Soccer, is perhaps the only sport that acts as a melting pot of people across the globe. As a fan tottering on the threshold of soccer for the first time in my life, I made a few observations. If in case, I have overdone some or underplayed some, hard core soccer fans please excuse me and my naivety.
Here's presenting a list of them as viewed from a naive pair of eyes:
1. When I was in my second year of college i.e a couple of years back, I observed that 99% of the college guys had only one topic to discuss in the corridors and in between classes: "Football." At that point of time, it seemed to me as if they ate, drank, slept and breathed only about it. The names of Ronaldinho, Beckham and Rooney used to ricochet of the walls.
2. EPL: I started watching this somewhere around this time, last year and I ended up liking Man Utd. But one thing that I fail to understand is: when Man Utd plays against any team, why is it that only Cristiano Ronaldo gets fouled most of the time? Am I being stupid or is this something that really happens, I am confused. please clarify?
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3. WAGS of fans, feel very in secured when their beloved's matches are aired. This is a first hand experience, because many of my friends in college used to complain about the attention deficiency by the boys during the matches. I do not know how it is other places, but I think it should be along the same lines.
4. The match time officially is said to be 90 minutes, but it always crosses that. Why can't anyone think and fix the extra and stoppage time beforehand? I am confused yet again?
5. The sport is perhaps the best said example of "to forgive and forget." Fouls might be committed, but the second the referee blows the whistle, it ends there. No hard feelings; no rancour. Perhaps cricketers would learn a lesson or two.
6. Its an addiction. The more you see, the more get hooked and if one does not get the fix, its a prebodition of awaiting disaster.
7. Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea fans loathe each other on principle. Going to them and expressing the love for the sport, rather than the club, is equivalent to committing harakiri. Another thing learnt in my college and experienced, although not first hand.
8. Soccer World Cups are more classy than Cricket World Cups. Wonder why? When the ICC spends millions and millions on organising them?
9. People who are totally unaware of Football can talk about only Pele and Maradonna. Again first hand experience and frankly speaking, I myself was one a couple of years back.
10. Football players are immune to dust, cold, rain, heat and everything climatic. They have protective skin shields which others don't have and also they are multi-climatic.
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about 1 month ago
Good read Rohini. A lot of the stuff you've written actually is noticed by some people watching football for the first time.
But things like extra-time cannot be fixed beforehand - each game has its own stoppages, and invariably you'll see a 3-4 minute extra time period played at the end of games, with maybe a 1 minute stoppage time at the end of the 1st half.
Ronaldo gets fouled a lot because he's supposed to be a danger/threat to the opposition - many other players are also fouled.. Ronaldo just gets noticed a lot more!
Believe me, managers moan about bad tackling in the game - like cricket, the arbiters are also criticized quite a lot.
about 1 month ago
i guess that is the case then, because everytime i see any match of man u, any thing happens ronaldo is quick to drop to the ground and raise his hands...it sometimes gives me the feeling that he tries coercing the referee.
from about 1 month ago
yove got it right mate, ronaldo does have a reputation for going to ground easily. other players do it as well, but as arguably the best player in the world at the moment, its not something he should have to do, but he still does
about 1 month ago
The reason Ronaldo gets "fouled" so much is because he dives.
about 1 month ago
The reason Ronaldo gets fouled so much is because he is a winger. Running at speed with the ball makes it easier to go down when clipped.
about 1 month ago
1. Football do usually generates passion, is the world's most played sport.
2. The practical need for fouls in football is to either get the counterpart under control or deterring, preventing further threats. "Tactical" fouls are oriented to discourage the opponent; Cristiano is a critical element of MU offensive scheme, therefore he's one of the preferred "tactical" targets.
3. Watching football is incompatible with any activity other than drinking huges amount of lager while eating chips and comenting about the match.
4. Unpredictability is one of the most beautiful characteristics of football. Theorically the added time at the end of each half is to complement the time wasted in attending injured players or whatever situation may arise, but it really serves to have someone to blame (referee) for our miseries and frustration. If your team is losing and referee adds little time, we execrate him with all kind of imaginable insults; if your team is winning by just a goal, we praise him and his "impartiality". Same applies mutatis mutandi to other situations.
5. As i've told before, fouls in football are mostly tacticals; it means you can foul for tactical reasons, and you can also seek to be fouled for a lot of reasons, specially if your team is losing. Anyway, it's a "contact" sport, so fouls are part of the game, nothing personal.
6. You got it
7. Loathing is a feeling incompatible with the spirit of any sport or competition. Rivalry should be the adequate concept. The use of any sport for the promotion of political, racial, religious or social ideology is definitively a great mistake.
8. Because FIFA is an association of 208 country federations, 16 more than the number of countries affiliated to UN. Wonder how much does the ICC has....
9. Pelé and Maradona are undoubtedly the most famous ones, that's why.
10. What they really have is an extremely affluent salary that noone wants to resign, and a sponsor who pays them (the team, for the image rights) to show up at the pitch no matter if a hurricane is taking place.
Hope to have satisfied your doubts!
about 1 month ago
Sooooo True - so so true (I heart Man U)
The match time officially is said to be 90 minutes, but it always crosses that. Why can't anyone think and fix the extra and stoppage time beforehand
Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea fans loathe each other on principle.
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it always looks that way dosent it ?
Soccer World Cups are more classy than Cricket World Cups.
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YES - TRUE Again
People who are totally unaware of Football can talk about only Pele and Maradonna.
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may be you are gonna slay me for this - but this i think is by far your best, i dont know why, i just think its way way more better than many of your 'federer is the next best thing to sliced bread' articles
LOVED IT - Picked it !
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cheers
about 1 month ago
ok Long...you are excused for saying that...i won't slay you [:P]....
about 1 month ago
Edward, actually i am facing a problem regarding reply options.....
just wanted to say thanks for simplifying moi doubts....
about 1 month ago
Ronaldo gets fouled, because he's possibly the best footballer in the world and it's often the only way to stop him.
That said, he regularly buys a decision, as he's very good at falling over and referee's are not very bright.
Games have 90 minutes playing time, so all stoppages are added on, hence the games lasting more than 90 minutes.
Cricket and Football have nothing in common, one is quick and exciting and watched by millions, the other is slow and complicated and watched by a few thousand(unless it's a county game, then it's watched by a few hundred)
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