What is it with Football "fans"

[DodgyAgent]

It is a cultural mindset that is associated with football that I find so disgusting. I know rugby players and rugby supporters who are not tribal or aggressive about who they support. But these same people change abruptly when conversations change to football; the fists become clenched and the word hate is used extensively when references are made to other teams.

[Doggy Styles]

With rugby, the vicious hooligans are on the pitch. Except Alan Quinlan of course.

[bogeyman]

Well yes, that’s what it became when the footy club played play-offs for promotion to the Dutch premier division (they lost and remain in Jupiler league). It’s a shame; I know a few of the players and they’re generally quite a good crowd, not the pumped up egos you read about in the press, but good professional sportsmen, earning a respectable living but no more than that, who feel let down when the ‘fans’ go on the rampage. On the one hand, I saw their disappointment at failing to get promotion, but heaven knows what kind of trouble it would have brought if the Feyenoord neo-Nazis came to town every year.

True. Lots of people say it's the players' fault. I don't think it is. The professional players I have met (ordinary ones, not superstars) were nice blokes - not thugs and idiots.

Football just gives thugs and hooligans something to focus on. But it is something about the game itself, too.

Why does this not happen with rugby or cricket or whatever sport, where the fans and players are merely friendly rivals, who will share a pint or ten after the match, and all go home in good company?

[sasguru]

So we're agreed that football fans are the rump end of society.

[DimPrawn]

So we're agreed that football fans are the rump end of society.

Yes.

[bogeyman]

Yes.

Blimey! Consensus all round!

Must be a first for CUK.

[snaw]

But it is something about the game itself, too.

Dunno. Thing is you can only ever go from your own experience, and I've been to a tonne of games and watch a tonne of games and know a tonne of people who do likewise. And you know what, not since the late 80's/early 90's have I seen a whiff of the trouble there used to be.

Actually - here's a good link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ents_in_sports

Actually, look at the last few years: Basketball, AFL, American Football, NHL, Baseball, Cricket, Rugby League ...

I think we're propagating a myth here by the looks of it.

[shaunbhoy]

So we're agreed that football fans are the rump end of society.

Yes sg, you and some other lightweights have all agreed that you can pigeonhole the tens of millions around the world who follow football as thick-headed violent hooligans. Nothing like a balanced judgment..........and that is exactly what your statement and conclusion was.
You must find the real world a difficult place to operate in with your need for black and white answers that seldom exist. Most would put that rather simplistic outlook down to a limited intellect, and most would be right to do so. Jog on jellyhead!

[DimPrawn]

Yes sg, you and some other lightweights have all agreed that you can pigeonhole the tens of millions around the world who follow football as thick-headed violent hooligans. Nothing like a balanced judgment..........and that is exactly what your statement and conclusion was.
You must find the real world a difficult place to operate in with your need for black and white answers that seldom exist. Most would put that rather simplistic outlook down to a limited intellect, and most would be right to do so. Jog on jellyhead!

You're going home in a Devonshire ambulance!
You're going home in a Devonshire ambulance!
You're going home in a Devonshire ambulance!

[sasguru]

Yes sg, you and some other lightweights have all agreed that you can pigeonhole the tens of millions around the world who follow football as thick-headed violent hooligans. Nothing like a balanced judgment..........and that is exactly what your statement and conclusion was.
You must find the real world a difficult place to operate in with your need for black and white answers that seldom exist. Most would put that rather simplistic outlook down to a limited intellect, and most would be right to do so. Jog on jellyhead!

Ah you're back SB. Although "back" to what is a moot point, given the turgid, yet feeble electric impulses that you fondly pass off as thoughts.