Saw a bit of Fulham v Leeds last night and the amount of people who were doing this was quite a number. Why not just enjoy the moment and put your phones away.
Tourist football clubs. I won tickets for City vs Villa a few weeks ago. I was on the 3rd row back in line with the corner flag, at the end City were attacking in the first half. I took a few photos and videos. What amazed me was that everyone around me was taking photos and videos of every attack, everyone had scarfs/hats/training wear on, and very few had a local accent. At the top level, football clubs have become a tourist attraction rather than something for the local community to rally behind. I'm not criticising these clubs for this, I'd love nothing more than to watch an Ice Hockey game at Madison Square Garden, or take in the Berlin derby. I do see what you're saying though about living in the moment. But with social media having the presence that it does in society, its not really a surprise that everyone is on their phones at games.
I wouldn't do it myself but I'm actually grateful to the people that do, especially if I can't make the game - the lad that regularly does it for Barnsley is great and it lets you get as near to experiencing the atmosphere and celebrations (and disappointments) as possible without actually being there
So you’d be happy taking a seat at one of those matches at the expense of fans of the two teams taking part? I know not all big matches are sold out but I bet the Berlin derby is. When I lived in Germany for three years I was a regular attendee at Gladbach matches but the one fixture I missed out on every year was the home game against Bayern. Probably people like yourself somehow got seats through a sports tourism agency thus denying home fans like me the chance. Plenty travelled up from Munich by the way and that’s a LONG away day - 639km each way!
Well that escalated quickly! As a football fan, I'd like to experience a game like that. I'd follow the usual channels of getting a ticket and if I couldn't get one, then I wouldn't go. I'm likely never to go, or be able to get a ticket for it so its all hypothetical. I only went to the City game the other week as I'd won a ticket in a raffle. It's just something that I'd like to experience, like the Eiffel tower or the Disney Land or whatever, I don't see where the issue is in that?
No issue with you, just the modern way of doing things at big football clubs. So many tickets are allocated to corporate organisations and the like - Wembley finals being the worst example. Good luck to you if you can get to see things like that but it’s a shame when maybe long-standing fans cannot get to see the big games.
It's the modern way unfortunately. Same thing happens at gigs, where by and large crowds are nowhere near as intense and 'in the moment' as pre-smart phone, because people are either filming it or being filmed and self-conscious. Same with boxing walk outs. Same with random things happening on the street. Everyone grabs for the phone to show everybody else THEY WERE THERE. Very sad. The tik tok generation.
Not something I would do at a game personally but is it any different to people taking pics or filming days out etc to remember the day?
A few years ago, before mobiles with cameras became all the rage, I took my Sony digital bridge camera to a game at Barnsley and started taking some pics and vids (for myself) and only managed a few before a steward came up to ask me to stop and put the camera away. How times have changed now. Mobiles everywhere, footage on social media, but in those earlier days you couldn't take a photo even for yourself.
I don't do it, and hate it at a concert. However, on Saturday I did find myself taking a quick Snapchat video of the goal celebrations. The reason - to let my kids know that we'd scored. Neither could go to the game, and I thought it would be a nice way of updating them. By the time the 4th went in I'd got bored of doing it, so I just sent a photo of the scoreboard.
I don’t mind it. They are enjoying the moment, that’s how they enjoy it. If you made them put their phone away for the whole time they wouldn’t have half as much fun. I’m the opposite, I barely ever take photos of anything as it doesn’t occur to me as I’m so ‘in the moment’. I now have no memories (I have the ones in my head obviously but it would be nice to have some pictures and videos too) and I do worry a bit that I’m going to look back when I’m older and have no pictures of my late 20s/30s at all and nothing to look back on.
I'm sure long standing fans who really want to go to a big game would get tickets over a tourist if they were even vaguely switched on.
As you say, a lot of tourism fans now. Their joy comes in the form of little dopamine hits they get every time they get a like online (which apparently is true) and a social thing of proving you were there. Big difference between someone doing it for that and doing it for other fans/family etc. But as others have said that's just the way it is now. Not keen of it myself but hey ho even though I'm apart of that generation. You can become a multimillionaire by doing stupid **** and pranks against innocent members of the public and it seems to be the way of 'making it' these days at the cost of hard work - just about that online presence and reach.
Saw Placebo before Christmas and they sent emails to the fans with tickets and put signs up and an announcement before to ask people not to film the concert but to enjoy it "live". TBF, most people complied - some were taking small clips and photos but it was a lot less prevalent than at other gigs I've been to recently.