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Post by ggl on Oct 15, 2019 17:13:39 GMT
Wow sallycat you have my full understanding and sympathies . Perhaps a new thread should be created for people like us - The Saturday afternoon lonely hearts club ! 😩
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Oct 15, 2019 22:09:59 GMT
Most American football games are sold out because you buy the right to buy tickets (like the arsenal debentures) and those holding debentures who don't want to go to a particular game release the ticket either to the club or to a broker and in either case they attract a premium depending on the team and opposition. Dallas high/Tampa bay low etc. $350 for a Pats game at home sounds about right. Going to an NFL game is not for the feint hearted as a beer (bud piss usually) will be around $12 and can go to $16 Gridiron can be exciting in the last two minutes when filed position and time outs make it a strategy game but there 1-3 hours of fairly uninteresting stuff to wade through before that. After almost 30 years I can tolerate NFL as background entertainment but NBA /MLB I'll pass I couldn't sit through any of those sports if you paid me 350 dollars.What a load of bollocks.
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Post by davethegrave on Oct 15, 2019 22:47:26 GMT
What has American "Football" got to do with anything here anyway? Different "culture" means they put up with different things.
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Post by davethegrave on Oct 15, 2019 22:49:33 GMT
Having a National League at this level is absolutely ludicrous.Barrow v Dover - what's that all about? What time would the Dover players (and staff) have got up to do the trip on the day ? Most of the teams in this league,including Sutton United,cannot afford to be there.Look at the away supporters at these games.It's usually,with the possible exception of some ex league clubs,a small handful,mostly single blokes with no families/children to worry about who can go missing for a whole day every couple of weeks to far flung outposts of England to watch this stuff.Normal people can't go to many away games any more. SO, what are you saying Billy, that the Football League need to also restructure League 2 into North and South again like it was in the 1957-58 Season , because that would have to happen in order to stop "Northern" Teams being dropped down into a "Southern" National League Division if that was created !! Having read what was happening 'live' via Twitter on Saturday, and learning that "we" weren't the only team affected by the fatality at Milton Keynes, I have to say I'm flabbergasted by some of the things I've seen written on Twitter by "fans" of the 'Home' teams affected by the cancellations that occurred...they conveniently don't seem to realise that the majority of National League teams aren't "Full Time" staff, and therefore have jobs to go to, in order to pay their bills, meaning they physically 'can't' travel up the day before as has been suggested ! Actually probably yes! The big clubs are getting massive while the smaller clubs are going to the wall. There isn't really the money to go round. Regionalise everything below the Second Division (Championship).
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Post by baboonfish on Oct 15, 2019 23:30:44 GMT
Easily the most interesting thread since pre season, we should have more cancelled games as this forum has been DRY!!
Firstly, American sports. Not for everyone but love NFL personally yet can't stand baseball. I enjoy the razzle, the sight of 300plus pound guys crashing around and the utterly ridiculous pomposity of the coverage. Far more entertaining than our premier league softboys....
Bringing me onto subject 2, VAR. Who would have thought anything could make top level soccer even less enjoyable than the diving, cheating and whingeing that have dominated the past two decades?! Well step up to the plate VAR. Utterly Ill concieved and a total game breaker. All they needed to do was implement a challenge system like NFL and cricket, which both IMo work very, very well indeed. No, said FIFA, let's just pour over every decision to the exact millimetre and ruin the entire sport. Goodbye!!
Thirdly, regionalisation. Very, very interesting. On one hand most teams in the lower leagues are barely surviving financially and travel has a lot to do with that. There is definitely an argument for a regional div 4 (I. E league 2 / conference national split North and South), however, if that was the case we would have not enjoyed the pleasure of playing the likes of Chesterfield, wrexham, Halifax, tranmere, macclesfield, Chester, Lincoln, stockport and more. Very proud for our lowly isthmian side to have faced such opponents as equals and I for one would be utterly heartbroken to go back to playing the likes of carshalton and Kingstonian every season.
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trev
1st team skipper
In Matt We Trust
Posts: 2,477
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Post by trev on Oct 16, 2019 6:53:10 GMT
That's not to say the NFL's booth review system always gets it right, dodgy calls in the Packers' favour yesterday arguably robbed the Lions of a win. But I agree that VAR has damaged football in the UK as a spectacle. For me, the only sport to strike a perfect balance between human officiating and technology, is tennis - only falling back on the technology when a player expressly asks for it makes it part of the spectacle. Cyclops adds anticipation and excitement. Instead of VAR'ing games to death, managers should get a red challenge flag, one each half. Any decision per half they're not happy with they get to lob their challenge flag onto the pitch. Only then does the VAR come into play. If the manager's proven right, they get their flag back, if they're wrong they only get the right to challenge again in the 2nd half. Fans get to cheer or jeer depending on whether the challenge is successful or not. Cricket's argably another sport where the technology's made it more fun to watch...
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tonyd
1st team Player
Posts: 1,493
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Post by tonyd on Oct 16, 2019 7:35:13 GMT
It’s interesting to note that initially the referee was an umpire who strolled round the pitch and only gave a decision when called upon by the team captains when they could not agree! My issue with VAR is why have it at all? Having watched football for thousands of matches in over 50 years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ref who I thought was bent, although I’ve only seen a few matches in Italy! So they make mistakes, who doesn’t? I just don’t think the need to get every decision correct outweighs the delays caused by VAR. As an aside, one of the great things about football is it is the same game at all levels all over the world. VAR and goal line technology are undemining that concept.
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Post by Del on Oct 16, 2019 7:57:34 GMT
My big hope with VAR is that it would get rid of all the pushing and shirt pulling in the penalty area which blights the game.
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Oct 16, 2019 12:04:14 GMT
I gave up watching top flight football for all sorts of reasons about 12 years ago and it's got a lot worse since ,judging by the little i see of it.
It was refreshing to come back to watching Sutton United on a regular basis in 2008 after following their fortunes since 1965 with quite a few gaps in actually attending.
The higher up the ladder you go the more big time it gets.At the last home game when attempting to go to my usual spot (the new toilets) for a wee,i was challenged by a taciturn young man in an orange vest asking me where i was going.He then informed me "You can't go through here".It's not Wembley or Old Trafford it's Gander Green Lane and the "crowd" numbered some 1800.
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Oct 16, 2019 14:44:23 GMT
My big hope with VAR is that it would get rid of all the pushing and shirt pulling in the penalty area which blights the game. Awarding several penalties in every game might go a long way towards solving that.It's almost 100% defenders doing the fouling.
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oohaah
Top Performer
Posts: 3,068
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Post by oohaah on Oct 16, 2019 15:26:32 GMT
My big hope with VAR is that it would get rid of all the pushing and shirt pulling in the penalty area which blights the game. Awarding several penalties in every game might go a long way towards solving that.It's almost 100% defenders doing the fouling. Talking of penalties, England's one at the weekend took a fair number of minutes to take, however the referee indicated a minimum of 1 minute of stoppage time in the first half. As usual (but never done) it should have been retaken, regardless of whether it went in or was saved, as there were both attackers and defenders inside the penalty area when the ball was struck.
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Oct 16, 2019 19:02:09 GMT
If the ball goes straight in from a penalty i think they should leave it alone.As for the time keeping that really is a joke.
On the rare occasions i watch a full game,normally when one or both of our boys are home,i like to keep tabs on bona fide stoppages.Not delaying throws or goalkicks but injuries,goals and penalties.I find it much more interesting than concentrating on yet another tedious match with the ball being knocked about amongst the back four and goalkeeper in taking 37 passes to reach the halfway line.You can normally make a case for 5 minutes ,sometimes considerably more.Then,up goes the board.One minute - almost every time.
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oohaah
Top Performer
Posts: 3,068
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Post by oohaah on Oct 17, 2019 8:18:23 GMT
If the ball goes straight in from a penalty i think they should leave it alone. Even if there is another attacker a yard inside the area?
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billy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,626
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Post by billy on Oct 17, 2019 12:43:11 GMT
If the ball goes straight in from a penalty i think they should leave it alone. Even if there is another attacker a yard inside the area? Yes,definitely.
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Post by Andy K on Oct 17, 2019 13:07:06 GMT
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