Jump to content

Kris Boyd - 'Football is now a Middle Class sport'


AyrTroopMajor

Recommended Posts

Kris Boyd's post-match comments in the Sky Studio after our most recent doing included a comment about football in Scotland now being a middle-class sport as young children have been priced out of playing football. Do you agree?

I see where he is coming from. I play 5's once a week and pay £6 for the hour on the artificial grass. That's pretty expensive for children and certainly expensive if they wanted to play more than once a week. It seems that football is now played almost exclusively on these surfaces, but whilst I think there is some logic to what Boyd was saying, I think it is a bit of a reach. 

I'm 27 now. The streets and grass areas in Ayr where I played football as a child are still there. The children are not. Quite simply, they seem to have found other things to do. Those on here who have young children, what do they actually do? 

Boyd may be right about 'No Ball Games' signs in certain areas, but that excuse isn't valid in my area. The grass fields are empty, the streets are empty. What the f**k happened? Is Fortnite really more entertaining than getting a squad together and heading to the field for a game of football? 

Edited by AyrTroopMajor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think he's wrong in general - there are lots of open spaces to play football and I think there are much deeper issues at play than the simple arguments he makes. However, any attack on his coaching school things seems unfair - they're very cheap summer holiday childcare compared to more or less any alternative. They still have coaches who have to get paid and they have to pay for facilities, lunch, water etc. I doubt he's running up massive profits off the things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem is endemic and it's not just one or 2 factors, its several.  One of the gripes is about technology and video games, but every European country has technology and video games. The weather is horrendous obviously but it’s less horrendous than Iceland and Scandinavian countries but they seem to do ok. Also, boys can’t play for the school or local team if they play pro youth, which limits game time. There are coaching sessions run by idiot coaches where wee boys only get 5 or 6 touches in an hour session because the coach has picked a drill of YouTube that’s useless. Councils locking astro pitches so they can’t get on unless they pay a fiver a time is pricing kids out of playing too. 

 

In saying all that, there is a mentality problem as well.  It's always been the same when boys hit 14/15 in this country, its not "cool" to be good at anything, so instead of putting all they've got into becoming the best they can be, they hit the bevvy and birds with their mates cos it's the easy option.  To be a top professional, you need hard work and sacrifice and it's just not something a lot of our society is good at.

Edited by Marsh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Marsh said:

In saying all that, there is a mentality problem as well.  It's always been the same when boys hit 14/15 in this country, its not "cool" to be good at anything, 

I was an expert at masturbation at that age, one of the countries best.

Some would say I'm still a big w****r.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Marsh said:

The problem is endemic and it's not just one or 2 factors, its several.  One of the gripes is about technology and video games, but every European country has technology and video games. The weather is horrendous obviously but it’s less horrendous than Iceland and Scandinavian countries but they seem to do ok. Also, boys can’t play for the school or local team if they play pro youth, which limits game time. There are coaching sessions run by idiot coaches where wee boys only get 5 or 6 touches in an hour session because the coach has picked a drill of YouTube that’s useless. Councils locking astro pitches so they can’t get on unless they pay a fiver a time is pricing kids out of playing too. 

 

In saying all that, there is a mentality problem as well.  It's always been the same when boys hit 14/15 in this country, its not "cool" to be good at anything, so instead of putting all they've got into becoming the best they can bem they hit the bevvy and birds with their mates cos it's the easy option.  To be a top professional, you need hard work and sacrifice and it's just not something a lot of our society is good at.

To be fair to Councils, there are too many wee pr*cks that will vandalise them. A societal problem, one which happens far less/not at all in other countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, AyrTroopMajor said:

To be fair to Councils, there are too many wee pr*cks that will vandalise them. A societal problem, one which happens far less/not at all in other countries.

Fair comment, me and my mates used to go up to the local five a side complex on a Friday night and if there was pitches available, they'd let us on for a pound each, that was circa 97-02 right enough but you get the idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely a social problem where the kids just aren't out the way they once were. I never see children out playing with a ball and other sports such as Golf are also suffering really badly. The "money" thing also doesn't come into it as our local club offers free membership to under 16's, free lessons from our club pro and even a loan of golf clubs if the kids don't have any, all that and we still can't attract them.

Television, Social media and mobile phones have had a big part to play but also the demise of many youth clubs, YMCA, Boys brigade and Scout groups compared to years gone by.

Who knows, we might not be able to create footballers and golfers of the future but I'm sure we'll have our fair share of gender neutral entrepreneurs.................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are No Ball Games signs on the grassy areas in my wee estate. There is a park five minutes walk away with big grassy spaces and a couple of,five,a,side, goals and when I’m taking my wee boy out I rarely if ever see kids playing there. Maybe I’m going at the wrong times though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

It's definitely a social problem where the kids just aren't out the way they once were. I never see children out playing with a ball and other sports such as Golf are also suffering really badly. The "money" thing also doesn't come into it as our local club offers free membership to under 16's, free lessons from our club pro and even a loan of golf clubs if the kids don't have any, all that and we still can't attract them.

Television, Social media and mobile phones have had a big part to play but also the demise of many youth clubs, YMCA, Boys brigade and Scout groups compared to years gone by.

Who knows, we might not be able to create footballers and golfers of the future but I'm sure we'll have our fair share of gender neutral entrepreneurs.................

I don't see the fact that young people don't want to play football as a social problem and I'm not sure that we ever had a glut of world class golfers that's now disappeared.

Entrepreneurs are wealth creators so we'd probably be better off with them :P.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a very expensive sport to get involved in with boys clubs etc. It's a very expensive sport to go and watch now, too. 

Double that up with the fact that there's far more choice and running around a field getting clattered by older kids, or wee fat b*****ds is much less appealing than sitting at home with a headset on in the warm talking to your mates on the computer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, The_Judge said:

I don't see the fact that young people don't want to play football as a social problem and I'm not sure that we ever had a glut of world class golfers that's now disappeared.

Entrepreneurs are wealth creators so we'd probably be better off with them :P.

Child obesity and related health issues may say different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, The_Judge said:

I don't see the fact that young people don't want to play football as a social problem and I'm not sure that we ever had a glut of world class golfers that's now disappeared.

Entrepreneurs are wealth creators so we'd probably be better off with them :P.

It is if it's being replaced by mobile phones and playing the PS4 for 8 hours a day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Dele said:

It's a very expensive sport to get involved in with boys clubs etc. It's a very expensive sport to go and watch now, too. 

Double that up with the fact that there's far more choice and running around a field getting clattered by older kids, or wee fat b*****ds is much less appealing than sitting at home with a headset on in the warm talking to your mates on the computer.

Only in Dundee, we're still £18 as opposed to the wallet wrenching £24 !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

However, any attack on his coaching school things seems unfair - they're very cheap summer holiday childcare compared to more or less any alternative. They still have coaches who have to get paid and they have to pay for facilities, lunch, water etc. I doubt he's running up massive profits off the things.

Kris Boyd is entitled to run a business as he sees fit but it's absolutely fair to make reference to his coaching school given the nature of his rant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...