Part time football fans...

[RCF]

I don't really like, brag or anything or try to act like I'm a big football person, because I'm not. But I mean when it comes to something like the World Cup, why not support your country? And I'm a big sports person so I follow it and learn more about it because it's a huge talking point.

 

[F.A.S.T.]

Hardly anybody follows football in America. Only when the world cup comes around we act like are fans.
It doesn't really bother me. Actually think it's kinda cool to get behind your country and support them, even if it is an unpopular sport. However, I think that's what the Olympics are for.
Except I do feel your pain with fair weather fans. During the Winter Olympics people act like they know so much about skiing and snowboarding when the really don't know ****! It pisses me off so much!
So, I guess I share your pain!

 

[Hixee]

I would consider myself as a mild-part-time football fan.

I've taken more interest in England this year than ever before and I do want them to win (although the logic part of my brain knows that's unlikely to happen). And to be honest, anyone who complains about that sort of support is a tosser.

I'm pretty straight on this. I find football a dull game to watch and a dull game to play. I just find it dull.

I agree, however I disagree with the getting annoyed at supporting England. I want England to do well in most of the competitions we enter, there just aren't as many that are as high profile as the World Cup.

I don't support any 'club' teams and I generally dislike football, so I'm definitely not a glory-supporter!

 

[Dave]

I was a part time football fan until I went to Uni and got back into football, and now consider myself a full time fan. I may not be able to go to all the games (due to Premier League excessive prices on tickets), but I have followed the team and the recent financial trouble at Portsmouth FC has probably pulled me closer to it.

 

[jokerman]

^ Well, obviously, because nobody ever really hears about track meets outside of the Olympics (and maybe the World Champs, but that's a stretch).

In America you might not, because nothing from outside the USA ever gets a look in on TV unless its a major event like the Olympics.

There are athletics meets on TV a fair amount of time over here, but I suppose we get a lot of European Championships that you don't get to be in.

No, Football. Soccer is a word made up to help thickies who think a game involving holding a ball should be called football

It's not a made up word, it's a derived word, so at least some th0ought has been put into it.

 

[furie]

22 men run around a field chasing a pigs bladder

This kind of thing annoys me. Trying to make a sport sound utterly ridiculous and pointless by describing its bare details, so to make the person who enjoys it seem like some sort of lower class of life. It's not like the football fan is going to go "You know what? You're right! I've been wasting my life!"

And, you can do it for all sports, so they just cancel each other out anyway.

In the context of the joke I was making though, it was belittling people who pretend to love football, when they (most likely) don't understand the rules and it is just "watching 22 men running around chasing a ball and asking somebody who is winning all the time because they don't understand". It wasn't belittling "real" fans (though I would anyway ).

Regarding the actual point... it's a strange one. I quite like how sports come and go. I love it when Wimbledon comes around and I'll pay attention to the tennis (but not at any other time of year), same with the Snooker and sometimes even the Darts. I guess the only reason I get into them is because they're pushed at me through the media, harder than usual.

I think there's a difference between "taking an interest because it's in the media" and "you're so wrong for not supporting this event that's in the media". It's the latter that annoys me the most, the way people make out you're a freak for not suddenly being engaged in an event that all the rest of the time you show no interest in.

As I said, I keep up with what's going on, as it's a kind of "general interest" big news item that's worthy of note. It IS important. If I had any interest in the sport at all, then I'd probably watch it.

I'll sometimes watch F1, or even snooker or golf if it's on and I'm in the mood. However, I'd never then pretend to be a world expert on those sports (unless creating an argument against Neal for the fun of it ) and push it onto anyone else.

I'm not really a fan of the faux patriotism, though... fair enough, support your country, but some people take it too far.

I saw a really awfully written "Come on England" rant on Facebook earlier today. I think if you're going to support your country, the least you can do is actually learn to speak the language.

I guess it's the faux patriotism that's the root of the annoyance...

 

[Ian]

I don't like football. I do it see it as 22 men chasing a bag of wind around and then kissing one another. Yes, I know it sounds trivial, but that's it. I much prefer watching men bend over tables and kncking balls in with a pointy bit of wood...that's more my sort of game. One on one, highly skilled. Football can easily appeal to the masses because it's easy to play and a "thrilling" spectator sport.

As for part-time football fans, they do annoy me.

My mate Ren is suddenly interested in football and has been watching the England games. I felt quite embarresed (sp?) for him when he tried to talk to a randomer in the pub on Saturday night. It was so broken and made up from TV soundbites and media ramblings.

Another pet hate is the St George's flag being bastardised for football. The chav flags on cars, hanging out of windows even painted faces. Why can't people fly the flag all year round? Why do we only see it when some thick, over-paid men hopelessly kick a bag of wind about?

 

[spicy]

As a full time football fan myself following my team up and down the country the part time 'fans' don't really bother me for some reason.

Although what does bother me is suddenly when someone knows how the England team should be run and who should be doing what when they couldn't even name half the squad, that bothers me more.

I love football and I love the world cup and have watched nearly every game since it has begun as I find it immersive and really entertaining, if you don't then fair enough, kind of like I can watch a rollercoaster and be amazed where as most of my friends couldn't care less about a rollercoaster. I suppose you don't know why you like these things you just do.

So no as a 'proper' football fan the part time football fans don't bother me, as long as they don't act like they know everything and it means so much to them, when really they don't know a thing and don't actually care that much at all.

 

[Nic]

^Agreed. Track and Field seems to run that route for most of the world. No one gives a **** until the Olympics.

OMG! Hardly! Runners are in the news all the ****ing time. Try being a FIELD athlete.... you barely get any support from your own club, let alone anyone else... no matter how well you do! And even during the Olympics!

Anyway, football... I am a bit of one of these part time fans that you refer to. I usually only really watch it when it comes to the World Cup and Euro champs. The main reasons I don't watch it at other times are that a) I don't have a favourite league team, so find it dificult to get excited about the results, and b) I don't have sports channels at home, so would have to go out to watch it. I don't see the point in ending up paying money to watch something I'm not overly excited about on the telly.

However, with the World Cup, I do have a favourite team, and it is on my telly. Therefore, I'll watch it. Also, if you're only going to watch it occasionally, you might as well do it when arguably the best teams in the world are playing.