To not understand all the obsession with footbaall

I don’t like it because the performative dives and play acting around trying to get a penalty are stupid and childish. Rugby players are actually bleeding and still want to get back in the game

I believe there's something called the "respect agenda" too, brought in to try to curb some of the worst excesses

Trouble is it doesn't seem to have worked when you see supposedly professional players screaming in the refs' faces like the most appalling of yobs

Try that in a rugby match and it wouldn't just be the ref chucking you out ... your own team would too

Never have and never will understand the obsession with watching disgustingly overpaid men kick a ball around! Not having to attend matches or football practice sessions that most of my mum friends seem to be begrudgingly stuck at every Saturday morning is one of the reasons I’m very I just have a DD..!

Same. My 11 year old turned to me and said “mum we did it” before launching himself off towards pitch side where we all hugged everyone, sang our hearts out and celebrated into the night. Home and away we have made some great friends, seen new cities and experienced all ranges of emotions thanks to football.
its not all millionaires in football, and there are plenty of brilliant role models if you know where to look.

My DH absolutely loves football nothing compares to it 😀
Not only on his team he also coaches an U12s team and he brings his passion to the game
I watched his U12 team win a tournament a few weeks ago and just seeing the boys and him celebrating you couldn’t not get involved
No he doesn’t watch soaps and most conversations end up back to football but I love the passion he has for the game.
i like football but nowhere near the passion he has.
Football is great for children it can keep them from getting bored keeping them fit and also discipline.
yes the big players get lots of money but they didn’t get into football for the money they got into it for the love of the game.

we have been together for 30 years and I don’t think he will change now 🤣 but I don’t think I would want him to.
Also well done Palace it’s nice to see another team win it
From Chelsea fc fans x

@DuncinToffee The build up to the match was so emotional - I can’t imagine what it’s like there. I felt myself welling up watching the crowd.

It’s a modern day way for groups of men to emulate tribal battle

Yes, and hence so many of its fans are of a certain type

Nothing wrong with that of course - we all enjoy different things - I just wish there wasn't quite so much fallout for the rest of us in terms of public disorder, domestic violence, police resources used, traffic management and the rest

It’s almost as if we’re all different….

Yawn

Yes it’s a metaphor for life: winners, losers, incredible highs, incredible lows, good guys, bad guys. It evokes so much emotion. If you don’t enjoy the game you have no soul x

It would be quite dull if we all liked the same things. I love football. I dislike F1, golf, Cycling bores, most US TV, DIY, gardening, the dog obsession, cats. You get the picture.
I love babies, politics and books are always better than films.

I don’t like it because the performative dives and play acting around trying to get a penalty are stupid and childish. Rugby players are actually bleeding and still want to get back in the game.

It just taints the whole thing, rolling around like a whiny brat when there’s nothing bloody wrong with them.

But that’s ok, I don’t have to like it. Plenty of other people do.
There are loads of things in the world to enjoy, I don’t need to personally approve of all of them.

Eh?

as a Sunderland fan at the stadium of light when we qualified for Wembley in the last seconds of the game and 47,000 went wild I can’t tell you that nothing can compare to that experience especially when shared with my DS16

Golly, that's an acute insight. And so utterly without precedent. I'm going to have to take that away and give it serious thought. I mean - gosh. I feel this might be a turning point.

Well done! Here's a pound.....

In a sport that normalises and excuses abuse and violence among its players and fans and also promotes misogyny, yes I will thanks.

I don't understand it either, but then I don't get the obsession with any sports, they are all as dull as dishwater IMHO.

This is MN, it's second nature.

💙

I can’t imagine anyone being so narrow minded they would want to announce it to the world, but hey ho.

Massive football fan here. I remember being taken to the terraces with my grandad in the 80s. Have to admit, I don’t really understand it but I loved spending time with my grandad. As I grew up I followed his team but didnt really go to games. I then met DH and he is a massive football fan - for the rival team. I caught the bug for real then and we had season tickets until I became pregnant with DD. That team has now been in the premier league for a while and there’s no chance of seeing them regularly - let alone get a season ticket!

DD and DS both play football and DH is a football coach so for 11 months of a year (taking into account post season tournaments and pre season friendlies), our lives revolve around football. I wouldn’t want it any other way - the sense of community is incredible.

Mt self esteem is fine thanks 😊

I don't care about 11 millionaire strangers. I love the game..
From grassroots football where it's 22 young lads who have spent hours training after school in all weather and giving up their weekends to go and play in front of a small crowd, who learn how to play in a team, supporting their teammates, learning how to be good losers or fair winners by shaking hands with the other teams and being part of a great little community.

Yes, professional footballers are paid too much - but so are other sports people and it only ever seems to be snobbery around football. There's the odd twat of a hooligan fan, as there is always going to be, and definitely more than one prima donna footballer, but if you've ever been in a stadium watching a game, the passion and the atmosphere is electric. People who would never normally come together bond, money often raised for charities and recognition for supporters who have died. My dad became lifelong friends with someone who had a ticket for the sear next to him. Two lads back in the 80s, from totally different backgrounds who in any other situation probably would never have spoken. That bloke is now my God father. I have friends who I've made through our mutual love of football- ever though we support rival teams and take the piss out of each other for it!

I have plenty of friends that have nothing to do with football, but my life is a lot richer for the ones I've made through football, and my son has 10 new friends through his love of the sport.

Indeed. Typing words on a screen doesn't sound that interesting either....😬

Everything sounds stupid when you try and reduce it to its base level, and makes you sound a bit stupid too when you ignore all the cultural baggage we bring to it.

You could say the same about anything people love: art, mountain-climbing, crafting, owing a pet. Some people are obsessed by these things. Some people don't get it. It's fine. You don't have to sneer at the thing you don't understand.

Male behaviour is the problem.

Exactly.

Male behaviour is the problem.

You can watch the County Championship free on YouTube!