Popular Footballing Myths
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
English Players Don't Dive - One of the more popular football myths, typified by the
Wor us Northerners a well 'ard with our Tetleys and Yorkshire pud" supporter. Slanted English media sweep it under the carpet as if they worked for the KGB, despite growing evidence against their standpoint. Stevie G even spoke out against it, which is ironic considering he is one of the worst offenders.
Foreign Players Cannot Handle The British Weather - Because players from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia and Croatia to name a few, just freeze if it drops below 20C don't they....sigh.
English Fans Are Among The Most Passionate In The World - Not even in the top 20. Again the heavily slanted English press give way to this notion. Smashing up Belgian pubs and turning up to Newcastle fans without a shirt on does not make you passionate.
All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive - I spose it has never occured to anyone that African teams generally favour a more attacking disposition to their play has it? I never hear anyone call Brazil tactically naive. It's just a term used by fans who are too lazy to bother accurately describing or analysing any African side.
Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles - Many believe the long ball game to belong only to Britain, where it is taught at an early age and many lower league teams opt for it due to lack of skill. In Holland, the long ball game is also taught at younger ages and used by several top Dutch sides as part of a highly aggressive counter attacking philosophy. The difference between the two is the Dutch also focus highly on individual technique, whereas the British often focus on strength and size ahead of technical ability.
Wor us Northerners a well 'ard with our Tetleys and Yorkshire pud" supporter. Slanted English media sweep it under the carpet as if they worked for the KGB, despite growing evidence against their standpoint. Stevie G even spoke out against it, which is ironic considering he is one of the worst offenders.
Foreign Players Cannot Handle The British Weather - Because players from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia and Croatia to name a few, just freeze if it drops below 20C don't they....sigh.
English Fans Are Among The Most Passionate In The World - Not even in the top 20. Again the heavily slanted English press give way to this notion. Smashing up Belgian pubs and turning up to Newcastle fans without a shirt on does not make you passionate.
All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive - I spose it has never occured to anyone that African teams generally favour a more attacking disposition to their play has it? I never hear anyone call Brazil tactically naive. It's just a term used by fans who are too lazy to bother accurately describing or analysing any African side.
Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles - Many believe the long ball game to belong only to Britain, where it is taught at an early age and many lower league teams opt for it due to lack of skill. In Holland, the long ball game is also taught at younger ages and used by several top Dutch sides as part of a highly aggressive counter attacking philosophy. The difference between the two is the Dutch also focus highly on individual technique, whereas the British often focus on strength and size ahead of technical ability.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
haha very interesting and very true
you can never gauge who the most pssionate fans are, how does one measure 'passion'
that always annoyed me when people claim they are more passionate than someone else
i neat myth or truism that i have noticed with the epl is that it is always sunny on the first and last days of the season and fa cup final day
i know its at each end of summer but just a cool thing, a tradition almost 
Permalink
Permalink
Manchester United success is from their incredible youth academy
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Permalink
Permalink
Manchester United success is from their incredible youth academy
Permalink
Permalink
Arsenal have a Premiership Rival from the North-West of London.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Permalink
Permalink
We never used to dive. I would look forward to us playing the Germans as I knew we would get a proper game of football, none of this falling over stuff. You always knew if you played Italy they would be mincing around and fainting and be quite effeminate.
Permalink
Permalink
Perennial strugglers Liverpool Football Club is unwelcoming to cross-dressers.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Permalink
Permalink
i neat myth or truism that i have noticed with the epl is that it is always sunny on the first and last days of the season and fa cup final day
i know its at each end of summer but just a cool thing, a tradition almost
Yup very true. It did rain in the 2003 final when the match was still held in Wales, i remember that as Arsenal beat Southampton and the roof was closed because of the weather.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
We never used to dive. I would look forward to us playing the Germans as I knew we would get a proper game of football, none of this falling over stuff. You always knew if you played Italy they would be mincing around and fainting and be quite effeminate.
Two words. Franny Lee.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
Remember the fight between him and Norman Hunter over something like that??
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
Permalink
Permalink
That is one of my biggest dislikes about football now here and in Europe. If you don't dive, you don't get a free kick
Permalink
Permalink
There was a game last season where Kun got fouled inside the box by the last man. He tried to stay on his feet and, all off balance, fired a shot wide. The commentators said something along the lines of "If he'd just gone to ground he would have had a penalty and the opposition player sent off". Mind you, he is a dirty Argentine, so he defo throws himself to ground at every opportunity.
Of course you can get a good sense of 'passion' from fans. At least in terms of who is the most supportive. Eg, the Basques make more noise than anybody and nobody in Spain enjoys playing there because of the hostile atmosphere. Compared to Madrid, who- although fill the stands (but not on the last day if there are no trophies, hahahahahahaha, puta Madrid) make noise which only hurts their own team (oh, and of course a few disgusting chants about fascism and Fernando Torres)- and even then, the noise is very mininmal. If I was an away team, I know where I would rather play. And it wouldn't be up north.
Pele is better than Maradona.
Permalink
Permalink
Very true. I'd also add in there about Germany always being referred to as 'efficient' (or various things related to being 'boring'). In recent years (and through other periods as well), Germany have had exciting players, and played entertaining Football. Get annoyed with these constant sterotypes regardless of the facts.
Permalink
Permalink
Very true. I'd also add in there about Germany always being referred to as 'efficient' (or various things related to being 'boring'). In recent years (and through other periods as well), Germany have had exciting players, and played entertaining Football. Get annoyed with these constant sterotypes regardless of the facts.
Excellent suggestion Colv. Basically it's just a comeback used by the English because they have been far less successful than Germany in football history. It's about as lame as 5-1, which also gets turfed out quite a lot.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
5-1; that's brilliant. A great win, but still. Going on about it like we go on about our 5 European Cups!
"Two World Wars and one World Cup" chant is pretty funny- although not very classy.
Permalink
Permalink
"Two World Wars and one World Cup" chant is pretty funny- although not very classy.
English fans don't know the meaning of the word classy.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
I have been meaning to ignore this for a couple of days, but am now bored enough to respond.
English Players Don't Dive - One of the more popular football myths, typified by the Wor us Northerners a well 'ard with our Tetleys and Yorkshire pud" supporter. Slanted English media sweep it under the carpet as if they worked for the KGB, despite growing evidence against their standpoint. Stevie G even spoke out against it, which is ironic considering he is one of the worst offenders.[/QUOTE]
It is impossible to say that English players do not dive, but they do it less than most other nationalities. I don't think anyone in the UK says that players like Rooney and Gerrard don't dive because the evidence is there to see, but across the board, there is less diving here than pretty much all other leagues due to the way that they are vilified when they do (look at the outrage when N'Gog dived against Birmingham for proof).
[QUOTE=Buffon II]All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive - I spose it has never occured to anyone that African teams generally favour a more attacking disposition to their play has it? I never hear anyone call Brazil tactically naive. It's just a term used by fans who are too lazy to bother accurately describing or analysing any African side.
Foreign Players Cannot Handle The British Weather - Because players from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia and Croatia to name a few, just freeze if it drops below 20C don't they....sigh..[/QUOTE]
No one is saying that players from those countries cannot handle the weather, but more players coming from warmer countries. Take someone like Deco for example - starts the season well and then disappears in December for 3 months. It also happens to a number of South American players, although obviously not all.
English Fans Are Among The Most Passionate In The World - Not even in the top 20. Again the heavily slanted English press give way to this notion. Smashing up Belgian pubs and turning up to Newcastle fans without a shirt on does not make you passionate.
How do you define passion? English fans generally travel in larger numbers (for both club and country) and create fantastic atmospheres. They do not light flares or stab opposition supporters which seems to be the european method for measuring passion (apart from the stabbing). Attendances in the UK are high, with (I think) the championship being about the 4th highest league for attendance in Europe.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive - I spose it has never occured to anyone that African teams generally favour a more attacking disposition to their play has it? I never hear anyone call Brazil tactically naive. It's just a term used by fans who are too lazy to bother accurately describing or analysing any African side.
Many, many people have said that Brazil are tactically naive since the 1982 team became the greatest team to never win a WC.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles - Many believe the long ball game to belong only to Britain, where it is taught at an early age and many lower league teams opt for it due to lack of skill. In Holland, the long ball game is also taught at younger ages and used by several top Dutch sides as part of a highly aggressive counter attacking philosophy. The difference between the two is the Dutch also focus highly on individual technique, whereas the British often focus on strength and size ahead of technical ability.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles - Many believe the long ball game to belong only to Britain, where it is taught at an early age and many lower league teams opt for it due to lack of skill. In Holland, the long ball game is also taught at younger ages and used by several top Dutch sides as part of a highly aggressive counter attacking philosophy. The difference between the two is the Dutch also focus highly on individual technique, whereas the British often focus on strength and size ahead of technical ability.
I don't really care.
If you want to talk about rubbish footballing myths, try the one about English fans being hooligans. The last trouble I can remember off the top of my head was Marseille in 98, which I happened to be at. Having seen a good part of the violence and spoken to other people in different locations, the english were largely blameless although slated in the press all over the world. This was in the same WC that a french policeman was put into a coma by the german fans with a concrete block.
All I do is make the stuff I would've liked
Reference things I wanna watch, reference girls I wanna bite
Now I'm firefly like a burning kite
And yousa fake fuck like a fleshlight
Permalink
Permalink
Some good points there, and then BAM! The myth buster becomes the myth creator.
Permalink
Permalink
Not going to respond to the whole of Frankie's post but a few quick points...
1. Diving is now endemic in football accross the board. Everyone does it, and pretty much to the same extent. How it was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago is completely irrelevant.
2. Find it hard to believe that the Championship ranks fourth in attendance of all the leagues in Europe. That would put it ahead of Serie A and Ligue 1 which I find extremely difficult to believe. And as for the atmosphere, that's in the eye of the beholder. Agree there's no objective method of determining the 'passion' of fans. At least now without long and involved multi-national research of variety of factors.
3. The English 'hooligans' gave the German police a whole heap of trouble in 2006 (as did the Poles, and German groups intent on provoking their perceived enemies).
1. Diving is now endemic in football accross the board. Everyone does it, and pretty much to the same extent. How it was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago is completely irrelevant.
2. Find it hard to believe that the Championship ranks fourth in attendance of all the leagues in Europe. That would put it ahead of Serie A and Ligue 1 which I find extremely difficult to believe. And as for the atmosphere, that's in the eye of the beholder. Agree there's no objective method of determining the 'passion' of fans. At least now without long and involved multi-national research of variety of factors.
3. The English 'hooligans' gave the German police a whole heap of trouble in 2006 (as did the Poles, and German groups intent on provoking their perceived enemies).
Permalink
Permalink
Snipped my parts for space.
Thank you for responding Frankie.
I have been meaning to ignore this for a couple of days, but am now bored enough to respond.
English Players Don't Dive[/QUOTE]
It is impossible to say that English players do not dive, but they do it less than most other nationalities. I don't think anyone in the UK says that players like Rooney and Gerrard don't dive because the evidence is there to see, but across the board, there is less diving here than pretty much all other leagues due to the way that they are vilified when they do (look at the outrage when N'Gog dived against Birmingham for proof).
That's my point though. Foreigners get vilified for it yet many English players get off without so much as a blinked eye or a raised eyebrow. The media just ignore it completely despite the fact it is a growing problem.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive
That's my point though. Foreigners get vilified for it yet many English players get off without so much as a blinked eye or a raised eyebrow. The media just ignore it completely despite the fact it is a growing problem.
Foreign Players Cannot Handle The British Weather[/QUOTE]
No one is saying that players from those countries cannot handle the weather, but more players coming from warmer countries. Take someone like Deco for example - starts the season well and then disappears in December for 3 months. It also happens to a number of South American players, although obviously not all.
Once again media and many Premier League commentators/pundits say it all the time. These are professional athletes i think they know how to play in a bit of snow. It's the same the other way round, those who say English players can't stand the heat at the WC, utter nonsense. Of course they can they're professionals for f**ks sake.
Once again media and many Premier League commentators/pundits say it all the time. These are professional athletes i think they know how to play in a bit of snow. It's the same the other way round, those who say English players can't stand the heat at the WC, utter nonsense. Of course they can they're professionals for f**ks sake.
English Fans Are Among The Most Passionate In The World
How do you define passion? English fans generally travel in larger numbers (for both club and country) and create fantastic atmospheres. They do not light flares or stab opposition supporters which seems to be the european method for measuring passion (apart from the stabbing). Attendances in the UK are high, with (I think) the championship being about the 4th highest league for attendance in Europe.
It's not just about attendances, or atmospheres, or flares or travelling or any of that. It's about a whole sub culture of football and how it exists as part of life for those involved in it within their respective communities. Also for many club teams in England they don't travel in large numbers at all.
It's not just about attendances, or atmospheres, or flares or travelling or any of that. It's about a whole sub culture of football and how it exists as part of life for those involved in it within their respective communities. Also for many club teams in England they don't travel in large numbers at all.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]All African Teams Are Tatically And Defensively Naive
Many, many people have said that Brazil are tactically naive since the 1982 team became the greatest team to never win a WC.
Brazil have won the WC 5 times aside of that failure, not bad for being tactically naive no? Also i'd say the Hungarian team of the 50's or the Dutch team of the 70's were better sides never to win a WC.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles
Brazil have won the WC 5 times aside of that failure, not bad for being tactically naive no? Also i'd say the Hungarian team of the 50's or the Dutch team of the 70's were better sides never to win a WC.
[QUOTE=Buffon II]Long Ball Football Is Restriced To The British Isles
I don't really care.
No need for that really now is there. I mean, i try to start a decent football discussion on here as you do on a forum and you come out with this immature nonsense. If you don't want to discuss it fine but no need to dismiss the point completely like that.
No need for that really now is there. I mean, i try to start a decent football discussion on here as you do on a forum and you come out with this immature nonsense. If you don't want to discuss it fine but no need to dismiss the point completely like that.
If you want to talk about rubbish footballing myths, try the one about English fans being hooligans. The last trouble I can remember off the top of my head was Marseille in 98, which I happened to be at. Having seen a good part of the violence and spoken to other people in different locations, the english were largely blameless although slated in the press all over the world. This was in the same WC that a french policeman was put into a coma by the german fans with a concrete block.
Very true. Big myth. Many national team fans are worse and far more racist. Poland is probably top of the charts, Russia close behind.
Very true. Big myth. Many national team fans are worse and far more racist. Poland is probably top of the charts, Russia close behind.
Thank you for responding Frankie.
Three for me, and two for them.
Permalink
Permalink
The English fans are often trouble making. There are other nations fans that are also bad. English are still one of the worst.
Permalink
Permalink
The English fans are often trouble making. There are other nations fans that are also bad. English are still one of the worst.
There is also an interesting dichotomy between club and country travelling supporters. English club fans have largely cleaned up their act since the tragic events of the 1980s, but the guys travelling around following England still get up to a bit of trouble.
As a point of comparison, it's the opposite in Croatia - European cities literally dread drawing Croatian clubs in UEFA competitions (BBB caused absolute chaos in Timisoara when Dinamo played there earlier this year, and Slovakian police was so scared of Hajduk fans they wouldn't even let them go to the stadium). In contrast, the national team support is generally good natured. el grapadura2010-01-12 23:33:27
Permalink
Permalink
The English fans are often trouble making. There are other nations fans that are also bad. English are still one of the worst.
There is also an interesting dichotomy between club and country travelling supporters. English club fans have largely cleaned up their act since the tragic events of the 1980s, but the guys travelling around following England still get up to a bit of trouble.
As a point of comparison, it's the opposite in Croatia - European citis literally dread drawing Croatian clubs in UEFA competitions (BBB caused absolute chaos in Timisoara when Dinamo played there earlier this year, and Slovakian police was so scared of Hajduk fans they wouldn't even let them go to the stadium). In contrast, the national team support is generally good natured.
Yea, it is interesting. I think it shows how much group mentality plays a part in people's actions. Even though the same people might be involved in both sets of fans, when the overall approach and culture of the group is different, then individuals react differently. I suppose a reputation can also be self-fulfilling. Once there's a reputation / history of violence in a team, the munters will probably get drunk and think it's 'the thing to do' to cause trouble or whatever.
Permalink
Permalink
Yeah. I'm also interested at places which are much more regional in terms of club over country to such an extent that they are prepared to support a different country. Eg Napoli fans supporting Maradona's Argentina over Italy in the 1990 WC semi-final. My parents were in Naples at the time and my dad always talks about the great dilemma that those fans had in deciding.
Buffy, agree generally with your comments about the heat/cold. But altitude is a bit different!!
Permalink
Permalink
And anyone who is predominantly left footed has an 'educated' left foot ... right feet never seem to have any qualifications.
Permalink
Permalink
Myth: New Zealand is crap at Football.
Permalink
Permalink