i live in the usa this is a question for members in the UK and i watched a movie called green street hooligans in the movie there are groups that follow their soocer(futbol) clubs they don't call themselves gangs but they do fight with the the other teams club. it seemed to me that you follow your teams with a great amount of spirit does thi s movie sound like it properly depicts what it is really like at these matches

Football 'Firms' are still active, but nowhere near to the extent of the 70's and 80's. They are not cool, or clever. All they do is bring misery and a huge strain on police resources.
There is no ' ' about it

thank you i wasn't impressed with it i just was'nt sure if it was true. you guys do take your fubol seious though don't you?

Football is an ingrained part of british culture. Many football fans will point out that the organised soccer violence is completely seperate entity to the game and the 'real' supporters. I can see the standpoint, but their is no denying that wherever you go in the world where soccer is the dominant game, you also find organised violence inexorably linked to it.
If you think we are bad, you should check into south american football violence- they have fatalities on a weekly basis, with firearms and lord knows what else. There have even been referees murdered for making bad decisions that affected the outcome of games. Absolute madness

i don't think yo are bad i just was curious. i played both football and baseball all my life and i was extremly dedicated like i said i'm just curios about it because we as american can be the same way. let me ask you something why do all americans get a bad rap. i grew up strugging not spoiled and have worked for everything i have. i'm not singling you out but you have to have an oppinion on it and i am interested in hearing it. thank you

Yup, that's pretty much it, and one of the reasons I intensely dislike 'the beautiful game.'

I don't know why people take it so seriously, but there are studies (ah, the ubiquitous 'studies' again) which show heightened emotional involvement within sporting events. I think watching sports can bring a level of drama to those who are unable to experience it in their own lives and the passion invariably spills over. I don't understand it myself, but then I attend a class where I (try not to) get hit on a weekly basis so who am I to judge?

A friend of mine did try to explain to me the reasoning behind the love of the game and made a fairly good job of it, but I think it escapes me because it's not a logical, thoughtful involvement, but rather an emotional one. Reason, therefore, has little to do with it. Sadly, this last can be applied to a lot of UK society these days. Good grief, I sound like a whinging old git.

Is the film any good, by the by?

thank you for enlightning me

i'm not a big soccer fan but it was good you might also want to see the movie " Goal" it was also good

The films I mentioned all focus on soccer hooliganism as opposed to the game itself. Whilst the reality of football violence is as unnacceptable as the reality of organised crime, and other cancers on society, they make for great sources of fictional entertainment.
The actual game of football (the kicking the ball around a field bit) is about as appealing to me as stapling my eyelids to dead cat i am afraid.