Quotes about football

„It seemed a pity so much Argentinian talent is wasted. Our best football will come against the right type of opposition—a team who come to play football, and not act as animals.“

—  Alf Ramsey English association football player and manager 1920 - 1999

Ramsey's indignant opinion of Argentina after England beat them 1–0 in a bruising quarter final in the 1966 World Cup. [World Cup medal honour for Sir Alf, http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/world_cup_medal_honour_for_sir_alf_1_173288, 1 April 2012, ipswichstar.co.uk, 26 June 2009]

„The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.“

—  Dwight D. Eisenhower American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961) 1890 - 1969

„Football is now all about money. There are problems with the values within the game. And this is sad because football is the most beautiful game. We can play it in the street. We can play it everywhere. Everyone can play it but those values are being lost. We have to bring them back.“

—  Johan Cruyff Dutch association football player 1947 - 2016

In an interview with The Guardian's Donald McRae in September 2014 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/12/johan-cruyff-louis-van-gaal-manchester-united.

„Look at London. Of course it matters to all of us that London's economy flourishes. But the test of the enormous wealth generated in patches of the capital is not that it contributed 20%-30% to Britain's GDP but how it affects the lives of the millions who live and work there. What kind of lives are available to them? Can they afford to live there? If they can't, it is not compensation that London is also a paradise for the ultra-rich. Can they get decently paid jobs or jobs at all? If they can't, don't brag about all those Michelin-starred restaurants and their self-dramatising chefs. Or schooling for children? Inadequate schools are not offset by the fact that London universities could field a football team of Nobel prize winners.“

—  Eric Hobsbawm British academic historian and Marxist historiographer 1917 - 2012

The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/10/financial-crisis-capitalism-socialism-alternatives (2009).

„I am more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? “

—  Lionel Messi Argentine association football player 1987

„I thought about quitting after Istanbul because nothing made sense any more…I no longer felt like a man. All of a sudden, football had become the least important thing, precisely because it was the most important: a very painful contradiction. I didn't dare look in the mirror in case my reflection spat back at me. The only possible solution I could think of was to retire.“

—  Andrea Pirlo Italian footballer 1979

On the losing the 2005 Champions League final to Liverpool
Ibid [pp. 84-86]

„I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell.“

—  Alex Ferguson Scottish footballer and manager 1941

„Football is the ballet of the masses.“

—  Dmitri Shostakovich Russian composer and pianist 1906 - 1975

„Football is like chess, only without the dice.“

—  Lukas Podolski German footballer 1985

Fussball ist wie Schach, nur ohne Würfel.
Quoted in David Gordon Smith. "German Football's Greatest Sayings." http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/like-chess-only-without-the-dice-german-football-s-greatest-sayings-a-558638-druck.html Spiegel Online International. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2018.

„Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer) was my hero. He was the best forward I've ever seen. He was so fast that he could score a goal from nothing and he struck the ball better than anyone I've seen.“

—  Lionel Messi Argentine association football player 1987

Interview with FourFourTwo, 2012 http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/messi-brazil-striker-ronaldo-my-hero

„The big test in football is how a captain leads under conditions of adversity.“

—  Jack Gibson Australian rugby league player and coach 1929 - 2008

„O'Connell: It's been suggested […] by teachers that live football should be shown after kids have gone to bed. Is swearing in football really such a big deal?“

—  Stuart Hall sociologist and cultural theorist 1929 - 2014

Rawling, Kelly answer
BBC Fighting Talk (2005)

„The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It's the way I see football, the way I see life.“

—  Bill Shankly Scottish footballer and manager 1913 - 1981

[Powley, Adam, Robert, Gillan, Shankly's Village: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Glenbuck and its Famous Footballing Sons, https://books.google.com/books?id=Qe7NCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT162&lpg=PT162&dq=%22The+socialism+I+believe+in+is+everyone+working+for+each+other,+everyone+having+a+share+of+the+rewards.+It%27s+the+way+I+see+football,+the+way+I+see+life.%22&source=bl#v=onepage, 2016-08-18, 2015, Worthing, UK, Pitch, 931595421, 9781785310706]

„A big, studly football jock like me? I got plenty of blood to spare. For you, I have anything to spare.“

—  Kristin Cast, book Betrayed

Source: Betrayed

„I've seen him a couple of times in the arena, and was profoundly impressed by his virtuosity. Rugby football is more or less a sealed book to me, I never having gone in for it, but even I could see he was good. The lissomness with which he moved hither and thither was most impressive, as was his homicidal ardour when doing what I believe is called tackling. Like the Canadian Mounted Police he always got his man, and when he did so the air was vibrant with the excited cries of the morticians in the audience making bids for the body.“

—  P.G. Wodehouse, book Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963)

„It has changed a bit, of course. The speed and all that. But let me tell you something: in the olden times, let's say the year, I don't know, in the Sixties for instance, we would eat a plate of spaghetti and run out onto the pitch. Then people started saying 'they're too full', meaning you'd get bloated like a pig if you ate spaghetti. But this shows you those guys were clever because nowadays all the medical experts recommend pasta for athletes and footballers because you digest it slowly.“

—  Alfredo Di Stéfano Argentine association football player 1926 - 2014

The Guardian interview (2008)

„I used to always say when I went on the football field, 'You know I'm the best player out here on this field.“

—  Lawrence Taylor All-American college football player, professional football player, linebacker, Pro Football Hall of Fame member 1959

Is that being cocky? Maybe it is.
Source: Taylor made: 'L.T.' has a date with Canton, destiny http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/1999/08/06/pageone_lawrencetaylor/index.html, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, accessed January 29, 2007.

„Many pro football players run 100 yards with a ball while a bunch of HUGE guys try to stop them, hurt them, stomp on them etc. They do it because they get paid well! Do you REALLY believe God's promises about rewards for the martyrs? (Matthew 5:10; 24:13; 1 Thessalonians 3:4; 1 Timothy 2:12; 3:12, etc.) The 1st century Christians sure did! The Romans were amazed that they seemed so eager to die for their faith! Tens of thousands are dying yearly in Communist, Hindu and Muslim countries RIGHT NOW. Are we willing to suffer for the Lord? We will find out!“

—  Kent Hovind American young Earth creationist 1953

Source: What On Earth Is About To Happen… For Heaven’s Sake? (2013), p. 157

„Both Abrams and Westmoreland would have been judged as authentic military "heroes" at a different time in history. Both men were outstanding leaders in their own right and in their own way. They offered sharply contrasting examples of military leadership, something akin to the distinct differences between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant of our Civil War period. They entered the United States Military Academy at the same time in 1932- Westmoreland from a distinguished South Carolina family, and Abrams from a simpler family background in Massachusetts- and graduated together with the Class of 1936. Whereas Westmoreland became the First Captain (the senior cadet in the corps) during their senior year, Abrams was a somewhat nondescript cadet whose major claim to fame was as a loud, boisterous guard on the second-string varsity football squad. Both rose to high rank through outstanding performance in combat command jobs in World War II and the Korean War, as well as through equally commendable work in various staff positions. But as leaders they were vastly different. Abrams was the bold, flamboyant charger who wanted to cut to the heart of the matter quickly and decisively, while Westmoreland was the more shrewdly calculating, prudent commander who chose the more conservative course. Faultlessly attired, Westmoreland constantly worried about his public image and assiduously courted the press. Abrams, on the other hand, usually looked rumpled, as though he might have slept in his uniform, and was indifferent about his appearance, acting as though he could care less about the press. The sharply differing results were startling; Abrams rarely receiving a bad press report, Westmoreland struggling to get a favorable one.“

—  Bruce Palmer Jr. United States Army Chief of Staff 1913 - 2000

Source: The 25-Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam (1984), p. 134