BangleMan

I will always support West Ham and its not just as a result of their appalling form and off field circus...that I think I am starting to fall out of love with football

Its mainly to do with :

Media's obsession with top four

All seater stadiums

Players diving / cheating

No physical contact allowed in the game any more...yellow card after yellow card for the tamest of challenges

Managers whining about every referee decision yet cannot see the irony of encouraging ther own players to cheat

Ticket prices to watch a game of football

Being bled dry for every penny, for absolutely everything you buy inside the stadium gates

The lack of 3pm kick off's and the way TV companies dictate who plays when

The above are the reasons off the top of my head why i will give up my WHU season ticket this year (despite living in Dubai, and only catching one home game in 4 or 5) after never being without one for twenty odd years.

Any one else feel the same ?

Ray

Never been obsessed with 22 men kicking a bit of plastic about

Inselaffen

so you fell out of love with football when the old laced-up leather ball was replaced then Ray?

Ray

my weekends were spent involved with this sport

Inselaffen

you'll be chewing jerky and lynching black people next!

Ray

Not at the weekend ..thats thursdays ....

atually I do live in a big KKK area ... rarely seem them though nowadays
don't have the parades much now

lionheart

No, but I do think that video technology needs to be introduced into the game as most referees are frankly poor.

admon

Referees are not the problem.

The pace of the modern game, together with the unprofessional antics of professional players combine to give refs difficult 'on the spot' decisions to make on a regular basis.

The answer is video I agree, but players also need to be severely punished for bringing the game into disrepute.
If a player lost his wages for periods in which he was banned (and the money went to the FA to directly assist funding in grass roots football), and was banned for a lengthy period for deliberate manipulation, some of the worst elements of the game could be cut out pretty quickly.

Charismatic

Maybe you could spice up the football by putting it in a cage, having less players in a smaller area, less time per match and a ball that bounced better. Then allow plenty more contact between players but make them play with only those socks with rubber grips underneath.

I've never liked football much though, it's just too slow.

Jeeper

The drawback with video is the delays in decision making.
Sure, getting the right decision made more often would be good (they don't get it right 100% of the time.).....but who cares when you're forever farting around waiting for the video ref to replay and replay to make a decision.

Sport is meant to be entertaining!

FTR - I can't stand football - It's reached it's saturation point long long ago. It's ALWAYS on TV.

And the diving! Grab your leg in agony and the replay shows it wasn't even touched! Pathetic! Absolutely Pathetic!

And again...most of these guys are considered role models!!!! Pathetic!

lionheart

It doesn't seem to spoil the entertainment at international rugby games when dodgy tries get referred to the replay screen. Perhaps a team could be limited to three referrals per half, rather like in tennis.

Jeeper

Re: rugby a lot of people would disagree with you. Fristly - only certain aspects of the game are up for review with the video ref - not all decisions - forward passes are not reviewed on video for example.

I've seen them replay tries over half a dozen times - in slow motion - turning the tape back and forth.....and then decide to not award a try as they haven't got a clue.

You have to draw the line somewhere and this is where it gets dodgy.

A forward pass can lead to a try and if the ref doesn't see it there's f all that can be done about it. But if there's a knock-on in the scoring of the try that is up for review. What's that about? Surely if a foul is made it can be checked on video replay. no....because we'd be there all day watching videos instead of just cracking on and enjoying the game.

And re: your 3 referals.....so you foul 3 times in the first few minutes on purpose so the other team loses all their referalls?

I reckon you either have video ref full time for all not obvious decision or none at all. And unfortunately, in rugby and football there are a lot of dogy call srefs have to make on the spot and most of the time their instinct is correct. We all want to see a fair outcome....but I doubt we'd want to watch video replays of every decision all day.

Sandboy

bollocks, the refs are fitter and faster than ever, players cheating is the problem

BangleMan

Totally agree.....and its not just a 'foreign disease'.....

Rooney attempted it in the match at the weekend, Gerrard is a past master at it, but hey, they are English, so thats ok... and its not just the desperate dive for a penalty or free kick that meakes me sick...its the feigning injury, snipper bullet to the head reaction we get as soon as they are touched, or not !

And it seeps into the amateur games or kick arounds in the park, and Im sure in the play grounds for kiddies

I play 5-a-side football each week and you just have to make the slightest of contact one of the 'local / foreign' players, and they literally scream / yelp, roll on the floor, .....its ****** pathetic, and all because they see it done by professionals in the blanket coverage on TV

Jeeper

I should start doing it when I miss a putt at golf on the weekend.
Wonder if i'll be allowed to play the putt again when I miraculaously ( and almost instantly after getting my way) recover