Help me understand English soccer

/\ndy

/\ndy

/\ndy

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Hello,

Now I'm not trying to be controversial or **** on anyone's favorite game, but what's with the hype surrounding the premier league? Basically England fail miserably in the World Cup, and the the way I see it is that we just forget about that, go back to our own little reality supporting all these foreigners in 'English' clubs and move on.

How can any true English football fan really get behind their club and take pride knowing this? Its like this Balotelli signing, Liverpool fans everywhere going wild for some foreign player who scored AGAINST us in the World Cup! Seriously what are you people doing? Help me understand.

I hear it day in day out where I work, people getting so fired up about what the other says about their club, or having really heated debates about transfers windows etc and discussing which other foreign player to bring in. I am just sitting there completely baffled by their commitment to such a redundant sport.

At the end of the day, if we as a nation cannot deliver where it actually matters on the international front, then what's the point? Isn't that kind of embarrassing considering we are home to one of the biggest leagues in the world? Why doesn't the the likes of the premier league have a cap on foreign players to promote more home grown talent? This would surely make sense?

inb4 people say 'its football not soccer'
inb4 people get angry and not address any of my points
 
It's absolute nonsense, designed to get people angry and passionate about 11 (foreign) men chasing a bag of wind around a field, and they get paid an immoral amount of money for doing so.

It is designed to distract people from real political problems much in the way that the gladiatorial conflicts did in Roman times.

You may have gathered by now, I agree with your comments.
 
I feel if you really wanted to understand you wouldn't have asked in such a way. You appear to be more looking for a rise than an answer.
 
SkodaMart said:
It is designed to distract people from real political problems much in the way that the gladiatorial conflicts did in Roman times.
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What about the music industry?

I suppose we wouldn't have these political problems if the people at the top didn't abuse their power. :o

The Roman Empire, the perfect model eh..i suppose we as a species are just designed to grow and collapse. Maybe football is contributing to that, but so are many other things.
 
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Trusty said:
I suppose everything that isn't politics is a diversion then. Mad mate! No leisure activities for anyone.
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....Or maybe try a leisure activity that involves DOING SOMETHING rather than watching someone else.

(nothing wrong with playing football, cricket, rugby etc.)
whatever takes your fancy.
 
Personally I like football(international and club level) because of the intrinsic skill and pace involved in the game. The Premier League is a very challenging league, despite the national team not performing. I don't think the national team really has much impact on why you support a club team.

Its all about when you see a superb goal, a nutmeg, a trick, a flick, a brilliant pass, a great tackle, an excellent save. To some extent great skill is involved in a lot of other sports but for me Football is greater than most and more enjoyable. When you actually play a particular sport you realise the years of practice and skill involved and can appreciate people who do it professionally(in all sports).

I don't care if players are foreign, I want to see all these quality players in the Premier League, Ronaldo, Suarez, Balotelli, Falcao, Hazard, Ozil etc etc. I also want to watch the good English players(despite them not performing for the national team).


Granted some "fans" take the rivalries to an often silly level.
 
Britain has a terrible record at Eurovision. Perhaps we should limit the number of foreign musicians in our country? I mean, how can you be a fan of any of those foreign bands in the top 40 when we as a country are doing so poorly at Eurovision? The mind boggles, it really does.
 
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SkodaMart said:
....Or maybe try a leisure activity that involves DOING SOMETHING rather than watching someone else.

(nothing wrong with playing football, cricket, rugby etc.)
whatever takes your fancy.
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Do you watch BBC Parliment? Same can be said for that as well.

I agree that in certain people there is a complete skew in what's important to them. When you hear fans being stabbed, the players getting abuse left, right and centre from people (and their own supporters) no doubt that's ridiculous and completely imbalanced. We're not all like that though..
 
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I don't really get that caught up in the nationality of players playing domestically and just enjoy the football and everything associated with it off the pitch.

The England national team are **** but I don't think success in international football is important enough to damage the Premier League for.
 
So you call it English soccer and put 'inb4 people say it's football not soccer' at the end, seems like a bad bait attempt.

Also not too sure you know what redundant means.
 
There is a book called The Ball is Round. Read it. It gives a history of football and includes the social, economic and cultural impact the sport has had.

Sky are the reason there is so much hype around the Premier League, they are selling their product.

England have over achieved for a number of years at International competitions.
 
Club level is the highest standard of football, International football is a borefest most of the time apart from maybe 1 tournament every 2 years that lasts a few weeks.

Club football is on for most of the year and the highest level of football is the Champions League which puts the best teams in the world against each other yearly and then u have the Premier League where most teams go out for the win every time and it can be quite exciting.
 
If you're not lucky enough to be born a football fan then you're never going to be able to understand or enjoy the beauty of it, sorry.
 
/\ndy said:
Now I'm not trying to be controversial or **** on anyone's favorite game, but what's with the hype surrounding the premier league? Basically England fail miserably in the World Cup, and the the way I see it is that we just forget about that, go back to our own little reality supporting all these foreigners in 'English' clubs and move on.
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I'm not really sure of your point - why does England's failure in the world cup reflect on whether or not watching the Premier League is enjoyable.

How can any true English football fan really get behind their club and take pride knowing this? Its like this Balotelli signing, Liverpool fans everywhere going wild for some foreign player who scored AGAINST us in the World Cup! Seriously what are you people doing? Help me understand.
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Liverpool fans are excited by his signing because he's a good player, as evidenced by the fact that he scored against England at the world cup.

You are effectively advocating blind support for your country - is that any weirder or more baffling than blindly supporting a club?

I hear it day in day out where I work, people getting so fired up about what the other says about their club, or having really heated debates about transfers windows etc and discussing which other foreign player to bring in. I am just sitting there completely baffled by their commitment to such a redundant sport.
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For me, what's interesting about a lot of sport, but particularly football, is that it lets you see immediately how good people are at their job. It's the same with politics, a lot of reality TV, and most other things that people get heated about.

Football is particularly interesting as it can be so subjective. Ultimately, the best tennis player in the world is the one who wins slams and ends the year at the top of the rankings. Football is different - I believe that Danny Welbeck is a very good footballer. Others will say that he does not score enough for a striker, which is a perfectly valid point. There are so many different things to look at in football, both with tactical philosophy and simply with how you view a match, which helps to develop such heated debate.

I don't see how football is any more redundant than any other sport or entertainment, on another note.


At the end of the day, if we as a nation cannot deliver where it actually matters on the international front, then what's the point? Isn't that kind of embarrassing considering we are home to one of the biggest leagues in the world? Why doesn't the the likes of the premier league have a cap on foreign players to promote more home grown talent? This would surely make sense?
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You're conflating the biggest league in the world with the best footballing country in the world. We have the biggest league in the world as it is well marketed and rich. We have not had the talent or coaching pool to develop the best players in the world.

My friend played for a Premier League side until he was 18, at which point his club bought a 16 year old German guy who had already played for his national U21 team, and my friend got dropped. He now plays for a non-league team on a semi-pro basis (as well as being a fairly successful accountant). He would not be a significantly better player than he is now had his club not bought the 16 year old German - ultimately, he was not good enough to play at Premier League level, something which he acknowledges himself. If we capped foreign players, we would simply reduce the quality of the league - that is not the same as improving the quality of English players.



Ultimately, your post is confused. I don't know what you're trying to say - are you saying that football is pointless? That we should cap foreign players? That people should support their country above all else?

You haven't explained remotely well what you don't understand about football, which is why I imagine you aren't getting helpful answers.
 
Football is a sport for the working class and underclass.
It involves getting upset when your team loses (like your support makes any difference), binge drinking and eating chips (Stoke City) and foul language.
You pay money to watch a brain dead nancy boy who gets paid £100,000 per week roll around on the floor because somebody pushed him over.
I go to around 1 football match every two years. I enjoy it and get into it when I am there but that is all.

My friend is a keen Stoke City fan and wants me to go to games with her as she is disabled and my ticket would be free. I will go along but not too bothered what happens!
 
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