OTT attitudes to World Cup

[Idontpostmuch]

AIBU to think the OTT attitudes to the World Cup are a touch unhealthy, almost sinister. At the end of the England Argentina semi final there was a young child crying. Surely something's wrong when children are having the importance of winning rammed into them at an early age. The team went all out and gave it their best. One team had to lose but they had done amazingly well getting to the semi final. All a bit creepy.

Because that’s how football works. When you support a team that’s that, you can’t just switch around.

My dad moved to Liverpool when he was 18, for a year. For a ticket to anfield one night and that was that. 55 years on and we’re all still Liverpool, and you’re dam right my kids will be too.

It’s weird that that’s how it works for supporting a team but not playing for a team.

Do you though? Doesn't have to be football, or sport in general, but do you not have a passion for anything in life that provokes an emotional response from you? If not, I'd say that's more weird than someone who cries at a football match. I can't imagine life without being fiercely passionate about something.

I was responding to the poster who said she cried when Scotland qualified. So only this is being discussed. My interests are irrelevant.

There was one crying at the France game as well. It’s fun and brings people together. We’ve all been into it in the office. I felt quite pissed off last night but just wanted to go to sleep and not think about it

Yes! I was brought up a Derby County fan. From Derby, lived in Derby until I was 30 but when I was 15 in 1996 I watched Liverpool play Newcastle a game they eventually won 4-3 but it was full of drama and I said to my dad that’s my team. I support them now and I’ve supported them ever since. Been to see Derby a fair bit and like them to win but Liverpool is my team. It sounds mega cheesy but I went to Anfield last year and it was like coming home. No disrespect to Derby but it was amazing.

Some odd views on here. Life is about getting invested in things, having an emotional connection to life.

When my team achieved a major promotion a couple
of decades ago, I shed a tear. I thought about my Grandad who’d died but supported them all his life and what he think about it. I saw old guys of a similar age to him similarly emotional. The relief of finally doing it after a season of touch and go. It was fabulous, one of the most memorable days of my life.

It’s not insidious, creepy or weird. It’s being a fully functioning human being. How does it differ to crying at the end of a sad film or similar?

I've known grown adults cry when a fictional character in a soap opera is killed off, I think your football team losing is a much better reason to she'd a tear

@Idontpostmuch you could say the same about many things eg religion , other sports evens, weddings , so on

I struggle to get my DH to show much enthusiasm for much in our life. However, when it comes to football it seems that eclipses everything to the point of hysteria.
I find that upsetting , extremely disproportional and very odd.

I once had a housemate like that. Yes, hysteria is the word that comes to mind. Really quite unsettling.

It doesn't seem to have been as OTT this year as some previous years, although I can never remember which past ones were the World Cup and which were the Euro Cup.

I haven't watched any of the games but I don't think anyone could say England did badly, reaching the semi-finals, and they now have the opportunity to claim third place which given the high number of countries entering this year would be a significant achievement.

A child getting emotional.at a football game - absolutely fine.

It's a good job you didn't see my daughters and me at the theatre last week- it was incredibly moving and we all shed a tear or 2.

When it is an issue, is men coming home and taking out their frustration on their wives. Being able to openly express their emotions (crying, laughing, talking about it) is fat healthier.

Am I reading this correctly? Because your family support a particular football team your children will support them too? What if they prefer another team to support or what happens if they don’t like football and prefer another sport ?

Edited to add if I am reading this correctly I couldn’t imagine forcing my children to like a sport or a particular team simply because their grandparent/uncle/aunt/parent liked it. Surely a child should be encouraged to enjoy things that they enjoy instead of being forced to do something others are passionate about?

I cry at sports all the time, marathons, Wimbledon, England losing, the emotion of it all even if I am not even invested in who wins
just makes me tear up. And I barely cry otherwise. Despite all the negatives people harp on another football, sports in general being people together, bring people joy and show the outcome of years of hard work and dedication. I love them all

So you don’t care about football and don’t seem to understand other people feeling passionate about things…

I have been going to football for 60 years. The world cup win in '66 turned Dad on to football. Before then, he had been much more into cricket, like his Dad had been. I doubt that was at all unusual, I think '66 gave a huge boost to football attendances in England. After '66 we went most weeks, and we fell in love with the beautiful game.

I have easily been to over 1000 football matches since then. Dad has passed on, but I always think of him every time I got to a football match.

I agree op. The BBC was talking about the loss yesterday being “agony”, and counselling people. The bloody PM mentioned that they needed to win. This isn’t normal and it’s got way, way worse. The pressure must have been hideous for the team.

tema, and completely unnecessary, and OTT.

Bill Shankly said "Football isn't a matter of life and death, it is more important than that"

a quote often taken out of context and moved far from its original meaning.

I agree with you OP. My personal hate is the 'we' aspect.

Arsenal Fan - "we did it"

Another fan - "well done mate, you guys deserved it"

Arsenal fan - "cheers mate"

wtaf! you did F all other than watch on telly!

watch, enjoy, be a bit sad, then move on.

the truth about sport, especially team sports, is you basically always lose in the end, so dealing and coping with that is the key to enjoying sport properly

Maybe I'm not explaining my thinking very well.

Did he move to Liverpool for a year purely because he had picked out Liverpool to support, so he could be closer; or had he already moved there - albeit only for a year - and thus he already did have that connection with the city and so chose to support them?

You've confirmed what I said about it being considered like a religion, though: where it's assumed that your children will follow you in the same affiliation - and, in some cases, there will be displeasure and even animosity if they end up making their own, different decisions instead.

I’ve already advised DD of her four valid football team options. One is the club in the town where we live, two are the closest premier league teams, and the fourth is the club I support from my home town. She’s yet to make a firm choice, if she does at all.

It isn't really force, it's just if football is always a big part of your life and you've been going to the games e.g Liverpool since you were in nappies then you are probably also going to be a Liverpool fan and so it continues.

Exceptions do happen. My son supports a different football team to me but even then, it's for a very particular reason he feels connected to the area/team. It wasn't random plucking it out of thin air.

He also supported Norway in the world cup because of Erling Haaland, the traitor! 😂

It just seems to lose any real meaning to me if you're arbitrarily assigned a team/narrow choice of teams to support by somebody else and then expected to become fiercely passionate about it.

I still think it's interesting how so many people seem to choose one of a few very big, prominent teams as opposed to one of the many smaller ones - unless they live near or have another connection with that small team.