| Product: |
Football in General |
| Date: |
23/09/02 (56 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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To write here is to ask, ‘What is football’? Here goes…
Answer 1: a contact sport of at least 25 people (11-a-side plus a referee and his/her two assistants), whereby a team of 11 aim to propel a leathern bag of air into the opposing 11’s goal, on a rectangular pitch. In doing so, they score a ‘goal’. Our basic premise is that the scoring side scores more than they concede. The game usually lasts 90+ minutes, 45minutes each half, though the referee has the discretion of added or injury time. Various rules and regulations see to it that the officials, who govern the pitch, the players and its different areas, run the game fairly but firmly.
Answer2: a historic art form; a tactical battle of wits, skill and luck. Football is an epic encounter of prime athletes who manipulate the ball, and their opponents, by any available means and at any cost, for the ultimate achievement – victory. Rarely is a ‘match’ (duel more like) contested without injury, foul, physical exhaustion, spectacle, drama, calamity and excellence. Hereby the warring worlds of both teams clash, the passion of which, bubbles and boils throughout the ground and even the country, as fans and followers alike hold bated breath for the duration. The memories of endless toil lasts not just for the season, but for eons. Football exists in the blood and the soul of fans, managers and players alike – the minutes before any game are stomach wrenchingly nervous; the result weighs in the mind like a lump of lead. A win is a triumph to be reveled in. A defeat is a bitter pill to swallow, a result to be agonized over and scrutinized. A draw is neither here nor there.
Answer3: a dour game for thugs, mugs and businessmen. Some would say that football is sport for the uneducated (interviews with pro’s rarely discount this theory) and that commercialism has sucked the life out of any football played in front of less than 20,00
0+ punters. The amateur game is full of has-beans who take lumps out of younger and/or faster players, or discarded YTS boys. Fans are xenophobic louts who wish at least painful deaths to their most cherished rivals. In short, football is the golden bollocks of the nation, and a disgusting corporate boxing contest at that.
So which is it to be? Well, all three really. That’s it – that’s football in a nutshell. Its brash, brutal, exciting and enthralling. I love it!
If you would like to read more about some grass roots football look at,
www.pyramidfootball.co.uk
(Non-league teams who feed into the Football league: see Stafford Rangers my local side)
And for all round football facts and news,
http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/football/
If you have any further questions, or would like me to elaborate on points, say so in the comments or email me on phill_c@hotmail.com.
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