Footy Consumption

On average, how many games of football do you watch each week?

I’ve been watching less and less this past few years and even struggle to sit through a full game these days unless it’s a scorcher.

I watch every game I can tbh although it’s less than it used to be as currently living in a dish free rental and don’t think I can record on sky go.

Not as many as i used to. I will watch what i can get away with as Mrs Pig hates football so as a compromise i'll watch it online if needed.

I watch our games regularly and will watch at least one other on Saturday and possibly 2 on Sunday. There have been so many midweek games recently but i'll only watch if it looks interesting. Champions league is back this week so may watch Liverpool tonight.

This season is different for a lot of reasons so i've probably watched more than usual especially mid week so on average i would 5-6 games a week? I'm more gutted the NFL season has finished as i spent all Sunday night watching Redzone.

Hardly any myself.

If Bolton aren't involved then I've little to no interest otherwise, including England games.

I might seek out clips of controversial incidents but the standard of refereeing, VAR and interpretations of the rules (such as handball decisions) have turned the game into a farce and the behaviour of some/many of the multi-millionaire spoilt brat players has been a big turn off for me from following the game for years now.

Football is just a game when all said and done but somehow many people have lost sight of that and treat the game and the players with a reverence of some sort of religion to them.

It's a bunch of blokes (or women as we have to be seen to be PC correct these days) kicking a ball about on some grass - that's all it is, nothing more.

Its a bit more than that Sluffy! 

I do agree about VAR it is ruining the game. All these stupid offside's given when an elbow or similar is sticking out is ridiculous! Teams can't even celebrate a goal without having to wait for the inevitable VAR check and it's sucking all the fun and excitement out of the game.

It's not though mate - it is still a game - but people see it as being much more important to them than that.

It is just an entertainment, a distraction, an event - but no more than that.

If people want to give it a meaning beyond that - and millions do worldwide - then that's up to them.

Karl Marx once called 'religion' to be the 'opium of the people', I would suggest football could now be classed as that in our modern society -

"Marx believed that religion had certain practical functions in society that were similar to the function of opium in a sick or injured person: it reduced people's immediate suffering and provided them with pleasant illusions which gave them the strength to carry on".

It's not just me that thinks along those lines either, how many country's throughout the world have given dispensation for 'elite' sport to be played (whether it be football, American football, tennis, cricket, etc) whilst the rest of us can't even kick a ball about in the park (outside your bubble)!

Sport is seen as a 'distraction' by governments to give society a means of focusing away from what is happening in their daily life's due to restrictions right now and give a sort of illusion that life is 'normal' or at least moving towards better days - something to help 'us' carry on.

Why else let elete sports play - it isn't productive in any other way really is it?

And I like everyone else will watch some of it as there really isn't much other to do right now is there?

They just entertain - nothing else - it is just a game, no more than that.

Not wanting to start an argument Sluffy but how does someone start a forum like this and has been involved with others in the past if they think football is just a game and mere entertainment?

Doesn't make sense to me 

Norpig wrote:Not wanting to start an argument Sluffy but how does someone start a forum like this and has been involved with others in the past if they think football is just a game and mere entertainment?

Doesn't make sense to me 

Entertainment is food for the soul and that's what we all need more than ever at the moment.

I watch EFL highlight show, and MOTD, but tape them so I can skip through the pundits shitshow.

Norpig wrote:Not wanting to start an argument Sluffy but how does someone start a forum like this and has been involved with others in the past if they think football is just a game and mere entertainment?

Doesn't make sense to me 

I don't see the issue?

I have a life long and personal connection (having been born there) to Bolton and BWFC.

This forum and all the others I've been involved with over the years since I've lived away from the town (more than half my lifetime ago now) has been my attempt to keep in touch and informed, to read the opinions of others, as to how the club is doing (the news and gossip) and how they played from people being present at the games (there is a clue in the word used there!), that for whatever reasons I've not been able to attend.

This type of 'following' from me predates the internet, streams, smart phones and ipads, Sky, and every other bit of technology that we take for granted.

Indeed the only way I could follow the club live back then was watching the score on CEEFAX, which I did many times!

BWFC has been part of my life since I first went to Burnden in the 1960's.

It is though and always has been a 'game' to me - I'm happy when we win and it puts a damper on the evenings when we lose, even now - but it is still only a game.

Nuts was set up to share a common interest with others about BWFC and hopefully have a few laughs along the way.

Just because I see it as the game, which it is, and you see it as more doesn't stop me from enjoying the site any more or less than you or anyone else does.

So as I say, I don't understand why you feel it should mean more to be for me than 'just a game' to have help set up Nuts and been a mod on other sites?

It is not 'just a game'. It affects my life. It causes my family to hide in cupboards. My dog to claim diplomatic immunity, and the local police to cancel all leave for the foreseeable future.

Sluffy wrote:

I don't see the issue?

I have a life long and personal connection (having been born there) to Bolton and BWFC.

This forum and all the others I've been involved with over the years since I've lived away from the town (more than half my lifetime ago now) has been my attempt to keep in touch and informed, to read the opinions of others, as to how the club is doing (the news and gossip) and how they played from people being present at the games (there is a clue in the word used there!), that for whatever reasons I've not been able to attend.

This type of 'following' from me predates the internet, streams, smart phones and ipads, Sky, and every other bit of technology that we take for granted.

Indeed the only way I could follow the club live back then was watching the score on CEEFAX, which I did many times!

BWFC has been part of my life since I first went to Burnden in the 1960's.

It is though and always has been a 'game' to me - I'm happy when we win and it puts a damper on the evenings when we lose, even now - but it is still only a game.

Nuts was set up to share a common interest with others about BWFC and hopefully have a few laughs along the way.

Just because I see it as the game, which it is, and you see it as more doesn't stop me from enjoying the site any more or less than you or anyone else does.

So as I say, I don't understand why you feel it should mean more to be for me than 'just a game' to have help set up Nuts and been a mod on other sites?

I imagine setting up, running and moddng on a forum can be a lot of work and a pain in the arse at times. That's not something you do if you just watch football to pass a couple of hours and can take it or leave it.

I'm not as bad as i used to be when we lost. maybe the last few years have made me conditioned to failure but when i was younger it did affect my mood a lot more than it does now.

As i said i'm not arguing with you but you do seem to downplay your love of football but that's up to you.

Norpig wrote:I imagine setting up, running and moddng on a forum can be a lot of work and a pain in the arse at times. That's not something you do if you just watch football to pass a couple of hours and can take it or leave it.

I'm not as bad as i used to be when we lost. maybe the last few years have made me conditioned to failure but when i was younger it did affect my mood a lot more than it does now.

As i said i'm not arguing with you but you do seem to downplay your love of football but that's up to you.

I guess we are all different in our own little ways.

The reason I got involved in forums in the first place was to 'give something back'.

What I mean is that I used to view the early forums to read the news and the gossip and people's comments on the games they saw but realised I was 'giving nothing back' in return.

I decided to write little threads on our next opponents, players who had played for us and them, previous matches between our clubs and stuff like that and found that people seem to like it, particularly our past glories.

I got asked by someone wanting to start his own forum if I'd like to help him and do the same and I saw no reason not to, so that's was how I first got into modding - because put simply, I don't like to take out of the pot without giving something back.

That forum didn't take off but the owner of The Wanderers forum asked me if I do the same for him and made me a mod but I didn't like how that forum was behind the scenes (people might have many opinions of me but I do try to treat everybody equally and fairly and if I have something to say about someone, I will say it to their face and not smile at them whilst stabbing them in the back - and that was basically how TW was at the time).

They quickly 'sacked' me and I ended up on an all but dead forum, started as a college project by a kid at the time, and simply continued to do match previews and stuff to amuse myself as much as anything.  I again was made a mod.

Slowly but surely the forum took off and at one time it was even rivaling ww in daily post count!

That forum was Burnden Aces.

The nature of the beast that is social media is that some people believe the rules of the site don't apply to them and consequently over numerous sites including Nuts, I've crossed swords with a number of people - some of which have harboured a grudge for over ten years or more with me.

Hard to believe I know but it is sadly true.

One of them has gone so far as to attempt to hack my real life personal accounts - that's why I'm so sensative about keeping my anonymity.

So coming to the point of all this, yes football is just a game to me, BWFC has been my lifetimes passion but has never been my religion, I'm on the forums as a way of giving back for what I take from them, setting up and running a forum is easy if you have good people who know what they are doing (a special mention to Natasha, Biggie, BTID, Karly and Keegan - all who have put more into starting up and keeping the site going than I ever have), and it most certainly has been a pain in the arse at times, I've nearly walked away a couple of times, I'm not here to be abused or taken advantage of by no one.

I guess you could say I founded the site by accident, it was never my intention to create a forum but the young man at BA decided to take control of his site and do away with me as a mod, which left me at the mercy at those with grudges against me, so I had no option but to leave that site and when others found out several of them asked me to create a new forum and I linked Natasha with RT and combined we started Nuts, Biggie became our IT genius who set up this site and Keegan was one of our original mods.  BTID and Karly came later and now do 99% of the work between them in keeping the site going.

So I don't see myself as BWFC 'fanatic' but rather someone who enjoys the game, wanted to keep in touch with it when I left Bolton - and when forums first emerged simply wanted to give something back to them as my way of saying thank you I guess.

I get nothing out of doing the site, in fact it has cost me money - but we aren't talking about anything like a fortune though.  It has been fun for much of the time but has also been very much a pain to keep the site 'fun for all' as opposed to 'fun for one or two to play their games on irrespective of how it effects everybody else'.

Anyway That's how I've ended up doing what I do.

Bolton until I die, I guess!

The way I see football is that it is by nature a difficult thing to get right and even harder to do perfectly. Even one player has a problem trying to do something brilliant when the opposition is doing everything they can to prevent him - all whilst he's doing 7 miles of intermittent sprints. Tough enough to get two or more players connecting, even harder to get a team putting together a wonderful move - so 99% of the time we're watching players and teams struggling and failing to produce something beautiful in very difficult circumstances.

Those mini-battles are interesting enough to watch because you can see what they're trying to do and how close they get to achieving it - but when it comes together as a team it can be a wonderful thing - and why it's known as the beautiful game.

Other sports are just about individual artistry and effort but how many titles would Tiger Woods have won if there was someone in his face trying to put him off every time he made a shot and then having to run after the ball? I doubt even Donald Trump would have won all those golf championships under such circumstances.

I've watched hundreds of footie games that many folk (especially the missus) consider boring but I've been entertained enough by them just watching the battle between the creative and destructive elements. Skill, strategy, athleticism, determination and dare I say it telepathy - footie has it all.

^^^I really enjoyed reading that, Lusty. Interesting POV.

Sluffy wrote:

I guess we are all different in our own little ways.

The reason I got involved in forums in the first place was to 'give something back'.

What I mean is that I used to view the early forums to read the news and the gossip and people's comments on the games they saw but realised I was 'giving nothing back' in return.

I decided to write little threads on our next opponents, players who had played for us and them, previous matches between our clubs and stuff like that and found that people seem to like it, particularly our past glories.

I got asked by someone wanting to start his own forum if I'd like to help him and do the same and I saw no reason not to, so that's was how I first got into modding - because put simply, I don't like to take out of the pot without giving something back.

That forum didn't take off but the owner of The Wanderers forum asked me if I do the same for him and made me a mod but I didn't like how that forum was behind the scenes (people might have many opinions of me but I do try to treat everybody equally and fairly and if I have something to say about someone, I will say it to their face and not smile at them whilst stabbing them in the back - and that was basically how TW was at the time).

They quickly 'sacked' me and I ended up on an all but dead forum, started as a college project by a kid at the time, and simply continued to do match previews and stuff to amuse myself as much as anything.  I again was made a mod.

Slowly but surely the forum took off and at one time it was even rivaling ww in daily post count!

That forum was Burnden Aces.

The nature of the beast that is social media is that some people believe the rules of the site don't apply to them and consequently over numerous sites including Nuts, I've crossed swords with a number of people - some of which have harboured a grudge for over ten years or more with me.

Hard to believe I know but it is sadly true.

One of them has gone so far as to attempt to hack my real life personal accounts - that's why I'm so sensative about keeping my anonymity.

So coming to the point of all this, yes football is just a game to me, BWFC has been my lifetimes passion but has never been my religion, I'm on the forums as a way of giving back for what I take from them, setting up and running a forum is easy if you have good people who know what they are doing (a special mention to Natasha, Biggie, BTID, Karly and Keegan - all who have put more into starting up and keeping the site going than I ever have), and it most certainly has been a pain in the arse at times, I've nearly walked away a couple of times, I'm not here to be abused or taken advantage of by no one.

I guess you could say I founded the site by accident, it was never my intention to create a forum but the young man at BA decided to take control of his site and do away with me as a mod, which left me at the mercy at those with grudges against me, so I had no option but to leave that site and when others found out several of them asked me to create a new forum and I linked Natasha with RT and combined we started Nuts, Biggie became our IT genius who set up this site and Keegan was one of our original mods.  BTID and Karly came later and now do 99% of the work between them in keeping the site going.

So I don't see myself as BWFC 'fanatic' but rather someone who enjoys the game, wanted to keep in touch with it when I left Bolton - and when forums first emerged simply wanted to give something back to them as my way of saying thank you I guess.

I get nothing out of doing the site, in fact it has cost me money - but we aren't talking about anything like a fortune though.  It has been fun for much of the time but has also been very much a pain to keep the site 'fun for all' as opposed to 'fun for one or two to play their games on irrespective of how it effects everybody else'.

Anyway That's how I've ended up doing what I do.

Bolton until I die, I guess!

And i thank you for setting this place up, i would be lost without it