Soccer magazine FourFourTwo has published a superb article this month: 49 Things We Hate About Football — Even Though Its Still The Best Thing on the Planet.
I reckon every real fan would agree with almost all of the things we probably hate about football and I give you a random selection of their choices, in no particular order:
— Fans booing their own players
— Contrived goal celebrations (”Give it up, even your own fans think you look stupid”)
— Immediate post-match interviews (”always rubbish”)
— 23-year-old’s autobiographies (”Bought exclusively by well-intentioned but misguided mums two days before Christmas”)
— Irrelevant mascots (”at what point did Gunnersaurus Rex play a part in Arsenal’s long and distinguished history ?”)
— Manufacturers claiming to have made “the roundest ball ever”
and my personal favourite:
— Sky Sports News interviews with fans outside the ground (”Its 11.24am on Tuesday and the only supporters around are a deranged pensioner wearing 837 club pin badges and an alcoholic maniac with a thin grasp of reality who is almost certainly outraged. Pointless.”)
Well with this season drawing to a close it got me thinking about what I still love about football — besides seeing my own team win of course.
I LOVE:
— The day the new fixtures for the coming season are published
— Going to the first match of the new season
— Going to a new ground for the first time
— Managers who say: “Yes, I saw the incident clearly and my player throughly deserved that red card. I’d like to congratulate the referee for getting that decision spot on.” Thank You Alan Shearer.
— The same as above only for penalties.
— If a second player on the opposing team is injured and his own trainer is already attending someone the way the other team’s trainer immediately sprints on to help him.
— Players who can have a laugh on the pitch. One of the greatest football photos ever? Old mates Bobby Moore (West Ham) and Jimmy Greaves (Spurs) pictured twirling around each other arm in arm.
— Fans who can applaud the other team when something truely outstanding happens
— Teams playing away fixtures in their “proper” home kit
— Impeccably observed one minute silences
— The way David Beckham crosses a ball
— The way you just “know” Fernando Torres is likely to score when he bears down on goal.
— Jose Mourinho’s fashion sense
— Brazil’s kit.
— Cup finals which end in 90 minutes.
— Watching Match of the Day if your team has won
— Reading the Sunday papers if your team has won
Your turn…
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