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Football. Yawn. Read a book instead.
Tim Pearce, UK

For me, we are not taking football as serious as we should be. Can you tell me of a more beautiful and entertaining sport than football? The World Cup comes but once in four years and the wait is worth it. FIFA now has more member countries than the UN. Does that tell you anything? The next 35 days are gonna be my best in recent times. Join me.
Anota Lawal, Nigeria

I believe it is the greatest game in the world and we do not pay it enough attention.
Kabir Yusuf, Nigeria

I love football. It is the "Beautiful Game". Far from going on holiday to get away from it, I will be taking all the best match days off work so I and my mates can have a few beers and a great time watching one of the most exciting sporting events ever. I wouldn't mind betting that the majority of the whingers who say football is for morons etc. spend much of their spare time addling their brains with a constant diet of soap operas and cheap American TV castoffs. It's a shame. They just don't know what they're missing.
Colin Gaunt, UK

Yes, we do take it too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy football, but I think it has got a bit much now with every magazine, newspaper, TV programme and even packets of crisps going overboard about football. I feel so sorry for those people who don't enjoy football and are being forced into watching it. The whole country gets upset because a player gets dropped from the team. These are all professional players, with professional trainers and physiotherapists, but they end up with more injuries than the local Sunday league teams, who are only amateurs.
S Gee, UK

Football has become a religion for many. It is thanks to the greedy and money orientated people that run such businesses as Man Utd that sport is no longer anything to do with football. The sooner football can be returned to the genuine fans and be removed from the corporate entertainment "menu", the better for all concerned. In the meantime, I suggest that the ridiculous saturation level of promotion to which we are now being subjected will risk football fatigue, just as we have been told we are suffering from compassion fatigue in relation to the suffering of many around the world.
Steve, UK

You should! I am an African residing in the USA and I am frustrated by the lack of attention to the World Cup!
Jahray B Bairou, USA

I have seen many psychologists suggesting football hysteria is a way of re-acting tribal instincts. It looks like it is true, mainly when we watch football fans trying to smash each other.
Ney Junqueira de Souza e Silva, Brazil

I think football it's fantastic.In one hour and thirty minutes you can get marvellous feelings and strong emotions. I'm looking forward to watch the World Cup in France.It will be the last one of this century and probably the most fascinating. I'm sure one of the most interesting matches of the first eliminatory phase will be Iran-United States......
Marco Lembo, Italy

That depends on who you mean by "we." We (the United States) don't take it seriously enough. Despite USA '94, and despite the limited success of MLS, most Americans are unaware that the World Cup is happening at all! Michael Jordan is playing in the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup is around the corner, interleague play has resumed in baseball, and Mark McGwire is chasing the season home run record. World Cup? What's that?
Susan Davis, USA

It is a dull, comlpletely junvenile sport. All games are repetitions of all past games.
William E. Matz, USA

Football is a nation building exercise. It is an interaction of a nation, a team and stars. It gives you an identity. If you do not cheer for sucess, cry for foul, and feel sad for loosing what is the meaning of life and love for something. Yeah, let's get it and show that we belong somewhere.
Kukan, Japan

There's nothing wrong with taking football too seriously, at all. What does give major cause for concern is the fact that the news providers, with the notable exception of BBC News online, on Sunday gave more prominence to the departure of Ginger Spice and Gazza's exclusion from the England team than they did to the death of 5,000 people in one day in Afghanistan.
Colin Dobson, Oxford Brookes University student, United Kingdom

At the beginning of this century the communist revolutionary Karl Marx proclaimed that religion was the opium of the people. With the demise of both religion and political ideoligies it would seem that football is now a very potent opiate for the masses. PS - Don't tell Gazza about the opium part. He might to give it a try.
Met vriendelijke groet / Sincerely,
Gert-Jan Kroese, The Netherlands

We should take the sport seriously: it is our pride and honor at stake. We should not however take it too seriously, to the extent of fighting over it.
Mlungisi Sisulu, South Africa

Fans get all seriously hyped up and excited when a major tournament is approaching. This is a very positive kind of excitement; this is a time when people really get to relax from their rather tight schedules in this ever developing world.
Satya Singapore

I would love the luxury of feeling that one is taking football too seriously or that there is too much hype. As a Brit living in the US, I feel totally starved of any football coverage... particularly World Cup coverage. Hopefully this will change when the competition gets started.
Gary Bird, USA

There is not enough funding in other sports in England. That is probably why the British do so badly at other international sporting events. Take a look at Australia's system. They do so much better.
Dom Renfrey, Australia, formerly UK

Communism, the eloba virus, the Germans, Mcdonalds, and football. They all tried to take over the world but only football succeeded to the point where 99.9999% of the world recognises the game in one form or another. The reason is wonderfully simple. You can play it with a tin can. But whatever form it is in, it is still football. As a world language it should be recognised as a game from the gods and so should be respected and loved.
Andy Sinden, England

If you do not take football (soccer) seriously you may end up like us here in Canada. Never being able to qualify. Never being able to cheer for your country's team.
KB, Canada

Coming from developing countries where we have corrupt and kleptocratic regimes, sometimes football is the only thing to hold on to for some national pride. Go Super Eagles!!
Olufemi Anthony, Sierra Leone

No. In my opinion people in general don't take football all that seriously. It's just another sport, isn't it? But it's also the only sport where all countries can compete. Therefore, it can be expected that national emotions run (too) high. The real(!) problem arises when politics, media or even "Mafia" get too involved. These three factors are actually the main reasons wars got started, players got killed or threatened, and people actually started hating each other because of this truly remarkable game.
Damjan Franz, Slovenia

Football helps us forget about the mundane parts of our lives, and it's a way of escape, to get wrapped up in how your team does.
Shane Gavin, Ireland

If you do not take football (soccer) seriously you may end up like us here in Canada. Never being able to qualify. Never being able to cheer for your country's team.
Kees Boersma, Canada

We should take the occasion seriously, indeed. Football (soccer) is the most well spread sport on the earth and its top institution is second biggest organization after the UN. So, I think the world population could celebrate the World Cup as an occasion of the global solidarity.
BB, USA.

At first I didn't comment but now I simply have to, after reading what others said. But after reading all the negative hype about sports I had to react. I think football (and all other major sports) really bring different people together and have tremendous power to change things. Just take a look at Iran and how they suddenly opened up after qualifying for the WC98. Yesterday I was at a game Japan-Yugoslavia in Lausanne, Switzerland. Sitting there with at least a 1,000 Japanese fans, talking to them and having first-hand experience in being with them was something really special. Yes, you see Japanese on the streets taking photos, but you never talk to them or have some contact. This is what football and WC98 in general are all about - bringing people together. I met some nice Japanese fans yesterday and had a great time. I can't wait to go to France to meet all the others who will also be there.
Alex, Switzerland / Yugoslavia

As a German, currently in England I can say that yes, the British take football too serious and that the emerging nationalism is very sad.
Holger Seitz, Germany/England

I believe we should take football (soccer, here!) seriously. What seems to some as simply a game, is, in essence, the embodiment of human psyche. On the football pitch, like in life itself, one would face obstacles in the form of the other team's opponents and elements, ball control, etc. On the football pitch, unlike life, however, one can not be diplomatic and simply evade the obstacle and still save face. Humanity is tested as each play completes. The way a player plays football says a great deal about him as a person and human beings in general. Humanity, like the player himself, could be daring, compromising, rash, masterful, brut, poetic, or boorish in the face of adversity. It is an amazing feat. And we have the British for which to thank.
Feridoun "Fred" Bidel, USA

Yes! As well as other sports, but soccer does seem to take the prize. We had some visitors recently who were ardent soccer supporters - spent their every waking moment eulogising their team. I asked them if they watched 'Star Trek' at home (because it was on television at the time), and they replied that they used to watch it "until they grew up"! Incidently, they were wearing their team's colours in the form of shirts and hats at the time having travelled from the UK with luggage bought from the supporters' club. Hmmmmm....am I missing something here?
Tony Ambler, USA

True, football is the most popular sport in the world. But, football should not be the issue that we should talk and think about seriously. COMPETITION IS GOOD. But there is too much real-politics. There is too much real-poverty. There is too much real-reality in this world to be taken seriously instead. We should all enjoy this coming World Cup as an event that comes only once in four years not as an event that we face every single day. I predict Nigeria to win it all.
Michael Abraham Gebru, USA

The sad thing is the way that the tabloids turn international football into 'war by other means'. The World Cup could be an opportunity to celebrate a game that unites the world in enjoyment. Unfortunately,the tabloids set the media agenda and you won't see this view outside of small circulation magazines like 'When Saturday Comes'.
Graham, UK

We take all sports too seriously, particularily in schools!
Jaspen, USA

I'm female. I am quite happy to admit that football is one of the least important things in my daily life. Here comes the big "but", BUT this is the World Cup. Supporting the national team is something I can uderstand and get behind whole heartedly. Big events like the World Cup can bring different types of people together under a common factor. There is nothing wrong with a spirit of friendly rivalry between, for exapmle English and Scottish fans. It is too much when the friendly comments turn to violence. That is taking football following too far. I would like to wish all the teams the best of luck and hope the fans enjoy themselves greatly and without violence. And I, of course, hope England wins!
Barbara Palmer, England

I personally think that the World Cup is just another football tournament. True, it's a biggie, but it's still a footy tournament nonetheless. Not everyone is particularly interested in the game, so the blanket of football-related adverts, programmes and everything else that the media are carrying now is just a touch on the annoying side.
People say that they can't understand others who aren't interested in football. Believe me, it goes the other way as well you know!
Tim Wiser, UK

I can see the point in playing a game of football, or watching if your friends are playing. But one bunch of strangers (none of whom I've even met, or am ever likely to) playing another bunch, why should that be of any great interest?
Alan Watson, Britain

Yes. Over the past fifteen years or so football has gone very downhill. This is largely due to the sponsorship deals between clubs and various organisations. This has totally destroyed the sport. This is a pity since I enjoyed the game as a child when the likes of Emlyn Hughes, Ray Clemence and Kevin Keegan were playing for Liverpool, but have now gone completely off it and have moved my allegiance to Rugby, particularly Rugby League. Also, it appears to be the sole interest of people particularly in the run-up and during major events such as the World Cup. It is getting to the extent that such people are becoming really boring to people, such as myself, who do not like the sport.
PJ Hughes, UK

Yes, I think football (by this I mean soccer, not the American version) is taken much too seriously worldwide. After the 1994 World Cup, one player was murdered because he scored an own goal; this is not an act of someone behaving rationally.
However, I feel I must mention that such overzealous fans are not restricted to any one sport. Often, after a team wins some sort of national championship, that team's home city experiences brief periods of celebratory rioting. Here in St Louis, baseball isn't just king, it's a religion, and fights are a common occurrence at Cardinals games (especially against our arch rivals, the Chicago Cubs). In addition, at Blues hockey games (in the National Hockey League) there is often violence, usually involving one or more fans of the Chicago Blackhawks. Sadly, it isn't even restricted to professional sports; I occasionally hear reports of melees in the stands at Little League games or Pee-wee hockey tournaments (this is usually parents setting a good example for their kids). Thus, sport-related violence is not limited to soccer (football); it is a plague on us all.
Jim Redmond, United States

Looking at your question at the near manic attitudes towards football (soccer over here), as epitomised by the upcoming World Cup, I really have to wonder.
Throughout the world in June football will hold centre stage, but what then? Americans will go equally batty over the start of the football (NFL) season debut as well as a good pennant race in baseball. Presumably cricket and then (again) football will have their turn in the athletic sun as time wears on in Britain. The mania is over sports in general, and is definitely increasing as time goes by and multi-million pound (Dollar) athletes portray themselves as virtual gods.
Wordsworth wrote early last century that "The world is too much with us". As long as sports offer the ordinary citizen a way out of the daily grind with an intellectual method of becoming a legend in his or her own mind, then this mania will grow. How can it be otherwise? Football is just a small part of an increasingly unhealthy escape from reality.
Gerald Agnew, Arlington, Washington State, USA

Yes, I believe that there is far too much emphasis on "sport" and I suspect that it is really a case of "bread and circuses". In other words, whilst the world and its population fall prey to the predilections of powerful corporations and compliant politicians, the masses are to be amused and distracted.
In any case, it is a misnomer to describe soccer or rugby in its present form as "sport"; it is just big business and firmly tied to sponsorship, advertising and profits. Probably too late now, but the only worthwhile sport is that played by amateurs rather than those who play for obscenely large pay packets.
Further, if those in the stands could be persuaded to actually play sport, rather than look at it, often in a drunken stupor, they would derive health benefits and there would be far less trouble from soccer hooligans.
GJ (Bill) Wright, New Zealand

The World Cup has not even started yet but it feels like it has been going on since Christmas. It's not the game I mind - in fact I do like watching it. It's all the rubbish that follows it around these days - rubbish that has nothing to do with the game. Merchandise, pop, adverts, food: the World Cup has become another product management event and the true essence of the game has been lost. Long live the winter.
Nick Sykes, UK

I can understand that many people must be sick of all the hype but I can't get enough. It all adds to the excitement as far as real fanatics like me are concerned. I don't go so far as to buy into all the hype but I relish being able to see it all around me and see everyone getting into the mood for the greatest tournament in the sporting world.
Sally Allan, UK

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