As a football fan myself. And I attend upwards of 100 games a season on average I would just like to stick up for my favourite sport.
1 It's just 22 men kicking a bag of wind about.
Well it happens to be the most watched sport on Planet Earth. It is a multi billion pound industry that generates massive amounts of money not just inside the sport but outside of it too. A Nation, City, Town, even Village can be uplifted one the result of one match.
Nothing comes close to football in its ability to join people together in a common cause.
2 The Media devotes too much time and space to it
Well the media knows what sells, and football sells.
3 The players are bad role models to kids
They are footballers, I doubt any single footballer pays the game to be a role model. They play it because they enjoy it and are good at it.
Parents are role models. If a child is taking his lead from what footballers do then the parents have failed (in my opinion)
4 Footballers these days earn too much
Footballers earn what the club pays them, ie, what the club thinks they are worth. Nobody on this forum would turn down a pay rise, why should a footballer.
Nobody bats an eyelid when a movie star is reported to be earning 10m dollars for a film. It's entertainment, they are paid the going rate. Just like we all are.
5 Why can't footballers be more like Rugby players. Have respect and be real men
Rugby players don't argue with the Ref. No they don't but then again footballers dont gouge eyes, stamp on each other, grab each other balls in the scrum.
Rugby players don't roll around like they have been shot. No but they do feign injury for advantage
Two different sports, both have good points and bad points
6 Fans are all drunken chavs
Right OK a small percentage are, probably about the same percentage that are around in everyday life. But the vast majority just go to watch a game of football.
Until you have supported a club and lived and breathed the highs and lows football can bring there is just no way you can explain what it is like
Football is a hobby to an awful lot of people, to some it's a way of life. Just like railways are to some people. All hobbies, to someone who doesn't indulge, seem weird and pointless. So just as people on here get annoyed when people denigrate railway enthusiasts a football fan will do the same
Live and let live and the world will be a happier place !!