The most perplexing aspect of Joe Hart’s recent switch from Manchester City to Torino was seeing one of Italy’s most famous clubs labelled ‘minnows’ by an English newspaper.
Never mind that seven-time Serie A champions Torino are veritable heavyweights of the Italian game, the Daily Mirror saw fit to criticise Hart’s loan move to the Stadio Olimpico on the basis that it’s apparently a step down.
This is despite the fact Torino recently provided the Italian national team with its latest coach, in Giampiero Ventura. But then, what would Italy know about success in the international arena?
The perpetual dumbing down of football discourse is hardly confined to topics involving the English game, although it’s probably worth noting the ubiquitous online presence of Premier League fans.
Last week I read an unremarkable piece from Sid Lowe on The Guardian website, in which he made the reasonable point that English clubs are in the midst of signing second-tier talent from La Liga.
It was an article I would never have given a second thought to, had I not scrolled down and perused the comments.
Almost immediately, a selection of commenters accused Lowe of bias, named several prominent players who hadn’t left Spain, suggested the article was criticising Arsenal – oddly enough – and lamented La Liga’s supposed lack of competitiveness.
Yet it wasn’t even the fact that some of the comments were so wildly off tangent that had me bemused. After all, several other commenters more or less agreed with Lowe.
What surprised me was just how many commenters were willing to ignore Lowe’s use of evidence in order to validate their own point of view.
It got me wondering, in a Carrie Bradshaw kind of way: have we reached a point where the average football fan effectively knows nothing about the game?(Click to Tweet)
It’s not like Lowe’s article is even an ideal case study. The Guardian‘s football pages attract a relatively literate audience from all corners of the globe, with commenters generally making some astute points.
And with any online article, the common refrain is to ‘avoid the comments’ – although to do so on The Roar would be to turn our backs on the kind of Socratic dialogue I’d prefer to encourage.
But in a realm where Torino are minnows, and Madrid-based journalists are anti-Arsenal, and a 63-time Socceroo like Brett Holman is a terrible A-League signing according to some on Twitter, are we now living in a post-factual football world?
Perhaps I’m simply jaded by the fact that despite the internet providing us with an infinite amount of information, so few online users seem willing to utilise it.
Last week a video from the World Challenge Cup youth tournament did the rounds in which Barcelona’s young players were seen to console their beaten Japanese opponents.
Almost every single comment about it revolved around how much ‘respect’ Barcelona showed to their opponents, but sadly that respect didn’t include actually naming the opposition correctly.
So when Barcelona tweeted that they had beaten ‘Omya’ – they had, in fact, defeated Omiya Ardija – their mistake was shared millions of times around the world, including by countless media outlets.
Yet the only thing I’ll accomplish by highlighting how disrespectful it was for Barcelona to get their opponent’s name wrong, is attract criticism for focusing on a misnomer.
I learnt long ago that one of the most effective ways to annoy people is simply to ask questions.
Does any of this really matter? Probably not.
In the grand scheme of things, there are more important things to worry about than what people say about football.
But with so many of these people eager to promote their point of view – often in spite of the prevailing evidence – perhaps it’s worth asking a much broader question.
Why do so many football fans honestly appear to know so little about the game?
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Mister MeIbourne RuIes, you are once again completely wrong and off the mark with your assessment of football players. Stick to what you do best, talking with your head in the sand.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
How many fake Fussballs are there?
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Oh come on, its not that bad. Football fans are pretty good and are more knowledgeable than you're making them out to be.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
With a new Chinese billionaire owner things are looking up for the Jets and memberships on the rise. Just completed a pre-season tour of China undefeated with 3 wins from 3. You'd have to be more positive this year if you are a Jets fan.
Midfielder
Guest
sorry wrong thread
Midfielder
Guest
CEO Master Plan will be totally finished roughly two years... http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/di/library/Central_Coast_Mariners/d5/7b/centre-of-excellence-opening_1wvsmbr1ejfp01whohbdeqniro.jpg?t=1076745451
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
I know little about women, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy being with them.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Interesting that the British media would regard Torino as a "minnow": a fairly well-supported club, from one of the country's largest cities, yet living in the shadow of their more illustrious neighbour... a few years ago the same could be said of Manchester City. In fact, it could've been said of City when Hart joined them back in 2006. Although well-supported, they were hardly giants of the English game back then.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
The only rule change was to allow guest players to stay the full season, if required. The rules are the same for all clubs. The City Group have football resources all around the world and are bringing some fantastic entertainment to the A-League. This is also forcing other clubs to lift their game.Have you seen the quality of players joining the A-League this season - Footballroos returning and players from all over the world. This is going to be another great A-League season. Really looking forward to the season opening Sydney Derby, only 32 sleeps to go. Gotta love the A-League!
Sydneysider
Guest
That's why it's important to offer the 5 city breakdown when it comes to TV ratings (let's not get into the TV ratings collection method that has been in existence for several years now.....). What is popular in Melbourne isn't necessarily popular in Sydney. Same for Brisbane and other cities. The only sport which would have equal popularity across Australian states would be cricket.
Nemesis
Guest
You are completely correct, Punter. Only last Sunday on the ABC's Offsiders program, John Stanley (Sydney based journalist) made the point that AFL news just does not register in Sydney. AFL is simply not part of the daily conversation. And, the Melbourne journalist on the show added the same occurs with NRL (Melbourne Storm) in Melbourne. They're not part of the conversation.
punter
Guest
Am I really off track? As you know Australia's has 2 strong football codes but in different regions this I give you differs from the rest of the world, however looking at regions; You could say that AFL has similar dominance in the AFL heartland states as England & US & likewise with RL in the League heartland states.
Buddy
Guest
Hope so.......they were patchy last year and ultimately disappointing but at times played some scintillating football. If they really get it together it will make for an excellent season although the football debate will probably head straight for salary cap, fair play and those kind of subjects!
Buddy
Guest
MF - you raise a strong valid point in relation to people only looking in their own backyard - as in Italian fans. I could only draw on my own experience though and given that the EPL has such a huge following, it made a good example in the context of "knowledge of the game". It may be that here in Australia, in the past we became interested in many leagues around the world in part due to the fact that we mix with many people from different countries and we find common ground in the subject of football. I don't think you could ever understate "the world game" aspect. I have been to so many places where conversations have been struck up with people on that basis, often where little common language is spoken. I made friends with a Norwegian many moons ago and as a result started learning more about their league - I am not going to attempt to spell it......but learnt a bit about Scandanavian football generally beyond when they were competing in european competitions. Surely that isn't exclusive to Australia or perhaps it is? My way of contrast, my wife has never followed the game beyond watching our children play yet when WSW came along she was enthralled by the idea of having a local team to follow, bought a season ticket and now travels to home and away games and that includes away games in the ACL. However, beyong recognising a handful of players and coaches she knows nothing of other A League teams and still has no interest in other leagues or even the socceroos although that stems more from a bad experience being surrounded by a bunch of idiots at an international a while ago. We know we are often parochial in reltion to geography, maybe that is the norm really, no law against being insular but it means you miss out on a fair bit IMO!
Holly
Guest
>In the information age, why do so many people know so little about anything? information is not knowledge knowledge is not wisdom
punter
Guest
Good point. How many people outside of Victoria, Sth Australia, West Australia & Tasmania watch the AFL, seriously, does this make this league worth watching?
Midfielder
Guest
Agree but what a front six this is a youtube of Colazo and he is only 26 ... MC IMO are going to well worth watching this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzRukPQ83GI
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Well, the rules did have to be adjusted to fit them all in.....
Midfielder
Guest
Just on our league for a bit did you see who MC signed today... by fark they look like they have some goals in em... could be an all Melbourne final... Melbourne City have signed Boca Juniors attacker Nicolas Colazo on a one year deal say a 10 for sure. Add Kilkenny , Brattan as DM play makers … with Brandan as well. The MC front six look like this me thinks. Has there ever been a front six to match this in the league ... Kilkenny Brattan Brandan Cahill Colazo Fornaroli
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Buddy don't you reckon Italian soccer fans are focusing almost exclusively on Italian soccer (Serie A, maybe Serie B if that's where their primary club is, and if their club is in one of the cup comps) I remember when Zizou was in Australia with the French NT for a friendly on the eve of one of the WCs, and he genuinely didn't know anything about our biggest soccer stars: Dukes and Kewell.