Football - Damn, my passion has gone

[lazyitus]

Never thought I'd say that.

From the age of about 3, I loved it. Now as I approach what could be described as middle aged, I'm beginning to struggle enjoying the game which I loved with a passion.

I suppose the rot was setting in about 5 years ago and I finally relinquished my 20 year old Manchester United season ticket 2 seasons ago. Price was one factor but quite frankly, I was becoming bored. Dunno if this is because we won everything or not but the ticket's gone. Don't get me wrong, I still love my team and occassionally still visit Old Trafford but the die-hard attitude I had is no more.

I've just turned down a free ticket for Liverpool v United on Sunday. Years ago, I'd have paid a tidy sum but I simply can't be arsed anymore.

England in the World Cup last year.. I just wasn't bothered. OK, so I watched the England games (regrettably) but didn't go out of my way to enjoy many others which I'd have watched without fail 5 years ago.

What's happened to me ?

Maybe it's things like Ashley Cole shooting people and nobody gives a fk, but as a gesture he gets a 2 week wage fine of £250,000.00. WHAT ? A quarter of a million pounds in 2 weeks!?!? W.T.F ?? And I'm not singling out Cole. United's players earn similarly hideous amounts to this. It's monumentally crazy as it is with all clubs, even smaller clubs that pay nothing like the big four are still paying indecent amounts of wages. Out of control. And Rooney - leaving, staying, leaving, staying, playing st, scoring infrequently and growling round the pitch, elbowing people. How much are you on? It's seriously fked up this.

The big money men turning average teams like Man City and Chelsea into ludicrously expensive toys to piss about with. My Citeh mates are obviously pleased and why wouldn't they be? They've got a fair crack at competing for honours now so good on them. But even my Citeh mates know that if they do win anything, then some of the glory is missing, surely? It's a fabrication, like so much of the other st that surrounds the game nowadays. As is Uniteds status with a debt the size of that.

And the rowdy 'fans'. One of which I used to be. I've seen so many fights in grounds, in the street, in the pubs. Why? Really, why? I used to sort of understand it but I simply look at them now with the words 'Bell End' in my mind. Is it just my age ?

I dunno. I'm partly annoyed that my passion has shrunk but more annoyed that the game I loved so much is no longer there.

[boobles]

Have you tried going along to a couple of "local" games where you live to see if this helps?
I sometimes get really frustarted with my team (Forest) & sometimes question my loyalty but I always get over it & support my beloved team. I often go along to watch our local team (Andover Lions) & this only makes me love Forest even more. (No disrespect intended). I also play every Saturday & Sunday which also keeps me motivated & without this, I am sure my love for the game would slowly fade away. I am almost 35 & I am guessing that you arean't that far ahead of me so why not either play or go into coaching to see if this brings back the love for the game?

[lazyitus]

boobles said:

why not either play or go into coaching to see if this brings back the love for the game?

I went to see Crewe Alex play recently with my lad. 4,000 people and cold. I did actually enjoy it for the earthy feel but not enough to warrant going there every week.

I think it's beyond bringing back in all honesty. I'd rather invest my time and money following motorsport.

[MikeyT]

lazyitus said:

Maybe it's things like Ashley Cole shooting people and nobody gives a fk, but as a gesture he gets a 2 week wage fine of £250,000.00. WHAT ? A quarter of a million pounds in 2 weeks!?!? W.T.F ?? And I'm not singling out Cole. United's players earn similarly hideous amounts to this. It's monumentally crazy as it is with all clubs, even smaller clubs that pay nothing like the big four are still paying indecent amounts of wages. Out of control. And Rooney - leaving, staying, leaving, staying, playing st, scoring infrequently and growling round the pitch, elbowing people. How much are you on? It's seriously fked up this.

I'm surprised it's taken you so long to realise. I just wish a lot of others would wake up - namely the press and the public. Give it what, another 5-10 years. It might have gone full circle then.

We have a Prem League of three divisions. I suggest the top four or six fk off to a European League of maybe 24 and leave everyone else to fight it out.

You can tell what is going to happen in the league by the middle of September, so how it carries people's interestis beyond me. it's one of about three or four clubs. And that is it. Boring.

[Derek Smith]

Try rugby. Great fun, the crowds are entirely different, there is little play acting and at the moment it is a man's game. If there's a bit of a punch up them no one really cares.

I was dragged away from the 'beautiful game' when my lad succumed to the dark side when he showed talent for rugby at school. I'd always liked it and didn't know all that much about football (I supported Charlton) and all of a sudden it was worth turning out every week to support my lad.

It's got problems but greedy players sucking money from the sport without giving much back is not one of them. If a player doesn't try that hard on the pitch he's as likely to be hit by one of his own team as by an opponent.

And one thing I like is that you can stand with the opposing sides supporters and have fun with them.

[curlie467]

I have never been in that deep but understand where you are coming from. I love bike racing, motogp, wsb, bsb etc etc i have been watching for donkeys years, never missing a race but over the last couple of seasons my enthusiasm is waning and i just cant put my finger on it. Its almost like i have better things to do than sit in front of a telly!!!

[Legend83]

I think the only thing that keeps me interested in football is the fact I support a Championship team.

I don't give a rats arse about the Premiership - money has made it ludicrous. Sad to say, I almost don't want the Swans to get promoted purely because it is such a modest, well run club.

We turned a profit of £500k in the 2010 FY. We don't buy expensive players, we don't loan expensive players (ala Cardiff). The board of Directors has taken £110k between them out the club since 2002.

I feel like all that hard work and commitment might be ruined if we reach the "promised land". Fair play, the board and the players would deserve the pay-rise that comes with it.

[wolves_wanderer]

I know what you mean. The England world cup debacle pretty much summed it up for me. People look at me like I'm a mental when I tell them that I couldn't really care less if Wolves get relegated, but what is the best we can hope for? Mid-table respectability? A cup run? We're as far away from becoming a big club as we were in the Championship (a league where you can't predict the winner from year to year and, for Wolves at least, you can go to a game without having to be a member or have a season ticket.

I still love the game and watched a lot of the other world cup games and enjoyed seeing the passion and how much it mattered to some of the "younger" countries. I can't really get excited about results any more. The shallow, mercenary "passion" of most players doesn't help, and nor do the constant craven complaints about refereeing decisions to distract attention from players' or manager's shortcomings.

I've been to watch Peterborough a couple of times but, nice as it is to stand and watch a game for the first time in ages, I don't really care who wins.

Maybe for me it has been too long since I've been to a live game at Wolves, there is still nothing to match walking up the stairs on a weekday evening and seeing the floodlit stadium open up in front of you as the noise of the crowd hits.

I think the game feels less special as there are so many games on, pretty much constantly now. It also seems to be an age thing as my gf's dad feels the same about Arsenal, having been a proper fan in his youth.

[omgus]

I completely understand the feeling OP, I used to have to make an effort to check the match reports now, i used to follow every game, record any highlights that might show my team and watch any that was on tv.

Last 2 years has found me not being bothered, the WC was the final nail in the coffin as an England fan, and i do still follow my team half heartedly but my passion for football left a few seasons ago.

[GTDNB]

thread made me think of this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p007803w/that_mi...

I feel roughly the same about my main passion of the last 15 years. it all got a bit repetitive and the excitement has gradually diminished. I've really turned my back on it now and am getting stuck into something completely different which hopefully won't do my ears so much damage!

[R1 Loon]

I chucked my season ticket for United in at the end of last season after 29 years. I knew it was time when walking to the United v Chelsea title decider at Easter last year, I was thinking what else I could be doing.

I think it just got boring expecting to win every game, plus a match at 3pm on a Saturday was a luxury and with only 4 a season it was getting stupid.

I haven't missed going at all this year and it's another £1200 a year to fund my trackday addiction.

[North West Tom]

Can I have the ticket?

[mattviatura]

I have some sympathy with this view. For me it started when that greasy git Ronaldo held Manchester United to ransom while clearly wanting to leave. The non-performance of England last year compounded it.

I also hate the way the footballers exist on a plane above the rest of us legally. I clearly saw footage of Steven Gerrard punching a man in a bar. If I'd taken an air rifle out and shot someone I'd have been arrested at gunpoint. Etc. etc.

At the start of this season I made a conscious decision not to get caught up in football this time around but it isn't possible to drop an allegiance and I find myself looking for results or popping Radio 5 on if I'm working of an evening.

That said I've never been obsessive, I can't quite believe the levels football is elevated to in this country and actually find it repulsive that a game can be reported on the news prior to an actual story.

[BiggusLaddus]

Snap.

I still love my club, but any general interest in the game has long gone. I never bother with neutral games, except when I forced myself to watch Arsenal-Barcelona as everyone seemed to be convinced it would be an incredible spectacle - thought it was 'ok'.

The final nail in the coffin has been this years Six Nations. Pl football has been getting more and more boring for years as teams get more and more defensive and now that the rugby is more expansive it is now, IMO, a more exciting game to watch.

And then there is the attitudes of the players. Summed up when after watching the Scotland-Ireland game on Sunday, I flicked over to the league cup final to be faced with Lee Bowyer flat on his back, his face a pictue of contorted agony. Turns out he had knocked shin-pads with his own teammate. I thought 'fk this' and took the dog out.

[MaxAndRuby]

lazyitus said:

Some very interesting stuff

I've had some similar thoughts recently, I think it's age. Back in the days players used to look gutted if they lost, so utterly gutted. That's rare these days, because let's face it being a young multi-millionaire athlete doesn't leave much room for negative thoughts.

England in the summer hit me like a slap in the face, they just didn't give a st, but think about it logically. You have a dream house, dreams cars, dream missus, whatever you want, but you have to spend a month in a hotel with a bunch of similarly pampered rivals and do nothing except play pool. Would it rev you up? It obviously didn't them. Personally I'd let them stay in luxury villas with their families, as long as they turn up for training and matches.

Liverpool have pissed me off in so many ways, starting with Rick Parry's payoff. Rang to get tickets for the first game of the season(went 15 times last year) to get through and find my membership had lapsed. "It's ok, I've got a fancard", "You need membership aswell", "ok, whatever just take it off my card for me and my son", "you need to ring xxxxx", "ok, are you seriously saying the tickets I've just bought are not on their way to me", "yes, I've cancelled the transaction. You need to call the membership number, then call this number back", "the tickets will have gone by then", "probably".

I've still got that membership number, but I haven't called it. At the moment I just can't be arsed. Watching the away fans at West Ham on sunday all I could feel was immense pity, how can someone work all week and travel on a sunday and watch that ste, the poor fkers.

Torres leaving broke my heart aswell, not just to lose the player, but he sucked up all that genuine love, and spat it back in the fans' faces.

Maybe it's age.

[MonkeyHanger]

lazyitus said:

I think it's beyond bringing back in all honesty. I'd rather invest my time and money following motorsport.

Club race meeting. £10-12 to get in, kids under 13/15 (depending on the circuit) go free. A full day's entertainment, walk around the paddock, talk to the drivers etc.

Why pay more for 90 minutes of "entertainment" where they herd you in like cattle and generally don't give a toss about you?

I gave up on football years ago. I'd rather be trackside or out in a forest for a rally.

[MikeyT]

How many other sports though can you pay your money and then go in and shout abuse at people just yards away - and not have anything happen? Try it at the Badminton Horse Trials or summat ans see how you get on.

Sure, I've stood on the Glebe terrace at Posh in the old days and shouted "are your eyes painted on lino?" - but that was about the extent of it! I see so much hatred, anger and aggression in grounds just from watching the TV I'm glad I haven't been to a game for years now.

Everyone has a go at Cantona for him karate-kicking the fan at Selhurst Park years ago - but to honest, the bloke deserved it!

The stewards (and the cops) in these grounds must be next to useless ... but they are only thre I presume so the clubs cover their insurance somehow I suppose.

[Chicken Chaser]

Im in that same boat. Formerly ST holder at SJP, really into it until about 2005/6. After that and with Ashleys interference, football is now jut something I'll take an interest in if other things arent taking my time up. I'll still enjoy watching a game but for the passion and excitement its about gone. Likewise, England games no longer give me that feeling of hope and optimism, but now merely waiting for the point where our overpaid indulgent "Stars" turn up and fail to put on a display.

Too much money and greed has destroyed the modern game. I've been saying it for about 4 years now but I honestly think we're seeing the peak of its popularity right now, and I think before long there will be an implosion leaving the game in total disarray.

Rather spend £90 on weekend camping at Superbikes for 2 of us than £90 on 2 of us for 90 minutes.

[R1 Loon]

mattviatura said:

I have some sympathy with this view. For me it started when that greasy git Ronaldo held Manchester United to ransom while clearly wanting to leave. The non-performance of England last year compounded it.

If United isn't your club, then you shouldn't be worried by that. If United is your club then you missed the point, that he was only ever passign through, gave us 5 great years of which 3 were some of the best football I've ever seen, especially in tandem with Rooney.

Oh, and you can shove Ingerland up your a**e, AFAIC. Load of overhyped ste, that is hilarious to watch just to see the faces of the clueless Little Ingerlanders who think the Euro Championship / World Cup is a nailed on certainty.

North West Tom said:

Can I have the ticket?

Just turn up at The DW Stadium anytime you want, you'll find 15,000 spare seats to choose from.

[North West Tom]

R1 Loon said:

Just turn up at The DW Stadium anytime you want, you'll find 15,000 spare seats to choose from.

Not when United are in town, they always take our home seats! I'm surprised so many make the journey from down south.