Football talk drives me mad!

[Fandangoes]

I had a work meeting today with external (male) visitor and 2 male colleagues. The male visitor started talking football the minute he arrived and then I had to sit through at least 5 minutes of boring football talk while they all pretend they are expert pundits! (It felt like a lot longer but I’m trying not to exaggerate). Now I know lots of women that are avid football fans and none of them behave like this - drives me mad! I was totally ignored the whole time as I had nothing to add and no interest in their chat as I know nothing about it. Anybody else experience this because I’ve realised it happens regularly in my work place.

Yes!! I used to sit in a small office with 3 men who were obsessed with football. They would go on forever about it and it would feel like there was no end in sight. Then one of my other male colleagues would walk into our office, and the conversation would start all over again.

At least with a meeting, you know they will have to talk work at some point. In an office where we all sit down with each all day, they can actually talk about it all day.

I'll be honest, I got to the point where I started getting more involved, seeing the scores, watching highlights etc just so I could join in and wind them up if their teams were shocking. That was always a quick way to shut them up lol. In the end some of them used to avoid me if their team lost as they knew I'd rinse them for it.

I think it is fairly normal for there to be a little bit of social chit chat before a meeting gets started. Football is a fairly common topic for people to mention when there has been something of interest the night before.
I've had to sit through people talking about things I don't watch, or don't know a lot about, yes. On other occasions I am sure that I will have been involved in a conversation that someone else might not be interested in / know a lot about. It is just chit chat, or being sociable.

Football is the most popular sport in the world, it’s on frequently so often new things to discuss and it’s a relatively neutral topic for most people. I don’t think it’s fair for you to want people to stop talking about something that interests them for five minutes because you don’t have an interest. I’ve sat quietly through football chat before and it doesn’t bother me. Just like other people have sat through small talk I’ve had about Bake Off which presumably not everyone is interested in either.

Fair enough! I was prepared to be told iwbu. I guess it just made me realise I work in an environment where this is constant. Mainly males in senior management team and football chat dominates everything

I think Yanbu. Women don't do this - ie chat about a topic that excludes 25% of the room for five minutes. For example, if there were 3 women and 1 man, the women wouldn't be animatedly chatting about shopping or periods if the man wasn't interested. It's another drip drip of a sexist society - when men and women are together, the conversation is either neutral, or male oriented.

I agree that it's pretty rude to keep on about any topic if somebody isn't interested.

I’ve definitely been waiting quietly for a meeting to start while a group of women discuss Love Island. And women watch football too. Some of the longest football chat I’ve sat through is in a meeting with two other women and a man, each of whom are loyal followers of rival football teams.

Rubbish.
Like toastofthetown I've definitely been sat listening to people talking about Bake off or Love Island or Strictly before meetings begin, none of which I have any interest in.
What sexist claptrap.

YABU - It's coming to the end of the season and getting exciting. Especially when you have bitter rivals leap frogging one another for the most valuable position in the league!

It depends on how senior they are compared to you, you could try "I'll be at my desk, give me a call when the football stuff is finished and the meeting is starting." The one time I tried that they just started the meeting straight away, it wasn't terribly high up or important people though.

"Women don't do this - ie chat about a topic that excludes 25% of the room for five minutes. For example, if there were 3 women and 1 man, the women wouldn't be animatedly chatting about shopping or periods if the man wasn't interested"

You are talking total and utter rubbish.

I work in an office of 3 guys and 5 females.
The women often talk for ages about Love Island, Celebrity something or other, Dancing something or other, Baking something or other.

None of which are of the slightest interest to any of the guys.

We just accept we are different and forget it.

As for calling it sexist that is just snowflake and pathetic.

We are not all entitled to be included in everyone else's conversations.

Who do you think you are to dictate what people are allowed to talk about.

Totally self entitled.

Yeah I agree with others that it isn't a sexist thing.

I think it's more to do with the fact that football fans tend to be very passionate about the sport and their team, hence they can talk about it for what seems like forever. Whereas there is only so much passion one can have about Bake Off or Netflix.