Football loves

[just some bloke]

Things you absolutely love about the great game?

1. It's global reach. In what other sport do you have teams from Guam, Laos, San Marino, Togo, Venezuela and Panama entering the same competition?

2. Goals, goals, goals. Even a converted penalty is fun to watch, and a truly great goal is something that never gets old even if you see it three hundred times.

3. Big games and rivalries. A North London derby. Man United against Liverpool. Spain against Italy. Germany against England. Argentina against Brazil. Real Madrid against Barcelona. There are some fixtures that are just compelling viewing however they turn out.

4. Kids getting hooked. It is a brilliant thing to watch a kid slowly getting hooked on playing and watching football, and beginning to support his team and playing for his school or his club.

5. Local teams. It is wonderful that there are so many places around that have an identity because of football, and people identify with coming from there in large part because of their local team. If it weren't for football, would anyone have ever really heard of Burnley or Coventry?

6. Badges. A great club badge is a wonderful thing. Weird little designs with birds, animals or buildings on them. Bits of Latin here and there.

7. Trophies. The silverware craved by fans, players, managers and chairmen alike. Bizarre and often over-sized gewgaws with big handles and wacky designs. Nobody in their right mind would want something like that on their mantlepiece, but people lust after them and are prepared to spend vast amounts of money chasing them.

8. Grounds. A good football ground is just tremendous. The turnstiles, the food, the smell, the sight of the pitch, the fans all packed in. The floodlights visible from miles around.

9. Competitions. Both league and cup competitions are beautiful in their simplicity. A knock-out with a random draw. A system where everyone plays each other twice, home and away. It's easy to understand and get into.

10. The ball. Nothing is more satisfying to pick up and kick like a football.

[TBM]

Injury time winners

I love seeing the reaction of the players/managers/fans when a game is won in injury time. Doesnt matter the team(s) involved, The Utd Champions League win against Munich is a fine example of this.

[dizzynewheights]

Refs falling over

The ball hitting the corner flag and staying in

Both goalies being captain

Goalies wearing caps because of the sun

players wildly celebrating after scoring against former teams, none of this false humilty rubbish you get these days

[jd82]

The ball smashing off a rainsoaked crossbar.

Indirect freekicks inside the area - oxf*rd carnage

The ironic cheer noise when someone slices a shot well wide

The slight delay when an away team scores before the sound of their fans celebrating hits you

The communal roar after an impeccably observed minutes silence

Managers with a great touch

[stealthpapes]

Injury time winners

I love seeing the reaction of the players/managers/fans when a game is won in injury time. Doesnt matter the team(s) involved, The Utd Champions League win against Munich is a fine example of this.

Reading vs Wigan, Federici vs Cardiff.

A personal favourite is the injury time not-winner. Team score, go mental, heads go and the other team go up the other end and score. I think a 'nobber was at one that happened to Torquay. Or what happened in Brentford vs Doncaster or Watford vs Leicester at the end of this season.

The ball smashing off a rainsoaked crossbar.

Indirect freekicks inside the area - oxf*rd carnage

The ironic cheer noise when someone slices a shot well wide

The slight delay when an away team scores before the sound of their fans celebrating hits you

The communal roar after an impeccably observed minutes silence

Managers with a great touch

Lovely stuff.


I'll throw in fat lower league strikers. They may have been Premier league when they were kids but they're big now and they've not quite got a good touch to get round their staggering lack of mobility and they basically have found their level and they're sticking with it. Goal every 3 or 4 games. Bit of a 'lad'. Extraordinary.

See also Adebayo Akinfenwa

[Sanguine]

The ball smashing off a rainsoaked crossbar.

Indirect freekicks inside the area - oxf*rd carnage

The ironic cheer noise when someone slices a shot well wide

The slight delay when an away team scores before the sound of their fans celebrating hits you

The communal roar after an impeccably observed minutes silence

Managers with a great touch

Good list, particularly the ones I've emboldened.

I've had a few genuine spine-shivering moments at football, and one of them was when Swansea got their first goal in the play-off final at Wembley. 1/4 second delay and then a tidal wave of noise that seemed to make the air move. Entirely different to being in the noise and celebrating a goal.

[paultheroyal]

Goalkeepers up for a corner

[jd82]

A few more i've just thought of..

The away fans going mental at a goal only to see it disallowed, or even better, this happening to the home team when you're an away fan.

Someone in the crowd heading the ball back to the pitch

Drinking on the train at 9.30 in the morning

[jd82]

The ball smashing off a rainsoaked crossbar.

Indirect freekicks inside the area - oxf*rd carnage

The ironic cheer noise when someone slices a shot well wide

The slight delay when an away team scores before the sound of their fans celebrating hits you

The communal roar after an impeccably observed minutes silence

Managers with a great touch

Good list, particularly the ones I've emboldened.

I've had a few genuine spine-shivering moments at football, and one of them was when Swansea got their first goal in the play-off final at Wembley. 1/4 second delay and then a tidal wave of noise that seemed to make the air move. Entirely different to being in the noise and celebrating a goal.

That noise actually made me feel physically sick.

[6ft Kerplunk]

The away fans going mental at a goal only to see it disallowed, or even better, this happening to the home team when you're an away fan.

Disallowed goals are great, especially as Papes says when they lead to a goal or a goal scoring opportunity at the other end. Obviously better when you're on the better end of it or a neutral as the Sol Campbell v Argentina disallowed goal proves.

Low diving headers.
Keepers trying to do tricks/dummies.
Player taking a ball in the knackers.
There's nothing better than a 25 yard curling dipping volley into the top corner.
Other than a Johnny Metgod style 25 yard freekick that still rising as it hits the back of the net.

[TBM]

Low diving headers.

Did you see Falcaos at the weekend?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMKpCwZ ... lpage#t=53

[Badger Finger]

The ball smashing off a rainsoaked crossbar.

Indirect freekicks inside the area - oxf*rd carnage

The ironic cheer noise when someone slices a shot well wide

The slight delay when an away team scores before the sound of their fans celebrating hits you

The communal roar after an impeccably observed minutes silence

Managers with a great touch

Good list, particularly the ones I've emboldened.

I've had a few genuine spine-shivering moments at football, and one of them was when Swansea got their first goal in the play-off final at Wembley. 1/4 second delay and then a tidal wave of noise that seemed to make the air move. Entirely different to being in the noise and celebrating a goal.

That noise actually made me feel physically sick.

Agreed. 'Orrible stuff

[sandman]

The cheer that goes up when the opposition fans think they've scored but have actually hit the side netting.

[genome]

A good away bounce

[genome]

Someone in the crowd heading the ball back to the pitch

Did you see it when that Leeds fan volleyed a header back onto the pitch on Wednesday? And did a little celebration.

[Sanguine]

People calling goal celebrations a 'bounce'.

farking 'ell. football hate thread.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Witty and original chants - ones that you just can't t help but laugh at.

Sadly far too few of them these days, though, because once you're run through "Empty seats", "Your support is fukking shit" and all the regulars, no matter how appropriate that seems to be it.

[No Fixed Abode]

Pitch invasions.

[jd82]

Pitch invasions.

good shout, especially "giant killing" pitch invasions. I love seeing players mobbed by thier own fans.

[Green]

The vidiprinter
Large terraces and the surge of the crowd
Giantkilling and the FA Cup in general
The Capital One Cup
David Mellor on 606
AFC Wimbledon
Maidenhead United
Jon Motson in the snow