Craziness About English Soccer?

[drronnie]

When Chelsea came to Thailand 2 weeks ago I was really astonished to see so many people in the fully packed Rajamnagla Stadium dressed in Chelsea jerseys and cheering Chelsea. Hardly anyone was supporting the Thai side except for some farangs. I wonder why Thais are so crazy about English football.

Will other big European teams like Barcelona, Dortmund or Fenerbahce generate any interest if they come to Thailand? Whats this about English soccer that is so special?

[beano2274]

cause it is on TV quite often.

[mca]

There's a waiter in a local restaurant I frequent who knows more about my local team ( NOrwich ) than me and I used to hold a season ticket.

" Khun MCA I see Norwich have free transfer defender from Colchester United " sort of stuff.

[bifftastic]

Barcelona probably would, they're a 'global brand'

Football today is all about marketing. The Premier League do well in that regard, getting their 'product' viewed around the world. The clubs themselves get on board as well, promoting themselves, especially in Asia. They saw how popular Man United and Liverpool were and are trying to emulate them.

I don't think it applies to all clubs though, I doubt if a tour by Newcastle United, or Blackburn Rovers would have had the same response. A few shirtless Geordies for the first one and pretty much no-one for the second!

[bifftastic]

There's a waiter in a local restaurant I frequent who knows more about my local team ( NOrwich ) than me and I used to hold a season ticket.

" Khun MCA I see Norwich have free transfer defender from Colchester United " sort of stuff.

that's great!

[Soutpeel]

Drronnie,

your first challange in understanding this, is the name of the game is not soccer....its football, and yes was being played along time before septic football came about...

[Mooner]

How Americans call that game "football" is beyond me!

1. It's not a ball( it's not round!)

2. They don't use their feet( well, hardly!)

[DP25]

How Americans call that game "football" is beyond me!

1. It's not a ball( it's not round!)

2. They don't use their feet( well, hardly!)

Football originally meant games that were played on foot by commoners, as opposed to aristocrats that played their games on horseback. So you have all kinds of games that ended up being called football. It's not just Americans that use football for something other than soccer

[Moonrakers]

[StreetCowboy]

I went to see Liverpool play Malaysia at the National Stadium. More than 80,000 people, most of whom were cheering for both teams, and nine goals; the most enjoyable game of soccer I've ever watched.

Liverpool started off fairly slowly - maybe they were intimidated, playing in front of so many of their own fans - Anfield is less than 50,000 capacity. But once they got into their stride it was entertaining stuff; 6-3 the final score.

SC

[daoyai]

How Americans call that game "football" is beyond me!

1. It's not a ball( it's not round!)

2. They don't use their feet( well, hardly!)

So a rugby ball is not a ball?

[rgs2001uk]

The obsession can be summed up in one word, gambling.

Have a look at the local bookie slips with the premier league games being filled in by Somchai and friends every week, someone in Thailand is making a killing.

[Shotime]

This was in the morning papers here in the U.S.A.:

"Following what must have been a successful on-field achievement Thursday, a professional, semi-professional, or possibly amateur male soccer player wearing a sky-blue shirt appeared happy, sources confirmed. According to reports, fans in attendance adorned with similarly blue-colored clothing, flags, and face paint were also happy, while players wearing red shirts hung their heads because they were sad. Along the sidelines, a group of people in yellow shirts remained neither happy nor sad but mostly seemed indifferent, and as of press time, no players on the field were wearing pink or purple shirts."

Maybe they were all drunk. Whatever you call that sport, it's totally absurd. Even though the ball is round.

[rott]

I went to see Liverpool play Malaysia at the National Stadium. More than 80,000 people, most of whom were cheering for both teams, and nine goals; the most enjoyable game of soccer I've ever watched.

Liverpool started off fairly slowly - maybe they were intimidated, playing in front of so many of their own fans - Anfield is less than 50,000 capacity. But once they got into their stride it was entertaining stuff; 6-3 the final score.

SC

SC you are a sad disappointment to me. It's NOT <deleted> SOCCER.

[toffo9]

Football

[toffo9]

How Americans call that game "football" is beyond me!

1. It's not a ball( it's not round!)

2. They don't use their feet( well, hardly!)

So a rugby ball is not a ball?

Correct rugby ball aint a ball and its also not called football its called rugby

[tw25rw]

How Americans call that game "football" is beyond me!

1. It's not a ball( it's not round!)

2. They don't use their feet( well, hardly!)

So a rugby ball is not a ball?

Correct rugby ball aint a ball and its also not called football its called rugby

Rugby football.

[StreetCowboy]

I went to see Liverpool play Malaysia at the National Stadium. More than 80,000 people, most of whom were cheering for both teams, and nine goals; the most enjoyable game of soccer I've ever watched.

Liverpool started off fairly slowly - maybe they were intimidated, playing in front of so many of their own fans - Anfield is less than 50,000 capacity. But once they got into their stride it was entertaining stuff; 6-3 the final score.

SC

SC you are a sad disappointment to me. It's NOT <deleted> SOCCER.

I think you'll find its association football, abbreviated to soccer.

To distinguish it from gaelic football, which is something quite different.

Or rugby football of three variants.

Or Australian rules or American.

Anyway, at least you had higher expectations of me, so I should be flattered.

No doubt you'll be looking forward to the St Helens Wigan game tomorrow...

SC

[tw25rw]

English football has long been popular in Asia. Well before the premier league came along and, IMO, ruined the game.

The technical standard isn't always the highest compared to Spain, Italy etc, but the games are better.

[wolf5370]

Had a layover in Sri Lanka once for 9 hours - every seat was taken in the terminal as a huge screen was showing live cricket - every shop had shut and other than security, there seemed to be no one in the whole place working the whole time - all were watching it on the screen (without any sound). Drove me nuts - never been back. Imported sports can be wholey adopted!

In London (UK not KY or Ontario, etc) I went to watch the London Monarchs when Ice Hockey was (trying to be??) introduced. There was also a big push on TV to get American Football adopted and to some minor extent (at the time at least) it did - it was on Channel 4 most nights when 24Hr TV was in its infancy in the UK.

Personally I'm not sportist and will watch most sports on TV (other than WWF or old time British wrestling, neither of which seem like sport to me - more like poorly rehersed choreography) - even cricket at a push.

[andrewbkk]

The obsession can be summed up in one word, gambling.

No. Gambling does play a part, but the obsession is very real and goes well beyond gambling.

I lived with my son's mother for more than ten years. She was a "real" girl with a top job, a great car and a successful private business. But a significant part of her life was dominated by English football.

She used to buy football magazines, she only ever looked at football websites, and she often used to wake up early in the morning to watch a Champions League game which in England would kick-off at about 7pm.

Her hero was Sir Alex Ferguson. She literally worshipped him.

There are thousands of men and women like her here in Thailand. Sure, some DO gamble. But many are quite simply obsessed.

It's a very strange aspect of Thai culture that I really don't understand.

[MRTELLYOUSTRAIGHT]

the game is not soccer....its football

chai

[daoyai]

It is only called soccer by roughly 300.000.000 people. ...... . Give it a rest.

Here it is called "futbawn".

[MRTELLYOUSTRAIGHT]

It is only called soccer by roughly 300.000.000 people. ...... . Give it a rest.

Here it is called "futbawn".

Oh dear. You can not ask your mates "who's off to the soccer game on Saturday" for fear of having the absolute piss taken and blackballed.

Who's going to football on Saturday is much more fitting.

[mca]

Oh dear. You can not ask your mates "who's off to the soccer game on Saturday" for fear of having the absolute piss taken and blackballed.

Who's going to football on Saturday is much more fitting.

Or " the footie"

[smokie36]

It is only called soccer by roughly 300.000.000 people. ...... . Give it a rest.

Here it is called "futbawn".

Oh dear. You can not ask your mates "who's off to the soccer game on Saturday" for fear of having the absolute piss taken and blackballed.

Who's going to football on Saturday is much more fitting.

People who refer to it as soccer won't be attending the game. No question there.

Unless of course they are in the US where its perfectly acceptable to describe it as such.

Its nearly the same game after all. Only difference is the Americans aren't the best in the world....mainly due to the rest of the world actually playing the game.

[tailspin]

I smell a conspiracy here..the Brits invent a word, export it and then blame the yanks for using it......sounds like this is revenge for the Brits having been booted(pun intended) out of the US in 1776...I smell a Dan Brown thriller novel coming out of this which somehow involves the Louvre and Mona Lisa...perhaps the origin of the word Patters will be uncovered as well

http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/origin-of-the-word-soccer.html

"Paradoxally, the origin of the word soccer comes from…you guessed, England. But in order to fully understand what I'm talking about, keep reading ahead as I'll share some of the beautiful history of soccer.

The date of October 26th 1863 is to soccer what March 4th 1787 is to the United States. It's the day that several soccer clubs all around England gathered up in London and formed The Football Association, the first soccer organization up to that date.

The reason I compared this date to the day the United States Constitution was adopted because the Football Association organized the game into a sportive "constitution" called the Laws of Football. The term "soccer" appeared shortly after, being an abbreviation from "Football Association" (from assoc.) and although not as heavily used as soccer, it was a short, light form to describe the phenomenon.

Reportedly, the man who stands at the origin of the word soccer is Charles Wreford Brown, an Oxford student who always preferred shortened versions of words, such as brekkers for breakfast, or rugger for rugby.

Soccer gained popularity in the United States later than in the rest of Europe and since the Americans already had a use for the world "football" in understanding the sport of American Football, a middle option was tried on in between 1945 and 1975, when the organization that controlled soccer in the USA was called the "United States Soccer Football Association".

I went to see Liverpool play Malaysia at the National Stadium. More than 80,000 people, most of whom were cheering for both teams, and nine goals; the most enjoyable game of soccer I've ever watched.

Liverpool started off fairly slowly - maybe they were intimidated, playing in front of so many of their own fans - Anfield is less than 50,000 capacity. But once they got into their stride it was entertaining stuff; 6-3 the final score.

SC

SC you are a sad disappointment to me. It's NOT <deleted> SOCCER.

[Thongkorn]

Just an interesting fact but a little off topic, there are more people In the England rugby team that have degrees than all of the teams in the English leagues put together,. As they say give blood play rugby.

[Tonto21]

Sorry, not a fan never have been, "I don't like it" however…………………………It's called 'football' and very disturbingly taking into account what I have just said, I know far too much about the game and the teams, (even the off-side rule) and some tit bit about the overpriced players.

Just a footnote; I'll never forget an England match on the telly, (I think it was England played Argentina, 'the hand of god game'…… The whole family were sat watching the match. My Mum, God rest her sole, in an un-characteristic frenzied out bust my Mum shouts at the TV, "come on lads…….Lick some ass" (as opposed to "kick") I think it may be that minds image I was left with that turned me from football!

[tw25rw]

Oh dear. You can not ask your mates "who's off to the soccer game on Saturday" for fear of having the absolute piss taken and blackballed.

Who's going to football on Saturday is much more fitting.

Or " the footie"

Footie is Australian slang that has crept in recently. It was never used in England when I was at schol there in the 70s/80s.

In Australia it refers to very different games.