What do you all think of American Football and it’s fans here?

Panrich

I would be an NFL fan and would have followed it from the 80s onwards. It started for me when it was on Channel 4 and we could see it regularly. The pull for me initially was to understand the attraction, and it became fairly popular here in the mid 80s so it gave plenty of opportunity to stay late in the pub watching the likes of the Chicago Bears win Superbowl XX.

I am not really in to the trappings or the hot dogs and have never attended an event or went to a game but I do watch it on Sunday night and keep up to date with news etc. and yes I have booked next Monday off.

I suppose that I'm a sports fan first and foremost, so I follow a few niche sports that others probably don't. The AFL is another of those. Funnily enough, I could never really get into basketball though but I'd probably watch anything else.

I'm probably not the type that you'd have in mind though as a stereotypical NFL fan who has it as a main sporting interest. My main sporting interests would be Gaa, Soccer, Horse Racing and Golf.

DraftDodger

KaneToad wrote: »

I've been to NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB games. All entertaining in different ways. The only one I'd be bothered looking at on TV would be NBA.

The average American sports fan really likes their precision stats. Although this is creeping into 'our' sports now...rugby/soccer now record the most obscure of stats...

Yeah absolutely. Pet hate of that of recent for me with the football. Also all the video assistant referee bollox. I guess it's the American owners getting their claws into everything. How long before the game is broken up into 4 quarters?

A2LUE42

Going to games here in Ireland for the local teams, it can be quite entertaining, but attendance numbers would be similar to Junior rugby. Participants are a mix of fans of the sport from Ireland and Americans living/studying here.

granturismo

Omackeral wrote: »

American Football, Gridiron, NFL... whatever you want to call it. ..?

American throwball. There seems to be very little kicking of the ball.

Stevieluvsye

Apparently NBA games are good but again i think the prices to attend can be enormous. Not sure what kind of fanbase NHL has. Baseball too, i'm assuming that's more of the hispanic population

Omackeral

Panrich wrote: »

and yes I have booked next Monday off.

I love this. Load of munchies or beers on Sunday night?

Omackeral

granturismo wrote: »

American throwball. There seems to be very little kicking of the ball.

:P

I see sheep

I wouldn't say it's a 'niche' following at all, anyone I know who loves watching sport loves American Football once they've watched it a few times and understand what's going on. It's much more exciting to watch than soccer/Gaelic football imo.

Fuzzy Logic

Omackeral wrote: »

American Football, Gridiron, NFL... whatever you want to call it. I can’t place it in Irish society. Is it niche? Is it popular? Is it somewhere in between? What’s the profile of the Irish NFL fan?

Can't beat the obligatory Super Bowl week/NFL bashing threads to appear.

Stevieluvsye

I see sheep wrote: »

I wouldn't say it's a 'niche' following at all, anyone I know who loves watching sport loves American Football once they've watched it a few times and understand what's going on. It's much more exciting to watch than soccer/Gaelic football imo.

I would say your wrong

I'd agree about Gaelic maybe. Stupid sport. Along with that other one with the sticks

Omackeral

Fuzzy Logic wrote: »

Can't beat the obligatory Super Bowl week/NFL bashing threads to appear.

What’s bashing in the OP? At all?

I see sheep

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

I would say your wrong

I'd agree about Gaelic maybe. Stupid sport. Along with that other one with the sticks

Fair enough, I've watched soccer all my life but imo soccer matches are much duller by and large.

Re. hurling - Limerick are boring to watch in fairness but any match with 2 out of Tipp/Galway/Kilkenny playing each other is the finest sporting match on the planet. :cool:

Panrich

Omackeral wrote: »

I love this. Load of munchies or beers on Sunday night?

I'll be having a few beers alright but not as much these days.

Sugarlumps

I enjoy it, like many have mentioned its long winded. There’s no flow to most American sports.

Buttros

Ive been watching it since college so about 20 years. Id watch most sports to be fair and will give most things a go. Some I dont stick with others I do. I could easily end up watching 5 or 6 different live sports on a weekend when the options are there.

I'll watch redzone every Sunday which is class. Non stop action. Love the playoffs too. I like the limited number of games. Each loss is important in a 16 game regular season. With other american sports you can lose a silly amount of games and still make the playoffs. The short season compared to other sports mean I never get overloaded and bored due to constant blanket coverage (soccer cough cough)

The more I understood the schemes and tactics the more I enjoyed it. Soccer fans will say NFL is too stop start. NFL fans will say soccer is boring because nothing happens. Both are right for most games.

Prefab Sprouter

Been a fan of American Football since the 80s when I saw the first Superbowl televised on Channel 4, Raiders against the Redskins. Obsessively follow the Raiders ever since.

Yes I have Monday night off. Like other Sports too. Prefer Battlefield series of games to Call of Duty. Am I a nerd? Yeah probably. Thats some of the American Football fan stereotypes ticked off.

The stereotypes go both ways though!

So, you are out in Irish society and you are asked "What do you think of American Football" and you answer in the affirmative, there are a number of different types of people who respond to you:

There's the "All that padding, not a REAL game like Rugby/GAA/Soccer" (delete the sport as appropriate)

You could meet the "Whats with all the stops and starts, that just makes it boring" person

There is the "Thats not football, thats Hand Egg" response as well

You also get the person whose eyes glaze over before you have finished your first sentence, almost wishing the person who asked the initial question could have just shut up!

Its a niche sport, I get it. But you do tend to come across the above quite a bit. So I dont tend to answer enthusiastically anymore.

OneEightSeven

It's boring and the ads are blatant false advertising. We got Sky Digital on the week of its soft launch in June 1998, enabling me to watch wrestling and Premier League football for the first time in 4 years. Along came January and Sky Sports begin airing ads for the Superbowl. It looked like the greatest sport ever. Flying shoulder tackles. Crunching shoulder checks. Men being flipped into the air and landing hard on the turf. Hot women in cheerleader outfits. Even though I stayed up 'til 4 a.m on a school night the previous Sunday night to watch the Royal Rumble, I decided I must watch this sport and had high expectations.

I sat there for half an hour wondering when all the hard-hitting action begins, but the ref kept blowing the whistle every 10 seconds to interrupt play, which was very frustrating. It was very anti-climatic and I decided it's not worth going into to school tired following morning, so I went to bed and never watched the sport since. Out of all brands of football, it's by far the worst of the lot and it's also the least deserving of the title "football" seeing as they rarely use their feet.

FatherTed

I've been in the US for a long time and although I've been to Giants Stadium/Meadowlands over 20 times(concerts/soccer), I haven't had the stomach to go to an NFL game. I've been to a few college games locally like Yale-Harvard which is good fun and also High School games as my nephew was a kicker on his HS team.

As for the NFL, there are only actually 8 minutes of action per game i.e. snap to snap. When you add in there is the offensive and defense teams, a player on average would see only 4 minutes of action per game. Also, a stupid name, Football.... on an NFL gameday roster of 47 players only two(kicker and punter) will actually use their foot lol. Plus some players can go through a whole 10 year career never having touched the ball.

raven41

Been watching it since Channel 4 televised it in the 80s. Following NY Jets since then, Ken OBrien being the very Irish sounding quarterback in those days. Have only been to one game which was in Thomond Park, college football between Notre Dame and Navy if I remember correctly. On a side note, met a few of the players in a bar afterwards bt chance and it was like a scene from Animal House, complete with togas and general drinking/rowdyness.
I feel there is a good game waiting to get out. Yes iti is stop start by nature and I do believe the constant advertisements ruin the flow. Suppose revenue comes from tv and as such its a case of he who pays the piper etc.
Will stay up to watch SB on Sunday. Cant help but think much more entertaining games take part in earlier part of the season.

Hulk Hands

callaway92 wrote: »

I generally associate it with people who weren't good at Soccer or GAA (and in-turn not fans of them) when growing up and had to find a different Sport to be a fan of and have knowledge of then.

It was maybe like that 15 years ago with the weird wrestling wannabe American types. It's gone completely mainstream now. Any Soccer/GAA team ive been around in the last few years have had loads interested. You can see that by the amount of city bars that have it on TV's on a Sunday eve

Your typical group of lads nowadays who like soccer, gambling and pints are very likely to be at least passing fans of it

Match going experiences in the US are expensive but generally shiit all over Soccer and Rugby here in terms of value and atmosphere. Not to mention the absolutely mental stadiums which are a sight in their own right

Mr. CooL ICE

Only know one person who watches it beyond the superbowl. He's 50ish, has a young family and works in manufacturing. He follows two sports religiously; hurling and AF.

I tried staying up to watch it years ago with friends but just passed out I was so tired. Have a rough understanding of what's happening due to getting Madden NFL on the megadrive back in the 90s.

beauf

Omackeral wrote: »

American Football, Gridiron, NFL... whatever you want to call it. I can’t place it in Irish society. Is it niche? Is it popular? Is it somewhere in between? What’s the profile of the Irish NFL fan?

Why would you want to profile the fans? That's really odd.

American football originating from the sports of soccer and rugby.

In the United States, American football is referred to as "football".[4] The term "football" was officially established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season, when the sport first shifted from soccer-style rules to rugby-style rules. Although it could easily have been called "rugby" at this point, Harvard, one of the primary proponents of the rugby-style game, compromised and did not request the name of the sport be changed to "rugby".[5] The terms "gridiron" or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other types of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia.[6][7]

I would only watch the highlights now and then, as it much shorter and they go the analysis and tactics and how it fits in the season strategy.

BrianBoru00

KaneToad wrote: »

I've been to NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB games. All entertaining in different ways. The only one I'd be bothered looking at on TV would be NBA.

The average American sports fan really likes their precision stats. Although this is creeping into 'our' sports now...rugby/soccer now record the most obscure of stats...

Don't be ridiculous - just because 22.22% of your posts are in After Hours doesn't mean you're correct in your assertion*














* Yes, I did go to the trouble of working that out

beauf

Looking at stats in Sports has been going on a long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabermetrics

IAMAMORON

I watch it like any other sport. It can get interesting if games are tight in the last 1/4 of the game. But it is a walking television programme, as opposed to be a sport that I am all that energised about. When the pubs were open those Sunday night NFL friendly boozers in town were great places to pick up hot American chicks too. Gamey as.

Seemingly in the States if you don't make it as a professional player the game is over for you? There are no amateur leagues or local clubs. So you either get a College scholarship as a teenager, with a view to turning pro, or you don't play any more. When I first learnt that I was gobsmacked.

RTighe

Sure it's a sport here. But it does have its following here in Ireland. Especially when you look at the fact that Ireland itself (pre-covid) had 3 divisions with approx 24+ teams spread over said divisions.

There's also a non contact version called flag football (think Tag Rugby) Which was slowly gaining a good following here in Ireland. this has gone from one division with 8 teams to two divisions with over 14 teams as of Feb 2019. There is hope that there will be a fully formed irish Team that will partake in international events when the sport resumes. We've seen good success already with Two teams from Ireland competing in Manchester in 2018 at the "Jags 7" finishing in 3rd and 4th overall out of 20+ international Teams

I've been involved with the local contact team here in Kildare, and also the Non contact (Flag) Team in Edenderry for the last few years. Obviously thanks to Covid-19 There hasn't been any training or games since March 2020. but we're hoping all going well we might be able to return to the game later this year,

The players range from 18- 60 (various trades, walks of life etc) some play because they enjoy the game, some because its something different. There's plenty of friendly rivalry amongst the teams and some not so friendly.

Speaking for myself (and only myself) i can see why some take to it a and some don't. I've been keeping an eye on NFl season this year purely to see if Kansas can do two in a row.

If anyone is looking for further information on American football in Ireland here's a link for more information

https://www.americanfootball.ie/

If anyone has any questions about American Football in Ireland i'll do my best to answer, and i hope i havent derailed the thread!

Many thanks

Robbie

Mad_maxx

american football is sh1t

Church on Tuesday

I think it's a poor sport but to each their own.

I find you have to be a fan of all things Americana to get something from it.

RTighe

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

I think it's a poor sport but to each their own.

I find you have to be a fan of all things Americana to get something from it.

I dont know about the Americana element. I know for myself and a lot of my team mates it was to try something new and since it's still a growing sport there's a lot to be said for it.

for example you don't have to be athletic and be able to sprint a minute mile in order to make it to the team.

but I understand where you are coming from

beauf

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

I think it's a poor sport but to each their own.

I find you have to be a fan of all things Americana to get something from it.

I see so I don't like C&W music. So I can't get anything from a sport.
Do you have like Leprechauns to like Irish sports.

Makes perfect sense.