Official Football Thread

Forostar said:
I indicate that your fandom for a club is stronger than your love of the game?
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Not really. But I guess my hatred for my teams' rivals is stronger than my love of the game.

Here's an example - I love watching CL matches between teams I'm indifferent to. This is my love for the game. When Man United play I simply hope and pray the lose. When Man United play against Barcelona, I hope a miracle happens and both teams lose. :p

Another example, dealing with local teams. There's this huge rivalry between two Bulgarian teams - Levski and CSKA, I root for the former. When CSKA play in Europen tournaments I root for their opponent. When another Bulgarian team plays in European tournaments, I root for them. As simple as that.

Edit: Nat is right. I watch all matches that are on TV. But so far I only find the Premier League intriguing from top to bottom.
 
Again, speaking only for myself: I enjoy the game as such, and over a year probably 2/3 of the games I watch do not involve one of my favourite teams (Fredrikstad FK, Man Utd or the Norwegian national team). I could find enjoyment both in Wigan vs Reading and in Rayo Vallecano vs Getafe under the right circumstances. Howerver, this is a side track relative to what started the discussion:

Let me quote: "Not a single team from the beloved Premier League has reached the CL quarter finals! The silence about this fact was so deafening that I had to break it."

I interpreted this, and the next reply, in the following way: I, and the other posters who have expressed their liking/support for an EPL club, should feel annoyed by this fact. There are certainly those who will. I am not one of them, and I have explained my reasons for that. I am simply not interested in the "my league is better than your league" argument, because I don't identify myself as an EPL fan. It might be different for an Englishman, especially one who does not support one of the top clubs or a direct rival of them.

I take joy in the successes of my favourite teams, I take frustration of their failures. Apart from that, I just enjoy the game. Other sympathies and antipathies - for teams, leagues and players - are feelings that come and go with the circumstances.
 
I think supporting your fellow teams in international competitions depends on how well the country does in those. For example, England has four teams in CL and many teams in Europa League and it doesn't seem to get lower, anything happens happens. Their coefficients are always high because the quality of their league and national team is high. A fellow team losing in the first round most of the time doesn't mean a thing to the country's success itself. I'm not English, I don't know if my stance about the English teams in European tournaments would change if I was. It probably would. I'm an Arsenal supporter and I don't wish any other English team to do well.

On the other hand, Turkish league is not a top quality league (it's in Top 10 though, I believe) and the national team has sucked since 2008. I'm a Galatasaray fan and if we're the sole team to compete in the league, we get all of Turkey's share of TV revenues, so I don't wish any other Turkish team getting into the league. But if they do, I have nothing else than to support them, because if we suck, we might lose our contingent (league champion goes to the group stage without playing qualification stages, 2nd placed team starts from 3rd round of qualification).

This season Galatasaray is the sole Turkish team in CL. Our arch rivals Fenerbahçe played in the qualification stage but lost to Spartak Moskva. They're now in the Europa League quarter finals and I root for them, mind you, they're the team that I hate the most in the world.

My occasional support for our rivals doesn't come from nationalism but rather the well being of my own club. So you could say that :

My love for my own club > My hatred for my rival club
 
Natalie said:
Interesting, I actually got the opposite from Ariana's post Foro. To me it sounds like she zoomed out, watched some matches played in La Liga, thought the competitive level was lower than that of the Premier League and decided to go back to watching the Premier League. This if anything indicates to me that she has a love of the game itself and prefers quality over anything else.
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I fully understand that kind of love for the game that generates curiosity to check new teams and leagues. And if the football isn't good enough, then it's logical to get away from it soon.

But I was talking more specifically about competitions in which a favourite team of mine could compete (jn theory). And such competitions were included in Ariana's statement on which I reacted (correct me if I am wrong).
Natalie said:
As for narrowing the pleasure of football, that depends on what you get out of it as an individual. I would much rather spend doing something else rather than watching some random La Liga match, the quality simply isn't good enough.
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I get what you're saying. But this wasn't exactly what I meant. When I am rooting for a team (for varying reasons), such hope generates suspense. That adds up to the excitement.

Take the World Cup 2002. I was rooting for Ivory Coast, because it was a long time since an African nation did so well. Another example: in the Premier League, if one is a supporter for Chelsea, then I guess it'd be great to see a concurrent loosing from e.g. Wigan. So, at this point, I support Wigan, even if it's not "my" team. Another: In the WorldCup of 1986, I supported Belgium, not only because they are our friendly ;-) neighbours, but also because I thought it would be fantastic if this small country would get so far. And hell, they did. Third place! So, all this attributes to what I try to get out of football.

Ariana, I wonder if I have understand you well when you said "here's no way I support teams other than my own, regardless of nationalities." Would you explain it a bit more? Cheers!

edit: you already did, Thanks!
 
On the one hand the fact that there are no English teams on the CL quarterfinals could be frustrating, yes. But on the other - it's not surprising. There are extremely strong teams that are fully dominant in their home leagues (e.g. Juventus) but the restof the Italian league sucks, except for a couple of other teams.
Shouldmn't we mention the fact that there are three English teams at the quarterfinals of the Europa league, though?

@Foro: I wasn't clear enough, I guess. Sorry. My point is that I wouldn't support a team just because it's Bulgarian or English (since I like the Premier League). It depends on the particular team and how I feel about it, not on its nationality.
 
You're right. I stand up corrected. Senegal, beaten by Turkey!

By the way, I enjoyed reading how everybody expressed their stand in football and supporting teams. Thanks :)
Now if Nush and Albie join, we'll have some English as well.
 
Ariana said:
On the one hand the fact that there are no English teams on the CL quarterfinals could be frustrating, yes. But on the other - it's not surprising. There are extremely strong teams that are fully dominant in their home leagues (e.g. Juventus) but the restof the Italian league sucks, except for a couple of other teams.
Shouldmn't we mention the fact that there are three English teams at the quarterfinals of the Europa league, though?

@Foro: I wasn't clear enough, I guess. Sorry. My point is that I wouldn't support a team just because it's Bulgarian or English (since I like the Premier League). It depends on the particular team and how I feel about it, not on its nationality.
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Then I fully agree, although the nationality does play an extra role with me.

And I agree with Flash who explained he cared for the well being of his own club, and the importance of Turkish clubs doing well internationally.
 
Forostar said:
... in Man U's case, I take we need to add: in the Premier League?
Since no one showed any disappointment, or said anything at all, it urged me to break that silence.
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Wrong. In the Premier League, in the domestic cup tournaments, and in the Champions League. The fact that I don't mention it here on MaidenFans doesn't mean I don't care.
 
But it doesn't mean that I know all that. I am curious about how people feel about what goes on in football. Especially when something as rare as this event occurs.
 
I thought it's good to see some different discussion going on, every once in a while. Here, but also elsewhere (the article you posted was part of that). I assume, all goes back to normal soon.
 
In my circle of friends (where football is a major topic) this fact still causes discussions. You can't single out one universal reason that has led to this but if you look at each club independently, it is easy to see why they didn't go through. Frankly, as much as I hate to say it, United were the only team that could have qualified, based on their current form and overall club policy. But we all know that football is not just about which team plays better.
 
Tonight, I just hate football. Where is the pride? Where is the effort? Where is the skill? I bet I have played with, and against, people who would have done better than the Norwegian team tonight.
 
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