England failed because of.....video games?

It is key not to look at this too literally.

Green does have a big point when it comes to kids in general.
They don't want to be out and about, getting dirty and kicking balls about but would rather sit in front of a games console like a sad case for 10 hours a day.
 
Agreed - Green has a good point. Trouble is, I don't think there is one sole reason. Everything contributes to everything else.

For instance, if football was made more fun for kids, I'm sure videogames wouldn't get a look in.
 
Yeah of course there are many factors.

It's just true that you don't see kids playing in the park nowadays or out kicking a football around like the used to before about 88 or so.
Since then and the evolution of the console, the nation has turned into an americanised, burger and video game obsessed chav nation of disgusting fat bodies with no social moral, manners or respect... but that's a different debate altogether. :lol:
 
Biggest factor in this, for me, is the pressure put on by everybody. Reading Bobby Charlton's book, in the days before a mother's first task on moving into a new house was scouring the street looking for paedos, you went to play football on your own with your mates. Even when you got into school teams the only people there were the two sides' coaches.

I mentioned in off-topic, I was a kids football coach for a month before I packed it in, it is a waste of time with the parents there. You can say at the start of a session, this week we're going to be concentrating on X, and all through a game (when you're trying to teach ONE THING AT A TIME to the kids, one topic per week - you have to, especially when they're very young), you've got parents screaming "GET BACK, NO GET FORWARD, NOW GET FORWARD, DON'T BE STUPID, DON'T LISTEN TO HIM LISTEN TO ME". In that situation there's only one person whose voice is going to get heard, because the poor kid is standing there shaking thinking "if I don't do what he says he's going to moan at me all the way home and I'm going to be grounded for a month".

How the fuck can any kid can come out of that environment as an improved football player? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everything should be closed off so that if there's a paedo coach they're free to make them play naked, I'm just saying THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY where everything is safe, but there's only one or two people AT MOST shouting instructions.

I know tons of kids who were put off football because of this atmosphere. My nephew, who absolutely loves football when he plays it with his mates, quit the school team after two years. Every time he got in the car after a match, his dad would scream at him (even with me stuck in the back). He went at him like a mental. One of my favourite put-downs; "YOU'RE NOT FIT ENOUGH, YOU'VE GOT TO STOP EATING BURGERS." Erm, sorry, hold on a minute. Are you his parent? Yes? So who feeds him? The neighbours? The dog?

All the other dads I saw were the same, even the mums would join in during a match shouting instructions and even insults at the other kids, "rubbish" when someone missed a shot. I mean, what the fuck is going on in this country?

My nephew, and all of his mates, were mental football fans up until the age of 11/12. Then the pressure got too much, and now they all play FIFA on the 360. Why? Because that's the only way they can play football in a competition and not have adults screaming at them that they're doing the wrong thing. And not only did it put them off being players, it put me off being a coach. It is a total waste of time.
 
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It really got to me because for a large period of my life this is what I wanted to be, a coach. I dedicated a hell of a lot of time to it, I wanted to be involved in the game at a grass-roots level, I didn't care where or how, I just wanted to be involved. But after seeing the state it's in, you might as well not be there. The dads are always going to think they know best, they're always going to shout out what they think the kid should be doing, so they might as well stay at home and practice in the garden. It is futile.
 
This game needs passion. Quit real footy for a video game? Thats just wrong. How can you quit something real for something virtual? Atleast you guys have dads who care about football. Mine never gave a toss about it and always questioned me playing it. I loved football so much i played with so many local teams and so many games and ignored my dad. I knew that was something i loved and enjoyed doing so i couldn't care less what my dad thought of it.

Ironically, only time i listened to my dads words was my downfall; i had a 70% scholarship on the table. All i had to do was accept to play football for that team. But nah... My dad didn't like the idea because he thought i wouldn't concentrate on my studies. Stuff it, wish i didn't listen to him and accepted their offer.

Moral of this, if you got the passion, don't let anything stop you! Parents, women, friends, girlfriend, burgers lol.. stuff em all!

Still though can't seem to get the idea of leaving real footy for a virtual one? How about playing both? ;)
 
spot on jack, seen it myself when my lad has been training with the local boys team, he was only 5 at the time and was playing with 5-6 year olds and i couldn't believe the attitude of some of the parents , i just left him alone to run about and mess around with his friends, as far as i'm concerned it's up to him if he wants to go or not and it'll be the same in the future, as long as he enjoys it i'll keep taking him but i won't put any pressure on him if he wants to do something different

another good article on it here

Let children play football like they do in Brazil

By Steve Payne

Only when Brazilian kids reach around 14 years of age does anyone start talking to them about team shape and tactics. Until then it's all about technique, tricks, shooting, dribbling and spontaneity. What is the point of talking to children about triangles and blind-side runs if they cannot effortlessly control the ball, pass or shoot?

Amid the poor areas, Brazilian youngsters play football on the streets, on waste ground, concrete; any available surface. On the coast, the beaches are a further football haven, with fields and goals for as far as the eye can see. Most of the kids have no boots, so they play barefoot, further promoting an ability to strike the ball properly.

Players are brought up from a very early age playing Futsal, five-a-side on small basketball-sized courts, indoors and outdoors, in a range of conditions, with a smaller, heavier ball that does not bounce. It tends to stick to the foot, enhancing confidence. You name any Brazilian international star and he will have played Futsal.

The ability of Futsal players to control the ball in tight areas and to shoot from all angles is incredible. Even more enlightening is the fact that parents and coaches urge kids to show their magic, without fear of retribution for making mistakes.

There are no nonsensical shouts of "Get stuck in, get it up there" or "Get rid of it". One Brazilian coach told me that the art of coaching youngsters was to try to reproduce street football on the field. At my coaching sessions, I set up small-sided games and, as much as possible, let the young players do what they like doing most - playing. In essence, I orchestrate an environment to resemble street football. I point out strongly that I have no problem with them making mistakes and I insist that they be confident and try things.

Football is a dance, I tell them, and the partner is the ball. In an effort to emulate the Brazilian kids, I often have games in which the players are told to produce all the tricks and magic they can. In some cases I insist that they take on a player without fail. It works.

The kids love it and their confidence level soars. It's amazing how often I hear kids tell me that their club coaches don't want them to dribble or "do anything fancy".

At the Cruzeiro club, their latest discovery, Kerlon Moura, famously beats defenders using the 'seal dribble' - running and changing direction while balancing the ball on his head.

I have worked with and alongside Brazilian coaches, some former national players, who run sessions at Cruzeiro in which they say hardly a word. They have technique practices in which players serve the ball to their partners with underarm throws so that a control technique can be constantly repeated, more often than not without opposition.

They set up small-sided games and opposed practices that mimic what happens in a match and let the players get on with it. Occasionally they step in and make a point, then step out. I've seen 90-minute sessions in which coaches have hardly said a word. I remember particularly, a first-team squad game, 14 v 14, half a field, two-touch, in which the ability of players to retain possession was mind-boggling.

As the Brazilian coaches point out, in street football, Futsal and other unsupervised games, players have to make their own decisions, learn from their mistakes and find solutions to problems. Street football, with children of all ages and sizes, requires decision-making; Futsal requires a different set of decisions, as does beach football. Players have to adjust constantly.

By carrying this maxim to club academies, the Brazilians set up sessions that, while organised and well-disciplined, are conditioned in such a way that players still have to make their own decisions, an ability that is carried right up to games at the highest levels. That, combined with outstanding technique and the ability to produce the unexpected, is difficult to stop.

I remember a trip on a bus to a tournament with a small-town club that is affiliated to Cruzeiro. There were three teams on the bus, under-14s, 16s and 18s. It took 14 hours to get there and our accommodation turned out to be a run-down school in an even more run-down neighbourhood.

There were no beds. We had to clean up the classrooms and sleep on mattresses, if you can call them that. It was never less than 90 degrees, day or night. The choice at bedtime was simple: open the windows and welcome in every bug on the planet or close them and bake.

We walked two miles past stray dogs, goats, chickens and cats for a communal breakfast. Back at the school, they changed and then, carrying water and balls, walked another mile to play. Those youngsters, and the hundreds of others taking part in the event, might have been living in dirty rooms, but the smiles on their faces when they took to the field were as wide as a palace.

They played every game with unbridled joy, knocking the ball around, dribbling, taking pride in the way they showed off their repertoire. Win or lose, they walked back to the school, took turns in the cold showers, bedded down in the sauna-like conditions and then got up and started all over again the next day.
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All the other nations that qualified have video games don't they?

Or is it just me...
 
tobi said:
All the other nations that qualified have video games don't they?

Or is it just me...
Click to expand...

Yes, but it's the whole culture of the youth in this country rather than just pinpointing video games.
That's what Green was getting at; the fact that kids would rather stay in and hang about rather than pick a football up and go play everywhere and anywhere like they used to.
 
steevio_uk said:
Yes, but it's the whole culture of the youth in this country rather than just pinpointing video games.
That's what Green was getting at; the fact that kids would rather stay in and hang about rather than pick a football up and go play everywhere and anywhere like they used to.
Click to expand...

The problem is that the mainstream media will do exactly that. They wont look at the bigger picture.

Trevor Brooking knows that part of it is because of the coaching but until now know one (especially the FA) didn't give him the time of day. England failing has suddenly got people asking the questions they should have been asked years ago.
 
tobi said:
The problem is that the mainstream media will do exactly that. They wont look at the bigger picture.

Trevor Brooking knows that part of it is because of the coaching but until now know one (especially the FA) didn't give him the time of day. England failing has suddenly got people asking the questions they should have been asked years ago.
Click to expand...

Mate we have known this for a long time in this country, but it's only now that they realise how shite they have been, that they realise they cannot ignore the right thing for too long.
 
England failed because of.....video games?

On the back of the PES 2008 box does it not say OFFICIAL VIDEO GAME OF THE NATIONAL TEAM or something along those lines...
 
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