Are some football fans more informed than others?

[Harry Monk]

I have to put up with the 3 Thugby fans in my office discussing and dissecting every international game they watch on TV (none of them go to games). When I first heard them, I thought, "they seem to know their onions when it comes to thugby," thinking that they had all played at some level or were involved in coaching somewhere.


They can count the number of games they've been to on one hand. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't know what they're talking about, but I think its a pretty good pointer.

[Tuerto]

I have to put up with the 3 Thugby fans in my office discussing and dissecting every international game they watch on TV (none of them go to games). When I first heard them, I thought, "they seem to know their onions when it comes to thugby," thinking that they had all played at some level or were involved in coaching somewhere.


They can count the number of games they've been to on one hand. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't know what they're talking about, but I think its a pretty good pointer.

I don't really understand what's going on during a rugby match. I've got the most basic of ideas but can't understand the 'offside' rule etc, although i suppose that's the same with most sports, i know people who profess to love football but have little understanding of the game.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Was with a bunch of colleagues from various parts of the country a few years ago, and we got talking football as we sat around having a couple of pints. There was me, an Arsenal fan, a Manure fan, a Northampton fan, and a Sheff. Utd fan. It soon became apparent that the Arsenal and Manure fans took the attitude that their opinion carried more weight than the rest of us - presumably because their sides were top Prem. clubs so their footy knowledge must be the best. We brought them back down to earth pretty quickly..

[the other bob wilson]

I don't really understand what's going on during a rugby match. I've got the most basic of ideas but can't understand the 'offside' rule etc, although i suppose that's the same with most sports, i know people who profess to love football but have little understanding of the game.

I still like rugby, but nowhere near as much as I used to and one of the reasons for that is that you get to about March or April having finally grasped (or not as is often the case!) what the new rules brought for the season are all about and then you start watching in the autumn at the start of the following season and they've all changed again.

Football is such a great game because of its simplicity (even though the modern day offside law is a nod in the direction of rugby). So, on one hand, you don't need to be too informed to understand it, but I think most of us who spectate or play the game as a hobby tend to make most of their judgement based on what a team or player does when they have the ball. I tend to think of people who can understand the intricacies involved in playing without the ball in an effective and successful manner as being better informed about the game than me.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

I still like rugby, but nowhere near as much as I used to and one of the reasons for that is that you get to about March or April having finally grasped (or not as is often the case!) what the new rules brought for the season are all about and then you start watching in the autumn at the start of the following season and they've all changed again.

Football is such a great game because of its simplicity (even though the modern day offside law is a nod in the direction of rugby). So, on one hand, you don't need to be too informed to understand it, but I think most of us who spectate or play the game as a hobby tend to make most of their judgement based on what a team or player does when they have the ball. I tend to think of people who can understand the intricacies involved in playing without the ball in an effective and successful manner as being better informed about the game than me.

My son was visiting the other day and Jamie 'I spit in children's faces' Carragher was doing his usual post match explanation of how the game played out as it did. He was drawing a triangle on the screen linking 3 players and telling us all how it 'created space' or something like that. My son pointed out that there were dozens of 'triangles' on the screenshot - why isn't he talking about those !
You listen to the phone ins and hear people discussing 'false no 9's' etc. - if the pundits said the 'farting pigeon' set piece there would be knowledgeable 'footy' fans ringing up to discuss it...