The Original Football

[mrbasehart]

Really?   The fans don't go nuts when the teams are either demoted or promoted?

They absolutely go nuts.  Relegation battles are the most tense, exciting things in football.  If only Bristol City didn't have to be involved in so many of them.

[Bob]

I've seen in a ton of movies that you don't wear the other team's scarf in the wrong pub.........does this really cause problems?

[mrbasehart]

I've seen in a ton of movies that you don't wear the other team's scarf in the wrong pub.........does this really cause problems?

Scarf? Perhaps, but certainly not opposing kit.  Attending the matches is fine, because normal people go to those, but if you're in a pub before a match, it can be dicey.  It can depend on the teams involved, too.  Some rivalries are good natured, while others are always going to have trouble surrounding them.

[Bob]

In the US they still call these "Scarves"

[mrbasehart]

Yeah, they're still a staple around the grounds.  I used to have one, though it was itchy as hell.  More for raising above your head while singing than wearing around the neck. 

Any other questions? I'm happy to answer. 

[Bob]

Sure.....do the fans get upset or nervous by a lot of the players being sold or leaving teams for other teams?

[mrbasehart]

Yes.  There are transfer windows during the season when players can be bought and sold - cash money, rarely with players being exchanged - so a lot of business can get done in a pretty short time.  I think the current transfer window closes at the end of the month and won't open again until January, a long ass time in the football season. 

Smaller clubs have to weigh the benefits of a shit load of money coming their way to balance the books with the fact that they'll be losing a player that can possibly help them to promotion.  Fans know this, but their main concern - as it should be - is the performance of the team on the pitch.  That said, no one wants to end up like Rangers.

[mrbasehart]

Something that's also different from American sports - there's no such thing as a draft.  Millions of kids across the country play in football academies, usually run by a team, which can lead to playing to various versions of their Youth Teams.  Under 15s, under 17s and under 21s, though there can be a huge amount of flexibility about when a player is ready for the club. 

There's no such thing as a farm system either.  There's a reserve team that also plays competitive matches in a reserve league against other teams.  Oddly, those reserve team leagues don't correspond to the leagues proper, in terms of size, amount of matches or the teams that compete there.   

[Monty]

How does the fan segregation work?  I know that there is a section in each stadium for visiting fans.  Are these tickets sold by the visiting team to their local fans who then travel to the away city?  How much segregation is there?  Do they have separate entrances, bathroom facilities, refreshment stands?  What about before and after the match?  Do they keep the fans separated outside the stadium?  How safe is it for the visiting fans?

Why isn't there instant replay in football?  For example, during the Reading/Chelsea match earlier today, Torres scored when he was clearly offside and the refs didn't call it.  That completely changed the game which Chelsea won 4-2 after Reading pulled their goalie to play offense at the very end to go for the tie, and it cost them.  Has there ever been talk of instant replay?

[mrbasehart]

Yes, the segregation is total, with different entrances/exits and facilities.  Tickets for away matches are sold at the away team's ground.  The segregation is enforced by both the police and employees of the club, called stewards.  If the two team's particular rivalry is nasty, then they will leave an entire section of stand empty as a buffer between fans.  A general rule is that away stands are behind the goals, while home fans have the sides. 

Replays are delicate subject in football.  There's been call for it for goal-line incidents, but nothing has really come of it as yet.  Why? Bureacracy.  You think it's bad for your sports, then you should try having governing bodies that span both the country, the continent and the world.  The FA deals with national issues, but rule changes have to be approved by UEFA (the European body) and FIFA, the international one.  Football is slow to change.  I think the last proper rule change was about 15 years ago, when it was decided that a goalkeeper was not allowed to pick up the ball when another player from his team passed it back to him.  It cuts down on time-wasting at the end of a match.

[Bob]

Oh.....I like that "goalie - same team pass" rule.   Did not know it was that recent.

[mrbasehart]

Yeah, the punishment for doing that is an indirect free-kick.  There are two types of freekick, direct and in-direct.  Direct means you can shoot for goal from the freekick, while an in-direct freekick means it has to be passed to someone else before a shot is taken.    Direct freekicks are given as the result of a foul, while in-directs are pretty rare, at least in terms of goal-scoring opportunities as they're given for offsides and things like that.

[lud]

Chelsea is my favorite team of all time..