The Beautiful Game - Leaving the working man behind

[Bluedell 5,356]

When you look at that picture, it puts a question mark against NC's original title of "the beautiful game".

[Zappa 0]

Personally, I don't blame football clubs for the working man struggling to afford football. I wouldn't even say it's necessarily the case that he can't afford it when you consider how much money is spent in pubs & clubs every week, how much money is spent on alcohol & cigarettes. For many people, all it would take is a little sacrifice to be able to afford to support their football club from the stands.

 

Something I will say though, is that we're all being cleverly ripped off in these modern times. Power companies like Scottish Power charge you over �£150 per year before you even use any electricity. BT charge you �£135 per year line rental before you even pick up your phone to make a call & the same goes for other telecoms providers. On average these days, people are paying around �£300 per year for their internet connection. The list goes on & all of these expenses of modern life have an important factor in common because in all cases you will be getting charged for something whether you're using it or not & the companies have absolutely zero regard for giving their customers the best deal possible. All they care about is increasing their customer base & manipulating it out of as much money as possible in order to make profit. Fair game you might say, business is business, but my point isn't to say these companies have flawed business models, but to point out that their business models are designed solely for the benefit of the companies themselves, not for the customers they provide services to. My parents are retired & spend 6 months of the year abroad, but while they're out of the country, they're still paying for their phone & tv package, they're still paying Scottish power a weekly standard charge & they're still paying other things they're not using such as the TV license fee. All these things add up to a lot of money for a retired couple & it's money they're paying for services they're not actually using for 6 months of the year.

[Norris Cole 0]

all of these expenses of modern life have an important factor in common because in all cases you will be getting charged for something whether you're using it or not

 

No better example than the TV licence. Paying the BBC to not watch the BBC.

[Norris Cole 0]

I wouldn't even say it's necessarily the case that he can't afford it

 

Disagree. I see what you're saying about all the other expenses in life, but that's as much an argument that there's less room for football in the modern working man's budget. If you have to go without certain things in order to go to the football, then effectively you can't afford to fit the football into your budget. If your argument is that top-level football isn't too expensive, then I couldn't disagree more.

 

I have more and better alternatives to football to fill my time. It's those whose unbounded devotion means they'll sacrifice almost everything just to get to the games that I feel sorry for. Especially the older fans who know what it was like to get in for 50p. That's their choice of course, and they'll get nothing but my respect for it. But they're being taken advantage of big style.

[Zappa 0]

What I was really trying to imply with the sacrifice thing Norris, is that things which can be considered luxuries can be sacrificed if there's a will to go to the football. For example, the majority of people who spend between �£50 & �£70 in the pub at weekends might be football fans, but don't go to matches because they can watch it at home or in the pub. If they wanted to go to the footy, they could easily afford it by only going out drinking one night instead of 2 or more nights a week. Pensioners for example, drink expensive booze in pubs all the time because it gets them out the house for some company, but most of those old geezers aren't going to the footy all the time as they could never afford to do both. You can be sure that you're average pensioner faithfully traveling to Home & Away football matches can't afford to drink much at home never mind in pubs.

[Norris Cole 0]

What I was really trying to imply with the sacrifice thing Norris, is that things which can be considered luxuries can be sacrificed if there's a will to go to the football. For example, the majority of people who spend between �£50 & �£70 in the pub at weekends might be football fans, but don't go to matches because they can watch it at home or in the pub. If they wanted to go to the footy, they could easily afford it by only going out drinking one night instead of 2 or more nights a week. Pensioners for example, drink expensive booze in pubs all the time because it gets them out the house for some company, but most of those old geezers aren't going to the footy all the time as they could never afford to do both. You can be sure that you're average pensioner faithfully traveling to Home & Away football matches can't afford to drink much at home never mind in pubs.

 

But part of my point is that football never used to be a luxury, until say 5-10 years ago. Hence how it was a 'working man's game'.

 

And �£70? What pubs are you drinking in?

[pete 2,499]

I went to Schalke- Rangers last season and paid 12 euro's to get in, i was totally astounded at how cheap it was. I paid 30 euro's to watch Dortmund last season but that covered the bus(+\- 2hours each way) and the ticket. To be honest Holland is not much better my son paid 40 euro's last season to watch FC Twente - Feynoord

[craig 5,199]

 

And �£70? What pubs are you drinking in?

 

Bermuda 10 pints and 4 bar snacks yesterday set me back 70 quid !

[CammyF 6,897]

Total Cost for myslef and Mrs Cammy to attand Tynecastle yesterday : �£70

 

Tickets �£23 x2

Bus �£8 x2

Chips / Juice �£4 x2

 

We are, thankfully, in a position that we can afford this expense, but there are many who can't. That's �£70 for ONE game and Tynecastle being one of the few grounds where a pre-match shandy is not readily available - add that to �£400 pounds for a season ticket, and the same expense for EVERY away game and football can hardly sell itself as the 'working mans' game.

 

Football is overpriced.

 

Cammy F

[Zappa 0]

Just about everything is overpriced in this country these days Cammy. The average smoker spends between �£35 & �£50 a week to service an addiction to a legal drug that's destroying their body & increasing their chances of getting cancer. A lot of so called poorer families somehow manage to spend between �£40 & �£60 a week on some dodgy & expensive take-away food instead of going shopping & cooking healthy food. You could go on & on with these types of examples as well.