Soccer Guys - What does this mean?

Greg_L said:
That's really what it boils down to. I can watch our football all day every day. I love it. I understand it, it's been in my blood since birth. Growing up in the south, that's all we ever play. Football, some baseball, not too much basketball. Definitely no hockey. The US south is a two sport region. Fall and winter - football. Spring and summer - baseball. Rinse and repeat. It's no surprise that tons of NFL players come from podunk towns in the south and rural areas in general. There aren't too many big city guys playing in the NFL. I can see why a soccer fan wouldn't get into football and vice-versa. Soccer is a slow steady stream of constant movement. Football is short bursts of intense activity. They're totally apples and oranges.
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Ok, here's something I wondered for a while - do folks in America outside of school age actually play American football for fun into adulthood? Are there amateur or veteran leagues etc. that people play for the fun of it? I play five or six a side football (soccer) every week with my mates - nothing serious, but we hire a pitch and have a game. Can or do you lot do that with a group of mates, or is it mainly restricted to going outside and just throwing a ball around?

I'd guess that practicalities and safety issues make it harder to play your kind of football out in the park or whatever. On the other hand though, I saw that film, Invincible a while back where Wahlberg's playing Vince Papale and they meet up on some waste ground after work and have a full on football match. They're all slamming each other hard and playing by proper rules etc. Does that kind of thing really happen, or was it just for the film?
 
robgreen said:
Ok, here's something I wondered for a while - do folks in America outside of school age actually play American football for fun into adulthood? Are there amateur or veteran leagues etc. that people play for the fun of it? I play five or six a side football (soccer) every week with my mates - nothing serious, but we hire a pitch and have a game. Can or do you lot do that with a group of mates, or is it mainly restricted to going outside and just throwing a ball around?

I'd guess that practicalities and safety issues make it harder to play your kind of football out in the park or whatever. On the other hand though, I saw that film, Invincible a while back where Wahlberg's playing Vince Papale and they meet up on some waste ground after work and have a full on football match. They're all slamming each other hard and playing by proper rules etc. Does that kind of thing really happen, or was it just for the film?
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Well what happens is we get fat and old and can't really physically play tackle football anymore. We still try, and it's fun as shit, but it's not at a very high level or anything. And even the most delusional wannabe superstar realizes that football hurts, and it's not really worth it to break a leg for some afternoon fun with the bros. I used to play a lot of pickup football and I'd see guys blow out their knees and dislocate joints all the time. It's not worth it. So what happens is once we can't really play football anymore, we just sit around and watch it religiously and get fatter and older. But two-hand-touch or flag football games still happen all the time, and they're fun because it's still football, kind of, and you're not really hurting each other or getting hurt. There are leagues and shit for flag football. Or if you can round up 8 to 10 guys you could play in any park at any time. And people do. There are no amateur adult full contact leagues that I know of. I assume insurance makes it not feasible. Pro or even semi-pro football is played at a level that the average football fan couldn't even dream of getting to. An average high school football team could demolish a bunch of ex frat boys getting together on the weekend for some football.
 
Greg_L said:
Well what happens is we get fat and old and can't really physically play tackle football anymore. We still try, and it's fun as shit, but it's not at a very high level or anything. And even the most delusional wannabe superstar realizes that football hurts, and it's not really worth it to break a leg for some afternoon fun with the bros. I used to play a lot of pickup football and I'd see guys blow out their knees and dislocate joints all the time. It's not worth it. So what happens is once we can't really play football anymore, we just sit around and watch it religiously and get fatter and older. But two-hand-touch or flag football games still happen all the time, and they're fun because it's still football, kind of, and you're not really hurting each other or getting hurt. There are leagues and shit for flag football. Or if you can round up 8 to 10 guys you could play in any park at any time. And people do. There are no amateur adult full contact leagues that I know of. I assume insurance makes it not feasible. Pro or even semi-pro football is played at a level that the average football fan couldn't even dream of getting to. An average high school football team could demolish a bunch of ex frat boys getting together on the weekend for some football.
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This is sort of the same thing that happens with rugby league and rugby union... the contact's too hard and risk management starts happening when you get older, so they develop softer forms of them involving tag, or flags etc. for the old fellas. Not sure about Aussie Rules but you guys don't know what that is anyway...

Soccer, however, you can kick a round ball round the park without hurting yourself too badly, so you can play that well into your dotage... :D
 
I don't know anything about "Aussie rules" besides it seeming to be the only people that care about Aussie rules are the Aussies. No one ever seems to celebrate Aussie rules outside of Australia.
 
jonny deep said:
Aussie rules is all hair pulling, from what I've seen.
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Hair pulling? Yeah right...



Oh, and note that, unless they're actually unconscious... they get up again after being smashed.:thumbs up:

Greg_L said:
I don't know anything about "Aussie rules" besides it seeming to be the only people that care about Aussie rules are the Aussies. No one ever seems to celebrate Aussie rules outside of Australia.
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That would be because it's not played anywhere outside Australia... much, anyway. But try telling that to the mad Victorians.... :D
 
Its so big in Melbourne its hilarious...one of my regrets is never going to a match, I try to see most sports in places I live.
 
Greg_L said:
Well what happens is we get fat and old and can't really physically play tackle football anymore. We still try, and it's fun as shit, but it's not at a very high level or anything. And even the most delusional wannabe superstar realizes that football hurts, and it's not really worth it to break a leg for some afternoon fun with the bros. I used to play a lot of pickup football and I'd see guys blow out their knees and dislocate joints all the time. It's not worth it. So what happens is once we can't really play football anymore, we just sit around and watch it religiously and get fatter and older. But two-hand-touch or flag football games still happen all the time, and they're fun because it's still football, kind of, and you're not really hurting each other or getting hurt. There are leagues and shit for flag football. Or if you can round up 8 to 10 guys you could play in any park at any time. And people do. There are no amateur adult full contact leagues that I know of. I assume insurance makes it not feasible. Pro or even semi-pro football is played at a level that the average football fan couldn't even dream of getting to. An average high school football team could demolish a bunch of ex frat boys getting together on the weekend for some football.
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Cool, thanks for that Greg. Interesting. Yeah, I figured the risk vs reward for such a high impact sport would make it not worth it once you've got proper adult commitments etc.

I'd be pretty miserable if we ever stopped being able to get numbers for our little weekly game, but I've got no desire to play in any of the five a side leagues any more either. My experience in Manchester is that they're often full of teenage scallies who just want to kick the shit out of people and ram you into the walls. It's just not worth the massive disruption to life that a broken leg would cause for the sake of a meaningless game.

Weirdly enough, there is a full contact amateur American Football league in the UK - both a university league which a friend of ours plays in and an adult one. The standard is obviously way below any semi-pro in America, but I guess in the absence of any professional structure, it's an outlet for Brit enthusiasts. I've seen a game live and it's kind of funny to watch because everyone's half as tall and half as stocky as the Americans who play the game, so seeing a 5 foot 10 receiver with hardly any muscle in the full gear looks really odd. It's mainly just watched by the families of the players too - which makes the attempt to pump it up American style with cheerleaders look kind of daft. You've got to respect their enthusiasm for the cause :thumbs up:

This kind of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg43zYieLYY
 
Are you europeeons watching the women's world cup? It's better than the men's world cup. It's funny how the women soccer players are a thousand times tougher than the "men". :laughings:
 
Greg_L said:
Are you europeeons watching the women's world cup? It's better than the men's world cup. It's funny how the women soccer players are a thousand times tougher than the "men". :laughings:
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Sadly the technical skill level and tactical sense makes it unwatchable for me. I can see better football on the local recreation ground on a Sunday morning.

Many womens sports I can watch, Tennis, Golf, Hockey, Cricket, as the finesse involved often separates it from the mens game and often it can be a better watch. Sadly with football that isn't evident to me.
 
muttley600 said:
Sadly the technical skill level and tactical sense makes it unwatchable for me. I can see better football on the local recreation ground on a Sunday morning.

Many womens sports I can watch, Tennis, Golf, Hockey, Cricket, as the finesse involved often separates it from the mens game and often it can be a better watch. Sadly with football that isn't evident to me.
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I agree. Some women's sports are quite good. I think soccer is inherently effeminate anyway, so for me the women's version of it seems pretty good. Maybe they feel they have something to prove? I don't know. But they seem to play with more heart and passion than the dudes. It's like college football vs pro football in the US. College football technically is not as good as pro football. The best college team could not come close to beating the worst pro team. But college football is often way more exciting. There's a lot of pride and passion involved.
 
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