| Product: |
Football in General |
| Date: |
28/06/01 (57 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: great to watch, good goals, part of a community
Disadvantages: expensive merchandise, expensive tickets
As the clique goes football really is a funny old game. If you think about the concept it really is more than a tad basic and can be played nearly anywhere yet people still go out and purchase season tickets for hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds. So what is the attraction about twenty-two men trying to kick a ball into the back of the net. Some people watch football to support and back up a local team which in my opinion is a very nice idea but the question I have always asked myself is how did the sport get to where it is today?
Millions of pounds is invested each year by each premiership football team and in the sport now a days it isn’t rare for a team to fork out ten million pounds so that they can have the latest football star. Look at Rio Ferdinand for example, he is young and talented, but 18million? I am sorry but this is just getting on the verge of ridiculous. I am not saying forwards are better than defenders but top class forwards like Alan Shearer and Dwight Yorke only cost 14 and 12 million, whereas other great defenders like Jaap Stam cost around 10 million, so spending 18 million on a player is stupid.
Youths admire football heroes and a lot of youths aspire to grow up to be a footballer, but let’s be honest, how do you get from playground football to premiership stardom? There are a few things you have to do to get to be a well known football player and I think the first thing is to go with a conference team and be well established there and make a name for yourself. A great example of this is when Lee Hughes of Kidderminster Harriers was snapped up by West Bromwich Albion after scouts had noticed potential. Conference to Division 1 is admittedly a big leap and most stars go up from conference to division 3 etc. Players like David Beckham and Ryan Giggs start off with teams like Man United and that is when you start asking how they made it. Although it is very unfair to start off with a premiership team you usu
ally have to have footballers as acquaintances. This means that if for example Brooklyn Beckham wants to be a footballer considering David is his father he will almost certainly get a shot at being one. So the tip is find footballers and make friends with them quickly.
It is a good idea to start football when you are five or six as this will help you learn the tricks of the trade so to speak at a young age and means that you have more chance of being a world class player when you’re eighteen as opposed to somebody who starts at the age of fourteen or fifteen. If you are the top footballer for your age at ten in your area then there is a good chance scouts will pick you up early.
As regards the splits of divisions and the way that three teams get relegated from the premiership and three come up I feel this is very fare. The one criticism I may make though is the play offs. I find it a little unfair that a team that finished 6th in Division one can go up to the premiership when a team who finished 3rd in Division 1 may stay down. I think it would be better organised if they just had the top three teams come up. If they are not going to do this and stick with a play off system then they may as well have teams 3 – 6 in the premiership have play offs to be entered into Europe.
The budget for football is tremendous and the way that each football team specially caters for fans with merchandise and little extras is a great asset to the clubs. Merchandise is more than a little expensive considering that there is always a new strip every season but they only sell it for outrageous prices because the fans buy it.
The calibre of football has certainly changed in recent years. In the 60s and 70s football matches used to see a lot more goals because the footballers weren’t as skilled and took shots from far away. The entertainment factor between now and the 70s has been debated many a time. The question is do you wish to see f
ootballers lobbing the ball up front and scoring tremendous goals with results ending 9 – 4 or would you prefer a match with a lot of passing and careful defending and not as many goals? In more basic terms the question is do you prefer skills or goals? Personally I prefer a mixture of the two as I like a good defender but nil – nil draws just aren’t my cup of tea.
So overall I find football an entertaining sport to watch and tremendous fun to play although like I said in the opening, I still don’t understand how football evolved to a kick around in the park to a televised national event!
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