Football, just a working class cult?

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shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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I live in a working class area, in a town 15 miles from Glasgow, there's obviously going to be a severe Catholic/Protestant, Celtic/Rangers divide and it was apparent and rife throughout my school years. Constantly bombarded with football strips, football talks, even kids under at the age of 5 were die hard followers of their teams. Insanity.

I'm intelligent enough to think for myself and despite the years of bombardment I took zero interest in football and managed to finally escape it when I left school. Years have passed, I've barely heard any mention of football whatsoever because I don't associate with anyone like that. I'd totally forgotten that crazy world of following a certain team to the grave....until now!

I recently got Facebook and quite a few girls/chaps I went to school with managed to find and add me. It was nice, initially. For the catch up, old banter and whatnot. Then the football status updates begin when the matches are nigh. After all these years, you'd think people would've grown out of it but it's stronger than ever. The abuse, the insults, the cult-like following, the football strip clad profile pictures, the uploading of 'goal celebrations', the constant score updates.....DELETE, DELETE, DELETE, DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!!!

It's not about the game at all, it's just one big ******* cult passed from generation to generation. To me, it only bares resemblance to die hard religious fanatics. Those nutters you get in the 'deep south' of America, wanting death to homosexuals and all those who oppose!

Sorry for the wall of text. Anyone else 'get' where I'm coming from? Is it purely because of the Catholic/Protestant divide up here? Not that you could even call it that, I bet not one football fan has ever clapped eyes on a Bible :p Apologies if I offended anyone who is a genuine fan of sport.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Totally agree, just like every person I knew who went to a private school now can't stop talking about the opera, and every dude I know who went to a boarding school is a closet homo(and likes Rugby), etc, etc, etc.

A group of people you knew years ago like football, and they still do, not really much of a story is it.
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Yeah, totally and your chums from private school, who visit the opera every week curse, swear, cause trouble and shout abuse at folk who like the opposing equivalent of opera? A town nearby even vandalised the local Asda so much, they were forced to change the logo colours from green to blue. That would totally happen with your opera comparison, totally.
 
It maybe an awesome sport, not one for me but it might well be. It's merely the somewhat extreme cult and religious following which baffles the hell out of me. Particularly when not a single person is religious in anyway, shape or form.
 
deko said:
So, you stay in Larkhall then? Larkhall is probably the most extreme example of fanaticism, so your opinion is somewhat clouded.
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I said a town nearby. No, I don't. I stay in Hamilton.
Liefrich said:
Shifty, you were rubbish at football weren't you? :D
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I actually wasn't, I've always been very active, played all sorts from Football to Rugby to Basketball to running and whatnot at school, a decent all-rounder but I had no further interest in them. Bores the hell out of me.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
rugby only gets played in private/posh schools, therefore most rugby fans are indeed from a more privileged background. whereas football gets played in schools in rougher areas.

when i moved schools to the north side of glasgow, i was shocked to find nobody played football here, just rugby.

its a bit like asking why tennis supporters can sit next to each other or fencing, etc.
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True in most cases but I disagree, rugby is open to all. Infact, a good few chaps I went to school with ended up playing in amateur to semi-pro rugby league(?) teams. I was even invited to join the local teams when I was a teenager.
 
Perhaps but someone completely detached from any following or cult like view, who can look at things form outside the box doesn't have the narrow minded views and arguments many football fans will toss about again and again?
 
sanaxe1 said:
Similar to people who like the original Starwars and then people who like the new Starwars as well. They then group together and tell the other group they are wrong and have banter , disagreements and if the debate gets heated sometimes violence. You can replace this example with virtually anything. Its just that there are so many fans of football that there are more cases.
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Are you seriously comparing Star Wars fans to football fans?
stoke1863 said:
classic, burnt down op in flames :D
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Hardly :rolleyes: ;)
 
Generalisations perhaps but it has one of the most extreme, narrow minded and often thuggish followings of any sport the world over and it's not just Britain. There's football hooliganism across Europe. HOWEVER, I am taking it to the extremes here, I haven't once mentioned 'hooligans'..... My gripe was with the deep routed, religious following amongst CERTAIN fans from largely working class backgrounds who can't see past their own teams.

I have girls on my Facebook(from my school days, as stated in the OP) who have never watched or played a game of football in their entire lives.

Yet, when the 'old firm' or random match is setting off, they'll curse and swear the daylights out of the opposing teams or even simply and extremely proudly show their following by cheering and chanting delightfully when their team is winning.

They don't like the sport but this one sided following has been passed from generation to generation and it's installed into their thick heads so deeply!

It might just be a Glasgow thing, which would make it hugely hard for you to imagine or get where I'm coming from. That's why I was wondering.
 
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