A person's preference for team sports as opposed to individual sports (e.g. golf, tennis, swimming) may reflect the person's individual philosophy, values and world view. E.g. he/she may be less individualistic and accepts that cooperation is the key to getting things done.

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I think the world is dumbing ourselves down. We treat soccer players like Ronaldino and David Beckham like heroes just because they can kick a ball well. The real heroes of the world are those who have contributed something to society, not people who simply entertain us.

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I always wonder how normal Singaporeans choose which Premier League or World Cup team to support, since none of us Singaporeans have any locality attachment to any of the teams, unless you studied or worked overseas before (I follow Cleveland sports because I studied in Cleveland from 94-98, which was my first introduction to the world of professional sports). Do Singaporeans always pick the winning team to support? (these are the bandwagon fans) Or do Singaporeans prefer supporting the underdog? Do Singaporeans pick teams based on favorite individual players? (e.g. people are Chicago Bulls fans because of Michael Jordan, or Man U fans because of Beckham) Do fans easily change their allegiance if the team is doing poorly? I get the feeling that most Singaporean fans are bandwagon fans, ditching their old losing teams in favor of newer winning teams. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I feel that if you never experienced the low points of your sports team, then the high that you experience when your team does win is much shallower than a true fan who has followed their team through thick and thin.

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The mass following of sports is akin to peoples fascination with celebrities, (in fact they are the same, footballers are celebrities in their own right)and they serve to be a fantasy world in which people can look towards, and away from reality.

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Teams who wear red seem to do better more often. Strangely enough

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Team sports tend to have a bigger following I believe. More players to charm the masses I suppose! And in sports like baseball, soccer and basketball, obviously , the fans spend more money too! With merchandise like team kits etc. And people are willing to do it.

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Every sport has its stars which exhibit skills which aren't too fantastic but are hot because they look good

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If sports can be likened to a religion, than sports can be an opiate of the people too, haha.

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Team sports is all about teamwork and inclusion. In a sense, that idea manifests itselves in the love for the sport itself.

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football, rather than socker as you prefer, is a world sport that is not accepted by the Americans. It says a lot about how removed the americans are from the rest of the world. their games, American Football (which is played with hands!!!), Baseball, Basketball are all games with high scores, a lot of commercial breaks and high level of tactical planning. Football however is low score (often 0-0 score), only one long break and tactical planning is done only twice a match (before and during halftime), players had more influence on the match as compared to the coaches (which is not the case in American sports).

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replacement for war in Europe. On that point alone, its justifies its existence.

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Ya, the need to gamble. Also, otherwise sane people no longer find sleep or food important. Don't yet know about sex cos I haven't asked. People get carried away, in part, because they want to be.

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I hope Singaporeans can broaden their interest to include other activites.

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it is a passion that only one can understand.. like a person who likes the arts and is passionate about the subject and a sports fan who is just as passionate about their favourite sport.

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It brings people of a dozen differences together in a common topic. It unites. no 2 ways about that.

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think American Idol. its not a sport. many pople follow it. they can take part by voting. being emotionally invested in some event that you can see the success/failure and the emotional outbursts of the participants maybe a form of living their lives through our TV.

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As mentioned above, spectator sport is now actively encouraged by the "powers that be" to keep the population dumb and occupied. This started with the communist bloc --- East Germany, the Soviet Union, etc. --- towards the latter half of the last century and has now become the modus operandi for most of the so-called free world. Not only that, but spectator sport is a subtle form of indoctrination where the unknowing fan is brain-washed into accepting that there are rules and regulations that have to be observed and that there is always an umpire to punish you if you get out of line. Just the sort of thing to turn out obedient and law-abiding citizens. And not forgetting that sports is now big, big money. When one thinks of the colossal salaries of people like Zidane, Tiger Woods, Rossi …

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The jumping on the bandwagon syndrome of upcoming teams or teams with 'star' players.

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gd 4 the sports shops, but bad 4 business as every1 more occupied wif soccer than work!

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it'd be interesting to find out the underlying reasons why team sports are so popular in the first place. one doesn't see such a mass following for individual sports such as atheletics. could it be that team sports satisfies some human psychological need? is it the need to fit in? or as other people have speculated.. it takes the place of war? ??

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Beer Sales go up, jersey Sales goes up, productivity goes down (temporarily) after, say, your favorite team loses the night before. It's something unique that you can't find with people who aren't interested in football or team sport.

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It allows for a legitimised expression of *nationalism* as well as a codified form of *masculinity*.

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i thin soccer is only one can be consider mass follwing in sing no others

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at the end of the day though, i wonder whether it's all about money. with popular sports like football becoming so commercialised these days, there's very little romance left in it. perhaps not so much for the world cup, which is more about the talent development and football history of each country. But if you are talking abt the professional leagues, like English premier league or the Spanish one, the performance of each team is usually tied to how much money they have to buy good players. Just look at Chelsea's dominance. Such developments might kill the game in the long run.

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When a person supports a team / country in any team sport, they tend to identify with the team a to a great extend - so much so that the pronoun 'we' is used in describing their team. I believe there are psychological reasons why we need to feel like we belong to a particular group - although I cannot think of them now.

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Well, one observation that I made in the following of a particular sport in a particular country in Asia is that it is influenced by its former colonial masters.

If that former colonial master is European, it is likely that the country is interested in football, cricket or rugby. Not just as colonial masters, but countries which has the most influence in its history of nation building.

Like in the case of Thailand and China, the fervent football following could be due to the old influence of the UK and other European colonial powers.

In contrast, in countries like Japan and Taiwan, people are perhaps more interested in baseball, due to USA influences.

So, to me, the world-wide interest in soccer is perhaps due to European domination of Asia during the 1800s and 1900s instead of the sport really being 'more interesting'.

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As in all discernable social patterns, this one gets infiltrated by crass commercialism. Condoms by Durex for British soccer fans? Underwear with national emblems? Sheesh!

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A know a handful in my office who reads soccer news to 'fit in' with the managers who are British, as well as soccer-fanatics. E.g make random one-liner comments about a soccer club, or make it known that they stayed up to watch last night's Champions League by making a declaration of the results).

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Males either (a) look up to the girl who watches soccer, or (b) mock at her because they think she has no understanding whatsover of the game, and cannot comprehend anything that is going on besides absorbing all the hairy legs and testosterone-pumped figures. They take extreme views with regard to the women, there's no in-between.

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Soccer is a fantastic fast paced viewer's delight just like baskeball where teams of individual skills are combined together as a team. Soccer is short and sharp over two periods of 45 minutes.

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The Americans still do not appear to understand the game.

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The more infrequent and international (e.g. World Cup once in 4 years), the more people follow.

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I guess whether female or male, bonding btw individuals over sports or fashion is unavoidable phenomenon. Human beings need to rally together, find a common interest to fuel their existence. During the Renaissance people bond over the Arts and Science or Politics. Now, its golf or soccer or football and to a lesser degree, clubbing or other social entertainment.

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I think its the same just that soccer has got the largest mass following than any other sport in Europe and Asia. Whereas in North America is mainly ice hockey and basketball.

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I don't watch team sports. I prefer individual sports and games like tennis and golf.

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just wanted to see what questions you wanted to ask. And probably also because your model looks hot ;) *Irresistable click!*

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i think it brings people together, like lots of people supporting the same team will just inevitably bond over the world cup. personally, i'm for the brazillians.(

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Despite the complete lack of obligation to sweat it out in the stands, soccerball fans invariably smell.

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conversation purpose only

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One of the things I love about the World Cup is the opportunity it gives me to connect with such a wide variety of people (mainly men). I can have really involved chats with barbers, taxi drivers, new people i meet, business contacts, etc about the World Cup during the period. It gives me a nice sense of being part of something bigger. And, since i am not a hardcore fan, i enjoy the ridiculousness of the heated (sometimes mock) arguments and passions stirred over what is, to me, ultimately a not very serious or important thing. Its deliciously frivolous. But serious fans probably would not feel the same way. Its very real for them.

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do think you're looking too much at your sociological navel.

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More females are watching soccer, but it seems they are watching for the cute players.

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hooliganism is just a matter of degree

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beer and social cohesion.

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Sports are often not as physical as commonly perceived. More importantly, a range of sports seem to me to propagate a certain value system/ideology/ethic "team spirit," the discourse of the "fit" body, manliness, etc. These have become so naturalized that their hegemonic mechanisms are largely ignored.

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Gay men are usually excluded from this tribe. We'd rather watch a Joan Crawford movie! Sigh! Why don't the football players wear skimpy shorts any more?

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Personally, I don't watch football. If I do watch sports, it's diving or gymnastics for the cute boys like Tian Liang and tennis for gay icons like Navratilova. Or rhythmic gymnastics if I feel very queenie that day...

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It allows ppl to identify with something and foster freindships.

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It's just amazing how everything becomes some inspirational load of sportsmanship overcoming all odds *cue inspirational music* when there's all that hooliganism going on underneath.

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the sport will be heavily commercialized

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People ie. Singaporeans, tend to support "obviours" winners... big names... famous teams...

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It's the one time where you're allowed to be nationalistic without looking sort of Third Reich. Reading the antics of the English press is almost as much fun as the game itself.

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Real fans support the same team through thick and thin. The rest just support the winners.

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I think the side of punting has been played down/gone unnoticed significantly.

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