Is football the same anymore?

[Rusthall Seagull]

After 25 years of watching the Albion and other football matches, I was wondering if everyone still found the game as enjoyable now as when they first started watching....Have the all seaters taken away an integral part of the game? Are the huge wages paid detremental to the effort a player puts in for a club? Do you still get that buzz....?

 

[Curious Orange]

I think that I preffered the game when it was more of a contact sport. I don't mind rules that make the game safer to play, but some refs are getting a bit over-zealous - the number of times Charlie Oatway has been blown up for a foul after pulling off a great sliding tackle in recent weeks is ridiculous.

 

[graz126]

totally agree. football does not have the same atmosphere as years, when watching.
and does not have the same effect when playing. because you touch somebody nowadays and footballs in a crisis. punch ups were more common. and as a defender myself its a shame we have nearly lost the art of tackling. or should i say taking the player out with the ball. (going straight through them) good ole days.

playing last week i got pulled by ref for nudging their foward with my bloody shoulder. mind, i was tugging his shirt a little aswell.

 

[Trigger]

Do you still get that buzz....?

In answer to that question, no i don't, i had it last season but this season it just seems to have totally gone, i have no idea why either.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

You're probably right. I know I was lured to football as much by the atmosphere in the North Stand as anything in front of us. I think the game at the top levels is better so watching it on the TV is more of a pull than it used to be (i.e. those champions league games last week), but I also know that there will never be anything like the experience in the Goldstone North Stand again.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Also I think playing in these lower divisions, and then at Withdean has been fun for a bit but that is rather wearing off, but we'll all get a big buzz when (if) we get back to division 1 and start competing there.

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

You're probably right. I know I was lured to football as much by the atmosphere in the North Stand as anything in front of us. I think the game at the top levels is better so watching it on the TV is more of a pull than it used to be (i.e. those champions league games last week), but I also know that there will never be anything like the experience in the Goldstone North Stand again.

This is the problem - no matter how much I still love going along and seeing the the lads, it really can't compare to that feeling of the 'good old days' of the Goldstone - I know it's all starry eyed but it just seemed more of an experience then....maybe when we get Falmer..??

 

[Icy Gull]

We're just bumbling along with no real hope of doing anything except survive until Falmer is approved. We had three great seasons and compared to those what we're getting at the moment is mundane bordering on boring. Hard to get excited although two wins over Easter would have made a big difference !

 

[Simster]

I just know that never again am I going to get the same buzz as I used to get in the North Stand at the Goldstone. Withdean is a crap place for football, and the novelty of being back in Brighton wore off after about 18 months. To be honest, we've been lucky with the football in the last 3 seasons as they have made Albion worth watching, but this season has been dire. Just imagine our gates and atmosphere if we were having a Sheff Wed or Blackpool type season! Falmer will inject enthusiasm back into the club, but will there be a buzz created by the ground? I'm not so sure. There are going to be days where only 5,000 turn up and the place will be like a morgue. At least with the Goldstone, such a small gate was still enough to make an atmosphere.

As for the game, it's better than it was when I started taking an interest. 3 points for a win and the backpass rule have been superb rule changes that have drastically reduced time wasting.

 

[magoo]

one problem is i think refs feel they need to protect top players as footbal is their only source of income.

and if a player has to quit through a hard tackle that's him out of work and money. i agree some refs can't tell the difference between a good sliding tackle, getting the ball first and a deliberate, career threatening foul though.

I think football is a much more skillful game than it was in the say 70's coz players aren't allowed to pile in like they used to.

 

[Indefatigable]

playing last week i got pulled by ref for nudging their foward with my bloody shoulder.

We need more of that type of refereeing.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I think I actually enjoy going as much mow in my 30s as I did in my teens, but for different reasons. Then, it was a bit of a buzz going in the North Stand, a hint of danger, and a good team. Now it's a rarer treat, a chance to see mates I don't see for weeks on end, and an escape from all the serious shit of life.

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

I think I actually enjoy going as much mow in my 30s as I did in my teens, but for different reasons. Then, it was a bit of a buzz going in the North Stand, a hint of danger, and a good team. Now it's a rarer treat, a chance to see mates I don't see for weeks on end, and an escape from all the serious shit of life.

Now that's a good ending to my miserable thread! Started it this morning when very depressed at work....I do still enjoy it too....I think I am a touch fickle!

Would be nice to have a proper stadium again soon though!

 

[zefarelly]

It doesnt seem to do much for me at the moment, probably because I'm preoccupied with other stuff, but its definitely a lack of atmosphere and lack of entertainment from the pitch of any sort

 

[jmc]

love it more than ever. when I was 12 I went to loads of games with my old man - never paid always got lifted over the turnstiles.

Met up with cousins I never normally saw. 1983 my home team where promoted to the premier league for the first time ever. Got too see all the big games - Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen (they where big once) - terrefic times! Hearts where nasty bastards back then though!

in my early 20s i went to more premier league games, even ventured into the away ends and Parkhead & Ibrox, even got a job working at Ibrox.

Now just into my 30s and I'm loving it even more, watching my now home town team nearly every week, up and down the country - and as a bonus being able to afford to go to games abroad - like Ajax, Real Madrid, AC Milan and seeing a champions League Final - oh I love it.....

As for the changes in the game, some are better some are just plain crap. But the noise when the ball hits the back of the net and the crowd go wild still makes the hairs on my back (not many of them I grant you) stand up - even watching opposition fans does it for me - gladly not too often!

so for me football today is better, though I do wish we could maybe one or two more crunching tackles or punch ups - just to get the atmosphere going.

BTW though you may not think it, but sitting in the North Stand watching/listening to you lot in the South stand really makes me happy on a saturday afternoon, without it we would all be watching golf!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I still love it, but there are things I get a bit nostalgic about, specifically:

1) Referees never used to stop the game for injuries like they do now. Players used to sit there until the ball went out of play, or they'd get up. Now they think the game should automatically be stopped for their benefit, and every game is broken up by players kicking the ball in to touch regularly to allow the physio on.

2) Why can't we ever have a proper, 50-50 drop ball any more? Players always seem to be instructed to kick it gently back to the opposition keeper or out for a throw in right in the corner. It's just annoying, why not let two players contest it if play was genuinely stopped in the middle of the pitch?

 

[CAFC Matt]

IMO and recent experiences following Charlton it is better than it used to be

 

[Jambo Seagull]

Met up with cousins I never normally saw. 1983 my home team where promoted to the premie league for the first time ever. Got too see all the big games - Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen (they where big once) - terrefic times! Hearts where nasty bastards back then though!

Are you a Dumbarton fan perchance?

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

I still miss standing regularly - one of my favourite games in the last few years was that Cup tie at Aldershot, for example. I know a lot of the old terraces, and the stands they were part of, were shitholes and potential death traps, but it just ain't the same sitting down.

This season has not caught the imagination at all, for me. I haven't felt nervous before a game yet, apart from QPR away because that's the biggest one of the year for me. One problem is that it's an absolutely shit division, we were always going to do reasonably well despite not being as good even as we were when we won div.3, in my opinion.

So we've bumped along, pretty much in the play-off spots all the time, with little chance of dropping out of contention 'coz our home record's so good, and little chance of going straight up 'coz our away record's so shit. Very few games have had good football, from either side, and winning away is the biggest buzz of all so not having much of that hasn't helped either. Even the change of manager came as little surprise, and it seems like forever ago already anyway.

So this season's been a bit of a damp squib. But I still love the game, and the quality at the highest level has come on in leaps and bounds - I went to Highbury on Friday and it was fantastic, it shows how football can be played. Like jmc I've also watched football abroad, in Spain, Italy and Holland, and those are great experiences too. How many of us were doing that 20 years ago?

It ain't like it was, no, but in some respects that's no bad thing.

 

[jmc]

Are you a Dumbarton fan perchance?

f***ing 'ell jambo how did you get that?