[Football] Friends who know nothing about football.

[Weststander]

Thinking about it, pretty much all the blokes I've met through my son playing cricket (parents, coaches etc) are also into football. Struggling to think of one who isn't actually. Even those totally obsessed with cricket still follow football and most are pretty knowledgeable.

I've known plenty of Brighton/Hove based crickets lovers, obsessed with SCCC, Test Cricket and Sussex League club cricket, who couldn't stand the Albion and football in general. Considered it a game watched by oiks. One of these snobs loved it when the Albion fell at promotion hurdles.

 

[withdeanwombat]

I don’t have any friends.

 

[Me and my Monkey]

Posh acquaintance: “will you be going to watch Brighton this weekend?”

Me: “yes, we’re off to Fulham this weekend”

Posh acquaintance: “oh, so are they playing Chelsea?”

I don’t think she knows Fulham FC even exist. But then (being posh), she’s hugely into her tennis. I have not the faintest idea who the latest tennis hot shots are, and would no doubt make a bit of a tit of myself too if I tried to instigate a conversation about it.

 

[ferring seagull]

Better to have friends who know nothing about football rather than friends who think they know everything about football !

 

[Brovion]

It's interesting reading this to see that other people seem to share my opinion that they watch and support Brighton (and England as well in my case) but don't actually care that much for football as a sport. I have very very little interest in football outside of Brighton and England. I can't watch games as a neutral as the sport itself bores me rigid.

I didn't use to be like that, I used to love football. I wonder what happened?

EDIT: And why do I still love watching the Albion so much?

Sorry, gone a bit off-topic.

 

[Guinness Boy]

What about rambling Spurs fans ?

Them too

 

[BHAFC_Pandapops]

Sounds a bit like a David Bowie lyric.

You're right there. It's cut from Life on Mars.

"Take a look at that odd man standing in the corner, oh man, look at him banging on about his home-brewed beer, his big telescope, his dog and cake, I wonder if he'll ever know we're not still on the football league show, is there life on Mars?"

Doesn't really have a ring to it, does it?

I totally understand why Ziggy left it out.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I don`t trust any man that does not like ANY sports.
There must be one sport that everyone must like surely?

Pocket billiards?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It's interesting reading this to see that other people seem to share my opinion that they watch and support Brighton (and England as well in my case) but don't actually care that much for football as a sport. I have very very little interest in football outside of Brighton and England. I can't watch games as a neutral as the sport itself bores me rigid.

I didn't use to be like that, I used to love football. I wonder what happened?

EDIT: And why do I still love watching the Albion so much?

Sorry, gone a bit off-topic.

Very intersting post. I'm 60 but I will still watch any football on telly. In fact it has got worse. I was rivetted by the playoffs, the fate of Exter and Coventry.....and its not like I'm bored at work or at home....I even like looking at the tatoos and hairstyles. Maybe it is because football was so naff and cynical in the early 70s....every team had a fat midfielder, and most of them looked like they didn't give a shit, and couldn't wait to have a fag and a pint and (to quote Steve Jones) 'get me hands on some birds'. I had no empathy with old skool football. There again, I was a fan of 'dirty' when I was a kid

 

[ferring seagull]

Very intersting post. I'm 60 but I will still watch any football on telly. In fact it has got worse. I was rivetted by the playoffs, the fate of Exter and Coventry.....and its not like I'm bored at work or at home....I even like looking at the tatoos and hairstyles. Maybe it is because football was so naff and cynical in the early 70s....every team had a fat midfielder, and most of them looked like they didn't give a shit, and couldn't wait to have a fag and a pint and (to quote Steve Jones) 'get me hands on some birds'. I had no empathy with old skool football. There again, I was a fan of 'dirty' when I was a kid

I am similarly addicted to Football but fortunately resist the urge to pay to view anything other than Albion or a match which is almost certainly bound to be tops.

Nowadays I am watching through BT Sport and NOW tv (but only when guaranteed a good watch)

 

[Frutos]

My partner is clueless about football, in spite of my efforts to educate him.

The look on his face when I explained that I will be watching as many World Cup games as possible (rather than, as he expected, just England games) was priceless.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Me too on the whole, but if there was a F1 event in Brighton I think I might know something about it. I don’t have any interest in rugby either, and can claim never to have watched a game, but I knew when the Rugby World Cup was happening at the Amex. As this thread suggests, it’s the people in Brighton who seem to have failed to spot what has been going on at the Albion that are hard to fathom.

You’re talking about a one off event though. That’s different to something that occurs every year, for 38 evenings within the year (and that’s just our fixtures).

 

[AmexRuislip]

A colleague of mine, who is an avid Liverpool fan, asked me last night if Brighton had survived in the end. And he's a bloke who is generally quite well informed.

Well obviously he's not that well informed and is a bit of a burk

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

That would be most of my American work colleagues and friends - it is improving a bit with NBC showing so many live Premier League games but a lot of them still cannot grasp the concept of a game ending in a draw.

Also, my Australian brother-in-law, but then he has no interest in any sport - which is strange for an Australian.

 

[Weststander]

Very intersting post. I'm 60 but I will still watch any football on telly. In fact it has got worse. I was rivetted by the playoffs, the fate of Exter and Coventry.....and its not like I'm bored at work or at home....I even like looking at the tatoos and hairstyles. Maybe it is because football was so naff and cynical in the early 70s....every team had a fat midfielder, and most of them looked like they didn't give a shit, and couldn't wait to have a fag and a pint and (to quote Steve Jones) 'get me hands on some birds'. I had no empathy with old skool football. There again, I was a fan of 'dirty' when I was a kid

We had a circa 4 year break from Sky/BT Sport, to cut back on direct debits. Re-committed this January, and it uncorked relentless football watching from Bundesliga, CL to the playoffs you mention. My son's now worse than me. Some of the games are drivel (Burnley, Everton stood out as an absolute shite playing style. God I would hate Allardyce as Albion manager, no matter how 'effective' he is).

 

[Brovion]

Very intersting post. I'm 60 but I will still watch any football on telly. In fact it has got worse. I was rivetted by the playoffs, the fate of Exter and Coventry.....and its not like I'm bored at work or at home....I even like looking at the tatoos and hairstyles. Maybe it is because football was so naff and cynical in the early 70s....every team had a fat midfielder, and most of them looked like they didn't give a shit, and couldn't wait to have a fag and a pint and (to quote Steve Jones) 'get me hands on some birds'. I had no empathy with old skool football. There again, I was a fan of 'dirty' when I was a kid

I'm 60 too. I wonder when I fell out of love with the game? Like you I used to be a total addict. I loved the FA Cup final and the Home International championships (the only live games we had on TV). As well as going to all the Albion games home and away if I was on away overnight on business during the football season I'd always try and go to a game somewhere, didn't matter who or at what level, If I was working in London I'd go to an evening game, I'd even stop the car to watch park football matches. Now if Barcelona were playing Bayern Munich in my front garden I'd draw the curtains. I have to be at least nominally supporting a team for a football game to be of any interest.

Interestingly, unlike a lot of others, my cynicism hasn't spread to the England national team. I still watch nearly all the friendlies and qualifying games. I'm often bored and always frustrated, but I still do it as it's my team. And I'm starting to get a bit excited about the World Cup. I'll probably watch some non-England games as well as I shall be supporting the underdogs and the Brighton players..

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

A long-standing friend of mine went to his first football match ever when back in his home town )Norwich) a while ago - dragged along by his new brother-in-law or something - and told me all about it. It was all new to him of course, and he was delighted to inform me about how witty the home fans were, for example shouting 'You're shit' when the goalkeeper kicked the ball. I listened politely...

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

A long-standing friend of mine went to his first football match ever when back in his home town )Norwich) a while ago - dragged along by his new brother-in-law or something - and told me all about it. It was all new to him of course, and he was delighted to inform me about how witty the home fans were, for example shouting 'You're shit' when the goalkeeper kicked the ball. I listened politely...

Bless! lol.

 

[portlock seagull]

Men who don't like football are often a bit odd. A mate of mine actively despises it - all he bangs on about is his home brewed beer, his telescope, his dog, and cake.

This - I use as a bit of a barometer and more often than not it’s true. A girl friend of mine was going through a succession of poor choices let’s say as dates and each time I’d ask her what team they supported? More often than not they weren’t into football and I’d tell her to get rid soon as...obviously she ignored my advice until, sure as eggs are eggs they’d split up. One day she met the man of her dreams and two years later they married and have been together ever since. And guess what? You couldn’t move in this guys house for Sky TV coverage of golf, F1, Rugby, cricket and of course football. He’s a huge sports fan and we get on really well too.

Moral of the story? Speed dating can be made even speedier, girls, by making Q1 ‘what football club do you support’?

 

[portlock seagull]

That would be most of my American work colleagues and friends - it is improving a bit with NBC showing so many live Premier League games but a lot of them still cannot grasp the concept of a game ending in a draw.

Also, my Australian brother-in-law, but then he has no interest in any sport - which is strange for an Australian.

They’ll be working on his deportation papers I’m sure.