Are you falling out of love with football?

[Sarah Star]

Well, frankly I knew football was overhyped and corrupt when I fell in love with it and it just makes me love it more because when you do see things happening that prove there are people involved with it who are not corrupt nor out for media attention it makes it all the more special. That's partly why I fell in love with Reading - because we did things differently. I'm not so sure of that now, but the more I get involved with it the more I feel like I can do something about that. Football is unique in the way it gets so much media coverage. Sometimes I think that you could use football to change the world... or at least the potential is there.

And then there's the passion and excitement of watching a game. I truly feel sorry for anyone who doesn't get that, but then I am relatively new to it so maybe I have got that kind of "kid at Christmas" view. The thought of losing that worries me.

And surely reading between the lines of manager-speak is all part of the fun, as is the banter and discussing it and arguing about it with other fans from your own side and the opposition.

I just love it! You can't get all this anywhere else... can you?

[Negative_Jeff]

I only go for three reasons: to get out of London, the pubs.........and Floyd.
The football is a pain in the arse.

[papereyes]

Didn't notice many of these types of threads popping up during the 'glory years'.

There was definitely one similar in the middle of 06/07.

[SteveRoyal]

Football is an art.
Art can get messy.
I still love it.

[Ark Royal]

Football is still the beautiful game, but it just seems a tad tarnished now. With the exception of cricket - albeit it a distant second - you can shove every other sport up your arse.

I had fallen out of love with the game in recent years, but have regained that love by coaching kids. I derived more pleasure in seeing my girls mature and develop as players and win a league and cup double this season than I did when Reading won the Championship; and if I caught any of my girls diving or slipping in a sly handball, I would drag them off, give them a bollocking and they would spend the next game sitting on the bench. As far as I am concerned, I have a duty to protect the dignity and integrity of the game, otherwise what hope is there?

I will be flying over this weekend and will take the opportunity to see the Palace and Scunny games, but is the 'magic' that used to draw me still there? No, it is not. Still a Royal until I die though.

[Dirk Gently]

The thing is, we all remember what it can be like - the great moments the game can give us that live with us for ever. Those last minute winners, those goals from nowhere, those turnarounds from defeat to victory.

So we keep coming back again and again because we want those emotions again - truly it's like being addicted to a hard drug. You know it costs you a lot of money you haven't got, takes a lot of time you haven't got, pissed off your family and potentially loses you friends- but you remember that buzz and need to have it again.

[papereyes]

Football is still the beautiful game

No, that's Sweden vs Finland women's naked rugby.

[brendywendy]

my considered critique

You've never been capable of that, don't kid yourself mate.

i unlike you am capable of laughing at myself- which is what i was attempting doing there.






and keep your m8 to yourself you big nob face

[brendywendy]

And which is why the thread was titled Are you falling out of love with football?, rather than RFC per se. And your original gambit


brendywendy wrote:
LOL at falling out of football/our club cos we arent at the top of the league
just lol


Was hardly a 'carefully constructed' post to the contrary was it.

at least half the posts on the thread were talking about falling out of love with RFCspecifically as well as football generally- hence me including that- as it was these that i was replying to.


but i must say its a good job people like you are here to ensure that discussions keep exactly to thread title areas.

[Archie's penalty]

I am a little - I just don't get Bodgers and what the club are doing. This may change soon enough but hmm hmm and one more time hmmm?

The fairytale did rub off a bit after relegation but the end of last year was very painful for me. Now I'm over it to an extent but it's not quite the same.

Oh well at least games only cost 15 squid (away) - I can just about force myself to shell out that.

Oh and would still like to see Copps back in an advisory role at the club.

[brendywendy]

I would have thought that it would be that this thread is in the wrong forum.

im not spacey!

[brendywendy]

truly it's like being addicted to a hard drug.

this is true


youll never recapture the buzz of your first hit- but unlike heroine/crack, its still fun trying..........

[winchester_royal]

About time we had another one of these pathetic threads.

If you don't like football any more, then fine, but FFS stop using a bloody messageboard about football.

And another fool replies. You haven't bothered reading some very thought-provoking posts on this thread before wading in.

Edit: as a clue to the braindead, try reading the original post and then posts 5 and 6 for starters.

Love you too.

[rhroyal]

So long as my love of the game exists, so will my love of Reading. However it's become harder. Partly it is just growing up, everything loses its excitement as you get older. There's also the issue of ambition. I'm not criticizing the club here. I'm talking about our ambition isn't so exciting any more. Our aim always was to get to the Premiership and establish there. It still is. Back in the day the Premiership seemed like such an exciting, unknown adventure. The feeling of hope and anticipation in the 02/03 play-off season was unbelievable. The next 2 seasons were ultimately disappointing, but I was happy in the Championship because we always had the chance of winning promotion and receiving the ultimate prize. When we finally went up in 2006 the whole town went mad. I couldn't believe it was finally happening. I brought my Boro ticket the day they went on sale. I was on holiday at the time and spent about £8 credit on my phone. I thought about the match every day.

The first season was all we imagined and more. We were pinching ourselves as Man Utd and Chelsea came to the Mad Stad in the Premiership and were given a really tough game. It was a dream.

Now we've had to face reality, and it's rather grim. If we do go back up to the Premiership, it won't be the unknown dream that it was before. We learnt what the grim reality of what the Premiership can really be like in 07/08, and to have the success of 06/07 is very unlikely. It was an incredible achievement from everybody involved, it will take something special to replicate it. More realistically, it would a great achievement to become a mid table Premiership side. There's no excitement and anticipation in that, you live for one big result every season.

Now, promotion would be nice and relegation wouldn't be. It doesn't go much further than that. Maybe a further decline would help me, with the Premiership becoming more a distant memory and hence more romanticised in my head. I would never wish that upon my club though - I'm desperate for us to survive and build this season. I still care and want us to do well, but it's somehow not the same. We have to start moving towards unfamiliar territory for the old feeling to return and Europe looks a long way off right now.

[torbayroyal]

Football is a great game.

The over paid prima ballerina's on the other hand.

If you fall out of love with football go to Prospect park on a sunday morning and soak it up.

[Sarah Star]

If you fall out of love with football go to Prospect park on a sunday morning and soak it up.

I did. I watched Hobnob FC get beat and fined for having someone sent off. I think the score was 4-0 or something like that. I've heard they've got better since then though.

[facaldaqui]

I just watched the Carling Cup highlights on IPlayer, and it was an effing brilliant hour's entertainment. Four end-to-end games with plenty of goals and some brilliant skills from the likes of Tevez, Bellamy, Gibson, and Milner. OK, there was a churlish moment when Wenger didn't shakes hands with Hughes, but there have always been sour incidents in football. I still can't get enough footie, it seems. Maybe, unlike some of you, I just never grew up.

[Kitsondinho]

I could never ever fall out of love with football. It is simply the best sport in the world.Yes its full of cheats, money grabbers and all sorts of other problems but don't for one second think it hasn't always been like that. The 1930 WC final is still a hot topic in South America, as Argentina still claim they lost because of the balls that were used. My Grandad supports Arsenal becuase the first North London derby he went to in the 1930s, the Spurs fans booed everytime an Arsenal player had the ball.....think of Leeds losing the title in '71 with the most offside goal .... think of all the cheating that has happened in previous WCsever.... Germany 1-0 Austria game in 1982......the 6-0 semi final win by Argentina in 78......England winning 1-0 over Argentina in 1966....I could go on and on......I'm currently sitting here watching Fulham in the Europa league...its been a good game.....but I wish it was an RFC game....more than anything living in Chesterfield has taught me how much I love RFC....I miss being able to go to every home game and several away games.....I usually only do the latter and get to 2 or 3 home games a year.....

[Barry the bird boggler]

sort of, it's been crap since the mid to late 80s and certainly since satellite tv companies got involved

[SWLR]

Three Observations

1. Last night I took my daughters football team's training session. To see their enthusiasm and the smiles on their faces ... it is the beautiful game.

2. A while ago I ran a thread on which you would rather do - play or watch? Like me, most said 'play'.

3. The pro game will always go through its ups and downs - for those of us who remember how a combination of Tories/ hooliganism etc tried to kill the game in the '80's and 20,000 was a good top tier crowd... then while we are at the other extreme, it is a better place.