To be fed up of the bloody football already?

[SirBoobAlot]

Its dull, ridiculous waste of time and money, brings out the worst in people (though these England Tops Banned rumours are hilarious), we always make idiots of ourselves when supporting abroad... And generally I am sick of seeing prissy men who whine and throw themselves on the floor when they find a split end plastered everywhere and being hailed as hero's when all they do is kick a ball around a field.

thumbwitch- could you explain your comments?
I don't recall having been on a thread with you before, so I think to dismiss my comments as trolling comes pretty close to a personal attack.
I have been on MN for years and am certainly not a troll.
I have discussed class issues on here in the past, lots of us have. I do not recall brandishing any -ist labels- could you point this point any out to me?
I can't quite work out why my comments have angered you enough to provoke you in this manner. I would be happy to have a rational discussion with you as you have taken against me for some reason

Mrsruffallo - I have seen you on a few threads, some of which I have posted on, others of which I haven't so I know you are not a troll in the sense of being an unknown poster.

Perhaps I was being a little unfair but your dogmatic insistence that being anti-football is classist, without any back-up whatsoever was irritating. Not angering, not to me (although to others) - just irritating. And winding other people up is troll behaviour, even from a known poster. (wasn't me who said it first, btw)

However, I am not totally unjustified in my comments - you did a thread a while back suggesting that boys should have separate activities from girls and that girls should not be allowed to join in - this is the one I vaguely remembered and therefore the other -ist I would have been talking about was sexist.

I do realise that one instance of this does not a sexist make, and therefore am probably out of line, and apologise.

Yabu of course, and predictable to come up with the old footie hooligan cliche!
All sports are fantastic except rugby and F1 (imo) (passive aggressive )

You would hate my household as DP works for a footie magazine, and so has to watch every game!

Can't say that I've noticed footie being a class issue... After all how many working class people can afford to even go to the football now?! LOL. I just hate it because it's dull, dull, dull, classified as being important when it really isn't and I hate the way people suddenly develop a sense of patriotism for two weeks then immediately forget about it as soon as England loose. Only good thing is that hubby and I have struck a deal that he will look after DS whilst he watches England and I can go out with the girls, he he!

"Bloody lucky to be in the world Cup this year, judging by past performance"

Ridiculous statement. The English team got through their group unbeaten if I recall correctly and if I recall had one of the highest if not the highest points tally out of the qualifiers groups.

"If the players played for glory and actual 100% love of the sport rather than money and fast cars and fast women maybe England would emanate the "glory" of 1966"

Another ridiculous statement. Firstly because most players do play for the love of the game otherwise they probably would not have the commitment to make it as far as they have. Secondly because for the ones who don't, and there are quite a few, what is wrong with treating your career as just that a career. If they turn up for work and perform to the best of their ability then their motivation is irrelevant.
Thirdly because if you look at the great teams over the last 20 or so years that have encompassed the explosion of riches and who have vastly surpassed the English team of 1966 the majority of them will be among the best paid professionals in their sport and soit's obvious that being paid lots and lots of money doesn't affect your ability to win world cups or be brilliant at football.

"After all how many working class people can afford to even go to the football now?!"

A fair few. Remember that being working class and being poor are entirely different things, just as being middle class and being affluent are different things.

Whilst many middle class people also like football, the culture of football itself is working class. Most professional footballers come from working class backgrounds. Most professional (eg) rugby players don't.

Some people dont like football because of the culture it is associated with (showy displays of wealth, poor off pitch behaviour, tribal chants etc). Many others dont like it just because they think it's boring or they dont like spectator sport or loads of other reasons. However, I do think that for some, there is an element of snobbery involved, whether conscious or not.

If we don't like cricket either, is that classist as well?

The comparisons with rugby are often what rankle people and make them think it's a class issue.
As someone who has supported and played both sports throughout my life, although a great deal more football, I must say that the comparison doesn't work. The games are so different that comparison doesn't help at all. I agree that football needs more respect to the ref but then again am I really going to take a sport that has a serious issue with eye-gouging and failing to punish it properly as the bench mark for civilised on field action? The diving issue is another that needs to be gotten rid of but it is no worse than the cheating that goes on in every sport but people seem to demonise it as that bit more devious than a tennis player calling for a fault when there is none, a rugby player not releasing the ball on the ground or a cricketer calling for an LBW when the ball was moving away for the stump. They're all forms of cheating designed to gain an advantage and repeated because they work. None is better or worse than the other. Also I can only imagine the public furore if footballers through a tenth of the punches that rugby do. But we accept rugby players can get away with a sin-binning for a punch or just a talking to for getting involved in that sort of half-puch half-slap thing they seem to do so often because it's a different sort of game, where as in football you very rarely see it happen because it's a straight red card. The only reason that there's very little diving in rugby (can only think of 2 incident off the top of my head) is because there is no advantage to be gained from it.

*threw a tenth

Gawd, I remember meeting a London Irish rugby player in a pub one Saturday - he showed us his bruises, just starting to develop - eeep! And that was with wearing body 'armour'.

That's another thing that bothers me about football. I work in a really run down part of Liverpool, one of the poorest parts of the city. I walk past Anfield everyday, see all the players BMW's and them flogging £60 footie kits etc and it makes me SO mad, it just really grates with the poverty all around. And the money people spend on going to football, must cost them a fortune when it really could be better spent elsewhere. I get more annoyed with the club tho than the fans who I suppose at least enjoy it.

As someone who loves the game it pisses me and most supporters like yourself off. but there are a million similar things in rugby that piss me off. As for games that I dislike and bore me I'd have to put GAA or hurling up there and they take over certain parts of the year with lots of coverage, I just don't watch it etc.
I don't get the attitude of people who like to complain so much about a sport they cliam to have no interest in or see as important in anyway, it's the same as people who complain about big brother every year under the guise of "I don't watch it but it's everywhere ..." when really they just want to complain.

All the players BMW's paid for with their 50% taxed wages I'd imagine do a fair amount for the area. Also they create business and enterprise for the area which the club is a part of. The amount of money shops and hotels must get off the back of Liverpool FC is phenomenal and creates jobs, ditto match day staff.

Who has 50% taxed wages? I thought the top whack was still 40% in the UK - are footballers that special that they have their own tax bracket??

Players are usually given cars by sponsors too.

Accepted Mayorquimby, but the reality of the richness of the footie team still grates. And the government spends most of our taxes on pointless wars so that doesn't really help the local area. People do come to Liverpool for the footie of course, they mainly stay in the posh hotels in the city centre, get a cab to the ground then go straight back to the city centre again. Brings money into the city for sure but I'm not sure how much actually makes it to the people of Anfield, I think the council are still paying off the bill for the capital of culture! To be fair though you can't blame the football club for the councils failures. It doesn't change the fact that one footballers weekly wage would easily fix the huge holes in the roofs of the nurseries I visit near Anfield football ground. It just grates at me I suppose as it is such a blatant example of the haves and the have nots.

"this is going to make me sound like Brian Sewell's vastly more snobbish sister"

loved it !

Well, I'm in the "hate damn football" because the assumption seems to be that as a Nation (OK, 4 nations) we all love it.

It may still be the most popular sport for watching, or even participating in, but it does fill too much of TV and radio in my view.

As for the World Cup, FiveLive this morning had Victoria Derbyshire asking people how enthusiastic they are on a score of 0 to 10. First guy said 8.5 (he'll have exploded by the time there's a match playing!) and the third said 5, based on there being 2 weeks to go and he's got work and other things on his mind.

I am thankful I don't have to see or hear about any of it (not a fan of cricket, football, rugby, ice hockey, polo, motor sports, horse racing, poker, golf, tennis etc, etc... I do watch snooker and appreciate the skill factor in shooting [targets, not birds])

2 weeks ago supermarket started 'decorations' with football stickers on freezer section by ice creams and so on. Yesterday I spotted daft 'goals' suspended from the ceiling above the vegetables.

I don't know what they will do in another 2-3 weeks but fortunately I can just ignore most promotions and will get the things I like, oblivious of any special offers on lager etc (can take it or leave it when it comes to booze).

But that doesn't make sense Thumbwitch-who was I calling sexist on the activities for boys thread?
How was it sexist or are you yourself suggesting it was?
You have accused me of 'pushing the-ist buttons' but haven't justified it at all.

Oh well, you have apologised. I shall leave it there and remain confused I think

As shall we over your classist insults and sexist comments that you have refused to justify. Being trollish is not just the preserve of new members.

I don't hate football for the money, the flash etc I just can't see why a past-time between 22 people should occupy so much of our nation. They kick a ball... wow...

I'm not really impressed by any sport to be honest. Why should I care about a bunch of men or women throwing or hitting a ball, or jumping... ? Honestly, why?

The thread itself was sexist, IMO, MrsR - and others did say that they felt similar, even if they used different words.

I fear I may have also confused your name with another on the immigrants thread and the benefits thread a few weeks ago - as I thought they were also you when I wrote my ill-advised post, that was why I said what I said. But it wasn't you, hence the apology.

You don't like sport MN hubbie and others do...big deal.
No one is forcing you to enjoy it. Many people play sport inc football to keep fit and enjoy teamwork...there are so many reasons why people enjoy so many different types of sport that I wouldn't know where to start trying to explein it to you.
You are not being forced to watch it or participate in it so that should bring you much relief

Thumbwitch- Very poor taste to bring up an old thread of mine that irked you somewhat on here. Yes, some people thought the thread was sexist, some didn't - why you are inclined to bring it up here is beyond me. Shall I trawl through your history (as I said before, I have no recollection of being on a thread with you at all)criticise your old threads or falsely accuse you of trolling?
You should check old threads before attacking posters in the way you did - then you avoid getting it wrong and coming across as vindictive and as you do.

Your apology doesn't ring true to me. You don't seem in the least bit bothered that you got it wrong beyond the lazy admission in your last paragraph.

Ok, now you're getting nasty, I have apologised, I brought up the thread ONLY to justify my over-stated comment, for no other reason. OTher people have taken issue with what you have said as well and I was not the first to suggest your behaviour was trollish.

I am no longer responding to you as you are descending into a personal fight, when I have apologised.