What do you love/hate about football (sport in general)

Hello there internet, as the title suggests, I just wanted to get peoples opinions on why you watch football, why you support who you do. What you love, what you hate about it. I'm in my final year in LSAD in Limerick, yes art college lads, I can spell it now.:p I'm looking to base all my final year work around introducing football (as well as sport but mostly footie) as a valid subject matter for fine art (at the moment it (sport in general) is very much on the periphery).

So please if your bored take some time to contribute, rant if you like, the more opinions I get the better whether positive or negative, and if you have questions for me I'll be glad to try and answer. I'd really appreciate any comment that any of you are willing to put forward thou!

What I love about football - Cold winter nights. A pre-match/half time pint. The craic on away trips. The joy of promotion/winning a game, even the hurt of relegation. Supporting my team through thick and thin, being at the ground whether there is 5,000 there or 200 people. Seeing the new generation of fans attending their first games and remembering the times as a 10 year old kid standing in the freezing rain screaming on my team. Derby games.

What I hate about football - Barstoolers, mobs, riots, a**esholes out to cause trouble.

Football - Love: The connection you can find with people (this goes for sport). The thrill of watching your team defend against all the odds (Moscow last year). The sensory impact of a match under floodlights, it's like good theatre only with better acting. Watching little kids play, or rather herd, and the sheer fun they have. Seeing families at games. A finger tip save or the woodwork preventing a goal, so many times a thunderbolt off the crossbar is better remembered and felt than a goal.

Hate: Those who try to elevate football above other sports - this basically goes back to their own insecurity and lack of faith in what they follow. Poor administration and organisation (just drags the guts away). Racism or foul mouthed behaviour, we can all lose the head and shout "Ah ffs ref", but that's it, the foul chants that go on show the complete lack of class or love for the game (and sport) that those shouting have. "Adults" ruining the game for kids. Cheating, to this end I switched off watching the 2006 World Cup when an Italian dragged his foot across an Aussie keeper to win a penalty, and I detest teams that have diving and cheating to a fine art - Spain, Italy, Barcelona, Real, Manchester United (won't name LOI clubs in this).

Sport in General:
Love - Sport in itself, just the fun, the taking part, the highs, lows, the winning, losing. The camaraderie. How it can connect a son and Father like nothing else. The roar of a crowd, the swell in intensity in a fight, the anticipation at the start of a match/race etc.

Hate - Cheating, drug abuse, parents living vicariously through kids, parents who reckon they know best for their kids and then destroy them.

Football.

Love.
Playing:Training. The nerves before a match. The butterflies that build as kick off time approaches. The adrenaline rush when i make a save. The feeling of denying someone else that high. A clean sheet. The feeling of being part of a team. WINNING(it may be game but don't let anyone fool you in to thinking that its all about taking part.).

Hate
Playing: The dread and fear of making a mistake. Making a mistake, its an old cliche but there really is nowhere to hide as a goal keeper after you have f**ked up. The hope you will get a chance to make amends...and then that final whistle goes. LOSING(it sickens me) the cloud that hangs over you after losing(girls don't seem to understand this). The cheating, it boils my blood and as a goalkeeper you see so much diving and playacting going on in front of you. Grown men falling over as if they have been shot.


Watching...I used to watch a lot of football. Whether it was on the tv or going to other junior or schoolboy matches. But i rarely bother anymore as I find I can always something else to do.

I wrote this piece a couple of years ago and it appeared in foot.ieand pretty much in the terms of one game what I love about football and it primarily involves hate: hate for the opposition, the opposition manager, the opposition fans etc. To summarise these is very little akin to football (sport) which can give moments of sheer ecstacy followed by a buzz for a whole week (until the next game). On the other hand, to go with those moments of pure joy, you get the other end of the scale when defeat, concession of last minute goals etc can leave a cloud over your head for days (nee weeks, months or even years - Houghton's miss at Wembley) but even though the latter usually outweigh the former (certainly for me), those moments of joy, however rare, can stay with one for life (Shamrock Rovers 3 Waterford 0 1968 FAI Cup Final 39k at it, Bulgaria/Scotland 1987, England/Ireland 1988, etc etc). The bad memories mostly fade (Israel last minute equaliser in Tel Aviv etc) but the good remain.

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The scenario

Crystal Palace vs WBA last night (the motivated vs the already promoted). A win for Palace sends Sheffield Wednesday down. If not the two meet in the last game of the season. I bought my tickets a month ago.

Not since Bulgaria vs Scotland in 1987 have I watched a game not involving Ireland with such a fist around my heart. The game is on Sky. I settle down in front of the TV. The wife ups and leaves to watch Corrie in the kitchen. She doesn't reappear until the game is over. She knows when to stay clear.

The Game

Usual pre-match interviews. Paul Hart (Palace manager): "Wonderful club". "Great fans" "Amazing players". I hate them all. I hate Hart and his shiny bald head. I hate the Palace fans, I hate the players, I hate London. I love WBA.

Game starts. I hate the referee. Awards frees to Palace all over the place. I hate the linesman who gets three offsides wrong but most of all I hate Stephen Reid who scores an OG for Palace. Why did he ever recover from injury? Why is he on loan at WBA? Why didn't he stay with slapped ars+ face Allardyce at Blackburn? WBA soon equalise but don't get excited. 70 minutes still to go. I keep getting this vision of the Palace fans running on to the pitch and celebrating survival - go away. Albion then miss at least 5 gilt edged chances. I hate their strikers. Half time. 1-1. It's going to be a long 45 minutes.

Second half same as first as WBA miss chance after chance. Palace barely in the game. Commentator says "These missed chances could come back to haunt Albion". I hate the commentator but I know he's right. 10 minutes to go and a Palace player gets sent off for head butting an opponent. Text from my friend: "Surely Palace can't win it now". I know he's only imitating George Hamilton but I hate him.

Palace now bring on 2 more forwards including Alan Lee. He's never done anything for Ireland. What's the betting he'll score a last minute winner. I hate him and his stupid haircut especially since he is proving a handful. 5 minutes to go. The Wednesday manager in the stand can't watch any more. He leaves the ground. Chri*t, Lee is through on goal one and one with the keeper who saves. Carson I love you. Lee, no wonder you don't play for Ireland! Another chance for Palace which is headed wide. Meanwhile WBA miss 3 at the other end. It's going to happen. I know it is.

6 minutes of injury time. WBA look vulnerable every time Palace attack. Lots of pictures of Palace fans biting their nails. I am down to my knuckles. 5 minutes gone. Another Palace attack and a desperate last minute block prevents a shot on goal. Surely that was their last chance but WBA can't hold on to the ball. I hate all their players. Everyone is in the WBA box. 5 minutes 55 seconds and the ball breaks to an umarked Palace player to the right hand side of the box. Two Albion players scurry over to try and block the shot. They are too late. He shoots. It beats the keeper. Noooooooooooooooooooo. It can't be. It's going in but from someplace an Albion player arrives and at full stretch clears the ball off the line. God I love that defender. Final whistle. 1-1. No Palace fans on the pitch. Hart is despondent. Hah!

Apres Match:

Wife reappears. Asks what happened. I said a draw. She asks in that good? I explain. She smiles and says she's going to bed. I come up an hour later. She's asleep. I can't sleep. I still see that miss in my mindseye. What must it have felt like for a Palace fan? Who cares?

I hated every minute of it but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

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Great input so far lads thanks. Just a quick question I've been trying to find exact statistics of where you can find exact or at least pretty accurate figures on how many people play sport in Ireland weekly, even stats for specific sports will do such as footie,rugby and the gaah. Any help much appreciated, I've found a few things but just looking out in case anyone knows something I don't!

Sports council Ireland should be okay, or Wikipedia.

If anyone else has anything they'd like to share I'd still be interested in more input, memories about you're best/worst sporting memories as a fan etc. Anything really.