Why would you want to watch football?

joe mcclaine said:

My own view on the rugby/football fan differences is that rugby fans in England have generally been middle class and football fans have generally been working class. Working class lads have spawned a succession of cultures down the years - all with links to football, music, fashion and violence.

Believe me, if Polo was played at inner-city schools as much as football, and was as accessible to your average young man then there would have been Polo hooligans on the front page of the Sun.

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Comes pretty close to nailing it, football violence at its peak in the eighties was the sign of the times.

From its inception its roots have remained deep in the “us against them” attitude and that doesn't include the prevalent bad feelings between any number of football teams (demographic areas) which wasn't born on a football pitch. Arsenal – Millwall for one.

We still see it but nowhere near as much as it used to be, but the days of going out for a few pints and getting into a game for a few quid are long gone.

I went through the whole of school and never once played rugby, it was football football football and that holds true for everyone i know from round here.

Do i hate Tottenham and Arsenal, course i do, bloody north London monkeys.:icon_razz:

Tall_Paul said:

As long as it's all in jest that's fine and no offence taken.

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Spoken as a gentleman.

ChopperHarris - your most recent post is a great example of reasoned argument. I watched football regularly from the early 70's onwards when you (sometimes literally) took your life in your hands travelling to away matches. Although I'm no longer an active supporter, it's obvious even from TV that the situation is immeasurably better - I think a big part of it is down to treating fans as people rather than cattle.