Bloody Confused - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of Culpepper's book contains an interesting thesis; he posits that going to the pub before a match is synonymous with the tailgating phenomenon in the States and that both are equally if not more important to the punters than the match itself.

I don't quite buy it. The obvious difference between the two is that while the pub is an essentially young male experience, tailgating is an effort to pull family members into the sporting experience that they might otherwise find fairly dull. I've always thought that most American sports are indeed an excuse to get people together to socialize. Footie is very different; if anything it's fairly anti-social with only one break in the action during the match.

We've probably all had the experience of inviting American friends who don't understand this difference over to watch a big match. They invariably show up after the match has already kicked off and then want to talk endlessly about inane details or have the rules explained or the teams' forms analyzed for them during the match. This is perfectly acceptable with baseball or football as there are plenty of breaks in the action. But if you're anything like me, it's driven you crazy and you think twice about inviting said gringo over for the next big match.