Is it actually mandatory for football fans to publically cry and whine these days?
And I'm not blaming the fans here. The situation in the past when the Internet didn't exist, mobile phones weren't around and the only news you heard about other matches were from the Pink Echo, Match of the Day, the Radio and the bigger papers the next morning has gone.
THE OLDEN DAY MATCH GOING FAN
In those days you had people going to the match, listening to the radio, reading the Echo before kickoff and trying to find out what was ahead for the day.
You'd meet your mates uncertain of the lineups (Unless someone had had a whisper) and would maybe get a bit of the BBC or ITV presenting some news of the day. You'd head to the match and would only be aware of any other scores at half time and full time when they were announced then you'd head to the pub to meet up with your mates. There you'd probably get the final score - or really way back when a Teletext screen with the scores on.
You'd talk about the game - maybe have a bit of a moan then buy the Pink Echo when the sellers got to the pubs. That would be the first you'd see of anything in print and you'd discuss it and other things. Things sometimes got quite heated then you'd head to town and have a few more beers before heading off home.
If you'd been to the match then you wouldn't hear people on the phone-ins (To be honest I'm not even sure they had them back then - I certainly never listened to any having been to the match) and you'd wake up the next day maybe watching MOTD if you'd taped it or seen it in a pub when you were out.
And then you'd largely forget about it until you got to work and talked about the game. The only moaning you did was to your mates. But whatever was said would be tempered by calming down after the event, reflection, ideas of what others have said and time to let it sink in.
PUBLIC MOANING: VIRTUALLY NIL. No real opportunity.
THE OLDEN DAY LOCAL NON-MATCH GOING FAN
People who lived in the area would get access to the game from the radio. It was partisan and local. You'd hear the lineups and discussion of the pundits and then hear the match kick by kick. At full time if you moaned it would be to the local radio station (If phone ins were on - again I'm not sure) and then you'd wait to watch Match of the day - probably seeing the Final Score at around 17:00. You might moan at your cat or your missus but would only really talk about the game the next week in work or school or whatever. But whatever was said would be tempered by calming down after the event, reflection, ideas of what others have said and time to let it sink in.
PUBLIC MOANING: VIRTUALLY NIL. No real opportunity.
THE OLDEN DAY NON-LOCAL NON-MATCH GOING FAN
You'd get access to the National Papers. Local radio stations wouldn't cover Liverpool unless they were playing your local team. You'd hear the match on the radio if you were lucky. You'd see the final score and Match of the Day. Any discussion would be based on those snippets. But whatever was said would be tempered by calming down after the event, reflection, ideas of what others have said and time to let it sink in.
PUBLIC MOANING: VIRTUALLY NIL. No real opportunity.
Nowdays you go to the match. The Internet exists so you'd get a wealth of information and stats before you head to the match. On route you'd be able to surf and get texts from people proposing stuff. You might logon to a forum like this and debate the last match, the game coming and other teams that have an impact on your result. When you've got to the game there are a load of people you are mates with that have already had access to 20 different sources of information. You get to the game and normally know the team before you get there. You get updates of all the goals in the league and by the time you've left you have had a chance to read the report already. You get to the pub and Sly Sports is on with all the goal updates. You already know all the pertinant scores. People that go to the match, that are local or non-local all get a chance not only to hear the match - but quite often they get to see the match. Not only that they have instant and complete access to the Public view. Whatever jumps into their heads the second it happens. Sometimes I have left the ground a bit angry or pissed off, but by the time I get to the pub I've thought about it a bit more, looked at positives and started to formulate questions to my mates that were better places in the ground. But for those less inclined to be patient, if you wanted you could logon and post immediately. The situation is even harder for the people at home. They are sat in a little bubble with footy in it. They see things and they react. How many times have we been winning and it's all WOW WOW WOW!! WE ARE ACE! Only to see us lose the game in the second half and see NNOOOOO!!! NOOOOO!!! SACK EVERYONE!!! AAAAHHH!!
I'm not blaming these fans - they have instant access and it's a microanalitical view of their views THAT VERY SECOND. But it's there set in stone. Quite often you might see a thread where someone is acting like 'An idiot' with wildly varying positives and negatives. But if they had been forced to sit and think and weigh up then later on a post might show that they've been able to reconsider their original views. Or not. But others don't see that - they just see what was said at the time for that moment of capture at that time.
Everyone is guilty of this online. We've all been positive and made up and then pissed off and gutted to be positive and made up again. That's what happens at the game - the only difference is when you're at the game you don't normally get a chance to immediately moan/crow online.
That's probably why people that go to the game come out with better more objective, more reasonable views. Not because they are more objective or more reasonable - but because they've had the time to get away from the ground, talk it over with others that went, go home, think and then post on what they think and what their views are.
If we think of it that way then it's really not the people that have changed (Everyone always moaned after bad results in the pub near the grounds) but the technology has been able to let you say what you think when you haven't had time to think clearly. It gets worse as well - once a view has been opined then people feel a need to 'Stick to it' - quite probably many look at their earlier posts and think "Shit.." when when they get pulled up on it that's where the mental arguments appear - one person defending a load of shite and others putting the boot in
That's all the fun of forums though and of technology these days.
So don't blame the poster. Blame the technology to allow them to show people when they are not at their best.
