Subscription and pay per view sport

27 Mar 2011

A thread born form the fact that I looked at the TV schedule today to find no highlights of England V Wales.
What does subscription sport do to sport in this country? From my own view point I will talk about football and boxing.
Football: I looked up some stats earlier today and it would seem that roughly around 10 million households in the UK have Sky. How many of those have sky sports? Shall we say for arguments sake 5 million. How many of those 5 million have children in the house? Maybe 3 million? Does less than 10% of the UK's children now have regular access to live football? Does this show? At age 6 I could have named the Liverpool squad backwards, we all knew who we wanted to be when playing Wembley at the local garages. Little Tweeky goes to football coaching once a week she is also 6. The kids there have a very limited football vocabulary that seems to go Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Wayne Rooney, England, Spain and Brazil. The other day they were asked to pick teams in the premiership not including those mention above, the room went silent. They all seem to know about 3 players and thats it. None of them were able to name an England defender rolleyes

Watching football gives you motivation, passion and you learn by watching. Although not entirely deprived it seems kids these days are not getting the exposure we were from what I have seen. Learning is the biggest issue. Does anyone involved in football coaching think that not seeing live football regularly deprives children of valuable education? personally I think you can learn a lot watching football.
Football from my own view point. I now hardly ever watch live football. I watch MOTD weekly and in fact I have become so use to watching football in bite sized chunks I sometimes find watching a whole match a bit of a chore lol

(I dont subscribe to sky sports) If there is a match on I want to watch now I'll often watch the first half then record the second half and watch it later in the evening. This has slowly developed as less football has become live. Final straw was the Champions league where I could no longer be bothered to watch half of a tie that has the second game on Sky sports sad

Boxing: As I have waffled a lot I'll keep this brief. We watched a lot of boxing in my house when I was young my Dad was an amateur boxer and various ancestors had boxing accolades of some kind. Now we have a lot of pay per view where people who dont pay for sport already have to pay for the contest and people who do play for sport already still have to pay for the contest :lol: Killed it for me totally. I can honestly say I dont know who the Heavy weight champion/s of the world are right now. Before I could have named them all when we had 3-4 differing ones. Boxing is like a dead sport to me now :(
Well I could pay for it all I was at one time a Sky sports subscriber but I canceled it and that must have been 7 years ago. Football especially is a national sport and should be free to view including England games without exception. To take pride in the sport and learn from it kids need to be able to see it. What do they get right now? MOTD and one half of a champions league clash the odd FA cup game and league cup highlights only shown at
Think I waffled enough, over to you you lot.

28 Mar 2011

We shouldn't let them have such roll models, poofy prima donna's. perhaps. or maybe workers who do a good job for the multi million pound company they work for and earn a decent wage from it.
Thier legs are thier liveliehood, should we call them poofs because they don't want them damaged, should we throw away the health and safety rules for miners and dock workers ?
Perhaps we should use politicians and fund managers as roll models, people who take just as much in salary as footballers including bonuses paid if they do a good job or a terrible job.
Are they any different to the incredibly high paid rap singers or Kylie Mynogue, the Pussycat dolls, do they do any less of a job ?
Are they not as entitled to earn what they can for doing a good job as actors, actors who can earn £30 million for one movie ?
Why is always footballers that are picked on, what about Golfers, Tennis Players and the like.
Methinks jealousy doth prevail.

28 Mar 2011

Well I haven't seen a lot of violence at the ballet but does it matter, my point is, who cares, they do what they do, if you don't like it don't watch football.
It should not make them targets for abuse, calling them poofs ? come into the 21st century please, as I said there are many othe people who act like prima donnas, what about the singer who delayed a commercial flight so that her "in flight meal" could be delivered from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant as she did not like the meals prepared by the airline, the actress who hit a policeman because he did not recognise her and was still going to give her a speeding ticket.

28 Mar 2011

Quote by MidsCouple24
Well I haven't seen a lot of violence at the ballet but does it matter, my point is, who cares, they do what they do, if you don't like it don't watch football.
It should not make them targets for abuse, calling them poofs ? come into the 21st century please, as I said there are many othe people who act like prima donnas, what about the singer who delayed a commercial flight so that her "in flight meal" could be delivered from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant as she did not like the meals prepared by the airline, the actress who hit a policeman because he did not recognise her and was still going to give her a speeding ticket.

The difference is with those other professions there is not a recognised code of behavior that has come up from the working class's as it were. We are not actors and singers etc etc but most of us at one time as boys or men have been footballers. I guess like flower I was taught that in football you never show your tired and you never let the other player know he hurt you now matter how hard he just kicked you in the knee. Its the way we are brought up. We may not be as technically gifted as Nani but we know when we see a grown man crying on the pitch that this is not what is done in football. We actually ahve a reference point to think we know better, where as with Pop stars and actors etc we dont biggrin

29 Mar 2011

Quote by tweeky
Well I haven't seen a lot of violence at the ballet but does it matter, my point is, who cares, they do what they do, if you don't like it don't watch football.
It should not make them targets for abuse, calling them poofs ? come into the 21st century please, as I said there are many othe people who act like prima donnas, what about the singer who delayed a commercial flight so that her "in flight meal" could be delivered from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant as she did not like the meals prepared by the airline, the actress who hit a policeman because he did not recognise her and was still going to give her a speeding ticket.

The difference is with those other professions there is not a recognised code of behavior that has come up from the working class's as it were. We are not actors and singers etc etc but most of us at one time as boys or men have been footballers. I guess like flower I was taught that in football you never show your tired and you never let the other player know he hurt you now matter how hard he just kicked you in the knee. Its the way we are brought up. We may not be as technically gifted as Nani but we know when we see a grown man crying on the pitch that this is not what is done in football. We actually ahve a reference point to think we know better, where as with Pop stars and actors etc we dont biggrin

There`s far to much money at stake for footballers to play fair !!
Look at the amount of money involved, the clubs at the bottom stand to loose 60-80 million if relegated
The upper clubs average an extra 40 million just to progress to the knockout stages of the champions league ,to win the champions league gross`s about 120 million i believe
And people wonder why these guys roll around in play agony at the slightest touch :dry:

29 Mar 2011

I already pay to view - the TV license tax and Sky (minimum) subscritpion. I can neither afford nor would be willing if I could to pay extra to watch over-paid twiglets run around after a 4 ounce plastic ball. Boxing doesn't interest me any more than watching two drunks slinging fists of a Saturday night.
I doubt I would pay to watch any sport, although I have enjoyed many close matches in the past - cricket, judo and even outdoor bowls (you'd be surprised how close-fought they can be). I think I would ratehr watch non-league football, where they have their hearts in it, or even live local sports. So long as the parents are'nt on the side-lines bawling obscenties at the ref and their 12 year-old players.
There are dozens of sports never shown in UK TV and certainly not follwed through their seasons - we should tell the FA to stuff it and show more of the 'alternative' sports.

29 Mar 2011

I'm not a sports fan by any means, in fact I feel a little breathless when driving past a gym, but I do think that national British games/events should be shown by the BRITISH Broadcasting Company. We all have to pay the licence fee (well, most) and I believe sports events involving national teams should be part of their programming.

29 Mar 2011

Quote by Lizaleanrob
Well I haven't seen a lot of violence at the ballet but does it matter, my point is, who cares, they do what they do, if you don't like it don't watch football.
It should not make them targets for abuse, calling them poofs ? come into the 21st century please, as I said there are many othe people who act like prima donnas, what about the singer who delayed a commercial flight so that her "in flight meal" could be delivered from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant as she did not like the meals prepared by the airline, the actress who hit a policeman because he did not recognise her and was still going to give her a speeding ticket.

The difference is with those other professions there is not a recognised code of behavior that has come up from the working class's as it were. We are not actors and singers etc etc but most of us at one time as boys or men have been footballers. I guess like flower I was taught that in football you never show your tired and you never let the other player know he hurt you now matter how hard he just kicked you in the knee. Its the way we are brought up. We may not be as technically gifted as Nani but we know when we see a grown man crying on the pitch that this is not what is done in football. We actually ahve a reference point to think we know better, where as with Pop stars and actors etc we dont biggrin

There`s far to much money at stake for footballers to play fair !!
Look at the amount of money involved, the clubs at the bottom stand to loose 60-80 million if relegated
The upper clubs average an extra 40 million just to progress to the knockout stages of the champions league ,to win the champions league gross`s about 120 million i believe
And people wonder why these guys roll around in play agony at the slightest touch :dry:
That would way up if they all did it but they dont. I couldn't say for sure that cheating/diving isn't taught at professional level but would strongly suspect it is not. Footballers move club too often for that kind of thing to stay secret for long. Some do it some dont but more seem to do it and exaggerate it in pro football. I doubt it has little to do with money and is more personal, I mean we still see it in the world cup which has no prize other than a cup and pride.
Another thing I have though of recently as well is legacy. My Dad played football for many years never at any great level but he was well known and had some notable achievements. I look at his medals with pride :mrgreen: Now when Mr cheat is showing his kids his 6 premier league trophy's and his 4 FA cup medals I do hope the next thing the kids are shown are the vids on youtube that show him diving for a penalty or writhing about on the floor holding his face when the ball tapped him on the big toe lol

That would kind of rule out them ever saying anything to their kids about honesty :lol:

30 Mar 2011

Quote by tweeky
That would way up if they all did it but they dont. I couldn't say for sure that cheating/diving isn't taught at professional level but would strongly suspect it is not. Footballers move club too often for that kind of thing to stay secret for long. Some do it some dont but more seem to do it and exaggerate it in pro football.

firstly have you ever seen or heard of a player being dropped for a display of bad sportsmanship at top level football ?????
I think you`ll find whilst it isn`t practiced it also isn`t discouraged!!! i think some are better at it than others
and wining at any cost is the only interest in top league games

Quote by tweeky
I doubt it has little to do with money and is more personal, I mean we still see it in the world cup which has no prize other than a cup and pride.

so players are not payed or on bonus to win or progress in the greatest prize in football ?????

30 Mar 2011

There are a lot of footballers who bring the game into disrepute, there is no doubt of that, both in thier private lives and on the pitch, they get drunk, abuse road laws, take drugs, fight and have affairs, the same can be said of people in every walk of life, some worse than others and many of them in the public eye.
For some it is unforgivable and they should be removed from thier job, Politicians for instance, a politician should be sacked for having an affair as should high ranking public officials, why them ? because they should never put themselves into a position where they could be co-erced or blackmailed into a decision which affects the nation, Police Officers and Council Officials, I want such people to vote, make an arrest, approve a white paper etc because they believe it right not because someone has some dirt on them.
There are a lot of footballers who are nothing but a credit to the game, Ryan Giggs, now 37 I think, made his debut for United around the age of 17 after coming through the Youth Squad, never been tempted by big money from abroad, oh yes he earns a packet but he could have earned double and treble that. he has been loyal to his club to the end, I have never personally read anything bad about his behaviour, he doesn't seem to fall over at the slightest touch, he is quite the Ambassador of football. There are thousands of such players some famous some not, I do think footballers like many people in a certain group are unfairly accused of being Prima Donna weeklings because of the actions of a few.
I also see a lot more forgien players doing the play acting, diving, groaning than British Players, perhaps it is thier heritage and not ours that has brought about such actions, maybe (I don't know) that our factory workers, miners and dockers did instill strength to footballers maybe some nations didn't have such a footballing history to do that.

30 Mar 2011

Quote by Lizaleanrob

That would way up if they all did it but they dont. I couldn't say for sure that cheating/diving isn't taught at professional level but would strongly suspect it is not. Footballers move club too often for that kind of thing to stay secret for long. Some do it some dont but more seem to do it and exaggerate it in pro football.

firstly have you ever seen or heard of a player being dropped for a display of bad sportsmanship at top level football ?????
I think you`ll find whilst it isn`t practiced it also isn`t discouraged!!! i think some are better at it than others
and wining at any cost is the only interest in top league games
A totally different kettle of fish. Actually endorsing it would encourage players to do it whilst at the moment it is still entirely their own decision regardless of if they get dropped in the next game or not

Quote by tweeky
I doubt it has little to do with money and is more personal, I mean we still see it in the world cup which has no prize other than a cup and pride.

so players are not payed or on bonus to win or progress in the greatest prize in football ?????
No officially not you dont get paid to play for your country. You hear of the odd world cup game where maybe the Gambia get offered a Jag XJS each by the president to beat Brazil (made up example) but it never seems to be a pre arranged deal always some off the cuff or by chance offer.
The only unofficial prize for England players would be increased advertising deals

Quote by MidsCouple24
There are a lot of footballers who bring the game into disrepute, there is no doubt of that, both in thier private lives and on the pitch, they get drunk, abuse road laws, take drugs, fight and have affairs, the same can be said of people in every walk of life, some worse than others and many of them in the public eye.
For some it is unforgivable and they should be removed from thier job, Politicians for instance, a politician should be sacked for having an affair as should high ranking public officials, why them ? because they should never put themselves into a position where they could be co-erced or blackmailed into a decision which affects the nation, Police Officers and Council Officials, I want such people to vote, make an arrest, approve a white paper etc because they believe it right not because someone has some dirt on them.
There are a lot of footballers who are nothing but a credit to the game, Ryan Giggs, now 37 I think, made his debut for United around the age of 17 after coming through the Youth Squad, never been tempted by big money from abroad, oh yes he earns a packet but he could have earned double and treble that. he has been loyal to his club to the end, I have never personally read anything bad about his behaviour, he doesn't seem to fall over at the slightest touch, he is quite the Ambassador of football. There are thousands of such players some famous some not, I do think footballers like many people in a certain group are unfairly accused of being Prima Donna weeklings because of the actions of a few.
I also see a lot more forgien players doing the play acting, diving, groaning than British Players, perhaps it is thier heritage and not ours that has brought about such actions, maybe (I don't know) that our factory workers, miners and dockers did instill strength to footballers maybe some nations didn't have such a footballing history to do that.

There may be some truth in what you say. All I know is the game I see seems more full of cheats than the game I use to watch. Oddly enough there are now far more foreign players dunno

31 Mar 2011

Quote by MidsCouple24
We shouldn't let them have such roll models, poofy prima donna's. perhaps. or maybe workers who do a good job for the multi million pound company they work for and earn a decent wage from it.
Thier legs are thier liveliehood, should we call them poofs because they don't want them damaged, should we throw away the health and safety rules for miners and dock workers ?
Perhaps we should use politicians and fund managers as roll models, people who take just as much in salary as footballers including bonuses paid if they do a good job or a terrible job.
Are they any different to the incredibly high paid rap singers or Kylie Mynogue, the Pussycat dolls, do they do any less of a job ?
Are they not as entitled to earn what they can for doing a good job as actors, actors who can earn £30 million for one movie ?
Why is always footballers that are picked on, what about Golfers, Tennis Players and the like.
Methinks jealousy doth prevail.

No, none of these people should earn as much money as they do whilst there are people who earn as little as the minimum wage.

31 Mar 2011

Quote by sexyslut79
No, none of these people should earn as much money as they do whilst there are people who earn as little as the minimum wage.

can you explain then how you would change things to be farer?
i meen that if a football club was owned by a rich person to you that would be unfare on the fans?
these peeple have a skill which is playing football wich generates a lot of money why should someone who cleens a house get the same money that a singer or film star gets?
i would be interested to know your thoughts on this.

31 Mar 2011

Most people that are professional sportsmen/woman are fantastic at what they do.
But it really depends on what sport is involved as to what they get paid.
I know guys/girls that are the best martial artists that I have ever seen but they either get buttons of a wage or have to survive on working as well, in order to compete for their country.

31 Mar 2011

Quote by woohoo
Most people that are professional sportsmen/woman are fantastic at what they do.
But it really depends on what sport is involved as to what they get paid.
I know guys/girls that are the best martial artists that I have ever seen but they either get buttons of a wage or have to survive on working as well, in order to compete for their country.

is there not a differance between amature and professional?
is a martial artsist a professional in his work?
football i would guess has the highjest amount of sponsership money paid to it from sky, that obviosly makes a differance as to what footballers get paid. a martial artists get snothing or very little from there sport in the way of sponsers so where does there money have to come from?
bruce willis in the die hard films surely is worth the millions he gets paid as he is the star of those films? that is the way things work in life i would think?

31 Mar 2011

There are professional Martial Artist out there i.e people that get paid for what they do and make a living out of it.
But don't know of any that get paid millions for their work, unless you talking about Movie stars and then where do you draw the line between Martial Artist and movie star?
Football in this country has a long way to go, to beat the American Football,Baseball and Basket Ball Stars wages.
There was a time for instance, that the most popular "sport" in France was Karate, but can anyone name a French Karate "Star" but quite easy to name a few footballers.
We also have a few MBE's in Karate in this country but does anyone know them?
But most people know of Footballers golfers ,tennis players etc.
Its not only Karate that has a bum deal but other sports too like, Hockey, sailing etc
It's also a well known fact that the most popular participation "sport" in the UK is Fishing. How many millionaires do we have in that sport?

31 Mar 2011

Quote by flower411
snip
Just a thought....what if any player receiving a foul that leaves them writhing on the floor in agony for five minutes is seen fully recovered as soon as the free kick is awarded were to be ordered to leave the field for 15 minutes with no substitution allowed ? Maybe they`d think twice about faking it

Totally agree - you could cite H&S - they should have a full check over if they are in 'that' much pain. And the sudden improvement could be a sign of nerve damage rather than recovery. :thumbup:

31 Mar 2011

the answer is snipers....always has been always will be

1 Apr 2011

often the magic sponge sorts it out, simple spray freezing the injured part taking away the pain instantly, I always have a tin in my medicine cabinet, great stuff and available in any big supermarket or Pharmacy, you should try it, I think one brand is Raljex or Nalgex something like that.

1 Apr 2011

Quote by MidsCouple24
Raljex

Ralgex but it matters not. Thats the smell of The Downs football changing rooms emblazoned on my mind forever more when I tagged along with my Dad as a nipper. Also incredibly steamy showers! I have yet to learn the secret of how you make that much steam from a shower lol

Small children had to run past the shower room entrance as there was a real danger of getting lost in drifting steam and ending up stuck in some goal net in the corner or something like that :lol:

4 Apr 2011

And that boys n girls is what football is all about, forget the salaries, the prima donnas, the corporate money making (or losing) factories and the media.
Think of growing up and the joy of visiting a football match, playing football just like your heroes, seeing them win and the pleasure it brings, seeing them lose and hoping next time they will do better (especially if they listened to your advice on what they are doing wrong) the FA Cup where the underdogs can become legends and giants can fall, the endless chats in the playground, pub, and eventually with other residents in the retirement home, passing on your wealth of knowledge known only to you and not to the coaches and managers who tell thier teams the wrong way to play, your grandchildren could not do without this advice.
Football is part of our heritage no matter what they players and owners do.

19 Apr 2011

I watch live football virtually every Saturday (or Sunday, sometimes both)at all levels from Premier League to Southern League Division One,and have done for over twenty years, yet have resisted the temptation to subscribe to $ky.
When I was a child, the ONLY domestic game you could see live was the FA Cup Final, which is why it was such an event. Match of The Day consisted of highlights of two matches and on Sunday ITV regions had their own local highlights from a game. So the free to air TV viewer is much better served these days, some of which has been driven by the competition of $ky.
Of course the increased money paid by broadcasters to football has resulted in greater pressure to succeed, resulting in the sort of behaviour at the higher levels outlined in previous posts, but has also enabled some clubs to employ some of the worlds best players for fans to watch.
As for other sports, I agree with the OP that the lack of any Boxing free to air has all but killed the interest of the non-enthusiast viewer, and Cricket is in grave danger of going the same way.

22 Apr 2011

Quote by flower411
the answer is snipers....always has been always will be

Yeah !! The linesmen could be spotters ....a kneecapping from a snipers bullet would give em something to complain about !!
lol

try watching a film called Micmacs by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the main character actually daydreams that a football pitch has been mined in random locations!!

that would sort them too!!

23 Apr 2011

i cancelled sky because it got too as that.
when i rung them to cancel they wanted to give me 6 months at half price but the next 6 months at full price.
i said no and got for £25 a free to view card so i could keep most of the news channels and free hd ones.
if i want to watch any sport live i now watch it on the its not in hd or on a big screen but its free.
sky is too expensive because of the silly money it pays for football.
my friends in the states have direct tv and watch tons of sport and select different cameras and select different in car stuff when watching f1 and nascar.
and its a damn site cheaper than what we pay here.

15 Jun 2011

I have paid to view some sport, and no doubt I shall again....but I watch most of it on the internet these days, you can usually find whatever you're looking for and with a reasonable stream. I would certainly be up for boycotting certain premium providers though, they are very much responsible for the inflated prices and silly money being paid to footballers.

15 Jun 2011

Only ever so slightly off topic....
You must all be aware the debacle about the allocation of tickets to the Olympics to the long suffering British Public but were you also aware that 200 prime time tickets have been allocated to Gadaffi's son Saif together with special visa's which guarantee them safe passage in the UK to and from the event whilst the rest of the public have to fight there way there (not even taxis being allowed inside the special security cordon)?
You couldn't make this up, could you??
Surely this could only happen in the UK.... mustn't affect their human rights after all!

15 Jun 2011

The tickets have been allocated to the Head of the Libyan OLympic Committe, which happens to be Gadaffi's son by the IOC.
The following article scotches the special visas claim.

15 Jun 2011

Quote by Max777
The tickets have been allocated to the Head of the Libyan OLympic Committe, which happens to be Gadaffi's son by the IOC.
The following article scotches the special visas claim.

Sorry Max, it doesn't scotch it at all... a clever play on words - typical of the BBC.
But I do apologise, it isn't Saif, it's his brother Muhammad so I stand corrected.

15 Jun 2011

Quote by GnV
The tickets have been allocated to the Head of the Libyan OLympic Committe, which happens to be Gadaffi's son by the IOC.
The following article scotches the special visas claim.

Sorry Max, it doesn't scotch it at all... a clever play on words - typical of the BBC.
But I do apologise, it isn't Saif, it's his brother Muhammad so I stand corrected.
It says to me that the IOC gives an amount of tickets to every country (government) and its sporting establishment.
Bearing in mind that the Gaddaffi family have an international travel ban on it then I would safely say that they could be given thousands of tickets yet they won't/can't use them.
So could it be made up? Looks like it could, just for the impact value
Dave_Notts

16 Jun 2011

Quote by GnV
The tickets have been allocated to the Head of the Libyan OLympic Committe, which happens to be Gadaffi's son by the IOC.
The following article scotches the special visas claim.

Sorry Max, it doesn't scotch it at all... a clever play on words - typical of the BBC.
But I do apologise, it isn't Saif, it's his brother Muhammad so I stand corrected.
I don't see any clever play on words just a fairly balanced article which is inline with other balanced articles I have read on this subject. Maybe you are looking for something I'm not?