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Turning your back on football?

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Not sure how I am supposed to explain a meritocracy to my kids, them lot up the road get it all for doing nowt. Gravy drinkers.
 

Love watching Sunderland and enjoy watching the odd other game usually internationals. World cup and euros are fantastic as well as champions League.

It's a great sport will always enjoy it.
 
I’ve been to see Sunderland more since we dropped to league 1 than ever before. More due to finance and circumstance. It still gives me the same buzz as the first time I went. Despite it being a different game even since I fell in love with it.

Was at the Bolton match for my Dad’s birthday with my Dad,Brother and 6 year old nephew for the first time. It was special. That’s why I think however the game changes most don’t walk away. It’s not really about the game. It’s about special days with friends/family. It’s seeing your brother and his son wrapped in a scarf stood in front of the Bob Stokoe statue. Jumping into a strangers arms when a goal goes in. Don’t think those things ever really change even when the game does. So most will always keep coming back
 
Last full 90mins I watched Chelsea vs Man City and before that it was the Euro final.

Last time I attended a football match was Sunderland vs Bolton on Boxing Day and spent most of it in the black cats bar.

Haven’t been arsed for years.
 
It’s more than just the 90 minutes for me.
Without doubt supporting and following a lesser club definitely has benefits. As @Longy just posted about someone ditching Newcastle for Blyth.

Premiership Football just feels a tourist, commercial money making sterile project. Despite that it’s here for good in the modern era. A switch of a button and live quality football at your finger tips.
Press another button and a Pizza is beside the sofa.

You are unlikely to get anywhere near the heart beat of a large club unfortunately.

Yesterday an ex Swindon player came with us, before during and after the game. Cracking lad giving the real insight into being scouted and alone at the age of 12 in the World of football. Really interesting.
Your older mates from the 70’s, the laughs, memories and banter never gets lost with me in the pub and walking to the ground. The exchange of “insults” another level. Some absolute characters and family.
Our Captain always sounds me out, going off the pitch yesterday came running over for a quick chat, Pat on the back etc. Told him to empty his pockets and let Jamal Matt (FGR Striker) Out :) .....all in good taste.

None of this for most subscribing to the Premiership. Equally would they exchange it for a lifetime of jumpers for goalposts?
Just absolutely love it Supporting my club from the moment we get in the car, Board the train and then get back home.
Winning makes it all the more enjoyable but when you get beat plenty of other positives and laughs from the day to give you that needed lift.

Can only get really excited about one club but do enjoy watching other games because I can relax and no pressure.
My eldest was telling a mate yesterday that I am a nightmare, he said I am often kicking the ball and seat in front of me :)
 
Being down in league 1 there is a lot more interest in the actual game and more affordable to real supporters, i.e it's still a family day out and the stands are filled with real supporters, even though there maybe only a few thousand of them ala Rochdale, Shrews etc. I've started to watch Crook Town and it's a full-blooded battle every game, this is real football that I can watch and afford.
These players on six figures a week are not heroes, they are selfish overpaid fannies unless they actually help the community/give something back. Marcus Rashford IS a hero and there are precious few like him. It's not just football, it's many things in everyday life that I just don't want to know about anymore as the trust and decency in this country has gone.
 
Premier League, Champions League and internationals are rubbish. May feel differently if we were still up there.
I much prefer the League 1 (and lower) grounds.
 
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English football peaked around the turn of the century for me. Success is increasingly reserved for those with the deepest pockets - the opposite of what sport is. It's grotesquely normalised by the runaway commercialisation of the Premier league and younger generations of fans who know no better (I'm 42). I haven't turned my back but I've definitely lost interest.

I'm much more focused on SAFC and what it means to the city these days, the academy teams, even SAFC ladies, and I'm progressively less concerned about the external environment.
 
It would be pretty easy to do tbh. I lstill ike football, I like the game itself. I can watch amateurs playing and find it entertaining. Most weekends I'd like to watch a match.

But if it left my life there would still be all the other things I enjoy. Many of them more than football.
 
FN-2187 said:
Do you know anyone who has just said, sod this and walked away from football.

They are sick of the way the game has gone, the money, the pretty much no chance of winning anything for your team. So much so that they just say fuck it. They don't talk about it, post about it, just live their lives as if football doesn't exist.

I haven't. I do know a couple of people who don't have any interest in football and have always been that way.
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Used to watch loads of football 5-10 years ago. All the English leagues, La Liga, Budesliga, Serie A, big Dutch games. International qualifiers and major tournaments, U21 tournaments the lot.

Just had my enjoyment of the game sucked out of me during the Moyes / Championship years. Wasn't enjoying watching us and stopped enjoying watching other teams.
 
Football outside of Sunderland has little interest to me anymore. Apart from the odd Serie A game, which I have been getting back into thanks to BT sport. Hard to escape the feeling that, despite how much I hate what the Premier League has become, it all leads to that anyway. Eventually, however long it may take, the end game is to have us at a point where we’ll be back up there and taking part in the greed and gluttony of the PL. so, in that respect, what is the point.
 
LJP1786 said:
I definitely don’t watch as much football as I did. I would have watched as much as I could have once upon a time. Marriage, kids and work commitments change that I guess but I only tend to watch a few games even when I have time.

I couldn’t turn my back on Sunderland though, I almost see it as two separate things.
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Exactly the same for me

Combined with the fact that I’m now older than these lads getting paid 200k a week has taken the allure away from the whole thing for me
 
FN-2187 said:
Do you know anyone who has just said, sod this and walked away from football.

They are sick of the way the game has gone, the money, the pretty much no chance of winning anything for your team. So much so that they just say fuck it. They don't talk about it, post about it, just live their lives as if football doesn't exist.

I haven't. I do know a couple of people who don't have any interest in football and have always been that way.
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I did when we were in the prem and came back when we were in the 1st
 
One of the major appeals of the NFL for me is that it tries to be a level playing field for all 32 clubs. Obviously some are far better than others. But this can flip on it’s head in a short space of time. However with football it’s about more than the eleven men kicking the ball about.

The fact that teams can now buy the league with astronomical amounts of money has ruined football.
 
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