What does the World Cup mean to you?

[Guest]

Obviously club football is heavily favored on this forum. And to be honest I get more excited about it a lot of the time. However for me to see England win the World Cup would be the thing I would most like to see. More than Arsenal winning the league or champions league. So what about you? What would it mean to you to see  your country win the world cup?

 

[SirBalon]

4 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

Obviously club football is heavily favored on this forum. And to be honest I get more excited about it a lot of the time. However for me to see England win the World Cup would be the thing I would most like to see. More than Arsenal winning the league or champions league. So what about you? What would it mean to you to see  your country win the world cup?

 

For me too... Winning an international tournament is the pantheon of football. It’s delirium which beats euphoria for me. 

[Guest]

Personally I think England have the potential to produce a team that can win it. I don't  think it would be right to say they can't considering what the youth havebdone this summer. My worry is the coaching. I would love to win it with a English coach but I think the man we need is pochentino.

[Spike]

It's the big one.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Spike said:

It's the big one.

What is it like in Australia during the world cup? Do many people know its on? Watch Australia's game's etc?

[Spike]

9 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

What is it like in Australia during the world cup? Do many people know its on? Watch Australia's game's etc?

The stereotypical answer: 'Only weirdos, backpackers, pooftas, and wogs watch it.' People enjoy it, but there isn't a buzz about the place or anything. It isn't a culturally relevant sport, and the only universal team sport in Australia is cricket but football is fair background noise. Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory all have AFL as the big spectacle, it does seem like football is more popular in WA than the others though. NSW and QLD have League, and Tasmania has inbreeding. I can't speak for the other states but outside the larger cities, football is what I said in the first statement.  People tend to think about Australia in terms of the big cities but since they have so many people there are going to fans, and fans congregate together, so fans think the sport is more popular than it is. 

People want Australia to do well? Yeah. Do they watch? Not really. Do they care? If they win. I honestly don't think I really knew what soccer was till I was about eight. And that is what it is to the larger public; soccer. The other sports are 'football'. In my hometown, there is a league team, and amateur cricket, union, triathlon, bowls, golf, skeet, but you'd be laugh out of town if you were over the age of twelve suggesting to play football. It is really is viewed as a kid's sport.

[SirBalon]

20 minutes ago, Spike said:

The stereotypical answer: 'Only weirdos, backpackers, pooftas, and wogs watch it.' People enjoy it, but there isn't a buzz about the place or anything. It isn't a culturally relevant sport, and the only universal team sport in Australia is cricket but football is fair background noise. Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory all have AFL as the big spectacle, it does seem like football is more popular in WA than the others though. NSW and QLD have League, and Tasmania has inbreeding. I can't speak for the other states but outside the larger cities, football is what I said in the first statement.  People tend to think about Australia in terms of the big cities but since they have so many people there are going to fans, and fans congregate together, so fans think the sport is more popular than it is. 

People want Australia to do well? Yeah. Do they watch? Not really. Do they care? If they win. I honestly don't think I really knew what soccer was till I was about eight. And that is what it is to the larger public; soccer. The other sports are 'football'. In my hometown, there is a league team, and amateur cricket, union, triathlon, bowls, golf, skeet, but you'd be laugh out of town if you were over the age of twelve suggesting to play football. It is really is viewed as a kid's sport.

It all sounds very American the way you describe it, with the difference being that your main sports are different to those that Americans avidly follow.

I find it completely normal to be honest but there are many that don't understand how culture can be so different elsewhere.

[Spike]

13 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

It all sounds very American the way you describe it, with the difference being that your main sports are different to those that Americans avidly follow.

I find it completely normal to be honest but there are many that don't understand how culture can be so different elsewhere.

It's probably a tad more popular in Australia than the USA as Australia's European immigrants came to the country at a far later date when the sport had already been established as the 'world game'. The 'post-war' wogs i.e. Greeks, Italians, Croatians, and Maltese are definitely the bed-rock of Australian football, but they are a huge minority within the country. However, they've been in Australia for so long they hands of the clock have come full circle, instead of the usual 'Skippys' complaining about those damn new 'wog immigrants', they (the post-war types) are now the people complaining about those 'damn new immigrants'  So even then I'd hazard a guess they'd prefer whatever is the most popular sport of their locale. Hazem el Masri comes to mind, a Lebanese born Australian is considered one of the finest rugby league players of the last twenty years. Australia also has huge Indian populations (reinforcing cricket) and East-Asians who just aren't into European sports in the same way. 90% of Australia still identifies as some mix of ethnic 'Irish or British', and most of those people immigrated before football existed... 5.6% Chinese, is the next largest group and if they follow their culture's favourite sports, it'd be basketball and table-tennis.

Individual sports are also hugely popular in Australia. Tennis, swimming, athletics, motorsports, all have a piece of the pie.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

It all sounds very American the way you describe it, with the difference being that your main sports are different to those that Americans avidly follow.

I find it completely normal to be honest but there are many that don't understand how culture can be so different elsewhere.

Yeah I've always not quite understood how people can't n understand that different cultures do things different. Some people can't understand how people of the same culture can think differently. I was talking to someone once who couldn't understand that not everybody is money motivated. He kept insisting that everybody puts money before everything in a job even though it's  clearly not true

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Spike said:

It's probably a tad more popular in Australia than the USA as Australia's European immigrants came to the country at a far later date when the sport had already been established as the 'world game'. The 'post-war' wogs i.e. Greeks, Italians, Croatians, and Maltese are definitely the bed-rock of Australian football, but they are a huge minority within the country. However, they've been in Australia for so long they hands of the clock have come full circle, instead of the usual 'Skippys' complaining about those damn new 'wog immigrants', they (the post-war types) are now the people complaining about those 'damn new immigrants'  So even then I'd hazard a guess they'd prefer whatever is the most popular sport of their locale. Hazem el Masri comes to mind, a Lebanese born Australian is considered one of the finest rugby league players of the last twenty years. Australia also has huge Indian populations (reinforcing cricket) and East-Asians who just aren't into European sports in the same way. 90% of Australia still identifies as some mix of ethnic 'Irish or British', and most of those people immigrated before football existed... 5.6% Chinese, is the next largest group and if they follow their culture's favourite sports, it'd be basketball and table-tennis.

Individual sports are also hugely popular in Australia. Tennis, swimming, athletics, motorsports, all have a piece of the pie.

I've read that in new Zealand it has a lot of participation. So I'm guessing new Zealand is quite different in that way?

[Spike]

14 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

I've read that in new Zealand it has a lot of participation. So I'm guessing new Zealand is quite different in that way?

Probably. It's a completely different country. I can't imagine the usual Maori fella gives a toss about it though.

[Berserker]

Most important competition in the world of sports, simple as that.

[Spike]

I'm always more excited when a team on a dry spell or a team that has never won, gets the gold. 2010, while a dire game and tournament; was exciting because a nation that has never won it before was going to lift the trophy. I did want the Dutch to win, they had been robbed so harshly in the past, when they were within inches.

[Guest]

I'm not sure if they were robbed. Unlucky maybe.

[SirBalon]

15 hours ago, Berserker said:

Most important competition in the world of sports, simple as that.

I've used your post mate to write something to Spike underneath this that he probably already knows full well but I want to leave what I say written because what fascinates me the most is people, how they function, where culture kicks in in their beliefs and actions and where individual self standing takes control and creates an independent thinking mind... Some people call the last bit intellectuals but I hate that word and frown upon them as I much prefer natural learning from observation and comprehension.

16 hours ago, Spike said:

Individual sports are also hugely popular in Australia. Tennis, swimming, athletics, motorsports, all have a piece of the pie.

That simple sentence Berserker has left although being something that many avid football followers feel, it's not a blanket sentiment even for the most fervent football fan.

That in itself fascinates me and even there, culture has a lot to say but it isn't the be all and end all.

Take for example Berserker's sentence in its most simplistic form.  Indeed the World Cup where football stands on its own is the biggest sports competition on earth... It goes beyond the Olympics for a great part of the planet.  It's not even fervour... It's more than that, for many it's almost a sensation of feeling ill and I know Berserker understands where I'm coming from with that "feeling ill" statement.

But I'm going to go a tad deeper into it all without being overbearing (I hope).

Lets look at Latin America, but especially Argentina and Brazil (although we could include various other South American nations into the equation).  For them the World Cup is the maximum... For a fan it's what it's all about, it's what seasons are about.  Seasons for them are important because football is a part of life and it's an ingrained consequence of the actual culture.  It exists and it's a bloodline so to speak because where I say each individual national domestic are about the World Cup is because it's all about who will represent the nation in four years time, who will be good enough and wil enough of of these types be found to create a winning team and a victorious formula.  I'm not saying that their domestic football seasons are none entities, because they are!  But the underlying reasoning for it all comes along every four years.

You look at players from some South American countries and how certain things that occur as a World Cup approaches affects many aspects of the player, his lifestyle change and even in some cases we can look back on, saving themselves in a domestic season so as to not risk injury or falling victim to burnout. I could name many names from the past with Brazilian footballers taking the limelight in that list, but this is not what I'm writing about here.

In Europe the World Cup is also massive, bigger in some countries than others, but it's massive in all European footballing nations.  But club football is as big and (here's the curious part) for quite a number (I would say a minority, but a large minority) club football is bigger.  There are even some that couldn't care less about the World Cup and even though they'll watch it when it comes along, it's only because they love football so much that it fills the space during the year when football isn't traditionally played which for Europeans is summer time.  Nothing better than being on holiday somewhere warm on a beach and leaving the wife to soak up some more sand, the kids enjoying getting in and out of the water and dad sneaks off to one of the beach bars that has a decent sized screen to have a cold one and watch a bit of World Cup footy.

Im the former... The World Cup for me is the biggest thing in football although I have many friends that vary the importance it has for them even though they are massive football fans.

But for a South American it's THE THING! The world stops for a month or at least for as long as their country is still in it or even if their country gets knocked out they'll still watch it in hope and pain that their deadly adversary is knocked out just as quick when they play.  Trust me, that last part is true, isn't it Berserker mate! 

I could go on with this because I've analysed it a lot and have even thought about writing a book on it in the past because there's so many interesting sociological aspects of human functioning that would interest not just football lovers.

Look at the Club World Cup for example... Here in Europe it's as important as what here in England we play the week before the season starts, the Charity Shield or in Spain the Supercopa de España... Infact in recent years it has taken a bit more importance than it used to have but all the same if your team loses it, you aren't arsed at all and you forget about it an hour later.  But in South America it's massive... It's the biggest club football moment of the year and to them it really does mean World Champions at club level where here in Europe we're very snobbish about our European Cup/Champions League because for us THIS IS THE BE ALL AND END ALL OF CLUB FOOTBALL.  But see... Even that has levels of importance within Europe itself.  For example in England, yes it's absolutely massive, but on the continent it's bigger than that, it's what clubs are measured by and dictates your REAL status on the scale you possess on the world football stage at club level.  The league title is extremely important, but if you win the Champions League, you're in ecstasy.

But the thing is (for me at least), if you win the World Cup, you can die happy because you're already in Elysium.

[Honey Honey]

The world cup is jingoistic rubbish, hijacked as a way to celebrate nationality rather than to represent the work of a football association by those brought up within its jurisdiction. Emphasised by the now overwhelming number of people who don't like football 11 months of the year who suddenly have face paint on.

[nudge+]

World Cup is massive, it's the biggest event in football if not the biggest sporting event overall, and it's a big fun to watch best players representing their country they were born or grew up in as compared to them whoring themselves out for money. The fact that it also reaches people who have no interest in football otherwise only speaks for the importance of it.

[Toinho]

9 hours ago, Gunnersauraus said:

What is it like in Australia during the world cup? Do many people know its on? Watch Australia's game's etc?

Spike's answers have been good to this question. Each state and territory are different, too. There's a bit of a buzz for the World Cup, people jump on the bandwagon, and for me it's the greatest event on this planet. I've travelled interstate for Club, and have been a passionate fan of the past. However, I don't think I have gone as mental over anything as I have watching Australia. It's pride, it's my country, I am proud.

Little side note into how popular FOOTBALL actually is in Australia...
Top 10 organised sports/clubs for Adults in Australia 2016 from the Australian beureau of statistics:

Fitness/gym 5,045,386
Swimming 1,593,531
Golf 888,794 
Football 825,866 
Yoga 654,830 
Tennis 611,815  
Netball 583,736  
Athletics, track and field 537,454 
Cricket 463,042 
Basketball 461,233 

AFL AND RUGBY NOWHERE IN SIGHT

 

Now let's combine Adults and Children in terms of ONLY club sport...

Football 1,086,986  
Golf 685,732 2
Australian football 635,627 
Netball 625,721 
Tennis 585,751

MYTH BUSTED

[Stan]

8 hours ago, Spike said:

I'm always more excited when a team on a dry spell or a team that has never won, gets the gold. 2010, while a dire game and tournament; was exciting because a nation that has never won it before was going to lift the trophy. I did want the Dutch to win, they had been robbed so harshly in the past, when they were within inches.

you must have loved Euro 2004!

[Carnivore Chris]

A summer tournament to watch in the summer when there is no club football on. 

[Lucas]

I can understand why a lot of people (I target us English as a particular example) do not get too excited about International tournament's these days given how much repeated failure has sapped out of us as well as well as how negative our media are towards our team when we play.

That said, If we were to ever miraculously win it, it would feel amazing and unite the country in a way that I don't think any other Sport could. If you can honestly sit there straight faced and say you wouldn't really care then I don't think I could take you seriously.

You've seen the way winning the Rugby World Cup, Ashes for the first time in years, various Olympic performances etc has gripped the country, Football is our primary Sport, our national treasure, the hysteria of all fans being united and winning the World Cup would be unbeatable. 

[RandoEFC+]

Having football on every day is quality during the group stage. Sweepstakes are fun. Football over the summer is fun.

I wouldn't describe it as the best sporting event in the world as I find the Olympics much more interesting but it's still good.

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Having football on every day is quality during the group stage. Sweepstakes are fun. Football over the summer is fun.

I wouldn't describe it as the best sporting event in the world as I find the Olympics much more interesting but it's still good.

this for me. and the passion it evokes from players. Ultimate pinnacle for a player's career or team at that moment in time to win a World Cup.

Also, there's one day of the World Cup (think the first Sunday) where there's 4 games back to back. Can't get any better than that (until you realise how much money you'll lose on them  )

[Danny]

The World Cup is the biggest and most prestigious tournament in the world, let alone in football. Only thing that comes close to it is the Olympics but there's no people taking the credit for the work they make their horses do in football.

[Rick]

I like it because I can come home from work and watch football any night of the week. I'd likd to see England win it obviously, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon so I just enjoy it for what it is: a month of summer football to fill in the wait between club seasons.

I'd rather see Liverpool win the league or CL that England win the world cup. It's up in the air with the FA Cup, certainly want England to win the WC more than I want Liverpool to win the Carabao bollocks.