To say the anti-football lot need to calm down a little?

[nowillpowernoproblem]

I didn’t stay up for the match because there was no way to make it work with my job, but if I could’ve I would’ve.

I can’t understand the actual visceral anger on here about it? It’s one night - kids won’t drop dead at school, workplaces won’t fail, but a lot of people will have just had a brilliant night.

I just don’t understand why some people can’t accept that others enjoy other things and it doesn’t need to be a big deal?

Get a grip. The pearl clutching on this thread is reaching ridiculous heights.

A lot of primary schools will indeed be focusing on play and treats like movies today, to compensate for the fatigue of both the kids and the staff. Especially as it’s a hot one in most places!

The data (which is more than a decade old) showed that more people went to the theatre than watched one division (the premiership) of football in a year.

That ignores the fact there are actually 4 professional divisions in England, several semi pro divisions, countless amateur teams, a number of very well supported cup competitions and international matches. Oh and the fact that most football teams play once a week for part of the year and theatres are open every day, often twice a day, all year round.

Where did I say it's acceptable? Particularly in relation to the DV part of my post you chose to pick out?

Ten years old? You need to Google better.

In 2024 17.1 million went to watch a show in the West End of London while 15.6 million went to a Premier League football match around the country.

Yes, you're right, there are the lower leagues, but by the same token there are regional theatres too, those countless amateur theatres and groups in village halls.

Those West End figures cover just 40 venues. Yes, 6-8 performances a week but the smallest PL stadium seats 11300 people. Many West End theatres won't get that number of people through the doors in a week and when you compare the big stadiums, there's no comparison. They fill several times more on one Saturday than the largest WE venue can in a week.

What a ridiculous and unfounded statement 😂. Have you seen the prices of tickets for football these days? The prices of the kits? If you think football is a working class sport then you clearly don’t follow it. The stadium seats are not filled with the working class. What a reach!

I really hope we win, I like the vibe even if I don’t care for the sport personally, but the attitude of the OP and some others on this thread are fucking terrible and not very ‘fun’ or ‘unifying’ at all.

I loathe football but my colleagues are here today and my customers are turning up so all is well. I would be ranting a bit if colleagues had called in sick and caused work issues but lucky they are all responsible albeit very tired.

Somehow I don't think regional theatres will quite make up the difference bearing in mind the annual figures, just by adding in the EFL attendances takes you well over 30 million people a year.

Do you still think more people go to the theatre than watch football (which is what you said)?

In 2025, over 37 million visited professional theatres in the UK. That's excluding all amateur venues and theatre performances in arts centres.

Context: all sports combined in the UK attracted 79.4 million.

Let's not forget that there are lots of season ticket holders that go to every or most matches, which actually brings the number of individuals down. Yes, some people go to the theatre a few times a year but there are no season tickets; West Ham has 40,000 season ticket holders alone.

And actually you were wrong here. The 2015 report showed more people saw a show at the theatre in the UK last year than watched a live football match in the English Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Premiership combined, not just one.

I’m not surprised at that given a football season only lasts nine months of the year and they don’t play six days a week.

Where did I say you think it's acceptable?

I specifically said the problem is a cultural one.

I think there is a widespread social acceptance that men can't be expected to control their emotions (and bladders!) when it comes to football, and that helps create the context that enables/noramlises violence includng DV. That is what I wanted to say, and what I said.

DV is at the individual level a problem with the behaviour of individual men, but if we ignore the ways our culture tacticly forgives and even enables it, one of which is "it is understandable for men to be emotionally out of control when it's football" we will never stop it happening.

I didn't pick out the rest of your post (other than to note I agree with you) because it wasn't relevant to the point I wanted to make, because it's about the actions of clubs not the cultural context.

Agree. No one should be blaming football for increased DV (cough cough, Reform, cough cough) but to deny there is a link isn’t acceptable and doesn’t support DV victims. We need to accept and discuss these statistics in order to protect victims. Of course the answer is ‘perpetrators should just not do it’ but in order to get to that point we need to look at triggers, and unfortunately football has a long association with violence in the same way other sports don’t, and that needs to be addressed and understood.

I think snarky bastard attitudes like this might explain some of it 🤷‍♀️

Now compare stadium size with theatre size. As I said earlier, many West End theatres won't get the same audience in a week of performances that the smallest PL stadium gets on a Saturday.

Old Trafford has a capacity of over 74,000. The largest WE theatre seats just under 2,400.

unfortunately football has a long association with violence in the same way other sports don’t, and that needs to be addressed and understood.

This.