A Confession

[poliphilo]

OK, I don't really hate football.  The fact is I mean to watch the Brazil match tonight to see if I can spot whatever it is that makes the Brazilians special.

And I enjoyed the Panorama programme on Sunday that exposed the dead-eyed men at the top of FIFA who exist to do one another little favours. I got quite indignant at the way the beautiful game has been uglified.

No, what I really hate is the cultural dragooning. Have you noticed, for example, how every man who appears in a TV ad is presented as football crazy? That  irks me. The way football is being pushed, pushed, pushed at us makes me want to shout back.

But maybe it's more truly subversive of the pumped-up, marketing-driven hysteria to confess, as I do now, to a mild interest.

Comments

[dadi.livejournal.com]

I AM a fervent football fan. I am one of those people who run around on the streets after their team won, and who watch as much games as possible. But I do not recognize myself in the publicly advertized "fan" profile at all!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My game is cricket.

My dislike of football goes back to childhood and my anger and distress at being forced to play.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Have you noticed, for example, how every man who appears in a TV ad is presented as football crazy? That irks me.

But that's stereotyping, not marketing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The two are linked at the hip.

The world of the advertisers is filled with stereotypes- and the omnipresence of the sterotypes exerts a pressure to conform.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I agree with your first point. The second point, about the pressure to conform... I dunno. I can't imagine that I am sensitive to this.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I hate TV advertising. When the ads come on I heckle.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I time-shift almost all my TV viewing, so I generally fast-forward--or leave the room.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I think we're lucky here in the States. There's something almost subversive about watching soccer. Here it's basketball and the other football, all the time, with baseball rounding out the big three that every male is expected to follow or else lose claim to his masculinity.

We here can sit down and watch the World Cup with a clean heart. It's rather nice.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If watching soccer were a minority taste in Britain I might well adopt it.

I'm strange that way.