If you hate football what do you do that makes you feel like this?

[Backhills]

Sneer all you like, but you can't knock something that gives people moments like this.

Assuming football doesn't do it for you, where do you get those moments?

[[BBC News - Euro 2020: England fans celebrate as Three Lions make final
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57758930]]

Nothing and the elation I see in others at the moment does sometimes make me wish I did like football but I just don't.

Nothing.
Quite happy and content without that sort of messy emotion in my life.
Glad for those that enjoy it,but it's really not my ''thing'',bores me to tears.

Boring and I cannot stand the noise, the cheering and shouting just goes right through me! I do not have it on in this house

I have a different sport I play that I love, I've followed it to different countries and it gives me the same experience as I assume football does for other people, but while actually taking part too, its great!

I have no interest in football. I wouldn't say I hate it, I'm indifferent to it. What I don't like is the effect it can have on the country, as something that is essentially meaningless, why does it affect eg domestic violence rates, why when we're in a pandemic is it considered important enough to have many thousands of people together in a stadium? Whether we win or lose on Sunday makes literally no difference to most people's lives (barring those directly involved) so I just don't get it.

Are you mistaking people having no interest in football for “hating” it?

I have no interest in any leagues, but my god I bloody love watching England and the feeling on Wednesday was ace

You mean moments when I get really excited because other people win a game?
I don't. I'd get really excited if I won a game. Or my kids, or close friends I suppose. I don't sneer at people who do love it but I just have no interest in watching strangers play a game. Be it football, tennis, cricket, rugby, or anything else. To me, it's boring. But hell, anyone who loves it and is happy, bloody enjoy it! Especially now when folks need to grab every bit of joy they can!

That said, there is nothing wrong with someone who isn't interested in it. Nothing lacking in them in any way

It's funny how some footy fans have this idea that they have access to some sort of higher state of euphoria than anyone else. Going mad and yelling your head off because one group of men were better than another group of men at one recreational activity? Keep it

I get a lot of deep emotional reactions to certain arias or pieces of music. I don't presume to think I'm some sort of better, more emotional person just because to others it sounds like awful caterwauling. I certainly don't go around with the old MN head-tilt, going, "But what do you DO to feeeel this waaaay???"

People like different things - shocker!

I don’t mind watching England play if I’m alone. I can’t listen to DH screaming at the TV acting like it’s life or death.

Seeing DS excel at his sport does it for me. Watching him win his 800m, with a new PB, at county level had me grinning for days.

@VettiyaIruken and @LeonardLikesThisPost I agree with both of you.

I get these feelings from my own interests - watching and listening to soundtracks of my favourite musicals, when my favourite song comes on the radio, after I've had an intense, but amazing run (runner's high...sighs), when my favourite contestant wins Strictly Come Dancing, when something awesome happens in a movie or TV show that causes DH and I to rewind just to watch that few seconds over and over again.

Got nothing against football fans that get this feeling, and good on them for feeling like that (I remember hearing my dad when I was younger from the other end of the house either cursing or cheering when his favourite football team was playing), but it's not the only way to get that intense feeling of euphoria.

Sex and drugs and rock and roll?

If you start what could be an interesting conversation with something like 'sneer all you like' you've already got the people you want to talk to irritated. Which is fine, but you'll get arsey responses.

Football itself is fine but I think most instances of toxic masculinity are brewed within its culture if not caused by it. I hate the way it provokes jingoistic nationalism and jeering laddishness.

I don't get my kicks from feeling better than other people. I like it when cooperation make things work, like singing in a choir or watching synchronised swimming.

@ThePlantsitter

If you start what could be an interesting conversation with something like 'sneer all you like' you've already got the people you want to talk to irritated. Which is fine, but you'll get arsey responses.

Football itself is fine but I think most instances of toxic masculinity are brewed within its culture if not caused by it. I hate the way it provokes jingoistic nationalism and jeering laddishness.

I don't get my kicks from feeling better than other people. I like it when cooperation make things work, like singing in a choir or watching synchronised swimming.

That's a fair point, but I was specifically referring to all the MNetters who do sneer that its just a bunch of over paid men running about and can't muster any understanding of it's appeal, rather than those who quietly have no interest.

Music does it for me...specifically live gigs. There's nothing better than being in a crowd of people all loving the band and them playing your favourite songs.

When a Queen audience were compared to a football crowd Brian May agreed and said 'but everyone's on the same side'.(Showing my age here).

I saw Barbra Streisand's A Star Is Born when I was 15, it was a huge thing for me and made me a lifelong fan. Love her.

When she played Hyde Park in 2019 she brought on Kris Kristofferson (her co-star in the film) and they sang the duet from the film. I thought the top of my head was going to come off.

That's just one example...so many special gigs over the years. George Michael singing Somebody To love at the FM tribute. Being at Live Aid in that atmosphere. Carole King doing all of Tapestry, also in Hyde Park.

And conversely..you never get the awful feeling when your team loses.

I don’t enjoy football, I don’t “hate” it but I do dislike it more than indifference

It’s mostly a cultural thing. I dislike the football fans, who create a large number of headlines for being thugs, create rubbish, make racist remarks and are really intimidating if you encounter them in person. No, not all football fans are like that, but the boorish, jeering men who typify football are what makes me really dislike it.

And their behaviour seems to be really much worse when their team wins, which is just so bloody bizarre

I think soccer as a participant is fun but do not understand the obsessive fanatic and often thuggish behaviour over watching it in the UK. Hordes of sweaty non sporty men in polyester shirts makes my skin crawl.

I really like Polo , the combo of horses and men in boots and tight trousers.

Argentine polo players particuarly

I love the tour de france. The sprint finishes scare the hell out of me, but seeing the cocky little git Mark Cavendish winning 2 days ago gave me a similar feeling of exhilaration/ euphoria.

I like football as a game but dislike the tribal hate of the 'fans'.

Hopefully there will be a story in the Olympics this year that grabs my attention. Rio passed me by, but London had so many bits that had me hooked.

I just find it dull. All of it.

I’m dreading going to work for the match. I’m a community nurse and was working when England played Germany. My car was surrounded and rocked by drunken idiots claiming to just be having a good time - and that’s ok because footballs coming home innit

I don't follow football. But don't hate it.
I do have a slight fear of football mobs. It used to be the thing you avoided and planned travel around.

But as an adult, I've been to Rugby games at Twickenham. To someone not involved, that is probably just as intimating. The train between Twickenham and Waterloo, packed full, did unsettle other travellers. Plus the good natured rivalry between the teams fans (its the ArmyNavy games I go to... so even between fans of each team there's good natured rivalry between the regiments etc. Plus the game is also a reunion event and a lot of alcohol consumption)

Yes many football fans feel elated when their teams win but there is another side to this isn't there? What does it do for stress/anger levels when then lose? These are 'moments' we're best without IMO.