..ab-so-bloody-lutely. Thuggery is thuggery no matter what guise it takes and what it attaches itself to to express it.
I think we have toooooo narrow a definition of thuggery as well - as man from the beginning of time hasn't only used physical power to hide behind. Any power can be used by a thug - from mental coercion to financial. Thuggery to me is the abuse of any power.
..but thugs aside (who don't represent football any more than they do the banking system), football is still the beautiful game (or it was before we decided on playing anti-football)...
But I'm sharing your pain just now as my team, LFC, are having a bit of a wobble at the moment. We've played some good stuff in the last couple of games .... even saw glimpses of the great footie we played last season .... but defensive howlers have lost us the points. I keep telling myself that you have to experience the lows to enjoy the highs .... but it doesn't always work
Our manager's mum died recently, and he was unable to go to the funeral in Germany. He's clearly hurting ... and it rather puts the footie into perspective.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I could understand supporting a genuinely local team comprised of people who lived locally but I don't get just supporting a name. The footballers who come from all corners of the globe have sold their loyalty to the highest bidder. Football is just a business. You might as well be supporting Tesco v Sainsbury's
I could understand supporting a genuinely local team comprised of people who lived locally but I don't get just supporting a name. The footballers who come from all corners of the globe have sold their loyalty to the highest bidder. Football is just a business. You might as well be supporting Tesco v Sainsbury's
If only Tesco and Sainsbury's and the like valued their staff as much in terms of decent pay and conditions for their working week, often in trying circumstances.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
At least Sainsbury's and Tesco don't endlessly change their logos / bags etc to sucker their supporters to endlessly fork out a fortune for shoddily made replica "kits" .
...but why is supporting a football team any different to supporting a side in any other competitive event?
I think you're confusing violent thugs with people who just enjoy
(?) watching a sport or event and who get emotionally involved and
invested in the outcome.
I don't think it is any different and I wasn't really thinking about violent thugs - abhorrent as they are, I can at least understand the tribal thing about just wanting to be able to pick a side and have a fight about it. And you're right, those people will pick a fight over something, football is just one of many excuses, along with religious belief, skin colour, political ideology and where you were born.
It's the more general nuttiness of quite rational people who get upset - even to tears - and elated over a group of people they have never met and in whose achievement/failure they have no actual investment beyond the price of a ticket to watch. I am aware that I'm in a minority - there seem to be more who do find it engrossing than who are left entirely cold by the whole industry
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I agree it is a beautiful game.
But I'm sharing your pain just now as my team, LFC, are having a bit of a wobble at the moment. We've played some good stuff in the last couple of games .... even saw glimpses of the great footie we played last season .... but defensive howlers have lost us the points.
I keep telling myself that you have to experience the lows to enjoy the highs .... but it doesn't always work
Our manager's mum died recently, and he was unable to go to the funeral in Germany. He's clearly hurting ... and it rather puts the footie into perspective.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
It's the more general nuttiness of quite rational people who get upset - even to tears - and elated over a group of people they have never met and in whose achievement/failure they have no actual investment beyond the price of a ticket to watch. I am aware that I'm in a minority - there seem to be more who do find it engrossing than who are left entirely cold by the whole industry
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”