Soccer or Football?

[ToughOmbre]

Football!

My dad played high school football, as did I, plus a year in college and even played a season while I was on active duty in Fort Knox.

Oldest son played 11 years, Pop Warner and high school.

Second son played 14 years, Pop Warner, high school and college.

Never did let the boys play soccer as youngsters and it paid off.

Soccer bores me to tears.

TO

[Colin1]

Originally Posted by Amsel

I would love to learn more about the teams you all might like and why.

I'll forget you said 'Manchester United'

In 1881, Stanley Cricket Club formed a football team to occupy themselves in winter. A year later they changed their name to East End FC turning professional in 1889. In 1892 in more take-over than merger, they 'became one' with fierce rivals West End FC and moved into their ground - St James' Park. On 22 Dec the FA approved the name Newcastle United.

Nicknamed the Magpies, the Tyneside team joined the Football League in 1893 and swiftly became one the game's giants, winning three league titles and an FA Cup by 1914.
In 1934 they were relegated, despited memorable thrashings of Liverpool 9-2 and Everton 7-3 (double stuffing for the Merseysiders).
*Cough!* Subliminal mid-paragraph message: don't pay any attention to Rochie - Middlesbrough are rubbish *Cough!*
The end of WWII saw the birth of another great team. Newcastle signed Jackie Milburn after he responded to their advert for triallists and with his help they lifted the FA Cup three more times in five years. They also recorded the highest scoring victory in league history, thumping Newport County 13-0.
European success followed with the Fairs Cup (now UEFA Cup) in 1969.

In 1971 Malcolm MacDonald was signed, devastating in front of goal, he led them to Wembley twice and also became a Newcastle legend.

Kevin Keegan returned to the club as manager to give Newcastle their next high point, returning from the old first division to challenge for Premiership champions and coming runner-up.
He went on to sign Alan Shearer for 15 million pounds, then a record. Local lad Shearer went on to challenge local lad Milburn (see earlier entry) for highest club goal tally, took it and carved his niche in the hearts of the Geordie faithfull and Newcastle United history.
Keegan also saw Newcastle return to Europe on Champion's League duty where more often than not, injuries would reveal our thin squad and inevitably halt our momentum.

Legend and local lad Bobby Robson becomes manager and once more Newcastle come within a hair's breadth of the Premiership. More forays into Europe.

Club now feeling the aftershocks of former owner Freddie Shepherd's tenure; generous with the money but hopeless at choosing and/or keeping managers. The constant managerial turn-over destabilised the club in the long term and we're paying for it now.

Long-standing bitter rivals are Wearside neighbours Sunderland, who wear a thin, effeminate pretence of a shirt in red and white stripes.

The club are renowned for their flair for all-out attacking football, something loved, and lately missed by their fanbase.

First pic is the first existing photo of Newcastle United 1895
The other two are various cup victories

[Colin1]

Some of the personalities I mentioned (clockwise from top left)

Jackie Milburn
Malcolm MacDonald
Alan Shearer

all prolific goalscorers

[Amsel]

Great post. Newcastle looks like a great club! I like MU because it is always on the television and same with Real Madrid. Which leads to the question of how you all choose your teams. Are they local, tradition, or skill??

There has been some good matches in Houston here between the U.S. and Mexico teams. And we have the Houston Dynamos which are national champions.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I love both sports.

I call the NFL American Football and I call Soccer (what most Americans call it) just Football.

My favorite teams are:

NFL (American Football):
San Francisco 49ers

Football:
The German National Team
FC Bayern Munich
VFB Stuttgart

I can tell you this. If you have not experienced a World Cup, it is a must! I got to experience the World Cup 2006 here in Germany and it was an amazing time! The whole country was just one big party!

I also love going to games. I have not been to a German National team game since 2003 when I went and saw Germany play Italy in Stuttgart. My last club game that I went to was last year and I saw FC Bayern Munich play 1. FC Nurnberg in Nurnberg.

Here are some pics that I have taken:

FC Bayern Munich vs. 1 FC Nurnberg in Nurnberg


















European Cup 2008:























World Cup 2006 in Germany





Yes that is me and my wife hugging after Germany beat Argentina...

[Torch]

Have to agree with you Adler, love both games. I get the Fox soccer channel and I enjoy wathcing the Premier League and Serie A. Love that kid Pato on AC Milan. Wish they showed more of the German league thou.

[Colin1]

Originally Posted by Amsel

Great post. Newcastle looks like a great club! I like MU because it is always on the television and same with Real Madrid. Which leads to the question of how you all choose your teams. Are they local, tradition, or skill?

Originally, local AND tradition
football was originally a working class pursuit, men went to a pub, drank a couple of pints of beer, went to the match then back to the pub and talked the match through over a couple more pints of beer. When sons were old enough, they followed their father into club support. In the North-east, these were miners, sheet metalworkers, shipbuilders and foundrymen, work was hard and money was poor in those days and a day out at the football match would have been the highlight of the week.

There just wasn't the media coverage back then to highlight other teams. Eventually, cup finals were televised or broadcast on radio but unless you played them you didn't really get to hear how London clubs were doing, or even Midland clubs.

I wasn't alive then but it's difficult to imagine someone from Tyneside deciding that they wanted to support Aston Villa...

Nowadays, skill (or more accurately, success)
local and traditional selection hasn't changed that much, it's just that in the age of 24-hour global media coverage, most big or successful clubs now find that with international fan membership facilities, the vast, vast majority of their fanbase live nowhere near the team, the team's city or even the country that they're in. Almost the same number will likely never see them play.

Great for revenues but open to derisory comment from the local/traditional fans of other teams.

It's only really in the last 2 decades that the game has been slowly ripped from the grasp of the working-class supporter. Executive boxes, prime seating and expensive foreign players have pushed ticket prices up; a season supporting your team even just for the home matches is a bit of a stretch for the ordinary supporter with one possibly two kids. That aspect has been heatedly discussed more than once.

[Torch]

I live in Colorado so I have no direct attachment to rooting for a team in Europe, usually comes down to player or 2 on a team that I enjoy watching and eventual root for, ex: Van Persie for Arsenal, or Rooney Man U, Gerrard, or Del Piero from Juve, man there's a ton of great players out there, might have to root for all the teams.

[CharlesBronson]

Well, in soccer (football in Argentina) is forbidden to take the ball in hands...

.....



Sorry I coulndt resist.

Perhaps reference should be American Football vs Football. As the later is truely global.

Perhaps, in a perfect world ( perfect world for the UK that is). if the british teached proper football to US Inhabitants since the colony time, well..it woulndt be the need to make this aclarations.

Just note what a few british school teachers and railroad workers achieved in Argentina.

[Marcel]

Ah, the hand of god....

[CharlesBronson]

An all time classic.

By the way, this was completely unnecesary.

[Clay_Allison]

Originally Posted by Colin1

Is it Babe Ruth?

You disturb me.

It's Bobby Layne. University of Texas, 1947.

[Clay_Allison]

Originally Posted by CharlesBronson

.....



Sorry I coulndt resist.



Perhaps, in a perfect world ( perfect world for the UK that is). if the british teached proper football to US Inhabitants since the colony time, well..it woulndt be the need to make this aclarations.

Just note what a few british school teachers and railroad workers achieved in Argentina.

And a huge number of Germans.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by CharlesBronson

An all time classic.

By the way, this was completely unnecesary.

Why was that completely unnecessary? I was showing the atmosphere at the time. If you can not handle it, then do not look at it.

That is part of football!

[Colin1]

Originally Posted by CharlesBronson

By the way, this was completely unnecessary

I'm not sure if you're joking
You show us the 'hand of God', describe it as 'a classic' then tell us a tattoo depicting the exit of Argentina is 'completely unnecessary'?

The hand of God incident cheated England out of World Cup 86, at least you had the 'satisfaction' of being knocked out of World Cup 06 fair and square.