Does this represent a decline in Scottish football? Old guard not as interested, youngsters to a degree never been that interested?
Ive always been football mad. Football and travel my two main passions and luckily sometimes get to combine the two.
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Does this represent a decline in Scottish football? Old guard not as interested, youngsters to a degree never been that interested?
Ive always been football mad. Football and travel my two main passions and luckily sometimes get to combine the two.
Our school was a rugby school so played for six years and three of my first xv team mates were all capped for Scottish school boys at the same time. Not bad for a state school. My main achievement was a trial for the county team. Also played a lot of volleyball and cricket. Football was the one true love though.
Find a club. Don't know where you're based but west of Edinburgh, Harmeny is pretty active - http://harmenyac.org/juniors/
I don't get to ER all that often during the season (perhaps 5-6 times) so usually listen to 'Open All Mikes' on a Saturday afternoon to keep tabs on footy up here, but I've no interest at all in English football with its hyper-paid prima donnas diving about.
I prefer the physicality of rugby and genuine competition between individual opposing players and watch the two Scottish professional rugby sides on TV and am looking forward to the new United Rugby Championship competition with the top Saffie teams included.
Back playing touch rugby has left me aghast at how fast young guys are these days and while I can still keep going in a straight line for a few miles reasonably well, could never change direction as quickly as these young lads can nowadays. The only thing that rips my knitting is the number of them who have mullets! https://www.hibs.net/image/gif;base6...g KkmBWXUXCQA7
I always preferred playing rugby to football but actually nowadays I'm starting to enjoy watching more as well. Someone else mentioned it but watching 6'2" very fit athletes chuck themselves to the ground and scream like a big lassie at the merest touch is starting to really put me off watching games that don't involve Hibs now. The intensity and physicality of the Lions v SA games will be something else and I'd urge anyone who isn't a rugby fan to watch and give it a chance
As I got older/had kids etc I came to realise that what I'd probably enjoyed most about going to watch football was actually the meeting up with pals/pre-match drinking. The game itself would quite often sour the day! Taking kids to a game is a very different (more sober!) experience and you realise that football can actually be quite boring. It's amazing how little can actually happen, whereas as you say other sports can arguably offer a far more eventful experience (with the scoreboard ticking along regularly).
I think it's common to fans of all clubs! The problem is that with football we tend to care too much about our teams and invest too many of our hopes in them whereas other sports don't have the capacity to shatter our moods depending on the result. Sure, I'll will on Scottish teams and sportsmen and women but at the end of the day you can usually step back and just accept we were beaten by a better side yet still derive pleasure from the sporting experience. I'd say rugby is a good example of this.
With Hibs my all-consuming desire is that we don't lose. Playing well is very welcome, but of secondary consideration. It's not a great frame of mind to adopt when watching a sport I supposedly enjoy!
At school it was rugby, Ian mclaughlin was the games master and I still have a dodgy shoulder after trying to tackle him!!!
Running, did a few 10k runs and the Dundee 10 miles then enjoyed Orienteering, more brain work than speed suited me.
I loved that the referees at the Euros seemed to have a different tolerance level for simulation. Funnily enough, given that English commentators appear to think that simulation is associated with foreigners, it was Sterling and Kane who stood out to me as the worst offenders during the recent competition.
TBH I'm bracing myself a bit for what might be in store when Scottish football starts up again on that front - ie without properly implemented VAR, the course will be clear for players to try to influence the referee again, and for mind-bogglingly awful decisions to stand.
Having had a glance at how it should be done, with poor refereeing decisions at a fairly minimal level (whilst still leaving a little bit of wiggle room for some old fashioned ****housery) I wonder how much I might stomach coming away from another Rangers game feeling hard done by.
And having the feeling that other sports most definitely have their house in order better than we do...
I firmly believe that we won't ever see VAR unless it is mandated by FIFA/ UEFA. There us no benefit in it to the bigot twins so why would they of SFA/SPFL bring it in?
A thread titled 'Other than Football' on the 'Other Sports' forum and it's already descended into football 🙄
It's a conversation, even though in written form and on an Internet forum it's still a conversation and that's generally what happens in conversations. Now how far of track is the thread??
Its hibs.net not outrageous that a thread turns to football. I bet on train enthusiasts forums conversation will turn to talking about old chuggers now and then, matron
Swimming
Golf for me…played it since I was young and have always enjoyed a round or three.
Never been in to club competition but been a member of the pub golf section for decades. Always a great laugh and the occasional weekends away and trips abroad are a great way to spend time with mates.
As for watching sport. Always try to catch the Olympics and Wimbledon and follow the F1 avidly. F1 is totally marmite I know but for some reason I really enjoy it even when it’s often not that entertaining!
One sport I can’t abode watching is rugby. Way too many stops n starts for me and the ridiculously long advantage rules drive me nuts!
Snooker.
Occasionally played against Stephen Hendry, IMHO the greatest player to hold a cue. Even at 13 he was some player.
It's a shame but it's not as easy to get into a good club as it was when I was, in the 80's. There was Edinburgh Athletic and the Southern Harriers, I think they may have merged? You have to take part in trials to be offered a place now and there's a waiting list. I just rocked up with a couple of pals.
Most kids get into running because they are good at flat races. It's only when you join a club you find you're actually better at other distances. I loved sprinting, but it turned out I was a better middle distance runner. I despised cross country which was kind of forced on me to compete in. I was the best at my school's for my age group, but nowhere near the best at Club level. Best memory for me was scooping the 400m silver at the Interscholastics in p7 and seeing my name on the results board at Meadowbank.
The now edinburgh athletic club was formed 2006(ish), its a trial but not a trial at some, you have to let some know what your PB is etc, although some clubs arent that fussed but the more prestigious clubs do. There are still a few competitions where you can self enter races rather than be selected by the club, my now local club central athletic club are one of the biggest around now, over 500 members
Do they still have the Interscholasticss?
I used to love the day out. Our school had an obsession with everyone taking part so some poor kid who couldn't run the length of themselves always ended up finishing about 60m behind everyone else in the 100m. I remember running the last leg of the 4x100m relay. We had 3 guys from the football team, including me, involved and then another guy on the 1st leg who. was still in the starting blocks when everyone else was at the 1st handover. Think we pulled it back to finish 3rd but the poor guy got pelters.
Basketball and athletics in school. Hated rugby and hockey would always think the ball was going to break my ankle.
Speaking of rugby I do remember about 7 of us had notes from our mothers so we could avoid it so the teacher decided to change it to footbal.