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[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Football (or soccer) used to be used to be such a great game, its so boring and dull now that it has lost its meaning as clubs no longer represent their local area and national teams no longer represent their nation. I mean stuff like this exists because the club was tied to local history, the club would have represented either the city itself or a certain demographic within the city. Like in its older days, Barcelona represented Catalan identity and now its just a brand name (the whole reason the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry is so big was its Catalanism vs monarchist Spanish nationalism) or how in Scotland Rangers vs Celtic it was Protestants vs Catholics. The commercialization of sport in general has ruined it because the original "tribal" aspect of it was that the teams were representative, now its all about individual athletes or players, their brands, personalities and celebrity status. Not to mention the fact it has allowed football to just become one big bubble where players have excessively high salaries and tickets are far too expensive for the average person.

I've personally given up on sportsball in general for years now, it truly is just bread and circus these days.

[–]Mr_Tee 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I was very passionate about football, but I've been getting older and my passion sunk. Still play football. Yeah, football was local, Arsenal was a team for factory workers etc. You know Athletic Bilbao? They have a policy "only people born in the basque/basque blood are allowed to play".

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Arsenal is the worst I've seen of this, their starting 11 are usually majority non-English nationality and aren't they the first English team who played a full line up with not a single English player. Ye, I heard about Athletic Bilbao which is pretty good actually but I thought they lifted that rule.

[–]literalotherkinNorm MacDonald Nationalism 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I really like Bilbao's policy. Also Barcelona, at least in philosophy though they've been bad at it lately, does try to promote players through their own academy and is a Catalunyan club tied to a region however pozzed the region is. I respect that.