This has been coming a while but the Rugby World Cup has really brought it home.

Watching these 'proper' men taking hits that would all but hospitalise the vast majority of Premiership footballers, shaking themselves off and getting on with the game has been a real pleasure (sounds abit gay that lol!).

I am well and truly brassed off with the bunch of overpaid nancy boys trying to rip off there fellow professionals and cheat the referee into gaining an advantage.

Ill love football, I go to watch my mates little lad play every Sunday and love playing myself but cant bear to watch the professional game anymore :mad:

Anyways, rant over :rant:

Mat :(

In short, yes football is getting worse at the top level and has been for a while. Time for action to be taken -

1) Wage Caps - too much money for too little.
2) FIFA to be strong and take action when players cheat (e.g. Dida, Rivaldo, the various others that simulate). And time for simulation to be replaced in the football lexicon as "cheating".
3) Footballers start giving. They take take take, only a few make a difference. And the thing is, the most generous and selfless seem to be from Africa. Lucas Radebe being a good example.
4) Corruption - it is there, it is clear. CONCACAF doesnt seem to be entirely clean - I recall some ticket scandal a while back. The Italian thing the other year is a good point.
5) Rugby type rules. Footballers should not be allowed to talk to a Ref, if he wants to talk to them then he can via the captain. But NO ONE on the football pitch should be allowed to rant at the ref. (except the fans of course who should be off the pitch anyway!)

Some one needs to make a stand and try to make football less professional and more sporting, because those terms no longer go hand in hand in football.

Put it this way, Dida wouldn't get picked for Brasilian rugby squad. ;)

Put it this way, Dida wouldn't get picked for Brasilian rugby squad. ;)

:hihi: Can't see him standing up too well a number 15 :hihi:

Rugby type rules. Footballers should not be allowed to talk to a Ref, if he wants to talk to them then he can via the captain. But NO ONE on the football pitch should be allowed to rant at the ref. (except the fans of course who should be off the pitch anyway!)..
Absolutely agree with this. It's one of the biggest pleasures of watching the egg chasers.... the respect they show the ref.

well the vast majority of the country were never turned ON by Rugby (Union).
Because its the game of the Middle Classes who obviously make up the vast majority of the media we have it rammed down our throats out of all proportion to how many people really give a monkeys. As someone said you could have gone in a pub in a non-middle class area on the day England won the World Cup 4 years ago and you'd have found it hard to know the match was even on.
We won the Rugby World Cup but that was hardly a great achievement was it considering the only countries who take it seriously are Britain and its former (white) colonies plus France.

well the vast majority of the country were never turned ON by Rugby (Union).
Because its the game of the Middle Classes who obviously make up the vast majority of the media we have it rammed down our throats out of all proportion to how many people really give a monkeys. As someone said you could have gone in a pub in a non-middle class area on the day England won the World Cup 4 years ago and you'd have found it hard to know the match was even on.
We won the Rugby World Cup but that was hardly a great achievement was it considering the only countries who take it seriously are Britain and its former (white) colonies plus France.

You could say the same about the football world cup though, theres only a handful of Western European teams and a couple in South Americans who have a chance.
Its not just Rugby though, I cant think of another sport were the players treat the official with such disrespect.

Football is going down the pan for me. Its basically a non contact sport. I cannot believe some of the fouls that are given now.The top players are overpaid prima donnas. if the england football players played with as much pride and passion as the rugby team does, they might actually get near to winning something.

Football is going down the pan for me. Its basically a non contact sport.


It always was...

This has been coming a while but the Rugby World Cup has really brought it home.

Watching these 'proper' men taking hits that would all but hospitalise the vast majority of Premiership footballers, shaking themselves off and getting on with the game has been a real pleasure (sounds abit gay that lol!).

I am well and truly brassed off with the bunch of overpaid nancy boys trying to rip off there fellow professionals and cheat the referee into gaining an advantage.

Ill love football, I go to watch my mates little lad play every Sunday and love playing myself but cant bear to watch the professional game anymore :mad:

Anyways, rant over :rant:

Mat :(

Your problem is a common one for the generation that have been raised on Sky to think that professional football begins and ends with the Premiership. Try watching lower league, or even non-league football; depending where you live in Sheffield, try Stocksbridge Park Steels, Worksop Town, Sheffield FC or even Rotherham United. The skill level will be nowhere near Premeirship level but the commitment, passion and will to win is far higher.

I stopped playing Sunday league about 10 years ago. I've recently taken to watching the local teams play, and noticed a distinct difference in the 'commitment'.

The matches I played in were full blooded affairs with hard (but mostly fair) tackles going in, and 50/50 balls competed for in a commited fashion.

It may just be the teams/league that I'm watching locally, but they all seem to lack that same level of commitment. Maybe it's the modern day threat of legal action (?) or fear of loss of earnings by causing/suffering injury. Maybe it's that they are all trying to emulate the Premiership foreign stars and are less willing to go to ground/get stuck in?

Just seems to be a lack of the good old fashioned tough guys (that's tough, rather than dirty).

Your problem is a common one for the generation that have been raised on Sky to think that professional football begins and ends with the Premiership. Try watching lower league, or even non-league football; depending where you live in Sheffield, try Stocksbridge Park Steels, Worksop Town, Sheffield FC or even Rotherham United. The skill level will be nowhere near Premeirship level but the commitment, passion and will to win is far higher.

No mate, I agree. As I said I do love the game its the premiership/championship prima donnas I cant abide. As you said though the lower leagues dont get the airtime.

I stopped playing Sunday league about 10 years ago. I've recently taken to watching the local teams play, and noticed a distinct difference in the 'commitment'.

The matches I played in were full blooded affairs with hard (but mostly fair) tackles going in, and 50/50 balls competed for in a commited fashion.

It may just be the teams/league that I'm watching locally, but they all seem to lack that same level of commitment. Maybe it's the modern day threat of legal action (?) or fear of loss of earnings by causing/suffering injury. Maybe it's that they are all trying to emulate the Premiership foreign stars and are less willing to go to ground/get stuck in?

Just seems to be a lack of the good old fashioned tough guys (that's tough, rather than dirty).

Thats exactly my point. I think things such as the RFU World Cup, cricket etc thats has had a high profile recentlyhave really highlighted what a bunch of overpaid tantrum throwing kids pro footballers really are.

It always was...


I disagree with you there. It depends when you first started watching soccer. When I first started there were hard men in every team and there were full blooded tackles going in all the time. People like Trevor Hockey, Ron Harris, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, they would be suspended half the season if they were playing now because of the non contact way football is

I disagree with you there. It depends when you first started watching soccer. When I first started there were hard men in every team and there were full blooded tackles going in all the time. People like Trevor Hockey, Ron Harris, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, they would be suspended half the season if they were playing now because of the non contact way football is

True ...and they should have been, back then. Assaulting other players has never been a legimitate tactic.

True ...and they should have been, back then. Assaulting other players has never been a legimitate tactic.

They did not assault players though, they were hard but fair tackles, but football is becoming as non contact as tennis now so I do not enjoy it as much

Saturday
3pm
one top flight game.

that to me sums up how our game has changed.

Saturday
3pm
one top flight game.

that to me sums up how our game has changed.

I think the above is another symptom of how money has driven football down rather than up. In the 90s when football became cool and everyone seemed to be interested in it the money became the driving focus. Which has been good in points, but also pretty bad.

Saturday 3pm. And Tues / Weds 7:30 / 7:45 should be the only times for football. I'm sure that was how it was when I was growing up. I think the saturation of football has led to me being a whole heap less interested in it than I used to be.

Saturday
3pm
one top flight game.

that to me sums up how our game has changed.

Or then again maybe we are all living up the SoccerAM sketch that up north we all think "change is not good". :)

They did not assault players though, they were hard but fair tackles, but football is becoming as non contact as tennis now so I do not enjoy it as much

This sentence makes no sense. A contact tackle is an assault.

This sentence makes no sense. A contact tackle is an assault.

And, technically, so is landing a blow in boxing.

Reductio ad absurdum.

This sentence makes no sense. A contact tackle is an assault.



What total boxxxcks, are you on drugs are what

I grew up passionately following football. Now my favourite is rugby league, and I also like boxing and watch rugby union. Not only are the footballers paid ridiculous amounts but they are whining miserable with it. Market forces mean I don't think there is anything "wrong" with what they are paid but why do they have to be self-pitying as well? The institutionalised cheating (just think of the now common phrase "he won a penalty) is sickening too.

I'm like i think many are on here, not so much tunred off football, but certainly more intrested in the game away from the Top flight.

I prefer watchingthe game now at a level where it is exactly that.A game. Not a 'product' or 'part of the entertainment industry'.

Just a game. the best game in the world.

This sentence makes no sense. A contact tackle is an assault.
Then your sentence makes no sense also .
Are you saying that every tackle in rugby or American football is an assault ?
I can rember when the goalie in football could be charged if he was holding on to the ball.
There was no fake diving in those days, the player would have been laughed off the pitch.

Corporate culture has bled football dry. Here's an example I've just read which perfectly sums up all that is wrong with modern football:

The Premier League fixture list is copyrighted. To display part or all of a fixture list on a website, that website needs to buy a "licence" costing a few hundred pounds. This licence is only for one club, however, so if someone wishes to print fixtures for several clubs they need to buy one licence per club.

If unlicensed sites (i.e. fansites, blogs etc) do print club fixtures with no licence, a company called Net Result will contact them threatening legal action. This company has written software that trawls the internet looking for fixture lists. Many independent football websites have actually had their sites deleted by hosting companies because they refused to pay the licence. :mad:

My son aged 15 plays both, when he gets a knock in football he rolls over like Ronaldo or Gerrard, but when he gets a right mauling or a bang on the nose in rugger he justs gives it a quick rub and gets on with the game.
I reckon like most of us kids are influenced by TV.

They did not assault players though, they were hard but fair tackles, but football is becoming as non contact as tennis now so I do not enjoy it as much

Those players named did some very dirty tackles, which never did belong in the Beautiful Game.
I can't remember Trevor Hockey though who did he play for?