<div id="attachment_933" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/10/Jose-Mourinho-puffs-Inter-Milan-v-Cagliari-20_1760905.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-933" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-933" src="/files/2010/10/Jose-Mourinho-puffs-Inter-Milan-v-Cagliari-20_1760905-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"></figure></div></a>Did the reputation of the league change this man&apos;s style? I don&apos;t think so...</div>
It’s an international break! League One and League Two are still scheduled this week, but England’s second tier has the weekend off and we have to wait for the debut of Sven (*sigh*) Goran-Eriksson, who on the plus side will probably provide me with plenty material to write about as the season goes on. So another football debate and this is quite a big one. I’m not quite sure when this all started, but I remember when I was growing up it was universally accepted almost that Italy’s Serie A was the ‘best league in the world’ and then all of a sudden at the turn of the millennium, this feeling shifted towards the Premier League. The whole notion of the ‘best league in the world’ has always played on me and I decided I would go full swing with my thoughts after reading a great piece on sister (brother? affiliate?) site Serie A talk, <a href="http://www.serieatalk.com/why-serie-a-is-better-than-the-english-premier-league/3163">which covers why they think Serie A is better than the Premier League this season</a>. Don’t worry La Liga and Bundesliga, I haven’t forgot about you…you just seem to be on the cusp of this argument most the time.
If you have no idea about this argument, for some reason it usually involves the Italian and English leagues in some sort of battle for supremacy, but in truth, England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga are probably the top leagues in the world at the moment. But how do we rank all these? Do we need to? I remember in Sky Sport’s coverage of last season’s Champion’s League final between Inter Milan V Bayern Munich, Graeme Souness commented that he “didn’t think the top two teams in Europe were in the final” that year. Which I found a quite hilarious comment considering that is the idea of the tournament. But even then, just because Inter won the Champions League, that doesn’t mean all of a sudden that Serie A is back in full force and back to the top of the pile.
I am from England but I am a bit of a sucker for Serie A; I love it. I grew up watching players like Del Piero, Crespo, Vieri, Ronaldo and Zanetti – Italy had a lot of players I have affection for and I know many football purists have fond memories of those Serie A years. The attitude from the majority of people in England is different from mine though. You’ll often hear people label Italian football as “slow and defensive”, which is a norm that seems to have been passed around in England and is now bellowed by people who have never even sat through a Serie A game in their life. Of course Serie A has it’s boring games, but so does every league. I actually Consider Man City the most boring team in top flight football at the moment (I realise the irorny that they are managed by an Italian) and when they recently played Juventus in the Europa league, The Old Lady looked to play at a faster pace against them but after a bright start they soon conceeded an excellent goal from Adam Johnson. Man City can be boring to watch, but at times I can respect some of the plays they make and how they pick their moments (and I’m pretty sure their fans won’t care how they play considering the start they have made).
On their way to the Champions League final last season, Inter went to the Camp Nou 3-1 up against a Barcelona side that was widely considered as the most feared team in the world. Thiago Motta cruelly got sent off and it seemed as if Barca would just run riot, but Inter managed to keep them out. Many people labelled this as boring but I saw it quite differently. I was amazed at how well Inter defended and how they shut down Barca time after time, building up their frustration – Mourinho’s decision to play Christian Chivu (a natural left back) on the left wing was a master stroke to shut down the ever advancing Dani Alves. I enjoyed it and it ended with some great drama. But when some people started saying “typical Italian team” it really grinded on me. If you are 3-1 up from the first leg and you are off to play Barcelona at their home ground, who wouldn’t try to defend that?!
Mourinho is a defensive manager. The difference in Chelsea under Ancelotti compared to Mourinho is the style of play and how they play – yet they still get the same success. Mourinho instils discipline in his players and knows how to defend&nbsp; a lead, yet when he was Chelsea manager, few were keen to mention that Chelsea played quite a defensive game. Ancelotti on the other hand seems to have a ‘kill! kill! kill!’ attitude which see’s his team constatly looking for goals.
But why is the Premier League known as “the most exciting league in the world”? Well anyone with a little know how is aware that it is because of marketing. The amount of money involved exposing the English Premier League is phenomenal and they got their first into a number of markets with their product to make it seem superior and it worked pretty well. I remember a few quite dull Man Utd V Arsenal ties back when both clubs were on top which were not reviewed as dull ties but more as a “battle”. They would show some of the tackles and physical play that was going in, which was quite the clever move by them. I am not trying to bash the Premier League, I love it, but if you are going to give allegiance to only one league then you are missing the bigger picture in being a football fan. In the 00’s, the Premier League was very exciting and we saw a lot of great players going there, but they spent big much like Serie A did in 90’s and it is only since the recission that clubs are starting to realise that those days are gone which will hopefully create more balance.
And then there are Real Madrid and Barcelona! Marooned out there in a now top heavy La Liga, yet these are arguably the two biggest clubs in the world. There is some good teams in Spain, like Valencia, Sevilla and Ateltico Madrid, but they league doesn’t feel as balanced as the others. Albeit, Chelsea appear to have stomped their foot down on the Premier League with Man City lurking behind them, but there isn’t the same feeling in the English league that it will always be a two club race as for years we had the “big four” which has thankfully disbanded to some degree. La Liga is a great league, but what I want from any league is balance and a chance that there will be a challenge for the honours and I don’t get that feeling with La Liga.
But where is the balance this season then? Well I look at Serie A which has been very exciting this season (particularly Juventus who appear to be goal crazy) and that quiet one in the corner…Die Bundesliga. Germany’s top league has often been a bit of an odd entity and it doesn’t usually get involved in the whole arguement of “the best league in the world”, but I always feel that the Bundesliga deserves to be bigger than it is, purely for the fact that the league has been designed for the fans with fair pricing and great atmospheres. The league is still in growth and with Bayern Munich making it to the Champion’s League final last season, the future looks bright for German club football. Hey, it’s the German’s – they just know what they’re doing!
The fact is I never like to focus on one league. As a fan of football, I just want to watch good football, I don’t care what country it is from. There isn’t a “most exciting league in the world” as some would claim and lists that rank the top four leagues are a waste of time – they are all special in their own way for different reasons each season. It ebbs and flows – I remember about two seasons ago where the final day of La Liga had a crazy relegation battle where about six teams were fighting for their lives. I also think that was the season every time i turned on La Liga there was some crazy score line like 6-2 or 5-3 every week – it was great to watch. I remember last season and Roma’s great unbeaten streak which ended at Sampdoria and they fell short to an Inter side they ended up bitterly hating, as shown when Francesco Totti kicked out at an Inter player in the Coppa Italia and got sent off. Remember when Fulham were relegated at half time and came back against Man City and ended up avoiding the drop (kudos to Sven for that), that was amazing!
Thou shalt not put the whole leagues into direct competition against each other on a general basis. Each team is different and they are all exciting in their own way, if you are a true fan of football you should just be looking to watch a great game of football. I love the fact that one season Man Utd can win the Champions League, then Barcelona and Inter after them – it’s exciting to see competition.Who cares about these petty rivalries and who wants to buy into the notion that one league is above all the rest? Don’t support the league – support football.

Great Football Debate: #3 "One League To Rule Them All"

Great Football Debate: #3 "One League To Rule Them All" - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_917" style="width: 476px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/09/fans.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-917" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-917" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/09/fans.jpg" alt="" width="466" height="316"></figure></div></a>"Alright lads - on three..."</div>
Oh god. This is a bit of a pet peeve for me, it’s not really a heated debate as such but it’s something that grinds on me and when you realise what I’m talking about, it’ll probably grind on you to. In fact it’s something that should be argued, because it’s usually the opening for ridiculous statements in football debates that no one ever really thinks to question. We all have a mate (or mates) that usually flare up debates and love to attack rival fans, I live in the North East and there is a mixture of Newcastle and Sunderland fans all about – we never agree on anything. And pretty much every debate that occurs includes at some point the opening line of “your fans…”. Meaning of course that fans are generalised into one group, one way of thinking, feeling and support.
You’ve heard all the stereotypes – Man Utd fans are all from Croydon, Millwall fans are all hooligans, Wigan fans are crap because they “can’t” fill their stadium, Newcastle fans are deluded, Chelsea fans are band-Waggoner’s, fans of Italian teams go around stabbing everybody, Liverpool fans will knick your car stereo etc. I know a lot of the time these jibes are made all in banter and with a bit of fun, but you’d be surprised how many people believe these things and it often leaves people making ridiculous assumptions on people based on what club they support.
I got into one of these arguments not too long ago, someone I know who is a Sunderland fan challenged me, he said that “Newcastle fans are crap, all the atmosphere is gone and you think you’re still a big club – but you’re not! Sunderland are the biggest team in the North East now.” At first I was debating&nbsp;all these points until all of a sudden I just started thinking to myself “hang on a second, this guy has just generalised all fans of my team into one voice and one mould – that can’t be right. I’m not the same as everyone else who supports this club”. And then it really started to get to me, looking on Internet stories regarding Newcastle there are people from other clubs who are saying things like “beat Villa 6-0 and they’re back to being deluded thinking they will get into Europe now – thick Geordie so and so’s”. Apparantly all of us Toon fans have invented telekenisis.
Why it bugs me is that I know that isn’t me. I’m not deluded, there are some Newcastle fans that are a bit over optimistic but those supporters exist in pretty every club. I was at the game against Villa and I left the stadium in a jubilant mood – the reason most Newcastle fans were in this jubilant mood was because we’d just beaten a team that challenges at the top of the table by 6 goals! Wouldn’t you be happy if your team did that? There are people that think we will go down and that is fair, we just came up and I know we’re in for a tough ride this season, but when you’re fighting relegation you have to be optimistic for your team’s chances at the start of the season – nothing wrong with that really. When I go to St. James I see people around me making a lot of noise, but there’s also people who won’t make much noise in the match, but that is fair. And yeah, I know that my team has just come back up and we’re not going to stomp our boot down and storm into Europe – I’d love us to get 17th place and anything above that is a bonus!
A lot of fans will believe everything they hear, when a pundit opens their mouth or someone with influence, they’ll go along with it because people model themselves on others; if you read or hear something that is influencing then you’re going to take that on as your own opinion most likely. The media in England are really bad for this sort of thing, the amount of social control they have is scary. Stereotypes are important for the human mind, they help generalise information so that we have to do as little cognitive processing as possible, we can retrieve this information as freely as we blink and you’d be surprised how quickly you form an opinion on someone based on the information you’re given when speaking to them. What football team you support can also play an impact on what people think of you, I introduced one of my mates to another when I was at University and one of them was a Man Utd fan from London. The encounter didn’t last long, but my other mate didn’t really feel he was a real football supporter just because of he was a Londoner supporting Man Utd. He had taken a well known footballing norm and applied it freely without much thought or questioning.
But what about you? Do you want to be known as someone who goes along with the crowd? When you think about it, do you agree with everything your fellow supporters say? I know I don’t, I’m a person who likes to take time to form my own opinion and I believe that everyone has a right to support their club in whatever way they chose and they are free to have their opinion. I know a lad who lives me that supports Man Utd and he won’t have a bad word said against them – he is quite biased in his support but that is how he chooses to support his team and it doesn’t really bother me as long as I know I have my own way of expressing my support. With this in mind, it has made me into a person that won’t use the argument opener “your fans…” and I won’t criticize a body of fans just because of a general consensus made by the world of football. Yeah some clubs don’t fill their stadium, but does that mean that the people who do go are all terrible fans too? Do they deserve that label? Of course they don’t. Just because Sky Sports asks a (very) select sample of supporters their opinion on club matters, does that mean everyone else holds those opinions? No it doesn’t. Stereotypes are always going to exist, but I’ve always wondered how easy it would be to break most of them down, in my mind all fans are different and I don’t want one thing I hear to form the opinion on the next supporter. Why should the opinion of the majority effect that of the minority?

Great Football Debate: #2 "Republic Of The Fans"

Great Football Debate: #2 "Republic Of The Fans" - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_898" style="width: 486px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/08/Jose_Aurelio_Gay.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-898" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-898 " src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2010/08/Jose_Aurelio_Gay.jpg" alt="" width="476" height="305"></figure></div></a>Sorry Jose Aurelio Gay, this one isn&apos;t about you</div>
As well as writing about the Championship (which ruined my accumulator at the weekend as I incorrectly predicted four results and got none of them right. Yes I’ve thought about writing up a letter of resignation) I thought I’d write about some of those talking points in football that are often debated, whether it be in the mainstream media, obscure forum chats or just in the pub with your mates. There’s no better place to start than talking about a subject that is starting to become more prominent due to a change in culture – gay footballers and how they would be treated by football fans. Basically, it’s more of a question as to why this is such a taboo subject when it comes to football.
In western culture, homophobic remarks are commonly used with a different meaning to what they entail. You will probably know what I’m talking about, you’ve likely used terms like ‘shut up you fag’ if you are part of the MTV generation onwards (what is the current generation called? In fact I’m pretty sure only the “MTV generation” have their own label). In most cases, people don’t use it to show spite or malice against gay people, it’s as a result of modern media that such terms are used so commonly; if you have ever seen the South Park Episode<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F_Word_%28South_Park%29"> “The F word”</a>, they cover this subject quite well. It’s a modern day insult that is used by many people. Although despite a more accepting culture in the west of homosexuality, homophobia still exists.
The term homophobia itself is quite confusing though, as it would suggest that these people are scared of gay people. Algiophobia is the fear of pain, achluphobia is a fear of darkness and lutraphobia is a fear of otters. You are not born with phobias, if you ever see in TV shows when a character goes to counsellor they usually ask them to back track as to what could have triggered the fear and what past events have been traumatic that it makes them want to avoid it and panic about it (For another pop culture reference see The Simpsons <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_Flying_%28The_Simpsons%29">“Fear Of Flying”</a>, but if you are like me you’ve probably already seen it 100 times). Phobias are a defence mechanism from the brain so you attempt to avoid something that caused so much distress, I have a degree in Psychology and when I was at university one of my lecturers told me a story where he was counselling a woman who had recently been raped and she had a complete panic attack in the middle of a shopping centre which had her screaming. The reason was that she had seen someone wearing a jacket that was similar to the person who had raped her, her brain had picked up on this and this caused stress. The brain stores more information from traumatic events than it usually would, there is a lot of papers that look at a link between stress and memory which is quite a broad and interesting subject.
Now you average person who would be described as “homophobic” will generally have not had an experience which would lead them to completely panic when they see a gay person. In fact many of the people who go on about how wrong it is to be gay or make fun of celebrities that are gay will be so two faced that when they meet a person who is a homosexual, they’ll act nicer than they would to their mates! Homophobia in western culture is not as much a fear of gay people, but the hate of them or a general disagreement with their lifestyle. I’ve never understood though why this exists, do these people think that every gay person will thrust their lower region in their face the minute they meet them? And people also claim they hate how camp they are, but in truth the majority of gay people are camp, but in pop culture when a writer wants to portray a gay person they’ll often make them so camp it truly is fiction.
But generally the people you will find that use such language and use gay culture as an insult are the lads – the boys – drinking buddies that you will sit in the pub (or bar in America I suppose) with and they are usually the same lads that will be debating the football or having a pre-match pint. Which is why it is such a taboo subject, how would football fans react to a footballer that they know is gay? And how would all those macho alpha male players react to knowing that they have a team mate that is batting for the other team? You can’t really compare it to the rise of black footballers as they are two separate subjects and whereas that was an issue of race, homosexuality is a lifestyle choice (or you’re gay from birth – whichever side of the argument you want to be on but I don’t really have enough knowledge on what that argument is about).
You hear all the rumours about players that are gay, I never know where they start. I won’t list any I’ve heard because truth be told they probably have no factual basis, but most fans have discussed this subject at least once and you’re often given replies of “I heard *insert player here* is gay”. And there are rumours because to my knowledge I don’t actually recall a modern high profile player that has came out as gay. I also never get why it has to be covered so in depth by the media, how is it news that someone is a homosexual, why does it have to do the rounds? I don’t really care if someone is gay or not, it’s about as newsworthy to me as my mam telling me she’s just come back from work. You never see headlines about people being straight, the fact that it is news almost suggests that it is the wrong option which is nonsense and why I don’t care for it being news – it doesn’t have much significant meaning to me whether a person wants to be straight or gay and it shouldn’t be a big issue.
But pretty much everyone either knows a gay person or has met one. It’s very likely that there are gay footballers but they probably live in fear that knowledge of this might alienate people. The subject itself is tricky because you have no idea how people will react to it. At university I had a mate who was a Brighton fan and if you are unfamiliar with Brighton, it is pretty much known as gay capital of Britain as it is a popular place to go for gay people (particularly from London) in the summer time. But the stereotype is that everyone from Brighton is gay and therefore their fans deserve to hear about it. I only went to two Brighton away games and I have been assured that the chants of “Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay!” are as common in all Brighton games as they were at those two. Stuff like this leads you to question how worthwhile it would be for a footballer to let the world know he is gay, as this sort of reaction could be a real burden on not only them but the team as well as it is hateful distraction that isn’t welcome.
This is why football isn’t ideal for this sort of thing. People should have the right to be gay without any sort of announcement or burden, but it will always change opinions. I’m in no doubt that there are a lot of football fans that would be accepting of a footballer being gay, if you have any sense it shouldn’t change your opinion, but even though black footballers are welcomed with open arms by football fans, racism still exists. Not just those incidents reported in Eastern Europe that Sky report, if you’re sitting in the stadium you’ve more than likely heard someone use a racial slur against a black player.<a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2951945/Chris-Kamara-reveals-his-race-hate-hell.html"> Chris Kamara spoke about racism in the modern game</a>, at one point he was even told that when they were making racist remarks against Emile Heskey, they were not intended to offend Kamara because “they didn’t consider him black”. In the 21st century cowardly fans shouting from their seat, in the knowledge that the players can’t react, resort to using vulgar language against black players and it is more than likely that this would be the same for a gay footballer. Hell, it even exists within the game, <a href="http://www.newser.com/story/95490/soccer-manager-gay-players-cost-germany-world-cup.html">just look at Michael Ballack’s agent who called the entire German squad gay</a> for not winning the World Cup and we all know that the reason they didn’t win it was because of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/germany/7874714/Germany-v-Spain-Paul-the-psychic-octopus-predicts-World-Cup-defeat-for-Joachim-Low.html">Paul the psychic octopus</a>.
I myself am not personally gay and I don’t try to push “gay rights” in peoples face but I do believe in common sense. I can bet in the future that high profile player will come out as gay, but the real question is to how it will be handled by the supporters and if it would change people’s feelings towards that player. Sure they might be abused by fans for their lifestyle, but if they can put it aside, block it out and show that they are a good player, it could change a lot of opinions and let people know that gay people are not some giant machine that is coming to destroy the world. The weird thing about this subject is that it isn’t something that is spoke about heavily in the mainstream media, but instead it is subject discussed by fans. I’m not saying we should get ten ex-professionals around a table and list down which footballers are gay, but it would be interesting to hear a high profile player or ex-pro turned pundit if they knew any players and how footballers feel about the subject of homosexuality. It almost echoes the American army with their “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. If you aren’t aware of it, you can be gay in the army but you can’t let anyone know you are gay. Apparently a gay solider might distract the soldiers, but to be honest if you try to have sex with any type of co-worker then that is considered unprofessional.
The bottom line is that moderate to extreme “homophobia” exists in our culture, but gay people are accepted in everyday life, so why should it be different for football? I know I said I didn’t really get why people had to make a big announcement about the fact that they are gay, but if that is the way of the world then why should a footballer cover it up? Actually, like I previously mentioned, I don’t get why being gay is even an issue, so this whole debate is built on pretty shallow foundations. I do know however that there are a lot of gay people who are fed up of people using slurs like “gay” and “fag” to describe people and want it to change. Many famous gay people are often seen as figures who have the ability to change opinions and make it more acceptable to be gay, yet there are none in football. I’m not saying we need gay footballers, but on average it is likely that there are a few gay footballers, so why should they cover it up?
Fans are unforgiving in what they say and every game for a gay footballer could end up having a similar atmosphere to a Brighton away day, but if this were the case, the ability to over come this would speak louder than any words could. Should gay footballers be accepted? Absolutley! Would we see a barrage of offensive chants directed towards them? Who knows…

Great Football Debate: #1 "Have You Heard That Footballer Is Gay?!"

Great Football Debate: #1 "Have You Heard That Footballer Is Gay?!" - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from Great Football Debate. Find out about all the news related to Great Football Debate on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Great Football Debate"

News

Great Football Debate: #3 "One League To Rule Them All"

News

Great Football Debate: #2 "Republic Of The Fans"

News

Great Football Debate: #1 "Have You Heard That Footballer Is Gay?!"