[Archived] A Question For Football's Fat Cats

[rover6]

Methinks the Laddie Doth Protest Too Much……

For someone – articulate and erudite as you are – to destroy the thing you love, smacks of unrequited passion.

After all what is football but a silly game. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players but to take so seriously the random hacking of a Mokoena and misplaced crossing of a Gamst is to lack the capacity for reasoned judgement.

In a world of starving children and massacred minorities, not to mentioned the privileged bleatings of the wealthy credit crunchees how does one elevate the pantomime that is our national game to such high levels of esteem?

To do so is akin to standing up in front of all the children at a Christmas performance of Aladdin and point out that the ugly dowager is merely an old man in drag.

It is, in short, missing the point entirely.

R6 – your post is, in its factual content, indisputable. Just as surely as the reality that Widow Twankey has hairy balls beneath that pretty garish floral frock – but of course you are missing the point completely.

Just as Deal or No Deal and the National Lottery allow us to dream beyond the mundane dross of our everyday lives so the Premiership allows the world and his/her wife to escape into an addictive obsession which transcends ordinary day to day reality.

The lucky deviants that strut on the stages of our screens and stadiums reap the rewards of our idolatry. But to envy them makes as much sense as taunting the freaks at a travelling circus – life is but a random travesty. Make your own journey and worry less about the travails of your fellow passengers.

At the end of the day maybe the The Co-operative Netball Superleague is more up your street. Chill………..

Tashor, very good post - and you do make many interesting points.

Yes, I admit, I am in the midst of a turmoil of unrequited love - or should that be jilted love. Since first getting hooked, I've been fascinated by football. As a teenage kid I lived for it - I mean that literally. I actually lived for, not only playing football but also following professional football. Although I wasn't travelling to matches tucked under my dad's arms since my year dot, as some will have done, I was following Rovers and the world of footy remotely with unrestrained attention.

Now, I look at the world of football with new vision. I see that the majority of footballers aren't actually that gifted - that the talk is empty hype. I see that us fans engage in the worst of tribalism - bigotry and a kind of sadism. I see that the game isn't actually that exciting, most of the time - the context and the hype is the thing that usually gets the heart racing. In a way, I feel like I've been conned - or, I've let myself be conned.

Yet, I'm still, largely, hooked to following the sport. So, I guess, my rage is aimed at myself for loving something that I think is not worthy of my attention.

However, tashor, there is a contradiction in your post. If you say, "let's just accept our obsession" because it is a pleasant distraction to the worries of reality - how can you reconcile that with the knowledge that football is as "genuine" and "worthy" as your Widow Twankey and her particularly contradictory set of organs? I can't, these days, comfortably accept my obsession when I know that it is largely empty. Isn't being obsessed with a sport essentially to elevate it to being something of huge importance?

Even worse, the game isn't just light frippery. It is often a plane for aggression and violence (stories coming from NI today could be relevant here). I'm even finding the "normality" of detesting your local rivals disturbing. Whilst, people often say that this is because I do not understand football properly, I just see it as being because I have not been caught up in the group, tribalist mentality of football (probably because I don't live locally and have not been subjected to abuse from anti-Rovers). But, how can I support a team without a tribalist mentality - which is, it seems, the essence of following a football club?

Yes, I am confused.

[Kelbo]

A Way Forward.

1. Shared gates both home and away as was the case years ago.

(this would allow a fairer distribution of money throughout the game)

2. The abolition of the Transfer window.

(this would allow clubs in danger of administration and lower clubs the opportunity to obtain much needed funds throughout the season and also prevent inflated prices during the window)

3.a democratically elected FA executive made up of former players from all levels.

(taking the hangers on out of football and reduce salaries and perks for FA execs, how on earth did Barwick earn so much/)

4. Return to the Football League as a governing body of all the countries Leagues.

(this will ensure fairness and distribution of wealth throughout the leagues)

5. Unless specifically agreed by selling the club or they drop out of the Leagues, no movement of players under the age of 20

(this would allow a grater fee for the players who have been 'tapped up' by the big boys aftr investment in the youth systems at a particular club.

[tashor]

I went through a similar period of disillusion as you R6 – at the same time as my brother who used to post a little hereabouts before disappearing into the sunset like his porcine cousin Snowball. He, however followed your logic to its obvious conclusion – firstly not renewing his season ticket and then stopping attendance at any games.

I may have followed but my enthusiasm was renewed by my sons’ devotion to the cause.

By the way, I found out recently what is truly the first sign of paternal redundancy – when they decided to take themselves off to the away game against City without me as I declined to take them.

Anyhow back to the tale – I am now at peace with my obsessive football addiction – as I merely follow the soap opera that is Rovers with blind devotion. I know it is a ridiculous sport – little lads running about after a bloated spherical Will-o’-the Wisp supervised by a fat fellow with a whistle and a penchant for red and yellow calling cards. The issues spoiling the game are as many here state - but I only give a toss about their impact on my club - I only hope and prey that we are alright ( Uncle ) Jack ( Who Art In Heaven. Hallowed Be Thy Name ). Any rule change that helps us I support.

It is more than likely that we will fall from Premiership Grace at some time in the future - who knows when? But that will bring a new chapter to our story - not an end in itself. There will be joy and pain.

However I love it – and Rovers – and suspect I always will.

I just hope my boys are still around to push my wheelchair when I need it.

Exactly how long is it ‘till next season kicks off

[sambo]

I just couldn't stop going to the Rovers, its like a way of life for me.

Always felt like part of my identity, and i can't ever see myself watching at home.

[rover6]

Okay, this sketch identifies exactly why I have always wondered and got slightly irritated by football fans who use the collective "we" when talking about their team.

Even if you were in the stands singing your heart out, can you really claim credit for the win to the extent of boasting "we deserved to win."?

[gumboots]

I just couldn't stop going to the Rovers, its like a way of life for me.

Always felt like part of my identity, and i can't ever see myself watching at home.

If I stopped going I wouldn't watch. I couldn't do a Waggy and care enough to watch on tv but not be there. If i don't get a season ticket this year, which looks an increasingly likely event (and it's not to do with Allardyce, the potential signings of Davies and co) I just won't want to know.

[ihateburnley]

Okay, this sketch identifies exactly why I have always wondered and got slightly irritated by football fans who use the collective "we" when talking about their team.

Even if you were in the stands singing your heart out, can you really claim credit for the win to the extent of boasting "we deserved to win."?

Prefer

myself

[rover6]

Yeah, that is funny. I wish more people would admit, even celebrate the fact that they have no interest in football.

Having thought about it, the only good reasons that I can see for supporting a football team are; (a) the experience - i.e travelling, meeting people, being with friends, and (b.) to be entertained by geniunely rare skill.

All other reasons, however compelling, are, essentially, matters of the ego, Eastenderism and custom.

From my perspective, I do not have an experience of football - due to not attending matches or meeting with fellow fans. Furthermore, Rovers aren't a side that often demonstrate great skill. And Eastenderism (the sense of anticipation created by an episodic tale that gets you hooked to find out what happens next, and next, and next - even if the entire thing and the "nexts" are tripe) is just a sort of voyeurism (see Eastenders/any other soap/any episodic reality show/football transfer merry-go-round).

Conclusion? I continue to support Rovers and to tap on this mb for no good reason. There is something to be said for some customs but not a lot for ego, imo. Furthermore, my football fan 'custom' did not pass to me through lineage - it began with me, as none of my family like football - so it's hardly a grand, timeless tradition for me.

Therefore, I find my interest in Rovers hanging by the flimsiest of threads which, through sheer number of times tied around me, has succeeded in trapping me. But before I rip it all away with sound rational thinking - I have to think about what's next. I realise that there is no point in me leaving Rovers and running into something equally egotistical. At least Rovers is a harmless pursuit which I have made partial reconciliation with.

So, until I think of something non-egotistical to use my time with, I'm here to stay - albeit, slightly less active than before...

How you wish Santa Cruz went through the same thinking, eh?

Edit: So if you want to get rid of me, give me a suggestion as to what can replace Rovers in my life. It has to be something productive (financially or morally), non-egotistical, long-term and time-consuming. Any non-insulting suggestions welcome....

[philipl]

RSC's thinking extended to "I get £3m a year now and will get £5m a year working closer to home for the Manager who got me the £3m a year in the first place."

Understandable especially as he is probably supporting half a third world nation from his salary.

[Fife Rover]

Yeah, that is funny. I wish more people would admit, even celebrate the fact that they have no interest in football.

Having thought about it, the only good reasons that I can see for supporting a football team are; (a) the experience - i.e travelling, meeting people, being with friends, and (b.) to be entertained by geniunely rare skill.

So, until I think of something non-egotistical to use my time with, I'm here to stay - albeit, slightly less active than before...

Edit: So if you want to get rid of me, give me a suggestion as to what can replace Rovers in my life. It has to be something productive (financially or morally), non-egotistical, long-term and time-consuming. Any non-insulting suggestions welcome....

You could try taking up an art such as drawing and painting, or music (learn to play a keyboard for instance). You may think (as I did all my life until I retired) that you have absolutely no talent or ability in any of these and will not be able to do it. Banish that from your mind and have a go; if possible join a local art club or go to a local college for either Art or Music lessons. I did both and have become both an accomplished artist who now exhibits and sells quite well, and a fairly decent keyboard player and reader of music. All from a position of having gone right through my whole working life up to age 65 being totally convinced that I had no artistic talent of any kind and that such things were a gift from God given only to a few talented one's. Forget that idea! It is the biggest myth of all time. The ONLY thing you really need is the DESIRE to do it, and either a good teacher or some good books on your subject and the will to do it.

[rover6]

After catching a bit of the Villa game yesterday, I was inspired to return to this old haunt.

A few people might have noticed that the broken record6 had finally run out. I am, you may be slightly miffed to know, still around. However, the flame has shrunk to a little smouldering splint.

I just don't love Rovers anymore. Part of the reason is a crisis in my life which has made me rethink my attitude to football. More significantly, however, I could not take anymore of the bull that football is infested with. I couldn't take the cheating, the overhyped crap, the duplicity, the idiocy, the elitism, the rudimentary tactics adopted by the also rans and so on - basically everything that is mentioned in the first post of this thread.

I will always love football, the sport. Nothing beats seeing a skilful player at his/her best. However, professional football, to me, is now largely a game of pragmatism and PR.

I never thought the day would come when Tony Pulis would be a Premier League manager. Physicality has won the day, it seems.

That said, I understand why you guys stick with Rovers. It is a community and its nice to be part of something bigger than yourself. And there are fun times. Unfortunately, for me, all I can see right now are the bad. Even catching the Villa game, I was struck more by the hit and hope (quite impressive hit and hope, admittedly) of Rovers game.

What I am happy about is Olsson. I engaged in royal battles (and sordid little skirmishes) time and again about youth. People said Olsson was a lightweigh no-hoper. After impersonating a match-stick confronting a tank, when 'dealing' with Ronaldo, people wanted to shove him in the bin straightaway.

fair enough, he is now coming through as a winger. However, I believe that the message is once more clear. Given patience, concerted chances and strategic opportunities, young, motivated players can outdo the experienced mediocrity that have ensconced themselves in Blackburn, the Prem and football worldwide. The Dioufs and the Gamst's are living on their CVs and little else. The longer players like Doran, Judge, Olsson and so on are stuck behind posturing dandies with 'big' names, the worse of the game will be.

When football is a meritocracy, as opposed to experience-ocracy, I might consider a rethink - if I haven't fallen for another team in the meantime. When football once more appreciates the value of skill and entertainment, I will definitely be back. But as long as the tawdry long ballism, the myopic self-obsession, the crumby mediocrity, the complacent posing and the squealing, power engine of PR continue to dominate the game, I'll stick to my sad, lonely little corner. Like Dostoesky's Man from the Underground, I live my life on the spiteful consolation that only a fool can make anything of himself - in football, knowing full well that I have been a prize fool for the past decade or so of my life.

[broadsword]

I could have written that myself Rover 6, if only I was smart enough. Why do I keep going ? I don't know, I'm like one of Pavlov's dogs.

Don't let ParsonBlue catch you saying that, his head will explode.