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Is football worthy of being called "the beautiful game"?

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Jeffrey

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Or are there other sports more worthy of this title, to you anyway?

Football, despite being so named the beautiful game, is often marred by ugliness.

For example, earlier this year, I had the privilege of watching the England vs. South Africa Test Match, and in the first test, Hashim Amla became the first South African batsman to score 300 in a test match.

Acknowledging his achievement, the English spectators gave him a standing ovation, and likewise the English players paid tribute to this amazing innings. Similarly all throughout the series, there were handshakes, amiable banter, all of this shared on both sides.

There was mutual respect from both sides, always.

Then there's the actual sporting aspect and while cricket is a boring sport for some, for others, a perfectly timed cover drive by de Villiers or Kallis etc. is to me a beautiful thing.
 
#4 ·
Fowler9 said:
It has been said that Football is a gentlemens game played by thugs, and Rugby is a thugs game played by gentlemen.
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I agree with this.

I watch a lot of Rugby League and the players are very fair, I played football almost my whole life and the amount of scum behaviour, niggly crap, behind the back business and low-blows that go on is beyond almost any sport probably.

Anybody and everybody can play and does play football, enough said.
 
#6 ·
Oh come on...Australia dragged cricket into the mud with cheating and sledging. Not to mention numerous match fixing scandals. Even going all the way back to the Bodyline controversy, cricket has had major scandals.
Rugby has had its fair share of controversies as well. There was that "Bloodgate" scandal, and I've seen numerous fights, spear tackling etc. in Rugby. Let's not pretend that any group of sportsmen are more noble than the rest.
Anyway, I believe "The Beautiful Game" was coined due to aesthetics, and not any moral criteria. Watching Barcelona, Holland (old school anyway), Zidane, Riquelme, to pick just a few, play at their best, it's clear why.
 
#7 ·
Zico 10 said:
Jeff, there have been several racial incidents in cricket, especially amongst players.
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Yeah cricket has had its issues, but it's silly to even try compare it to football.

Jeff is right, there's a different level of respect and courtesy displayed in cricket. I mean, if a player is given out and is and makes his disappointment at the umpire's decision known in any small way, he's liable to be fined a percentage of his match fee. Even this is relatively rare though.

More than that, you get the feeling, as Jeff says, that the players are genuinely pleased for their rivals and their accomplishments. There's an almost fraternal feeling. A respect and appreciation for 'the game' is, I suppose, what sets cricket apart from many other sports.
 
#9 ·
JD said:
Yeah cricket has had its issues, but it's silly to even try compare it to football.

Jeff is right, there's a different level of respect and courtesy displayed in cricket. I mean, if a player is given out and is and makes his disappointment at the umpire's decision known in any small way, he's liable to be fined a percentage of his match fee. Even this is relatively rare though.

More than that, you get the feeling, as Jeff says, that the players are genuinely pleased for their rivals and their accomplishments. There's an almost fraternal feeling. A respect and appreciation for 'the game' is, I suppose, what sets cricket apart from many other sports.
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Sledging in cricket is legendary [not in a good way].

I wouldn't really say it's much better or much worse than football, it's a sport with it's own host of issues.

Maybe golf or tennis can be the next example, I haven't heard of monkey chants at either, though it's probably just a matter of time.
 
#10 ·
HOMESMOINA! said:
Football is a beautiful game, because of the way it is played. The players being cheaters, racists or ulgy has nothing to do with it. Meh Jeff you can do better.
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But a game is about so much more than simply what's going on on the field.

Don't get me wrong, I love watching football more than any other sport but - objectively - there are some serious issues with the modern game.

Zico 10 said:
Sledging in cricket is legendary [not in a good way].
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Sledging is absolutely harmless. As a batsman, I used to love the sledging that went on. This is about as hardcore as it gets (well, unless you're Merv Hughes):

Q38STQ5aV80

Makes a nice change from, "**** you ****ing ****".

Zico 10 said:
I wouldn't really say it's much better or much worse than football
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I would.
 
#11 ·
JD said:
Yeah cricket has had its issues, but it's silly to even try compare it to football.

Jeff is right, there's a different level of respect and courtesy displayed in cricket. I mean, if a player is given out and is and makes his disappointment at the umpire's decision known in any small way, he's liable to be fined a percentage of his match fee. Even this is relatively rare though.

More than that, you get the feeling, as Jeff says, that the players are genuinely pleased for their rivals and their accomplishments. There's an almost fraternal feeling. A respect and appreciation for 'the game' is, I suppose, what sets cricket apart from many other sports.
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Man, we must have been watching different matches! People reacting badly to umpire's decisions is extremely common now. Not to mention bad blood between several nations: Australia and anybody, India and Pakistan. Anyway, Cricket is played by very few nations and can't compare to football in it's global scope.

I really don't think Football is that bad. At the end of matches you see players shaking hands and swapping and wearing their opponents' jerseys. I don't think there's a finer example of sportsmanship than that. Given the number of football games being played, there are going to be unsavoury incidents, but no more so than in other sports.
 
#12 ·
What's beautiful about diving, cheating, corruption, match-fixing scandals, violence, racism? All that's missing from football is drug cheats like they have in cycling and Olympic athletes.

It doesn't deserve to be called the beautiful game.
 
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#13 ·
vandeper said:
Man, we must have been watching different matches! People reacting badly to umpire's decisions is extremely common now. Not to mention bad blood between several nations: Australia and anybody, India and Pakistan. Anyway, Cricket is played by very few nations and can't compare to football in it's global scope.

I really don't think Football is that bad. At the end of matches you see players shaking hands and swapping and wearing their opponents' jerseys. I don't think there's a finer example of sportsmanship than that. Given the number of football games being played, there are going to be unsavoury incidents, but no more so than in other sports.
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This argument isn't about 'scope'. A game's beauty is not dependent on its followers. And anyway, you want to compare India and Pakistan's cricketing rivalry to Barca vs. Madrid, Inter and Valencia kicking lumps out of each other, Turkey and Switzerland performing a live-action enactment of Street Fighter II for our viewing pleasure, Al Ahly supporters massacring Al Masry fans, monkey chants directed at black players, collaboration between Italian football clubs on an almost weekly basis to contrive to fix results etc.?

I'll say it again: I love football. But I love it less and less these days, it seems.
 
#15 ·
JD said:
Sledging is absolutely harmless. As a batsman, I used to love the sledging that went on. This is about as hardcore as it gets (well, unless you're Merv Hughes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q38STQ5aV80

Makes a nice change from, "**** you ****ing ****".
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PlFF98dM8sA

:D

As a bowler I loved having a chat with the batsman, although I wasn't always polite. ;)
 
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Discussion starter · #18 ·
Tennis is a good example, that is one of my favourite sports. Often you will see players applaud the shot when they're beaten by their rival, if it's too good. There's a lot of respect amongst the players [although it seems to vary in the WTA, for example intense rivalry amongst the Russians while the Italians enjoy a peaceful camaraderie]. Naturally if you look you can find evidence of "ugliness" but yeah tennis is cool. Toni Nadal often applauds a good shot made by Rafa's opponent.
 
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