Football: The national obsession
Football is impossible to escape in this country.
If you’ve spent a Saturday trying to avoid finding out the football scores so you can watch the highlights on Match of the Day you’ll know what I mean!
Or have if you’ve ever tried to escape stick at work or school the day after your favourite club has just lost?
Impossible isn’t it?! It’s all over magazines, the Internet, the television and the radio in this country.
In fact it’s the same story the world over. The game created in England, which we have exported throughout the world, is to many people the greatest invention of all time. One small idea and a simple set of rules has developed into the worlds most popular sport, played in all civilized countries of the world. It is the game, which knows no borders, no boundaries; it divides and unites people like nothing else on this planet can.
Whether it be jumpers for goalposts on a playing field or the superb arena of the Nou Camp, there is no doubting the worldwide appeal which football has. There’s no feeling quite like playing, watching or generally being involved with football.
To some people football is more important than life itself, it is like a religion. Some build their lives around it, for others it the controlling factor for the way they live their lives.
How can it be that the result of a game matters so much that our moods and actions can be altered by it? And how can 90 minutes affect people’s lives in such a drastic way?
During World Cups and European Championship’s all competing nations are hit by football fever where everything thing focuses round the tournament. Populations are united by a love for their national side. Suddenly everyone becomes a football fan for a month with his or her own opinions on the topic of the day.
Even at its lowest level football means so much to the local community, fans and players, they dream one day they will be involved with the glitz and glamour surrounding the biggest clubs in the world.
Meanwhile the people involved with these ‘football forces’ enjoy being in a position, which everyone else is striving to reach.
Their battle is for a different glory, to reach the top and stay there. To the ‘big clubs’, results are everything, with money attached to all that they participate in cups, trophies and leagues. Constantly living on the edge, riding the highs and lows, many forget how close they are to disaster as one false move and it will be over, your club will be back at the beginning looking up, fighting again to achieve your place amongst elite.
For everyday people it is enough to connect to the club through pledging our support to a certain team. We buy the shirts, the scarves, the magazines, the season tickets and we give our hearts, souls and minds to our favourite clubs but what do we get in return?
Nothing tangible that’s for certain however the pleasure of football win, lose or draw is impossible to put a price on.
Football is a highly addictive drug, for many people it is so easy to get taken in by it all, the overwhelming emotions attached to the game are immense. It seems a strange concept to a football fan not to care passionately about what is going on with their team or the game in general, to separate themselves is almost impossible. However it is always important to remember that football is just a game. Real peoples lively hoods are at stake, in the new millennium football is starting to come to terms with reality.
So much of football these days is centered on finance. Managers and chairman constantly have to strike a balance between pushing for success and preparing for failure. It is only a matter of time before football implodes, recently several warnings have occurred at clubs such as York City, Cambridge and Wrexham. These problems have hit a host of clubs in England luckily however have received temporary reprieves, it seems as though is only a matter of time before the first ‘big’ English club goes bust, many are on the brink.
Football in general needs to take a look at itself and plan a severe overhaul quickly. Player’s wages have spiraled out of control, as have clubs debts. Distribution of wealth also to ‘smaller’ club sides is a major issue which needs to be looked at otherwise cases of administration are going to continue springing up from week to week.
The passion and love for their teams by the fans needs to be replicated by chairman and players in particular, football needs to stop being run as a business otherwise the game we all love will love will crumble around our ears. Business deals, contracts and financial agreements these days mean nothing as the game and its personnel are becoming hollower. A continuation of current events looks set to contribute to the game falling apart within the next 50 years.
The governing bodies of Uefa and Fifa need to take steps and bring in initiatives to reverse the disturbing trends of financial trouble, which has poisoned football over the last 15 years. Wage caps or even performance related pay, though difficult to introduce, are two ideas which have been speculated about.
The FA also needs to look at Italian football, which is in financial ruin and several clubs in Spain with millions of debt on their books. Financial irregularities caused Fiorentina to temporarily be relegated and have to sell all the clubs assets. Debts of over 100million also nearly stopped Real Madrid playing in the Champions League 2 years ago. Amazingly in England only around 5 of the 92 league clubs make a profit, heading towards financial meltdown has only made a few clubs wise up and start living in the real world. More need to take example from this in the near future
With doom and gloom on the horizon, football is nearing crisis. It holds so much tradition and so much influence over society something has got to be done to save the peoples game.
So, even if your team doesn’t perform this week, don’t give up, think about what life would be like without football and how different it would be, appreciate that you cannot always be on the winning side but pray that the game you devote so much time too will be around long enough to influence, delight and interest the next generation in the same way it has done our generation.
If you’ve spent a Saturday trying to avoid finding out the football scores so you can watch the highlights on Match of the Day you’ll know what I mean!
Or have if you’ve ever tried to escape stick at work or school the day after your favourite club has just lost?
Impossible isn’t it?! It’s all over magazines, the Internet, the television and the radio in this country.
In fact it’s the same story the world over. The game created in England, which we have exported throughout the world, is to many people the greatest invention of all time. One small idea and a simple set of rules has developed into the worlds most popular sport, played in all civilized countries of the world. It is the game, which knows no borders, no boundaries; it divides and unites people like nothing else on this planet can.
Whether it be jumpers for goalposts on a playing field or the superb arena of the Nou Camp, there is no doubting the worldwide appeal which football has. There’s no feeling quite like playing, watching or generally being involved with football.
To some people football is more important than life itself, it is like a religion. Some build their lives around it, for others it the controlling factor for the way they live their lives.
How can it be that the result of a game matters so much that our moods and actions can be altered by it? And how can 90 minutes affect people’s lives in such a drastic way?
During World Cups and European Championship’s all competing nations are hit by football fever where everything thing focuses round the tournament. Populations are united by a love for their national side. Suddenly everyone becomes a football fan for a month with his or her own opinions on the topic of the day.
Even at its lowest level football means so much to the local community, fans and players, they dream one day they will be involved with the glitz and glamour surrounding the biggest clubs in the world.
Meanwhile the people involved with these ‘football forces’ enjoy being in a position, which everyone else is striving to reach.
Their battle is for a different glory, to reach the top and stay there. To the ‘big clubs’, results are everything, with money attached to all that they participate in cups, trophies and leagues. Constantly living on the edge, riding the highs and lows, many forget how close they are to disaster as one false move and it will be over, your club will be back at the beginning looking up, fighting again to achieve your place amongst elite.
For everyday people it is enough to connect to the club through pledging our support to a certain team. We buy the shirts, the scarves, the magazines, the season tickets and we give our hearts, souls and minds to our favourite clubs but what do we get in return?
Nothing tangible that’s for certain however the pleasure of football win, lose or draw is impossible to put a price on.
Football is a highly addictive drug, for many people it is so easy to get taken in by it all, the overwhelming emotions attached to the game are immense. It seems a strange concept to a football fan not to care passionately about what is going on with their team or the game in general, to separate themselves is almost impossible. However it is always important to remember that football is just a game. Real peoples lively hoods are at stake, in the new millennium football is starting to come to terms with reality.
So much of football these days is centered on finance. Managers and chairman constantly have to strike a balance between pushing for success and preparing for failure. It is only a matter of time before football implodes, recently several warnings have occurred at clubs such as York City, Cambridge and Wrexham. These problems have hit a host of clubs in England luckily however have received temporary reprieves, it seems as though is only a matter of time before the first ‘big’ English club goes bust, many are on the brink.
Football in general needs to take a look at itself and plan a severe overhaul quickly. Player’s wages have spiraled out of control, as have clubs debts. Distribution of wealth also to ‘smaller’ club sides is a major issue which needs to be looked at otherwise cases of administration are going to continue springing up from week to week.
The passion and love for their teams by the fans needs to be replicated by chairman and players in particular, football needs to stop being run as a business otherwise the game we all love will love will crumble around our ears. Business deals, contracts and financial agreements these days mean nothing as the game and its personnel are becoming hollower. A continuation of current events looks set to contribute to the game falling apart within the next 50 years.
The governing bodies of Uefa and Fifa need to take steps and bring in initiatives to reverse the disturbing trends of financial trouble, which has poisoned football over the last 15 years. Wage caps or even performance related pay, though difficult to introduce, are two ideas which have been speculated about.
The FA also needs to look at Italian football, which is in financial ruin and several clubs in Spain with millions of debt on their books. Financial irregularities caused Fiorentina to temporarily be relegated and have to sell all the clubs assets. Debts of over 100million also nearly stopped Real Madrid playing in the Champions League 2 years ago. Amazingly in England only around 5 of the 92 league clubs make a profit, heading towards financial meltdown has only made a few clubs wise up and start living in the real world. More need to take example from this in the near future
With doom and gloom on the horizon, football is nearing crisis. It holds so much tradition and so much influence over society something has got to be done to save the peoples game.
So, even if your team doesn’t perform this week, don’t give up, think about what life would be like without football and how different it would be, appreciate that you cannot always be on the winning side but pray that the game you devote so much time too will be around long enough to influence, delight and interest the next generation in the same way it has done our generation.