Falling out of love with football

[BillyStubbsTears]

At the top level at any rate. I always assumed that I would want my kids to be football fanatics, but I really, really don;t want them growing up thinking that THIS is the way to play the game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rWgMci75xc

I am sick to death of seeing cheating shites like this. And Wenger is as much of a disgrace for defending him. This could be stamped out of the game in a week if managers were prepared to address it. They KNOW that their players perfect their dives on the training ground, and they do f**k all about it.

All the more reason to admire some of the honest, dare I say, old-fashioned pros that we have in the squad at the moment. I hated Lewis Guy with a vengeance for being that sort of obnoxious t**t who thought that diving was the way to make up for his lack of ability, intelligence and heart. I admire Rob Jones for being the sort of player that I want my kids to grow up admiring. Honest, straight, committed, courageous. Just what football and footballers should be.

[jonnydog]

Gotta say, I'm quickly losing interest in footy nowadays mysen. Don't get me wrong I love going to watch Rovers and wouldn't miss it for the world. But nowadays I can't be arsed to watch premiershit, Championship (since last season at least!), Champions League or now even England games.

Don't watch any Footy on tv nowadays neither. IMO Gone is the grass roots game, and as such my passion!!

[GazLaz]

There are things wrong with the game but its still the greatest game in the world. Been some fantastic games in the Prem this year.

[CusworthRovers]

At the end of the day, all my life I've always loved watching it, studying it, reading about it, talking about it and playing football. I dislike a lot of what is happening off the field, and this is the sole factor for what is happening on the field.

However, if you strip away all the shite from your mind, it's still 22 players, 1 playing field, 1 ref, 2 lino's, 2 nets and it's still all about skill, hard work, passion, commitment, tactics, desire, will to win, drama and it's still 1 team trying to out-score, out-smart, out-play 1 other team and it's still ordinary kids like me who have made themselves good and put themselves on a playing field that I could only dream about

[5minstogo]

Spot on there CR, it's what is happening off the field that is putting me off what is happening on the field.  I've gone from being football crazy to not having watched a single match so far this season.  I come to this site through habit but find I read Off Topic before Viking Chat.  I'm sure I'll come full circle again.

NB this isn't Rovers specific, just football in general.

[BobG]

I don't watch Match of the Day (MoTD?  30 second goal highlight of the day more like. That's not togger is it? I don't listen to the radio. I haven't supported England for 13 years now for reasons some of you know already. I don't read about footy much either. I loathe a lot of what goes in footy nowadays. I watch the Rovers. I come on here. That's it. Oh. And I don't have Sky either. The pimp of prostitution.

BobG

[Norfolk N Chance]

I don't watch Match of the Day (MoTD?  30 second goal highlight of the day more like. That's not togger is it? I don't listen to the radio. I haven't supported England for 13 years now for reasons some of you know already. I don't read about footy much either. I loathe a lot of what goes in footy nowadays. I watch the Rovers. I come on here. That's it. Oh. And I don't have Sky either. The architect of prostitution.

BobG

Campionship and lower league games much more enjoyable

[MrFrost]

I don't watch Match of the Day (MoTD?  30 second goal highlight of the day more like. That's not togger is it? I don't listen to the radio. I haven't supported England for 13 years now for reasons some of you know already. I don't read about footy much either. I loathe a lot of what goes in footy nowadays. I watch the Rovers. I come on here. That's it. Oh. And I don't have Sky either. The architect of prostitution.

BobG

Campionship and lower league games much more enjoyable

Is that the league for gay footballers?

[RedJ]

I don't watch Match of the Day (MoTD?  30 second goal highlight of the day more like. That's not togger is it? I don't listen to the radio. I haven't supported England for 13 years now for reasons some of you know already. I don't read about footy much either. I loathe a lot of what goes in footy nowadays. I watch the Rovers. I come on here. That's it. Oh. And I don't have Sky either. The architect of prostitution.

BobG

Campionship and lower league games much more enjoyable

Is that the league for gay footballers?

No it's just where the spice boys go when they've had a bit of rough and tumble.

[DancasterRovers]

Completely agree - worrying thing is how much it's started filtering down the leagues as well 

[Chris]

Nothing irritates me more than "experts" and pundits claiming that if there is even the slightest bit of contact on the player, he is entitled to hit the floor. Complete rubbish.

[Wellred]

What really irritates is that the FA could stop this tomorrow.
They are quick to suspend players for violent conduct which the referees miss through the use of video. Why can they not do the same with blatant diving?

[The Red Baron]

What really irritates is that the FA could stop this tomorrow.
They are quick to suspend players for violent conduct which the referees miss through the use of video. Why can they not do the same with blatant diving?

Graham Poll may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he's on the money here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2245544/Santi-Cazorla-face-match-ban--Graham-Poll.html

Basically agrees with what you say. I have to say, so do I.

[graingrover]

Disenchantment for me starts with the disgusting antics and behaviour in the crowd . A camera aimed in the crowd direction will inevitably capture w**king gestures twisted mouths spewing insults kids mimicking their elders ; football's society is pretty sick from most angles. I have fallen out of love to be sure.

[tommy toes]

I'm completely with BST and graingrover on this.
I decided to watch the Manc Derby yesterday. After 10 secons Valencia threw himself to the ground after not being touched and rolled around clutching his leg. Luckily the ref wasn't conned this time.
Cue Fergie berating the 4th official.
Every time a manure player was tackled he stayed down feigning a near death experience.
Players diving used to be confined to the penalty area, now it's all over the pitch.
Dave Jones comes on the tele blaming the ref for not playing on when surrounded by irate Wendies.
The game at the higher level is disgusting.
And the fans who buy into this shite, screaming obscenities at the ref or opposing players with murder in their eyes. It makes me sick.
Thank God there's still the type of fans like us (and most 'lower league' supporters) at Chesterfield when Lewis Guy did one of his ridiculous dives. To a man we had a go at him for diving.
One of the things I liked about our previous manger was his stance against any form of cheating or ref intimidation. They should all be like him in that respect.
And what happened to the Respect policy? More empty soundbites.

[stuey]

I don't watch Match of the Day (MoTD?  30 second goal highlight of the day more like. That's not togger is it? I don't listen to the radio. I haven't supported England for 13 years now for reasons some of you know already. I don't read about footy much either. I loathe a lot of what goes in footy nowadays. I watch the Rovers. I come on here. That's it. Oh. And I don't have Sky either. The pimp of prostitution.

BobG

You dont watch or read about or listen to football, and yet you're SO sure that it's so bad today? Hardly gives the chance to form an educated opinion.

[normal rules]

i fell out with footy at the higher level a long time ago.
that includes the national game.
as soon as too much money gets involved, the football becomes a side show.

my youngest son would not thank you to go watch man u/city et al unless of course rovers drew them in the cup.

at least with rovers (and a few other teams) you still get a feeling its not too far detached from grass roots football

[Red wizard]

Give me a champ, l1,l2 game anyday over the prem. Don't get me wrong I watch it when I'm in but don't go out my way to watch it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Tommy toes

I agree nearly 100% with what you say, but of course O'Driscoll wasn't an angel on this theme. He kept picking Guy week after week, despite his diving.

The game is crying out for high profile managers to rise above the incessant need to win every week and to face up to the fact that the game is being hollowed out from the inside by these cheats. But of course they won't. And so they are as complicit as the cheats themselves.

I have despised Wenger for years as the worst of the bunch. Eagle-eyed whenever his team has been wronged but "I did not see zat" whenever one of his players cheats.

There is nothing more pressing in the game than bringing in retrospective bans for these cheats. Forget goal line technology - honest mistakes even out, but with cheating, you're in a death spiral where everyone ends up doing it because everyone else does. Me, I'd go further and dock a team a point for every case where a player was judged to have dived. It would be stamped out in no time flat. If the will was there. And if the will is not there, they can stuff top flight football because I for one am not interested in cheering on cheating scum.

[Tazemma]

I think the money involved in the game these days has put a lot of people off. The average man just cannot associate with the players at the top level anymore and people are disgusted with the wages they earn for simply playing a game they love.

People don't watch the games with the same passion as they use.

[Red wizard]

Billy, I hate to see players dive. However sometimes they have to to ride the tackle they think is coming. Only sometimes the the other player pulls out a bit. Then it looks like the player trying to ride the tackle has dived. It happened yesterday in the Manchester derby.

[tommy toes]

Ok red wizard, a player anticipates a nasty challenge and jumps out of the way. Why then does said player scream and rollarpound as if his leg has been sheared off.

If a ref sees someone dive he sould be red carded immediatley and banned. If the ref doesn't see it but thr TV does then he shold be banned retrospectively.
That might stop em!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Red

If course that happens sometimes. At least as often it's a case of a player simulating. Cazorla was a perfect case yesterday. Even if there was the merest brush against his LEFT leg, he deliberately pulled up his RIGHT leg half a second later to induce the fall.

It's a cancer in the game. Deliberately honed to con refs and fans.

[BobG]

You dont watch or read about or listen to football, and yet you're SO sure that it's so bad today? Hardly gives the chance to form an educated opinion.
[/quote]

Stuey, I suppose you've forgotten, or never had, the ability to draw conclusions over a period of time and then reach a decision that one implements after mature reflection and consideration of the evidence before you..

BobG

[Red wizard]

Well when there rolling around like the they've been shot then its a blatant dive. That's what needs stopping. Like as been said you could stop it if they dock points.

[MachoMadness]

We live in a weird world today, where diving is publicly abhorred by everyone in football - on the outside, anyway, even though on the inside they all practice it anyway - but playing for a free kick is hailed as intelligent play and is practically a required feature for a footballer to have. The ability to run at a player full tilt, then leave your leg trailing so they catch it is seen in pretty much every game now, at every level. Likewise dallying and stalling on the ball, deliberately holding up play to try and draw a challenge in the penalty area. Players are actively encouraged to fling themselves down at the slightest contact, because that's just intelligent play these days. With that kind of play being openly rewarded, is it any surprise that players just decide to make the small leap to full-on diving? The morals of the situation are f**ked up beyond repair.

This is why I don't think there will be any headway on the diving issue anytime soon. It's not as simple as just banning diving anymore, there are way too many caveats and facets that all fall under simulation for it to ever be that simple. And, of course, as Red says, there's the other side of the coin, where sometimes players do accidentally fall over riding a challenge, so some moderation would be required. How easy would it be to enforce the kind of massive clampdown that would be needed to weed out divers, but to also show moderation and restraint with the media frenzy predictably being all over it?

[BillyStubbsTears]

So there'll be some innocents penalised by mistake.

Tough.

It's a fallible sport. Linesmen get offsides wrong. Refs send off players incorrectly. Mistakes happen.

I'd rather innocent and well-intentioned mistakes be made than us continue to turn a blind eye to cheating.

[MachoMadness]

BST, I absolutely agree with you. Sadly though, taking personal opinions out of it, it's just not viable in this day and age. None of football's governing bodies will ever simply say "tough" and get on with it because it would mean uprooting decades worth of a style of play that is now ingrained in modern footballing culture. As I say, football now seems to be as much about tactically getting the other players booked/sent off to minimise their defensive capabilities as it is focusing on your own attacking capabilities.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Macho

If this is an ingrained culture that cannot be addressed then I'm more convinced than ever that I'm right to fall out if love with top level football. As I said at the start of this thread, I don't want my kids growing up to idolise and mimic w**kers like that.

[eastender]

Diouf ,say no more , the only time i have ever seen an home crowd call for an home player to be sent off.

Millwall at home last season,  losing 3 nil and he decides to dives for the 4th time , the ref calls him over and

 nearly everybody near me in the East Stand rises as one and screams for the ref to send him off , myself included .
 Utter tosspot      Leeds are  to him.