calcio dappertutto

[lobelia321]

Overheard in my garden:

t'8: David Beckham is the most famous player! He's as famous as Coca Cola!
t'8's mate: As Coca-Cola???!!!
t'8: Yes, and that's because he's in a famous club and he's rich.
t'8's mate: Is he really rich?
t'8: Yes, he gets like a thousand pounds a week! And in a year that is... I don't even know how many weeks there are in a year!!

I caved in. Using t'8 as an alibi, I bought the official Arsenal magazine (for him) and then, er, the magazine WSC (with the dreadfully embarrassing sub-title The Half Decent Football Magazine -- incorrectly punctuated, what's more, because 'half decent' should surely be hyphenated) for myself.

What's more: while making pancakes, I stood at the stove with my eyes glued to the thing!

It's quite a novelty for me. It's the first time I'm involved in a slashy fandom where the thing that is being fanned is actually of intrinsic interest to me. I mean, even at the height of Orli/Dom lust, I was never so deluded as to think that a) these men could actually act, b) that screen-acting is a terribly fantastic and skill-involving profession instead of the mouthing of other, marginally more interesting people's scripts), c) that their lives and vocations at all mattered to anyone beyond OK magazine (even the slashers care not for the real lives, only for the slash potential, and will happily edit out any real-life tedium, such as, lor' cover up my eyes, proof of heterosexuality<).

But football? Billions care! And care so much that politics get involved and big money and global issues! Plus these people actually have a skill I love to watch. And the whole game thing interests me beyond the slash potential (I know! liek wtf 1111 @-@) bizarre as it may sound but, those who've known me for a few years, remember that I get molto excited about teh Fussball, *g*). Also, it's so international, I love that! And not the elitist rich-countries-of-the-world Anglophone affair of third-rate actors or TV shows. This is what sucked me into football to begin with in a big way, back in 1990, Cameroon et cetera (you've heard me hold forth about this). Today, for example, I sat in Caffé Nero and perused the Gazzetta Sportiva in Italian; so not only do I keep up with the global fandom but I also get to hone my foreign-language skills!

Hoho, I'm gonna learn me Portuguese yet. And this, circularly, will come in useful for (hah, guess what) my HP opus! Because some of that is set in São Paulo!!!).

It doesn't look as if the obsession is going to wear off anytime soon, does it? This is the combo, I think, of pre-existing football lust + t'sons coming on-stream + The Power of Slash (I know the players more on an individual level than ever before...)

Comments

[bunnysquee.livejournal.com]

i believe becks was making a million pounds a week when he was with man.u. undoubtedly he makes more now. he also makes a gabillion in endorsements and appearances and advertising and is supposedly the highest-paid sports person in the world, making more than the football and basketball players in the u.s.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I believe your figures are somewhat more accurate than t'8's... *g* I just thought it was quite amusing (and touching) to hear what small children think amounts to huge piles of dosh and also that the pinnacle of fame is Coca Cola!

[crowswing.livejournal.com]

the half decent football magazine - that's teasing, that is, if there's no soft porn in there!

Also, it's so international, I love that!
YESS. i mean cricket is more popular in my country but football's a close second (even though we don't have much of a national team - hence my seven-year run of support for... er, yeah). and the politics and sociology of these things really make it something that can exist outside the tiny, insulated world of slash fandom. it's the opposite of a lot of fandoms that occasionally 'spill over into RL'.

[crowswing.livejournal.com]

i can't count. eight years.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

cricket is more popular in my country

What country is that then? It must be Australia or NZ or India. But if you haven't got much of a national team... ooh, that makes it hard because the socceroos now ROOL. And your seven-year support for er, whom?

Every football mag for me is soft porn. Every single one of 'em. *g*

[crowswing.livejournal.com]

India. and yes, the Socceroos have come of age :]
support? support. what a sterile-sounding word. for Italy.

... this is true, i hadn't thought of it that way.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Ah, India, home of my other obsession, Bollywood... :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

something that can exist outside the tiny, insulated world of slash fandom.
yes, totally, we share the obsession with billions!!!

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

It's funny. Years and years of being the 'odd girl' who watches football in a café full of men and maybe two other 'odd girls' and being accepted by the guys because they see we actually really love the game. This one time, my prediction of the match was right, and I won the pot. The guys came to shook my hand. Cool.
But there was never anyone to squee with over the locker room fantasies, or the shirts swapping, the ass patting, the manpiles.

And all of a sudden (for me anyway), it's there, on the net. Tons of fab new friends, loads of wonderful pics, good fics and bad fics, but we all seem to understand each other.
And it wears off on the other girls in RL. Pics of Freddie, Cristiano and Canna are being shared via email, mostly by me because I love the pimping.

So yes, it's fun, and as we determined before, it's an obsession that will keep on feeding us because there will always be Clubland, Champions League, and so on.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

And all of a sudden (for me anyway), it's there, on the net.
How did this happen? I am so puzzled. I discovered slash in Jan. 2002, in time for the World Cup, and then there was Euro 2004, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together! These were just separate spheres in my head. And the wimmens don't only drool about the T-shirts and the manpiles but also know stuff about the game! And I am so on the way to becoming a total football bore because today my son quizzed me and I knew practically every single answer. Also, I have discovered, the football obsession proclaimed with enough conviction will get you conversation partners at every garden party! (that's what goes by way of summer entertainment in this genteel university town: garden parties)

The men who patronise the girlies re the Manly Football are a tedium. I have now realised, post-discovering the online world of football slash, that they don't know nearly as much shit about football as they pretend to, and that I certainly know enough to bore on knowledgeably and geekily. *g* I can cry 'offside' and 'he's being signed by Real Madrid' with the best of them now...

And the thing is, once you reveal that you find so and so on the field sexy: nobody disagrees...!!!

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

These were just separate spheres in my head.
In mine too! After watching a match I'd always daydream of the Ajax guys in the locker room shower *grins*
Plus, being 'one of the guys', I realised the men don't want to see their idols as Sex Gods. I never growled "God he's hot." like I do now, hahaha, instead, I'd discuss the match with the guys.
Which I still do. Only nowadays they all chuckle, albeit a bit confused, when I yell "Shirts off."

During the Euro Cup 2004 I posted some pics of Freddie on a RPG messageboard, and the other girls weren't very impressed with him somehow. There was no one to squee with :/

the football obsession proclaimed with enough conviction will get you conversation partners at every garden party!
Yes!!! Or on a bar or at other parties...so many guys enjoy talking with women who really love football, because most of them get crap from their wives every weekend when they want to watch the sports.

Guy friend: *points at me* see, there are women who like football.
His wife: Yeah, but Layla's not normal.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

With me, it was a bit different. I went to a girls' school and played soccer there so that was already all-girls. The World Cup that truly got me was 1990 and I watched that with a bunch of mixed friends, about 1/2 women, incl. a good woman friend of mine. And over the past 16 years I have mainly bonded with my sister over football. While t'h has shown interest only because I'm interested and is not nearly as fanatical. So for me it's always been quite a woman thing. In fact, it was only this World Cup that it suddenly hit me with full force: These footballers are Men who are Loved By Men!! Also, I finally admitted my complete sexual smittenness. I remembered Cristiano from 2004 but then it was just sort of 'hm, pretty, and nice run, like a gazelle'. Not the shameless drooling over the weeping it became this year...

I always took football indifference around me, from women and some men (lots of English men are into cricket and see football as a vulgar sport), I have interpreted it as a German/English difference. I think German women are more fannish about football, as witnessed by the soccergirlz.de website. *g*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, how for you it has always been a woman thing, no prejudice. Down here it's very much a guy thing, although there are loads of serious female fans, who are blending in just fine.
There are also a lot of girls who go all fanatic during a EC or WC, but who couldn't care less about the Clubs or Champions League. A lot of guys stopped watching matches in cafés because of those girls, and they annoy the hell out of me as well. They sing and make a lot of noise so we can't even hear the commentator :/

I always watched football with my dad, for as long as I can remember. My bro was always more interested in Tennis, so my dad was happy to have someone to watch football with. My dear mum is one of those women who'll sigh "I don't understand why you like it so much, a bunch of guys running after a ball."

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

oh my, screeching soocer teenies... I can just picture them. I have to say, though, that up until 3 weeks ago, I too, did not give a fig about clubs or leagues or whatnot. I cared only for the drama of nations pitted against nations that is the World Cup and its little sister, the European Cup. It is a miracle what intimate acquaintance with individual players will do for one's interest in the clubs...

I have just realised that it is so hot that typing brings me out of sweat. This is new.

[wanderlost.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I have to butt in.

They weren't impressed with Freddie?!?!?!? Are they legally blind? Cuz really. REALLY. It's Freddie. He's HOT. Hotter than hot.

*shakes head sadly*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

They weren't impressed with Freddie?!?!?!? Are they legally blind?

Hahaha, that's what I wondered at the time. Ah well, in their universe, the Sun God was Orlando. I should have known better ;-)

[wanderlost.livejournal.com]

But, but, but...it's FREDDIE!! *makes flaily hand motions*

Orlando was cute and all (now, eh, ever since he lost the curls, i'm not impressed) but Freddie..Freddie's just GUH!

Sometimes, I just don't know about people.

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

Orlando was cute and all

Oh sure, God knows I was mad about the boy. But Freddie is TEH sex. LOL

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Hm, I have to say I am not a Freddie fanatic myself. But hey, there are enough players to go around for everyone's taste... *g*

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

Yes, absolutely about the actor RPS - who wants to know about people who emote other people's ideas while moving from set to set all around the world and doing publicity jaunts in between. Only so much you can write. But, as you say, footballers are highly skilled at something (and have terrific bodies for it) and, if you deal with club slash, are living their lives in one place with plenty of opportunities for slash + away games which present other opportunities. *cough*

I had a long discussion about football with my dad, who has supported Arsenal forever. It was probably the longest I've gotten him talking in years. If only he knew why I was interested. *facepalm*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

footballers are highly skilled at something (and have terrific bodies for it)
Yes, it's canon!! And if one is sick of the sick-packs (oh, that'd be a motto for an icon, wouldn't it? Sick of sicks-packs, hoho.), one can always slash the physios. His fat hands smoothed the massaging cream along Cristiano's legs...

which present other opportunities. *cough*
And if you want to see the darlings live, you don't have to camp out in front of some cheesy cinema all night with a bunch of 12-year-olds but you buy tickets and go to a stadium!!! And scream your heart out!

I had a long discussion about football with my dad, who has supported Arsenal forever. It was probably the longest I've gotten him talking in years.
Slash: it brings families together.

Or summat.

Football is a fantastic conversational gambit!!

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

It is a fantastic conversational gambit - right up until my father finds out why I'm suddenly so interested. *hangs head*

And Arsenal has so many fabulous potential pairings. *bites lip* Ljungberg with just about anybody... Antonio Reyes is just yummy too - and about Cristiano's age. They would look good together; all that dark hair and those dark eyes. Yum!

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

And Arsenal has so many fabulous potential pairings.

Arsenal brings the pretty! OMG that team will be the death of me some day. Freddie, Cesc, Reyes, van Persie, Rosicky, Henry...lethal.

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

Evil wench! Now you're making me even hotter on a hot day. Truly a lethal lineup. *growls*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

Evil wench!

*sticks out tongue* let's call it payback for making me perv badly over Becks.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

But Cristianochen! He will, however, play Arsenal at some point. And that will be sugar.

I have as yet not decided which club to support. My father is from Bremen so I might go for Werder Bremen -- except it's a pain to support a club which is situated in another country... I may have to choose something in London, at least that's nearby. I sort of like Chelsea because they have two African players. Essien! Drogba!

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

It's hard *nods* my heart is with Ajax, but Arsenal is getting pretty close. When they played Bergkamp's Testimonial against each other last Saturday, ah, bliss.

Can't help you decide here, I'm afraid, because I'd say Arsenal is from London ;-) LOL

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Antonio Reyes, Cristiano's age! Oh, you are wicked, you!

I'm starting to lean towards Chelsea now. Because they have so many African players whom I like. But we will opt for Arsenal, anyway, because t'son's happiness roolz all. :-) And Arsenal does have Lauren (Cameroon) and Toure (Ivory Coast). But I think I like Essien and Drogba better!

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

*nods solemnly* I am a very good slasher.

Lucky you to have different clubs to choose from. *sigh* San Jose just doesn't do it for me...or is that Ice Hockey? See, no interest. Although I follow baseball and I love my A's.

I think my issue with Chelsea is the same one I have with the Yankees. Smaller clubs find talent, train it, bring it along and then the wealthy clubs go and buy it up. I still haven't forgiven the Yankees for snatching Jasen Giambi from my beloved A's for a gazillian dollars a year.

So I think I'll stick with Arsenal. Besides they've got beautiful, edible Freddie.

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh...

I was beginning to feel that my obsession was becoming a bad thing, like a drug dependency or something. I still whisper to myself, "I can control it, I can control it," while hunched over the laptop well after midnight, not having stopped to eat dinner or slake my raging thirst. Only my husband turning off all the lights on his way to bed and sighing deeply interrupted my web-surfing for more pictures of my favourite football players--more, I need more pics of Fernando! More, more, more!

I actually tremble while I'm writing my newest Cristiano slashfic, imagining him naked and yielding, and it isn't Nuno Valente slamming into the back of him, it's me. (Somehow I manage it--and I don't have anything to slam him with!)

Am I insane? Have I finally lost my mind completely?

I can't have--there is at least one other person whose obsession is as bad as mine!

Bless me, for I have found you, lobelia321!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

I actually tremble while I'm writing my newest Cristiano slashfic, imagining him naked and yielding, and it isn't Nuno Valente slamming into the back of him, it's me. (Somehow I manage it--and I don't have anything to slam him with!)
LOL. Also - when will you be done with that fic? Because Cristiano + Nuno = me loves it and wants it!!!! :)

The question you should aks yourself is: Were you really sane to begin with? ;) And isn't this a wonderful way to lose whatever sanity we have left? :D

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Also - when will you be done with that fic? Because Cristiano + Nuno = me loves it and wants it!!!! :)

Oh, fantastic! Someone else finds Nuno incredibly sexy and handsome! Soon--it's about half-written. I've sent it off to someone to have a look-over and tell me if it's hot enough. For me it has to be as hot as I can possibly make it or I won't be happy with it.

The question you should aks yourself is: Were you really sane to begin with? ;) And isn't this a wonderful way to lose whatever sanity we have left? :D

Oh, good! Someone shares my philosophy of life! And to answer your first question: probably not. And the second: Yes, it is. It really is.
(

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Of course, I find Nuno Valente sexy. It doesn't hurt that he played a great WC either. :) And since I'm absolutely obsessed with Cristiano and just love the idea of him with another Portugese... Bring it on!!! And hot as possible sounds great. Erh, really great. Just wants it! :)

Someone shares my philosophy of life!
*grins* It's a bit twisted but it works fine for me. Hehe.

Also I took a look at your place. I'm totally in awe of your life choice of just working for a family doctor. So great! Also that has to be the greatest introduction into fanfic ever. Being dared by your sister. :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Only my husband turning off all the lights on his way to bed and sighing deeply interrupted my web-surfing for more pictures of my favourite football players
*bursts into uncontrollable laughter* Oh dear, the long-suffering husbands... Mine has a less-than-100 percent obsession, to put it mildly. He was more interested this World Cup than he has been in the past because Australia qualified (he's Australian), but ah, these Commonwealth cricketing and rugby countries... However!! I can now bond with t'sons! Totally perversely!


it isn't Nuno Valente slamming into the back of him, it's me.
The football slash lends itself so much to Mary Sue-dom. It is not funny.

I don't have anything to slam him with!
You'd find something... *g*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

I still whisper to myself, "I can control it, I can control it," while hunched over the laptop well after midnight, not having stopped to eat dinner or slake my raging thirst.

*raises hand* Guilty!!!Hahaha! And refusing to leave the pc, even when you have to pee like crazy and in the end have to make a run for the loo? *snort*

there is at least one other person whose obsession is as bad as mine!
Yep, you're not alone in this...together we're strong ;-)

[tansu.livejournal.com]

My French is good enough to read L'Equipe, and I have also bookmarked Marca and Gazzetta dello Sport. God dammit I am going to learn Spanish and Italian through the medium of sports newspaper websites.

I must say I am enjoying dipping my toes into the fangirl community. During the World Cup, I got better analysis and more up to date and accurate news from fangirls than from traditional English media sources (with the exception of one or two pundits).

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

What is the difference between Gazzetta dello Sport and this rag I was reading, Gazzetta Sportiva? And now I want to know what the football mag of Portugal and Spain is, and of Brazil, argh. There is a Portuguese one on-line called Bola and another one called gestifute or somesuch. I love reading these different nations because you get the different takes on all the international incidents, e.g. the Italian take on Mazeratti/Zidane is quite other from the English one (and I imagine the French one).

During the World Cup, I got better analysis and more up to date and accurate news from fangirls
Absolutely!! Men, eat your heart out. They are too Manly for their own good, sometimes.

[tvillingar.livejournal.com]

Your obsession is v. entertaining. *brings the popcorn*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Is it sweet or salty popcorn??

[tvillingar.livejournal.com]

There's sweet popcorn? I'm not sure about how eww that would be.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, there is indeed sweet popcorn. I used to hate it but now I love it. Makes you less thirsty. Because salty popcorn is only a rip-off to get you to buy a coke as well. *g*

[wanderlost.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy your posts.

It's the first time I'm involved in a slashy fandom where the thing that is being fanned is actually of intrinsic interest to me........But football? Billions care! And care so much that politics get involved and big money and global issues! Plus these people actually have a skill I love to watch. And the whole game thing interests me beyond the slash potential

I can't tell you how much I agree with this. I'll say that maybe it was the slash that brought me in, even though I have watched/been to football matches before (though I never saw the slash potential before. o.O), but now that I'm here, I want to know more about the sport. I want to watch for the game, the playing itself. The hot guys jumping and touching on each other is just an added bonus.

i may or may not be writing my thesis on sport, football in particular, as a key to development in under-developed countries. plis to be telling me that i'm taking this obsession a bit to far.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I want to know more about the sport.
I know it's weird and great, isn't it? Also, what I love about football is how simple it is. Players, goal, ball, get it in. That's about it. The rest is fancy extras. While cricket? That game has been explained to me several times and I just can't make heads or tails of it! It is so complicated! Also, in football you need no equipment; two feet and some crunched-up newspaper will do at a pinch.

i may or may not be writing my thesis on sport, football in particular, as a key to development in under-developed countries.
You are? Or: you will? Oh yes!

[laduchesse.livejournal.com]

zomg, your son is hilarious! good job using him as an alibi. i have shown my little cousin the beautiful men that play footy to convince her that it is the sport she should play, therefore having an excuse to ask the love of my life footy boy i know to coach her.

football is an enriching sport. not only do you get a workout, you get to understand and talk sports, know about other cultures, get to watch first-rate porn, develop one's writing/reading skills through slash... as you said, learn new languages! seriously, the benefits of football are unlimited.

i'm quite committed to the portuguese as i'd loved to get relocated to brazil or portugal. hehe, and if i'm in potugal, i can go right over to spain and see those lovely spanish boys, though my horrible spanish might kill them with laughter.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes, to get relocated, that would be interesting. What are you leaning towards, Brazil or Portugal? I would be wary of Brazil but that may be because I am too biased by media reports about street children, poverty, crime and such. Portugal reassures me more because it's Europe. But this is solely based on stereotypes not on actual hard information.

[laduchesse.livejournal.com]

i'm leaning more towards portugal just because i want to live in europe LOL and then i'm reminded of france, since my school has a really good international business program over there.

stereotypes will always win out over facts, no matter what. *sigh*

[blankversesfic.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you. I have my Lortips love, it will always be there, simmering under the surface. But it's not as fulfilling as the footie-slash love, for a myriad of reasons. For any acotr RPS, it's a static thing -- there's only a certain amount of time that these people are together, as a group, or around each other. It's got a "cannon" beginning, middle, and end, with many stories being retold over and over because there's nothing new going on. The footballer slash, that's ongoing -- with so many players, doing things all the time to pay attention to. And it's not just the sexy factor, it IS the skill factor -- the talent and the body-control it takes to do what they do is amazing, and mesmermizing. Top athletes in the world, club or country level, and it's just riveting to watch what they can do. On and off the field, they players are captivating. And yes, the sexy is a big part of it, but the game itself is both seperate from and adds to the sexy.

I'm actually playing fantasy sports. I've got an EPL team and an MLS (US) team. So I'm avidly following the game through the teams that I made. I've got the slash side to my watching, and the fantasy team side to my watching -- it's a complete, full spectrum obsession. *grins*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

with many stories being retold over and over because there's nothing new going on. The footballer slash, that's ongoing
Absolutely! I mean, if I have to read another premiere / hotel room / toilet cubicle fic... Enlivened only by the occasional hut in a mud slide location. And with the football, too: there will always be new ones coming in as well!

Fantasy foorball! I don't even know how that works!!