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I've never been massively bothered by footie.
I feel no stigma as a result.
Irrespective of your lack of love for football, some of you in here just sound like miserable sods who want to feel superior to people and make sure they know about it. You're very very bizarre
Irrespective of your lack of love for football, some of you in here just sound like miserable sods who want to feel superior to people and make sure they know about it. You’re very very bizarre
we need a 'like' button.
The thing is, yes the fact that you are expected to like football is annoying, and it's ubiquity/overhyped-ness - but being a smug, superior dick about not liking it really isn't doing anyone any favours.
Edit: weeksy beat me to it
some of you in here just sound like miserable sods who want to feel superior to people and make sure they know about it
You must be new to the internet 😂
I think it's mainly the "We" thing that I can't quite understand. No, it's "they", you are not in the team.
I think it’s mainly the “We” thing that I can’t quite understand. No, it’s “they”, you are not in the team.
Football fans are not in the team but they're part of the match.
Not seeing the smug or superior thing tbh. If anything, quite the opposite - people being made to feel inferior because they don't conform to the "norm" of liking football. There are examples in this thread of people losing their jobs, being ostracised and their masculinity, sexuality, patriotism etc being questioned because they don't like a particular type of game. I know they are extremes and most fans wouldn't do that, but plenty do as experienced by me and others. That's not healthy.
I have to admit that my enjoyment of football has been greatly diminished by Liverpool actually winning stuff.
I bloody love football.
I’d rather remove my own kidneys with a teaspoon than watch a game of rugby
That interests me though.
Have you ever thought about why that is? Because at a purely mechanistic level in the big scheme of things (when compared to say ski jumping or cricket) they are incredibly similar.
My hatred of rugby in all its forms is deep-seated and very real. I’m from Warrington and went to school in St Helens, where it’s taken as a given that you like watching men play with funny shaped balls. My PE Teacher was an enormous Welsh psychopath who insisted we play rugby every week. Horizontal rain? Rugby. Blizzard conditions? Rugby. Sub-zero temperatures? Rugby. Heatwave? Rugby.
To compound this, I was about 7 stone, dripping wet through in a donkey jacket and was in the same form as a bunch of huge, incredibly violent, hairless apes. Every PE lesson was like running a terrifying gauntlet of psychotic Neanderthals trying to kill me. Eventually one of these knuckle-dragging thugs tackled me like being hit by a train and I actually heard all my knee ligaments snap. The pain was excruciating!
As the doctor showed me my destroyed knee he said “well, that’s your rugby career over”.
It was the happiest day of my life!
So Rugby can * right off! And when it gets there it can * off some more!
My hatred of it, and everything to do with it, is truly limitless. And people on here saying they don’t like folk talking to them about football should try raising the topic of egg-chasing with me. It brings on a red mist of utter and complete loathing. It’s quite possible I might assault you.
I do like football though. Which I obviously never got the chance to play at school
Has that cleared it up? 😃
OP,
I don't see a problem in not liking football. Perhaps you want to join different crowd? No?
Nowadays I just watch the score and table ranking with occasionally watching a few match here and there but never into it any more. If someone wants to talk football I can but I rather they keep it short. 😃
My hatred of rugby in all its forms is deep-seated and very real. I’m from Warrington and went to school in St Helens, where it’s taken as a given that you like watching men play with funny shaped balls. My PE Teacher was an enormous Welsh psychopath who insisted we play rugby every week. Horizontal rain? Rugby. Blizzard conditions? Rugby. Sub-zero temperatures? Rugby. Heatwave? Rugby.
To compound this, I was about 7 stone, dripping wet through in a donkey jacket and was in the same form as a bunch of Huge, incredibly violent hairless apes. Every PE lesson was running a terrifying gauntlet of psychotic Neanderthals trying to kill me. Eventually one of these knuckle-dragging thugs tackled me like being hit by a train and I actually heard all my knee ligaments snap.
As the doctor showed me my destroyed knee he said “well, that’s your rugby career over”.
It was the happiest day of my life!
So Rugby can * right off! And when it gets there it can * off some more!
My hatred of it, and everything to do with it, is truly limitless. And people on here saying they don’t like folk talking to them about football should try raising the topic of egg-chasing with me. It brings on a red mist of utter and complete loathing. It’s quite possible I might assault you.
I do like football though. Which I obviously never got the chance to play at school
Has that cleared it up? 😃
But surely that doesn't mean you have to hate Rugby Union?
I don’t have to
I choose to
I’m an equal opportunities hater. I don’t discriminate
you could be passionate about formula 1 racing and never drive one. Or even drive at all.
I did play but amongst my football-liking mates, I never went to matches as I was usually playing.
I'm a Formula one fan and watch every race, if i could afford to do it (or do any form of motorsport really) then i would, other than F1 there really isn't any other sport i watch or follow
I can understand watching a sport and not doing it if its an expensive sport to get started in but a football costs £10 and you just need a few mates to have a kick around
I'm not really a sport watching person and the only sports im interested are the ones i do (mtb, bmx, road bikes etc..) i don't actually watch or follow any of it as i just enjoy riding bikes
Have a few die hard football fans at work (Pompey supporters) and that's all they talk about and they will watch any football on TV including foreign leagues, yet if you say to them why don't you have a kick around they always say nah im too old (they are in their mid 30's) or they come up with some excuse/injury and look at you like your mad for suggesting they do something they are passionate about!
A stranger like a cabbie asking you what team you support is say "I dont know anything about you, you dont know anything about me, most people like football so that's a safe bet, id like to have a conversation with you, let's start here"
If you reply that you're more of a rugby, cricket, motor racing, hamster porn kind of guy then you can start there instead.
Responding simply with "I dont like football" is a sort of socially awkward conversation killer, if you are shooting down football as a topic then suggest something else. It's probably the awkwardness of I don't like football as a response that you see make people act strange in response
Responding simply with “I dont like football” is a sort of socially awkward conversation killer
Having lived with aspergers for 52 years, socially awkward is my forte so killing a conversation comes naturally to me. I don't see aspergers as all negative as in most situations I would rather sit in peace than listen to someone talk to me about football.
@Steve-g, you make a fair point which others have also made in the thread. I will try to take that on board. I don't think I've ever deliberately cut anyone dead with a stark "I don't like football" followed by a moody silence! I would usually say I'm sorry, I don't follow football and try to talk about something else. Works fine most of the time, but not always. As I said earlier I've been a bit prickly about it as I've had two fairly extreme "what is the matter with you"? type reactions to it this week, hence the OP. Believe it or not despite my OP I am generally interested in people and quite chatty with strangers!
In which case yeah it sounds like you've just been unlucky this week.
Doesn’t matter if you like it or not. Spending 1min a day reading the sport pages gives you an additional language / skill that will aid you for life.
Oddly enough, I’ve managed to reach the age I am, 66, along with a close circle of friends, along with work colleagues across the years, without needing to know, or care, about football. I actually manage to have conversations with an even wider range of people outside of my work and social circles that never, ever get onto the subject of football. I’ve also never read the sports pages of newspapers.
So, I’m struggling to see how my life has been diminished in any way, shape or form through not having any interest in this one activity.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to enlighten me on how my life could have been improved, especially seeing as none of my friends have ever had any more interest than I have.
Just checking back in, there was me thinking Shirley no one actually has an issue with people not following football, certainly not on STW.
Nope, seems it’ll only take me 5 mins a day to study “the National game” in order to help out those with limited horizons make small talk, bless ‘em, but I just can’t any more than I could spend 5 mins a da reading about gardening or horse riding. Thankfully there’s always the Weather to talk about!
As for drinking tea because it’s ingrained in British society or whatever, no thanks. I’ve however let many a glass / cup of water sit motionless in front of me so calm the nerves of people I meet.
We’re funny animals aren’t we!
I don’t get football and how obsessed people get about it. I had a boss who was a season ticket holder and we all used to know his teams results so we knew if he was going to be in a good or bad mood for the next 2 days.
its not even the game itself I don’t get. It’s the 3 days of build up and then another 3 days of post match waffle that I really don’t understand
I don’t really enjoy watching much football and it is a bit annoying how all the sport pages are dedicated to it with very little interest shown to other sports that would benefit from the exposure. Ignore the business aspect and ridiculous money involved. The level of cheating that goes on saddens me and the faking of injuries baffles me.
However it’s the national game and a passing knowledge of it is useful as others have mentioned. I’m sure it’s clear to many that my level of knowledge is pretty limited and can move conversation on to other subjects. My son wanted a football strip as was going to an after school club. He now ‘supports’ Barcelona as that was the strip he liked the look of in the shop.
I last played some 5 a side about a year ago as a stand in for a mate really into his football and really enjoyed it.
A stranger like a cabbie asking you what team you support
I had this at school and replied "Team Lotus". That caused some consternation.
The level of cheating that goes on saddens me
Steer clear of the Tour de France then.
Looking back at the OP - I have no knowledge, desire or ability to talk about football, so just dive in first and ask what the cabbie thinks of his taxi*. Coversation sorted for the rest of the trip 🙂
*Slight disclaimer that I've had occasional involvement in taxi R&D over the last 25 years so actually have a genuine interest in their opinion.
Soccer is shite and not worth knowing about. Rugby on the other hand........
Nope you're wrong. And you've also used a derogatory term for football. But alas I do like rugby too.
I hate football with a passion and always have. Baffled by its popularity but probably down to the fact that it's a simple game for the masses of simple people. I do love it when a big game is on in the evening which means it nice and quiet when I go out on the bike.
Soccer is shite and not worth knowing about. Rugby on the other hand
Most rugby fans I know don't even know club rugby exists, it's an excuse to watch their country in the 6 nations, that's about it.
Most footie fans are the opposite, all about their club, international break is a nuisance to them.
To think one game or it's folk are 'better'than the other is ignorance.
Baffled by its popularity but probably down to the fact that it’s a simple game for the masses of simple people.
It is also very tribal so appeals to a certain mindset and explains why racism is so common.
It is also very tribal so appeals to a certain mindset and explains why racism is so common.
100% this
I'm sure that there must have been a phycological study into the support sports teams and tribalism. I wouldn't be surprised if those of us that don't support teams are happier in smaller groups, more introvert etc.
Looking in from the out side it's a 'them and us society' that we as humans can't get away from. It does make me think what did we do 100yrs+ years ago when watching football (and national / international sports) wasnt a national hobby....
Used to like it in the 70's but now it seems like 90 minuets of blokes running around pretending to be hurt. The world cup has turned into a silly haircut competition.
A mate's daughter is in the welsh squad, watched a televised game, what a relief to see a game played without all the acting. It was football and not an episode of casualty complete with bad acting. Maybe it is because there is not all the money in their sport.
Another non-fan of Football here. I find it completely one-dimensional.
That said, I barely watch TV and I don’t follow TV sports. I prefer to do sport instead. I might watch the occasional Rugby International if it’s too grim outside for anything else, but I can’t recall the last time that happened. I don’t know or care who the celebrities du jour are.
I like bikes and boards. Many people don’t like those. I don’t care. Those people bore me.
You sound a tad one dimensional tbh
Never realised there ever was a stigma about not liking the business that is football. If it has ever come up in conversation, I've always said I don't follow it and know nothing about it and the conversation has changed to something else and that is is (might explain why I don't get invited back to parties, but I always thought that was due to my naked lap dancing routine).
I'm not a football fan. Used to be able to go to a lot of decent matches when young, due to family connections. And the spectacle is (was!) good. Now, not so much. I have no interest in the tribalism. To me it's just unnecessary - like religion is.
My wife is a fan of a particular team; we go tickets to see them at Chelsea once, and sat in the Chelsea end (20 years ago?). The women next to me was fine, chatting pleasantly until the visitors came out, and then the vituperation was amazing. For 45 mins. Then half time, and she was pleasant again, until the second half when the abuse started again. Why?
Similar watching the team at Reading once, except we were rightly sat in the visitors' end this time, and it was a visiting fan. It's just amazing.
I compare with rugby, when you can go and watch a premiership match, with no segregated seating, and a have a proper chat with the people next to you. So now, on Saturdays when I'm free (rare), and the team are at home (even rarer), I go and see the local rugby first team. They're maybe 7th league down, free to get in (council ground) and there's maybe 50 people watching. Couple of pints, right next to the action (as in move out of the way for a line out), and it's great. People like me (rather than professional athletes) out doing it for the enjoyment, rather than the money.
As for internationals - of any sport - I don't care who wins, as long as it's a good match
I think for most blokes its just a go to for conversation who do you support and so on. For years it sorta been drummed into guys to like football. Perfect example a bloke came to install our broadband / tv yesterday after he was done he tried to up sell me on skysports so I could watch the football, he was left dissipated when I said all I cared about was basketball and cycling.
Baffled by its popularity but probably down to the fact that it’s a simple game for the masses of simple people
This is more your ignorance and lack of understanding of the game by claiming its for "simple people." Also, to be totally honest makes you sound rather rude and extremely condescending. All sport is simple until you understand it all Gwin does is ride a bike down a hill nothing complicated, all Ronaldo does it put a ball in a goal. I could tell you how complex basketball is and talk about point forwards, match ups, 2/3 zones v man to man, but you main claim im overcomplicating a simple game.
Most rugby fans I know don’t even know club rugby exists, it’s an excuse to watch their country in the 6 nations, that’s about it.
Most footie fans are the opposite, all about their club, international break is a nuisance to them
True dat. I love watching Premiership and Champions League footy, but if no other game of international football were ever played again, I really couldn’t care less.
I always liked Fergies attitude to internationals, where all our potential ‘international’ players would develop niggling injuries the week before the international break, that would be miraculously cured in time for the resumption of premiership matches 🙂
As for Rugby (seeing as we’re dealing in sweeping generalisations and crude stereotypes) it seems to me that it’s watched by the type of people who were so recently outraged about Land of Hope and Glory at the proms, yet somehow consider their form of deeply unpleasant nationalism to be somehow superior to the ‘2 world wars and a world cup’ brigade. 😉
Six Nations to fill pubs with higher class of git
it’s a simple game for the masses of simple people
I have to baulk at that, that is condescending and even from my limited knowledge, plain wrong! Surprised at the legs this has grown. I started the thread to see if others had experienced open surprise at their not following the game. It was never meant to be anti football or a slight at the majority of people who love it. Maybe this has run its course and the mods might want to close it?
Baffled by its popularity but probably down to the fact that it’s a simple game for the masses of simple people
Simple? Yeah, right...
The level of skill and athleticism on display at the top level of football is truly staggering nowadays. It constantly evolves and is virtually unrecognisable from the game of twenty years ago.
You could start by watching a YouTube compilation of, say, Kevin De Bruyne free kicks and wonder how it is physically possible to make a ball swerve and dip like that.
Or Mo Salah skipping through defences, David Silva’s sublime one-touch layoffs or a raking, 80 yard, inch-perfect Cross field pass from Paul Pogba
One of the reasons billions of people around the globe absolutely love it
Soccer a derogatory term for football? Its a contraction of association football to distinguish it from all the other codes of football. Rugby football, Gaelic football, Australian rules football, american football etc etc
You know right well it’s called football in this and most other countries - Football Focus is not called Soccer Focus. Only non football fans and Americans call it soccer.
Only non football fans and Americans call it soccer.
And Irish people. And Australians. And Canadians. Also South Africans, Kiwis, Japanese, and I'm sure many others.
But yeah, sure. It's insulting to call it soccer and not at all insulting to completely disregard Gaelic Football, Aussie Rules Football, and all the other sports that are called Football.
A mate’s daughter is in the welsh squad, watched a televised game, what a relief to see a game played without all the acting. It was football and not an episode of casualty complete with bad acting.
This. The Women's World Cup was fantastic, how the Beautiful Game should be. Can't be arsed with men's football.
But yeah, sure. It’s insulting to call it soccer and not at all insulting to completely disregard Gaelic Football, Aussie Rules Football, and all the other sports that are called Football.
But all those other forms of ‘foot’ball involve mainly carrying the ball around, so technically could be more accurately referred to as ‘handball’.
Nobody who actually watches football calls it ‘soccer’. Nobody. 😛
But all those other forms of ‘foot’ball involve mainly carrying the ball around, so technically could be more accurately referred to as ‘handball’.
Nobody who actually watches football calls it ‘soccer’. Nobody. 😛
You should definitely explain that to all Irish people you meet. I'm sure they never get tired of having English people explain to them why they're wrong 🙂