By which I mean the kind played with the round ball and goalies, not the ovoid ball and goalposts–I’ve no interest in that one at all.
When I was in Russia, football was one of the things I’d watch when it was on. I didn’t need to understand the commentary to follow the game, and I found myself enjoying it, even though my basic understanding of football was nil. I also wound up with a friend who was a devoted Man City fan.
Anyway, since then I’ve not had all that much luck keeping up with it. I’ve a bit of a lousy time knowing when anything major is going on, or even anything minor. I do see now that we have the Euro Cup coming up soon, so there’s that. But–other than Man City, which I’ve adopted due to my friend, and Zenit St. Petersburg–I’m not quite sure who I should cheer for. Nor am I really any closer to being able to keep up on the sport in general. This, of course, is aside from coming to understand it on a deeper level, but I assume that will just come with watching.
So–should I just find myself a suitable pub and start to frequent it? Is there a good website I should be following? Any other ideas?
I didn’t aim to specifically get into the game in '02, but that’s when it really clicked for me. I’d started to see it more and more before that (mainly the World Cups in '94 and '98). In '02, the games were at very early times (in the US, something like 4am and 6:30am), which worked with my schedule, and there was lots of talk of England. It became easy to identify with them, and they had a number of players for Manchester United (Beckham, Scholes, Butt), and so United became “my” club team.
Since then, it just happened naturally through watching lots of United matches, reading Soccernet.com and The Guardian’s website, plus a couple message boards for United and soccer in general. Playing soccer video games actually helped me figure things out, too, plus “Fever Pitch” by Nick Hornby. Even though it’s about his following of Arsenal, there’s a universal feel from that book, especially for a 20-something year old man.
My advice: just watch the Euros. You’ll gravitate to some team naturally, and if you like that team, follow the players from that team. If you like Spain, you’ll probably become a Barcelona fan. If you like Italy, you’ll probably become a Juventus fan. England: Chelsea or Manchester United. Germany: Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund. And so on. It’s easiest to follow the English Premier League for Americans, followed by Serie A (Italy) and La Liga (Spain), so for your sake, I hope whatever team is for you is one that can be followed relatively easily for an American. I’d hate to be a Dynamo Kiev fan relying on internet streams in 2012.
Also, MLS is going on right now, too, so if there’s a team near you, go watch in person a couple times. Sit near the vocal fans, and you’ll have a good time.
My advice would def be to go and watch live football as well as TV. You get to see the whole pitch and the movements off the ball that you often only get to see on TV when they cut to it.
You will also get to learn the signals from the ref and linesmen if you watch carefully to offsides, thrown in and corners, goal kicks, advantage etc. which adds to your enjoyment (the lack of commentary and seeing the whole pitch gives you space to pick up this stuff).
Enjoy it’s a great game, and not just at top professional level. I used to be a White Hart Lane season ticket holder for twenty years, but now follow my wife’s team in Scotland who have just been demoted to the third tier of the Scottish League - the standard will be awful next season but the games will still be enjoyable live.
Oh, and pick a Club and don’t be too much of a glory hunter. And never change your team in that country after you have picked. Oh, and please don’t follow Man City, Man Utd or Chelsea - glory hunter clubs.