Why do people hate Soccer/Futbol? (Topic 4 years old)

Soccer sucks ass.

You were the inspiration to this thread.

Nobody hates soccer, they just don't care. My feeling is soccer is so big in other countries because that is their only professional sport, in the US there are lots of other sports played professionally and as such many more options. Because of these options no one sport will ever be as big as soccer in those countries where it is the only real sport.

@danryckert: Error - User likes professional wrestling. Opinion invalidated.

Personally I don't get the question. I hate Soccer (or whatever you want to call it) for the same reason I don't like Football, Baseball, or Basketball. It is boring and the fan base is annoying. The reason I only "don't like" the others and "hate" Soccer is while their fan bases are annoying they at least leave you alone when they realize you don't like the game. Soccer fans take it as an insult and refuse to understand you think the sport sucks. What's worse is I don't remember a story about a player or a coach from any other sport getting murdered for losing a game or botching a play. Soccer fans seem to that the fact that this has happened in Soccer as some sort of good sign which makes them even more idiotic than most other fans.

I've always been curious, when people write Futbol is that supposed to be spanish for soccer? I've seen it a lot in posts about Soccer lately...

Because futbol fans are fucking monsters.

Well I know one reason why I don't like soccer is the offside rule. In the NFL, offsides means you were on the opposing teams side before the snap of a play. It soccer it means you cant pass the ball to a teammate really far away on the other side of the field because that would be too exciting. I understand there is a legitimate reason for this rule but, meh.

@xanadu: I would argue it would be far less exciting without the offside rule because players would simply camp the net on either side of a large field, resulting in the same boring play happening non-stop every single game. It would be exactly like the hypothetical football situation you described where the offense and defense wouldn't be squaring off every play around the ball.

I'm not going to debate my opinion because sports tastes are about as objective as they get BUT as a hockey fan I've just always found watching soccer to be slow. Also the diving drives me crazy and the fact that Canada is not a contender leaves me with limited potential for passion.

I respect the game, the athletes and enjoy playing it from time to time but I just can't get into watching it.

u wot m8

Uh, you realize that many popular sports have onsides/offsides rules because they consider it lame to wildly throw at the goal from too far away. Without onside/offide, team coordination is much less important because all you need to do is chuck the ball/puck/whatever down the field and someone else to tap it in. If you believe that is exciting as opposed to a well organized team executing a well practiced plan...

Never had a good time watching it.

I don't hate it, but I also didn't grow up with it or take the time to learn it, so I'm mostly indifferent to it. Although much like the Olympics I do like to watch the World Cup.

I was mostly being facetious. My last sentence says I understand there is a legitimate reason. But yes, I actually do think its exciting. I like Hail Marys and Alley-Oops. So Sue me.

Yes it is the latinization of the term football ... phonetically futbol sounds the same as football.

boring, low scoring and too long

I personally don't find it very exciting. I will watch some of the World Cup every 4 years just to give it another shot but it just never appeals to me. While I do not hate soccer there are some major issues I have with it, specifically the diving (I don't care if it's part of the game, or key to taking breaks, they should find a better method for breaks, and remove it from the game with rule changes) and I've also had issues with people who just cannot except that I do not enjoy it and just won't leave it alone, which drove me nuts.

I imagined that. It's just that it sounds strange to me since I'm Brazilian and we write Futebol here. I always figured they were missing an E or something. Also soccer being so popular in Brazil, it's peculiar they choose the Spanish word for that :D

@nictel: It's all a child's game compared to Hurling and Hockey. Though really I love FIFA Football, much more satisfying to watch than the slow, plodding NFL Football. But hey beer commercials.

It's not the length for me. I watch test cricket, and that's about the longest shit you could ever imagine. It's not really the flow of the game either, I love hockey and that's pretty similar just on ice and a much much smaller, narrower area. I guess it's the low scoring, and the feigning of injury (which happens in every sport), but in soccer it seems like a valid and even possibly encouraged tactic. When you see guys in rugby, cricket, NFL etc carry on with major injuries all game, it just looks stupid to get hauled off on a stretcher and get up 90 seconds pretending like nothing happened. Also, it doesn't help when soccer is crammed down your throat by soccer fans. Let the game find it's audience, it either will or it wont.

Cricket's usually accompanied by drinking. I did enjoy the 2005 Ashes series totally sober, mind. Association Football is definitely at a saturation point, mind. Being British its part and parcel of life. And you're right, it does get rammed down people's throats. Not at a good, introductory level, either.

Newcomers almost need a guide to assist them. Like Danny to Drew. As for observing the game, I tend to have matches on as background noise to something else unless the game is really gripping. The World Cup's been quite fortunate in that respect.

Its an defensive endurance game where there is 10mins of active play and 80mins of drag every game so unless its a really high tier game like the World Cup i find it dull as hell.

My biggest concern however is all the unsportsmanlike behaviour like delaying the game or simulating/diving being such a big and accepted part of the game. Its sad to see these great superfit and talented athletes playing at the absolut top level and still resorting to these fucking cheap tricks as their main arsenal.

I remember seeing this video (it's the guy who did the ME3 ending criticism videos, he's actually really good at articulating his opinion) and it seems relevant.

I think there's a lot of people who think it's cool to hate on football (and I base this on absolutely nothing). The complaint of it being low scoring is always one I find silly. If games finished like 9-4 frequently, there was really bad defending going on. Boring... well I can't tell you it's not boring because it's subjective and while I hate diving, I get it. It's because FIFA don't have things to punish defenders if the attacker continues to go on (but now at a much less advantageous position if they hadn't been impeded) so you have to go down to get a penalty/freekick.

Gary Neville (who I hated as a player but I think he's excellent at analysis as a pundit) did a masterclass on diving and why it's in the game.

@jesus_phish: All European football stops at the same time (give or take a week) for the Summer, so your final point isn't accurate.

Further, I love the NFL, but a broadcast of a game goes close to 4 hours, whereas a football game is a two hour broadcast. It probably feels like it goes on "forever" because you're forced to concentrate for two 45 minute blocks of time, rather than only for (dozens of) 30 second blocks.

@gregorygold: Even with your attempt at being a condescending jerk about it and my ability to concentrate, my point of it going on forever is that football is being played in some capacity almost 52 weeks in the year. It's nothing to do with the time of matches or "being forced to concentrate" for 45 minutes and more to do with the never ending stream of news, results and discussion that follows football.

Even today, the day after the world cup has ended people are already moving on to talk about the UEFA champions league qualifying rounds and the Premier League starts in about four weeks. Even when football isn't actually being played in a league like the European cups, there's still a never ending stream of news and announcements about it here.

I've played soccer and I've watched a few soccer games. I just don't like it. There needs to be more of a crunch to sports I enjoy. I know there's a lot more going on under the surface if you know how to read the field and what people are doing, but to me it just looks like dudes running around the middle of a field for 90 minutes with the occasional pansy diving and pretending to be hurt.

I don't mind low scoring games, but games that end in ties? That's... yeah. Not very interesting to me.

As I said anyway, I understand it has its appeal and that a lot of people like it, but it's just not for me. I could say the same for American football too. I'm more a hockey guy.

@jesus_phish: Oh, sorry - I misunderstood, as you put "it goes on forever" alongside other complaints about the experience of watching the game, seperate from the paragraph concerning how much of the calender year football takes up, so I wrongly considered them seperate complaints.

I wasn't being condescending at all, sorry if it felt that way (I should have written "when one is forced to concentrate" instead of "when you're"). I know I find it easier to concentrate for shorter periods of time, and often enjoy the NFL more for this reason!

However, there's no need to call me a jerk.

I don't hate soccer/football, I hate pedantic pricks, who didn't give a shit yesterday, patronizing me when I say that I don't find it interesting. Yes, I understand the game - I fucking played it. And no, I'm not going to fucking prove it to you. To be fair, I don't give a shit about any sports. I'll watch NBA finals because basketball is probably the most 'happening' sport, and because that atmosphere feels a little more lighthearted than any of the other major sports. Olympics are interesting to me because each event is a learning experience because it's mostly so uncommon.

There was only like 5 games out 64 during this year's world cup that ended 0-0. Also football makes score seem higher by making each score worth more, that 3-2 game would be 21-14 in the NFL. Last year the jags averaged 15.4 points per game or 2.2 scores, lowest. Denver averaged 37.9 (10 points higher than second place bears) points, 5.4 scores per game. The median would be around 21, so most games in the NFL are really 3-2.

My biggest problem with football is the commercials and time wasting. A football game is 4, 15 minute quarters which equals 1 hour. Yet it takes over three hours to play. World cup final was 120 minutes it took under 3 hours for whole thing from start to finish.

I like both games for different reasons, and I don't understand why more Americans can't get behind soccer. Football season is Aug to Jan, what are you watching the rest of the year? baseball? basketball? racing? golf? hockey? tennis? tour de france?

Three reasons, primarily.

• Corruption at every level of the game. Dishonest play on the field, bull-headed management, and an organizational structure that might charitably be described as "the most pliable thing."
• Generally, I find the moment-to-moment action unengaging. No worse than many other sports in that respect.
• Hats, jerseys, and ludicrous assortment of paraphernalia all constructed from what appears to be some sort of self-aggrandizing patriot jizz. Like, I feel as though you have to become national propaganda incarnate to be a soccer fan.

Also, people who say "handegg" like it's an actually funny term that they just came up with off the top of their clever little heads are probably history's greatest monsters.

The same reason why the rest of the world outside the US insults American football, it's ignorance.

I like how 2 out of your 3 reasons have absolutely nothing to do with the actual sport.

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From what I can tell, the only people who hate football are morons who want to be rebels or whatever. I can understand completely if you don't like it, find it boring etc etc, but if you can find the capacity to hate a concept then I feel your problem lies somewhere away from the sport.

Wait, wait, wait. This thread is full of people talking shit around other sports (your own "morons"), why is it not relevant here? If we're talking total-package, let's not set ourselves arbitrary limits for discussion.

I didn't say it wasn't relevant, I just said I liked it. It says a lot about the current state of things when 2 of your main gripes about the sport come down to bureaucracy and the weird capitalist nature of things. I also don't disagree with you. Although I do think the patriotism comment is pretty off-base, but I guess if you only ever come across football during the world cup I guess it makes sense? Happens every time the Olympics come about too, and I guess any sport played at national levels.

The moron thing was aimed at the people who just spout dumb crap on twitter about things but don't actually know what they're talking about. They just do it to be against the grain/inflammatory.

Ah, alright. I suppose I can support a healthy disdain for people who interject with condescension at every possible opportunity when discussion (of any sport) arises.

I don't actively dislike Soccer/Football; if anything it's pretty chill to watch as long as the vuvuzelas aren't out of control; but it does kind of take forever for stuff to happen (note: I do like baseball and that's often the complaint in that, so probably I just don't understand football and I do understand Baseball).

I don't hate it, nor really dislike it I guess, I just find it boring so I don't care much for it, in terms of watching. I think anyone can find some enjoyment out of playing it though, just as most, if not all sports. My brother likes it though, he's more of the sports person.

It's boring as hell and I don't enjoy watching people get overpaid to play a child's game. I also hate that all discussion (at least at work and such) is about soccer. Then there's the morality of it. Much like the Olympics, the FIFA organization gets countries to build the stadiums and infrastructure out of the taxpayers dollars. FIFA, the government officials (that just happen to have friends in construction! lucky them!), and the large corporations make plenty of money. Meanwhile the people living there are stuck with the bill for a stadium that's to big to be of much use and is only going to cost more money in maintenance/destruction (again, good thing those construction folks have friends in government).

And then there's all the bullshit of players acting like they've been mortally wounded from a tap on the leg. But I guess acting like a spoiled brat just comes with playing a kids game as a profession.

Yeah, this is what I've always wondered. How is it exciting if players are scoring every 2 minutes like in basketball?

Edit: holy thread bump Batman

i second this.

Science Prevails again.

You're asking a bunch of hardcore gamers about sports, I don't know why you thought anyone would truly give you a solid answer regarding why it may be disliked lol.

On a serious note, I'm not a huge football fan despite the fact that my family basically (literally) has it's livelihood from it - but it's a captivating watch once you really tune into it, even if it doesn't happen often.

I third this motion.

I'm not talking shit since I know americans love their sports, but I could never get into or even tolerate Handegg. Like literally, the game stops way to often so any moment of suspense is immediately killed. It's why I've always preferred playing rugby. But people like what they like, and most American's think "football is for pussies" because you know, faking an injury to gain leverage is very out of character for American sports (as far as I know.)

If the US didn't invent it then typically the US isn't interested (Soccer, Rugby, Cricket etc.).

I formed a dislike for football from a very young age due to bullying, i was bullied throughout my entire childhood and all the bullies had one thing in common, they were football fans.
I realise i'm making a big assumption, "fans of a certain sport are evil people", it's not as simple as that of course but... it's rung true my entire life so far, anyone who is loud, aggressive, morally questionable, selfish, ignorant, impatient, almost guaranteed to be a football fan, even among my friends i can easily see the "least nice" ones are football fans.
It extends further from my own personal experience, football players seem like bad people too, they're held up as role models for kids but they're constantly cheating on their super model wives, crashing their Ferarri's, doing drugs on wild nights out, having violent altercations, on the pitch they're pretending to be hurt, biting each other, their celebrations reek of over inflated egos and their actions off the pitch only prove it.
I'm not even going to start with the corrupt organisations running the whole f***ing thing.
For reference i live in the UK, newspapers dedicate several pages daily to every minor detail that happens in and around the sport, fans seem to dedicate their lives to memorising the names of every player, manager, coach, their wives names, their children's names, every quiz show on TV or trivia game of any kind is rampant with football questions, the level of fandom here is insane.

There are things that i really don't like, but nothing comes close to the burning hatred i have for football.

Football (soccer) is fine. I’m an American and more of an old school, snowy, smashmouth American football fan. I liked games that were won on defense, 9-6 or something. Rule changes in the late 90s started killing the sport for me, at least on the NFL level.

That said, I get the thrill of positioning, setting up plays, etc. It makes the rare score that much sweater. I’ve watched some World Cup. I like it. I appreciate the Hell out of the passion. I only see that outside of the States, though. I think that passion would get more Americans to pay attention. Maybe it’ll just take another generation to get the right number penetration in the US...

Just like most sports it's fun to play, less to watch but this World Cup has had a great amount of drama within the groups so it has kept my attention. A lot of people tend to complain about flopping but that doesn't tend to happen in pick-up games so as usual, I suggest people give it a try before dismissing it entirely!