run of luck or that your dominant team of oligarch-funded delicate millionaires and sex pests could cock it all up in the last minute.

The unfairness seems to be what people love. Its possibly the root of football’s problems with violence too – the fans need to set straight the injustice of the match.

But would football fans want to fix that – repair the rules of the game? Or is the soap opera worth more than the sport?

Looking forward to the Olympic football semis today and tomorrow .
Should get some decent coverage too.

Interesting to see who wins the whinge-off over this, the soccer-haterz or the olympic-legacy-was-so-unfair-ill-skweeeeeeeeeeemandskweeeeeeeeeemandskweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem bunch

Probably in 5Lives contract that they put the football on as a priority.

The most exciting bit of a football match (I imagine) is when someone scores a goal

Everyone loves a goal, but I also love an well organised defence, a quality defence splitting through ball and the (fair) physical confrontations. I should have been born Italian 😉

The most exciting bit of a football match (I imagine) is when someone scores a goal

It’s the little things as well. For example I am a big fan of an excellent first touch…

[img]http://66.media.tumblr.com/901eb6cc2076aa27ac05061f0f546b2b/tumblr_n15ve3Erdj1tp5565o1_400.gif[/img]

I deal with it just fine most of the time – I just don’t listen to 5live anymore, except on this rare occasion when I thought they might cover something else – was replying to a football fan who was upset at his usual wall to wall coverage being slightly disrupted. Though clearly you appreciate my perspective and why I’m a bit annoyed – thanks!

Perhaps you should start a thread where all the haterz can get together to see who is the biggest hater. Maybe offer prizes.
[/quote]

Good to see THM gets it – I already mentioned I’m finding it amusing. Not quite sure if all the football fans do. Do you appreciate why it generates haters? Though I should point out that complaining on this thread about haters posting on football threads is like a driver complaining to a law abiding cyclist about other cyclists jumping red lights. This thread is very definitely an appropriate place to complain about things related to football, and if you want to hijack it then it’s your own fault if the “football thread” has haters on it. 😆

Given that Talksport also cover the Premier League and are unashamedly not interested in any other sport than football (other than covering the golf open which p*sses off their fanbase no end) surely some far-sighted BBC exec could have arranged for the Olympics to take priority?

I am a keen football fan but would be more than happy for the Olympics to take first place on the radio as, if I am not at the match in person, then I could watch it on TV or stream commentary from the team site.

Football is too popular imo. The players and agents get too much and the number of journalists/old pro’s making a living from writing uninsightful trash is unbelievable.

So which key it of the Olympics did you miss?

The bit they wanted to listen to on the radio?

I’m a football fan, although my team are really trying to persuade me otherwise, but I do see OP’s point. They should have pushed the football to R5X just for the Monday/Friday* games. Weekend matches don’t really clash due to time diff.

*Yup. Prem games on some Friday nights now.

maccruiskeen – Member
Heres a question for football fans – as it appears that some are assembled.

Football – and in no small part English Premier League football – is probably the most watched and enjoyed sport in the world.

Given that

1. The most exciting bit of a football match (I imagine) is when someone scores a goal

and

2. Goals hardly ever get scored and its not uncommon for no goals to be scored at all

If the rules of football could be changed a bit (more or fewer players, a different sized pitch, bigger goals) so that a football scoreline would be something like 12:7 or 28:22 or even 116:106 instead of a dizzying 1:0 would you enjoy the game more or less – seeing your team score more goals and seeing more goals being scored generally – and would the sport as a whole be improved by that or would it suffer?I’ll take the 1-0, no need for the americanisation of fitba. and no need for a 100 goals a game. so many goals would definitely devalue a goal and devalue the game in the process.

The bit they wanted to listen to on the radio?

In the car this evening, hoping to listen to a bit of commentary on something Olympic, or maybe some updates on results I’ve missed

Was there actually anything going on?

The Omniums?

So which key it of the Olympics did you miss?

+1 there was actually very little of note on while the Chelsea v West Ham match took place. There was a little overlap with Cav in the points race, but even then you’d not have missed they key stages.

I guess you missed this key bit of the thread:

Though as dragon comments, nothing much of note, just the omnium men’s flying lap, women’s IP and the start of the men’s points (not just a little overlap though – the schedule had the footy until 22:00, presumably they were talking about it after the match – though I was home by then).

Not sure why you need coverage of football until April or May, not like you’re missing the key stages before that.

What that you wanted to moan?

Couldn’t quite remember what I was wanting to catch on Saturday afternoon when I was out and football commentary on, though not something I was so bothered about – a quick check of schedules shows rowing finals when footie matches would have been on (though I watched them at home). I’m sure there will be stuff this weekend.

Sure enough – if you wanted to listen to sports commentary on BBC radio this afternoon when the women’s triathlon was on, you had a choice of football or cricket.

Though I note they did manage to put the hockey last night on 5LSX and even deigned to go to that on 5L when the footies had finished.