Fatigue with the modern game

ILikeBananas

When I was a teenager in the 90's I was football mad. I used watch MoTD, the FA and league cups and the european competitions religously. I still have my Panini 93/94 premier league sticker album (along with about 6 Mauricio Taricco "swaps") and the posters that I used hang on my wall from Match and Shoot magazines.

As I got older though I got less and less interested in the game. It's got to the stage now that I couldn't even be bothered competing in a Fantasy Premier League competition with my mates. When I told my friend who was organising it that I wasn't entering this year he shot back that obviously I wasn't "as interested in football as he thought I was".

Here's the reply I sent him.

You're right I'm not into football as much as you thought. The two major reasons:

1. The amount of 'gamesmanship' nowadays. People rolling around like they've been shot. People running up to the ref with their imaginary cards asking for their opponents to be booked. The complete and utter lack of respect for the ref. Watch a match and no matter how obvious a foul is if it's anywhere near the box at least one person will try and talk the ref out of it-why do they do this-has this ever worked ever? It's horrible to watch and if I had a son I'd be encouraging him to play hurling or better yet rugby where people have respect for each other, the game, refs and most of all themselves.

2. Money money money. That's all that matters anymore. It's led to the death of everything except for the Premier league and the Champions League. When we were teenagers the other trophies mattered-now they''re a sideshow. And then even for the big two competitions there are probably 3 teams (4 at a stretch) who can win the Premier League and maybe 12 (being generous) who can win the champions League. The international game has also suffered because of this. Players don't give a damn about clubs anymore so long as they earn as much as possible. All this crest kissing is a load of rubbish when a few months later they're threatening to leave unless they get another zero added onto their wage packet. They certainly couldn't give two *****s about the fans paying their wages.

Good luck to them. That's the way the game has gone so I guess you have to just fall in and do the same as everyone else. I won't be supporting it though.

Watching sport is meant to be escapsim from the real world. But with all this cheating and greed it is just the real world reflected back on the pitch.

I'll still play soccer when I get the chance and I'll still watch (and care about) international matches but I couldn't care less about the club game.

So how about the rest of you. Do you still love the game as much as when you were a kid or have you grown weary with the game over the years?

The_Kew_Tour

I am not as addicted as I used to be...I nearly know more about games in 90's then do now.

But I still love it. Go to quite few games be it LOI for Cork City or home and away trips to see Man United or Internationals..

I tend to enjoy watching more games now and enjoy the experience going different grounds and countries the and so on

I think the big difference is that I am over disappointing results more quickly..

Best example may be with Ireland. I got over the France game in Paris even though I was there even more then say Macedonia in 99 which actually still hurts everytime I see it mentioned

stovelid

There is more to football than the highest level.

And I'm not not just pimping one league.

There's football everywhere these days outside of the few top leagues whether it be her in Ireland or other leagues.

IrishIrish

Your friend must really regret inviting you to join his fantasy football league.

28064212

Comparing yourself at 20+ to yourself as a teenager is pretty meaningless. The 20+ year-olds when you were a teenager were thinking the same way you are now. Compare your teenage self to today's teenage football fans and I'd say the differences won't be near as much as you imagine them to be

CSF

stovelid wrote: »

There is more to football than the highest level.

And I'm not not just pimping one league.

There's football everywhere these days outside of the few top leagues whether it be her in Ireland or other leagues.

Exactly what I was going to say. If you've become disillusioned with the massively overpaid primadonnas there is football everywhere.

Mongarra

I feel very similar to ILikeBananas about the way the game has gone since greed overtook the players, or, maybe, more accurately, their agents.

It may be that commentators, analysts and/or pundits do not speak their minds when it comes to players cheating. When a ball goes out of play both players in contention claim the corner/goalkick/throw-in. When a player dives the opposition wait until the referee decides whether a free will be given to their team. If not play continues. If given, one or more will immediately aggressively shout at the offending player, most times still on the ground, presumably in an attempt to have the diver booked. In this case I think one is as bad as the other. Wasting time has been around for years but how often do we see a player, other than a goalkeeper, being booked for it. Has it become acceptable through habit?

If the commentators called a spade a spade and openly voiced their opinions instead of pussyfooting or using euphemisms (example: "Simulation" for cheating/diving) maybe the players might eventually be shamed into proper behaviour. If referees were more serious about the cheating examples above, and including taking throw-ins or frees from a further 10/15 yards up the pitch, feigning injury (how many times do we see a player appearing to have a career- or life-threatening injury rise miraculously when no free is given to him), limping badly one minute and flying past a defender the next, then the behaviour of players might improve. I don't necessarily want a flurry of yellow or red cards in every game but in the short term it might be preferable to letting things get out of hand as they appear to be doing.

I have been a member of a league of Ireland club for over 40 years and have paid my sub again this year, mainly to help with club finances although my own are pretty poor at present, but I have not been to a game this season. I have, frankly, lost interest because of the above type of player behaviour. And, of course, it is not confined to league of Ireland.

Isn't Lionel Messi a breath of fresh air. Long may he thrive and continue giving the message that sportsmanship and success can go together.

BOHtox

People don't dive or roll around in the LOI and there's no money there either, is that what you're looking for OP?

eugeneious

As a teenager myself, I love football and have done since I was about 7 or 8 but I'm getting increasingly frustrated about how much money has become a factor in gaining success. It saddens me to think that a club could feasibly go from fighting relegation to challenging for a title within 4 or 5 years all because they have a mega rich owner and they haven't earned it by developing their club properly. The FFP rules gave me some hope but there needs to more done i.e some kind of wage limit has to be introduced and a fairer spread of tv money among all the leagues.

The biggest reason I'm becoming more frustrated with football is the continuous ignorance portrayed by FIFA regarding what fans, player, clubs, managers, referees etc. want. IMO the fact that the governing body of a sport can't be trusted and is seen by most as the biggest problem with the sport, says to me that football is heading in the wrong direction. Despite all of this I will continue to support my club but I can't help but feel the sport is and will continue to be less enjoyable unless major changes are made.

pablomakaveli

I've lost a lot of interest over the last few years. Used to watch EPL,SPL, LOI european and internationals but nowadays only really pay attention to LOI and maybe a glance at the rest.

Couldn't really put a finger on why though.

ILikeBananas

stovelid wrote: »

There is more to football than the highest level.

And I'm not not just pimping one league.

There's football everywhere these days outside of the few top leagues whether it be her in Ireland or other leagues.

Yes there is, but the standard is not as high and any of the decent players are just trying to make a name for themselves so that they can move up to one of the bigger leagues. It's therefore not as interesting to watch as is borne out by the half empty stadia that are common away from the top leagues.

28064212 wrote: »

Comparing yourself at 20+ to yourself as a teenager is pretty meaningless. The 20+ year-olds when you were a teenager were thinking the same way you are now. Compare your teenage self to today's teenage football fans and I'd say the differences won't be near as much as you imagine them to be

Well I'm also comparing myself to the friends who I grew up with who are still huge fans of the premier league.

IrishIrish wrote: »

Your friend must really regret inviting you to join his fantasy football league.

lol yeah although the only reason he wants me to join is that it's fifty quid entry, he's won it the past two seasons and it's winner takes all.

Mr. Denton

I still love the game from a technical and analytical point of view and am interested in watching the best players and managers pit skills and wits to see who is best, but I've really not genuinely cared about any given team or tournament outcome since I was about 14. There's the occasional exception to this rule (eg I wanted Greece to win Euro 2004 just to show tactics can beat skill on a given occasion) but only a few.

You mention gamesmanship and money as the things that turn you off but tbh the one thing that puts me off football the most is the fans. I really have no time for the "them" and "us" football fans who have alligned themselves with a particular city/jersey and have create sort of fantasy bubble around themselves in which they feel themselves are part of some sort of group effort that essentially has nothing to do with them.

Just as bad is this this attitude they have that the players "owe them". Even the stories of some Pats fans tonight booing their own players just shows how out of touch some football fans are with reality. Many fans are essentially just grown men using the occasion to act like children. I can do without that aspect of the experience.

Helix

the magic is definitely gone for the most part for me, mainly due to the stupid money in the game

CantGetNoSleep

It would be better if players only got paid each time they played, I wonder how many of them would bitch out of a match away to Stoke on a rainy Tuesday night in the League Cup then?

Benimar

I agree with a lot of what the OP said. I'm a regular LOI attendee so am aware that there is more to football than the EPL, La Liga etc, but its those leagues that we all hear about.

For me, the Champions League has been the ruination of football for me. The old European Cup was great, a straight knockout. If Man U got Barcelona in Round 1 - tough, one of them would be out. With the current system, most of us could pick the last 8 already.

Now it's all about money. Players, in general, lack loyalty. The amount of diving, cheating and card waving that goes on and is allowed to go in is ruining the game.

I used to love international tournaments and the FA Cup Final. Now they mean nothing, because they don't matter to the players who are only interested in the CL and money.

And don't get me started on players being 'rested'!

I know a lot will disagree, especially about the CL, but give me the old European Cup any day.

Neil3030

I too have become a bit tired of modern football this side of the Atlantic. The NFL has even better paid and even more egotistical players, but through tight regulation and collective bargaining, things are kept in control. I don't ever see that happening in the English Premier League.

Test cricket and GAA would probably be my 2 main sports to watch over here now.

stovelid

ILikeBananas wrote: »

It's therefore not as interesting to watch .
.

Speak for yourself.

If you love football, you would watch anything from Barca down to kids playing in the park.

pbowenroe

i felt just like you did OP after the night Thierry Henry cheated Ireland out of world cup place. put me right off the sport

parker kent

Mr. Denton wrote: »

I still love the game from a technical and analytical point of view and am interested in watching the best players and managers pit skills and wits to see who is best, but I've really not genuinely cared about any given team or tournament outcome since I was about 14. There's the occasional exception to this rule (eg I wanted Greece to win Euro 2004 just to show tactics can beat skill on a given occasion) but only a few.

You mention gamesmanship and money as the things that turn you off but tbh the one thing that puts me off football the most is the fans. I really have no time for the "them" and "us" football fans who have alligned themselves with a particular city/jersey and have create sort of fantasy bubble around themselves in which they feel themselves are part of some sort of group effort that essentially has nothing to do with them.

Just as bad is this this attitude they have that the players "owe them". Even the stories of some Pats fans tonight booing their own players just shows how out of touch some football fans are with reality. Many fans are essentially just grown men using the occasion to act like children. I can do without that aspect of the experience.

Being part of a collective is one of the core reasons for an awful lot of football fans. The camaraderie, the sense of belonging, singing in the rain with thousands of others, putting an arm around a stranger to console them in Paris after the Henry disaster...all these things are examples of the emotion of football. Sure I love football from an aesthetic point of view. It's why I try to read, watch and learn as much as I can about the history of football. But I always come back to passion and emotion of the fans. That is what drives the game, keeps it alive and makes it the number one sport in the world. That sense of community is what made football stand out from rugby in the 19th Century. Soccer is the game of the community and you seem to completely miss that "aspect of the experience".

Sure there are idiots and knuckle draggers, but you get them in everything.

Paully D

Some good points made in this thread.

I also find myself getting more and more disillusioned with the sport. The money is ruining it for me.

Years ago you had managers like Brian Clough who could go to a club like Forest or Derby and turn them into League and European Cup challengers/winners. There's not a hope of that ever happening in the game now unless an Arab is looking for a new toy. The rich get richer, only about 4 clubs can realistically have any hope of winning the league, a further two or three with ambitions of Europa League football and the rest have to be happy with staying in the division they're in. As soon as they develop/unearth a player that turns out to be anyway decent one of the aforementioned bigger clubs will take him away. This can be good for some clubs who rely on these sort of sales to keep afloat, reinvest the money in the transfer market etc, but it is frustrating for many fans too.

Also, back in the day it was easy to identify with the players. 90% of them meant it when they said things like ''the love the club'' etc and they were, with the odd exception, all just normal blokes who were glad for the talent the had. Nowadays the players would sell their own mothers for more money, a lot don't care about the game, and abuse their status and fame.

I still do love Sunderland, I go to watch them numerous times during the year and I'd watch as many games as I can on TV (through the use of streaming sites), but I find myself getting more and more frustrated with each passing year. I don't think it'll ever get to the stage where I snap altogether and try to cut myself off from the footballing world.

Money has ruined the game and cut off the working class fan who helped to build the game to what it is these days though, which is sad.

I'd like to see the game impload!

CSF

Paully D wrote: »

Money has ruined the game and cut off the working class fan who helped to build the game to what it is these days though, which is sad.

No that was the influx of foreign fans which created this money.

Equium

I have to say that I'm in agreement with almost everything said so far. Money has, in many ways, ruined football. It has gone from being a sport that brings communities together to a sensationalised business world where plastic 'fans' bicker about who has signed the latest over-paid mercenary.

I find this very sad. At the end of the day it's the real fans who lose out... It's hard to have an affinity with your local club (I'm talking about England primarily) when it is owned and staffed by people unconnected with the area. To my mind anyway, the quality of football hasn't even increased that much as a result of the influx of money. In the 15 years or so that I've followed the support, I think that both the overall quality and competitiveness has actually dropped markedly. Teams like Barcelona are, of course, an exception to this, but even they have made things more predictable!

And yet I'll still follow games religiously next season. The reason? Because yesterday I went out and played the sport, and experienced the magic that only football can bring. I'd advise anyone else feeling tired of football to do the same thing!

Saint_Mel

As has been said, I dont think your disillusioned with the sport ... just disillusioned with the Leagues you have been giving most of your attention to.

Get down to a LoI club, or even better get involved with one in any capacity and it can re-ingite the passion.
If LoI isnt your cuppa then turn your attention to your local junior club.

Theres a lot more to football than watching the game on tv or travelling abroad a handful of weekends. If you shop local, at whatever level, you can get to games almost every week, see and be actually part of the local rivalry. Feel a real excitement of winning a game when you know the players and know what ot really means to the club.

I'm fairly lucky in that my nearest League of Ireland club is 5 minutes from me and there are a flock of Junior sides all within a 10 minute driving radius so I get to 2 or 3 games every weekend.