Why are many Aussies so narrow minded ?

[WireMan]

The best analogy I can think of is religion .
My religion(Soccer) is better than yours(Insert sport here) .

Once you try our religion you will change .
We will take over . BLAH blah .

Too bad if people are happy with what religion they have .
The cult like thinking of ..we are the biggest .we will take over ,there is no doubt .etc is mind numbingly bizarre .

& yet when anyone dares to argue different ,you are labelled this or that .

Lol just lol .

What happens if you like to watch more than one sport?

Does that make you multi faith?
The Church of soccer on Saturday and the Church of rugby on the Sunday?

 

[strong_latte]

I use the term Bigot because in Australia soccer fans (and British ones to an extent) almost universally refuse to accept any other explanation for the failure of their game here than things like "xenophobia". Generally speaking the rational points I've raised with you just bounce off them and they accuse me (an Australian born of immigrant parents) of racism.

I take it back in your case though because you're clearly capable of rational debate.

Again though, as a foreigner to Australia you probably don't quite appreciate how tiring such lines of argument can get. If you've ever been exposed to the pomposity, ignorance and arrogance of a Craig Foster article you'll know what I mean.

 

[strong_latte]

What happens if you like to watch more than one sport?

Does that make you multi faith?
The Church of soccer on Saturday and the Church of rugby on the Sunday?

That makes you a pagan - not a bad thing by any measure.

I watch League, Union, NFL and the AFL. I just don't like soccer... Something which bewilders certain members of my extended family.

In a certain sense it feels like soccer fans are by far the most "missionary" inclined of all the codes; their fans are convinced we're all in need of savour by "the one true game" and any support for the "False gods" of competing codes must be met with their modern day equivalent of the "white man's burden".

 

[Mong]

Rubbish

One needs look no further than TFC to see that all codes have that type of fan.

 

[strong_latte]

All codes have their zealots, certainly. But soccer is in a class of its own when it comes to the 'missionary' aspect. Heck, they even have their equivalent of telling the pagans that they can't call their gods "gods"; soccer zealots here have for a long time assumed ownership of the word "football" (all completely ignorant of the history of it and why all these games are called "football").

 

[Mong]

I've seen league fans try and own the word rugby and also football.

So what?

Your argument is absurd.

 

[strong_latte]

I've seen league fans try and own the word rugby and also football.

So what?

Your argument is absurd.

I haven't come across that, but anecdotes aside, there's nothing on a par with the institutional effort on the part of soccer in this country to force everyone to change the way they refer to their sport. And if you're looking for absurdity, look no further than the FFA.

 

[Mong]

Yes we get it, you don't like the code.

Your blanket statements on that point mean very little though.

Anything further to add?

 

[RoosTah]

Aussie Soccer fans are easily the worst in my view - they have a massive chip on their shoulder in this country born from the fact that they've grown up having their game referred to as a girls game. That's why Wanderderp fans are so over-the-top aggressive (compensation) and why the sport's fans in general are always harping on about culture etc and getting mad at people who call it soccer.

Funnily enough, I've noticed English people seemed to be the most annoyed when they hear me call it soccer. Some how they're unaware that it's actually an British word...

 

[strong_latte]

Yes we get it, you don't like the code.

Your blanket statements on that point mean very little though.

Anything further to add?

They mean what they state - on the whole their fans are the most missionary. Look, you don't have to agree with it if you don't like it, but pigheaded moves from the FFA demanding news outlets call their sport football and not soccer simply isn't rivaled by any other sport here.

 

[WireMan]

I use the term Bigot because in Australia soccer fans (and British ones to an extent) almost universally refuse to accept any other explanation for the failure of their game here than things like "xenophobia". Generally speaking the rational points I've raised with you just bounce off them and they accuse me (an Australian born of immigrant parents) of racism.

I take it back in your case though because you're clearly capable of rational debate.

Again though, as a foreigner to Australia you probably don't quite appreciate how tiring such lines of argument can get. If you've ever been exposed to the pomposity, ignorance and arrogance of a Craig Foster article you'll know what I mean.

:lol: I have heard bad things about him.

To be honest soccer fans in the UK don't care enough about football anywhere else to hold any view. If you talk to one in aus they would probably be perplexed the main sport is that northern form of rugby.

In the UK you find it is the fans of the other sports who are worse. Rugby league fans are generally the worse of the lot, as union gets bigger press and soccer is soccer.

No one actually uses words like racist or bigot though, those words are for the chattering classes.

Aussie Soccer fans are easily the worst in my view - they have a massive chip on their shoulder in this country born from the fact that they've grown up having their game referred to as a girls game. That's why Wanderderp fans are so over-the-top aggressive (compensation) and why the sport's fans in general are always harping on about culture etc and getting mad at people who call it soccer.

Funnily enough, I've noticed English people seemed to be the most annoyed when they hear me call it soccer. Some how they're unaware that it's actually an British word...

Soccer the word only became a problem because Americans hijacked it. There is something about the Americanisation about something that can rub people up the wrong way. It added to the theory that it is used by people who are new to the game, so not a proper fan.

In the uk if you are watching a game and someone stands next to you and calls it soccer, don't expect anything knowledgeable to come from them.
Not sure why Aussie clubs are against it though. It works in the states.

Most people know it is short for association, but so what about its origins? Gay is a British word that means happy, so go around calling everyone who smiles gay and see how far that gets you...

Anyone who says what you did there about it being a girls game is usually just dismissed as someone who has never actually played the game and is just repeating what others have told them...

 

[RoosTah]

Soccer the word only became a problem because Americans hijacked it. There is something about the Americanisation about something that can rub people up the wrong way. It added to the theory that it is used by people who are new to the game, so not a proper fan.

In the uk if you are watching a game and someone stands next to you and calls it soccer, don't expect anything knowledgeable to come from them.
Not sure why Aussie clubs are against it though. It works in the states.

Most people know it is short for association, but so what about its origins? Gay is a British word that means happy, so go around calling everyone who smiles gay and see how far that gets you...

Anyone who says what you did there about it being a girls game is usually just dismissed as someone who has never actually played the game and is just repeating what others have told them...

I’m sure in the UK, where the game has strong working class roots, calling it a “girl’s game” would seem very odd, but when your dominant football codes aren't soccer it’s not uncommon. You wouldn't understand unless you grew up here, but because the dominant codes having always been high impact collision games that are so much more confrontational , soccer’s low contact rules and culture of diving was heavily derided in Australia for almost the entirety of the 20th Century.

It’s the reason why Australia’s biggest soccer advocate called his auto-biography “W0gs, Sheilas and twinkies”, as when many of us were growing up that’s what people thought of you if you played it. It’s the same in the U.S. mind you – I was watching the news over there on holiday a while back in my hotel lobby and there was a conservative guy on TV talking about how people playing soccer in America was emblematic of the “pussification” of America.

I think that’s the reason Aussie soccer fans hate the word – they associate it with the eye-rolling and dismissals the sport induced for the majority of our history. They generally will argue the specious case that it has the right to be called “football” because it’s the only sport which uses the “foot” almost entirely, but strangely tend not ever to ask why every code has “football” in its name. Either way it’s still silly demand, as the nature of the sport and the culture is what lead to that, not the name, and in any case Australian culture has largely moved on from a lot of that stuff. More importantly though, we've got 4 bloody football codes here now, so it also creates a bit of confusion.

 

[Mong]

It's pretty funny how football fans wanting football to be called football upsets fans of other codes so much.

 

[RoosTah]

What's most funny is their arguments as to why they want to be called "football".

 

[Mong]

Why does it bother you so much? Surely a "who cares" type response is the better approach.

You and the other posters here crying about it endlessly just end up looking silly.

 

[strong_latte]

:lol: I have heard bad things about him.

To be honest soccer fans in the UK don't care enough about football anywhere else to hold any view. If you talk to one in aus they would probably be perplexed the main sport is that northern form of rugby.

In the UK you find it is the fans of the other sports who are worse. Rugby league fans are generally the worse of the lot, as union gets bigger press and soccer is soccer.

No one actually uses words like racist or bigot though, those words are for the chattering classes.

I suppose that's probably the difference between the countries - in a lot of ways it often feels like soccer (among Anglo Australians at least) is much more middle class and therefore prone that sort of 'chattering'.

Speaking of being perplexed though, I've long been perplexed as to why Rugby League has been such a failure in its birthplace. It's had more success in Melbourne that it has in London, a city with a massive population and seemingly great potential to support all kinds of sports, but the history of the game beyond the north has been one of continual failure.

I mean, I get it in places like France where the sport was actively discriminated against and striped of its assets, but why has England been such a poor growth market for it?

 

[Big Sam]

More importantly though, we've got 4 bloody football codes here now, so it also creates a bit of confusion.

It ain't bloody hard:

AFL (a misnomer but anyway)
League
Union
Football

Where's the confusion?

What's most funny is their arguments as to why they want to be called "football".

There's only two arguments. You've concocted the rest.

1. Symbolism

The name of the the governing body was changed in 2006 as a clean break from the past of the sport. That it coincided with the A-League's establishment and the 2006 WC also contributed to this symbolism. It sought to break from an era when the sport was derogatorily considered as being just for "Sheilas, W0gs, and twinkies".

It is a shame you have not evolved from that era. Your constant use of "soccer" reveals your desire to continue to see it as the marginalised sport of pre-2005.

2. It's the official name of the sport.

The FOOTBALL Federation of Australia is a member of the Asian FOOTBALL Confederation and the Fédération Internationale de FOOTBALL Association.

 

[saint.nick]

That pretty much sums it up. The word 'soccer' in this country has a connotation of marginalisation. Don't blame football's fans for detesting the use of that word.

 

[Haffa]

You really think the use of the word soccer is that bad? It's just a word. Until 8 years ago it's what we called all our leagues. The National team still includes the word. I use both words regularly. People at work call it soccer not because they're putting the game down these are Roar season ticket holders.

I'd understand the furore if people were calling it w0gball or the like.

My 5 year old still plays soccer, footy or football depending on what her coach calls it that day.

 

[saint.nick]

I'll admit, I use both too- 'football' around mates who are football fans, and mostly 'soccer' around mates who couldn't care less about the game. It's not thaaaat bad, but I can understand why some people get annoyed by it. I think it's more about the way the word is used by particular people. If you ask me though, most people I know hate the 'socceroos' nickname. I don't think this argument will ever really end though...a bit like the Gerrard v Lampard argument.