Is Football a sport?
Football is the dirtiest, most unsporting, hypocritical, lying, cheating game on the earth.
It is played mainly by people who would not recognise the word fair if it hit them in the face.
The so called 鈥楤eautiful Game鈥 anybody using that term, journalists, soccer pundits etc should be taken before the tribunal.
The only words attributable to the game are sneaky, petulant, arrogant and a complete disregard for any rules that may exist relating to the game.
Once on the pitch the players seem to be able to do as they like.
Before a match TV viewers are shown a plan of the formation the teams will adopt.
Come kick off you have 20 players running from one end of the pitch to the other just like kids play in the park.
Skill is stifled, when a skilful player gets the ball he is engulfed by four or five of the opposition and usually ends up on his back holding his ankle, the pundits call this good defending.
Elbows in the face, arm locks, spitting, punching, shirt pulling, feigning injury, cheating to gain a penalty and manhandling in general seems to be the rules of the game.
If a referee awards five yellow cards and sends one man off he is deemed by the knowledgeable pundits to have spoiled the game.
If the same referee ignores the antics of the players and awards three yellow cards over the whole match, he is then deemed to have had no control over the game.
If a player has a penalty given against him his manager in the after match interview says 鈥淚 can鈥檛 comment, I did not see the incident.鈥 If the penalty is in his player鈥檚 favour the quote becomes 鈥淚 was perfectly placed to see everything the referee was spot on."
Broken limbs shattered cheekbones, eye sockets broken, fans killed at matches this is the 鈥楤eautiful Game鈥.
I believe nobody under the age of 50 has ever seen a proper game of football. It stopped being the 鈥楤eautiful Game鈥 after the 1950鈥檚 when it was one attacker against one or two defenders and skill was at the forefront.
Mention the 3 M鈥檚, Mathews, Mannion and Mortenson and you are talking about the 鈥楤eautiful Game鈥.
The off the field antics of professional footballers are often questionable as well, when being at the top and earning 拢100,000 a week they owe it to younger fans to project the proper image.
I watched football for 40 year, but I would not pay 20p, let alone 拢20 to watch todays game.
This doesn't apply just to football but sport in general a theme I'll be returning to later this week.
Don't they sociologists now refer to it as a modern day version of the Roman games - the gladiators and the sacrifice of the christians?
There are those of us who prefer a gentle tune and peaceful scenes and angelic harps even. And then there are those who bay for blood and sport!
Well, football isn't my sport, certainly, but from what I know about it, a couple of things do spring to mind.
Firstly, I don't believe that no-nonsense, red-blooded defenders of old avoided shirt-pulling, use of elbows, or held back in their tackling because they were afraid of damaging the precious striker's cartilages. I believe that it was, in that sense, a much rougher sport than it is now. The reasons for that are probably that referees, TV cameras and pundits (except defenders), FA inquiries etc. are much more striker-friendly, because strikers score goals and people want to see goals. It's a bit like cricket increasingly becoming a batsman's game, as the rules are changed to make it more difficult for bowlers. Sixes - and goals - are sexy, and sexy is, of course, what matters. Not a contest of skill and bravery, or anything like that.
I also don't believe that people in olden days didn't spit. There weren't TV cameras lovingly focused on the flying fluids, certainly.
Where I do very much agree is about general behaviour. After a fierce game, opponents and fans used to shake hands and mean it. Cricketers celebrated wickets, footballers goals, by nodding and smiling, rather than mass copulation.
In truth, I think both these great sports reflect our society as it changes: so, more neurosis, more ego, less respect, increasing intolerance and and simmering under it all, an increasing fever of anger and violence. Welcome to the 21st century.
Add to that the multi-billion pound corporations associated with the sport -and the spin-offs -
Does being the girlfriend of a football player really qualify you as an 'agony aunt' or 'fashion guru' in a tabloid? (Fashion Guru? What an insult that phrase is. Bit of an oxymoron!)
Imagine seeing your careers officer at school...'So Spudulike? What would do you really want to do with your life?'.. 'bag a footy player an' get a P.A.')
-the actual physical game sort of represents where the football industry is at now.
Be violent, racist, unprofessional or unsportsman like on the pitch and don't worry...
....the wheeler dealers they keep in the cupboards in the boardroom will sort it for you.
Since football is nevertheless so popular in the UK at least what does this say about the role models it provides? At what age do role models no longer influence a person's behaviour? Is football reflecting society? How much do role models - good and bad ones - and other public figures set the tone for a nation?
If role models are influential I wonder if I'd want to live in a society where role models were manufactured by the state to provide a desirable zeitgeist.
Imagine the power of celebrity combined with the backup of the state and the expertise of advertising professionals. Guaranteed to be loved and admired by the 'disaffected youth'. Sounds like an idea worth considering.
Would that be acceptable? Would that infringe our idea of freedom? Would this role model have to have religious appeal?
Duncan, RE: your comment
Your comment that you do not watch football suggests you are only assuming it was the same in the old days.
I attended games 50 years ago.
I can tell you that if today's players wore the old style boots the pitch would resemble a hospital ward.
Nobody ever saw a Ben Thatcher style tackle in those days. Ever.
Wink!
Yes, footbal is a sport my good man. Though underhanded tacktics are a part of the game these days, one cannot deny that the game is as fun to watch as it is to play. Especially with all the dirty tricks. These days unsportsmanlike conduct is taught by football coaches around the world. Being from the USA I won't deny that some of these underhanded tacktics have really given my nose a twitch (handball by a German defender in the 2002 world cup, we were robbed!). But don't these dirty tricks kind of bring a bit of justice to the field. At least in world cup play. Any kid with a coconut can learn to play footbal. And that same kid can come to be the hottest player ever to hit the field. Of all the things that people around the world are judged on; wealth; power; morality; creativity; art;..., football tops them all. You may have a powerful army, you may have the best musicians in history. But, can you kick the ball? The things that get you all riled up about the games are the same things that make the watching that more enjoyable. Sounds like somebody has forgotten how to kick it.