Which country has the most annoying fanbase?

[NyQuil]

Europeans definitely have more of a hang-up on the nationalities of the referees in international games. And I think the reason is that soccer is the model sport for every country but Finland and Canada.

In soccer, it's unthinkable that a referee would be presiding over a game involving his home country. I mean, just imagine suggesting to an English soccer fan that the England-Italy Euro cup finals would be refereed by an Italian. You'd be laughed out of the room. And rightly so. But for some reason hockey is supposed so different that Canadian referees without any risk can judge an olympic final involving Canada.

This whole notion that Canadians are somehow magically exempt from bias is so stupid, but for some reason any suggestion of the contrary is dismissed like it's completely outragous. Like hockey isn't the one that's the extreme outlier in the world of sports.

Normally even a appearance of being partial is enough to call the integrity of a decision in question. But in international hockey, for some reason, they don't recognize that.

Humans propensity for national bias is proven beyond all doubt. This isn't exactly some groundbreaking new research. In the champions league, despite taking action to minimize bias by preventing referees from presiding over games involving teams from their countries, a study confirmed there was still national bias.

"We examine the existence and magnitude of own-nationality bias. Using playermatch level data from 12 seasons of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and referee assignment policies that pair players and referees from the same country, we determine the bias that referees exhibit toward players from their native country. Players officiated by a referee from the same country receive a 10% increase in beneficial foul calls. Referees’ own-nationality bias is more pronounced for national team players, players at home, and in later stages of the tournament. Elite referees exhibit as much, or more, own-nationality bias as their less experienced counterparts"

http://econweb.umd.edu/~pope/soccer_paper.pdf

The phenomenon goes far beyond simply suspicion of officials from one of the countries involved in the game to officials from countries that have some perceived historical or cultural slight against your country.

I’ve heard Europeans argue that American refs are prone to favour Canada because of their close ties while the same people worry about a Finnish ref in a Swedish game because of their rivalry.

As if there’s no rivalry between Canada and the US.

There’s no rhyme or reason to it beyond finding some baseless explanation for why calls are being made against your team.

Ultimately, there’s no shortage of tinfoil hat reasons for a ref from any country to be in favour or against any other ice hockey nation.

 

[jj cale]

Either you are complety stupid, or your pride doesnt want to take in what I wrote

So I'm stupid and prideful because I don't accept what you say and have another viewpoint? I am supposed to bow to him and you because he/you says so?

You're not just stupid, you're arrogant and obtuse.

Get out of here man.

The thread should indeed be locked, you have zero ability to be unbiased and lack any reasoning.

 

[jj cale]

Someone is definitely sour.

All I'm saying is, when Europeans gripe about the refs, the ref's nationality comes up a lot, and if they make a bad call, it is frequently deemed that it's because of some political or nationalistic reason.

I find it's different from when/how North Americans gripe about the refs. It's just a lesson in cultural differences. I spent most of my childhood and a good part of my life in Europe.

I never said that Europeans were the only people who complain about the officiating. Read my post more carefully next time.

North Americans complain all the time about bad reffing. Every team's fanbase has an NHL official or two that they dislike. Where they come from doesn't come up very often.

I have no idea what your rant about hockey history is about. It seems to me that you have a lot of issues boiling up that have nothing to do with what I was saying.

For my part, I don't care if they're Czech, Russian, Swedish, German, Swiss, or whatever, as long as they know what they're doing.

Swedish fans will occasionally complain that the ref is Finnish before he’s even made a call in the game.

They don't want to hear this stuff, they only want to hear us agree with them that Canadian fans are the worst in the world.

They don't want to ever look at their shit. The epitome of bad fans, annoying fans.

 

[jj cale]

Considering hockey means everything to Canada, common sense says otherwise.

The more something means to people -> the more emotionally attached they become -> , the more crazies will exist -> the more complaining there will be -> the more conspiracy theories you see.
The same exists in politics too.


Nationalism in sport you say? Canada is the epitome of that. It's how a freakin' sporting event can be a top 5-10 moment that defines a country (1972 Summit Series). That's not something that occurs in most places, let alone Sweden. That's a little too crazy if you ask me.

Unfortunately your argument doesn't play out on the boards here from my experience at HF and that is what matters,not a theory you have about what is likely to happen due to Canada's strong connection to the sport.


I don't think there is anything left to discuss on the subject actually, I think the swedish posters here backed up my viewpoint very well and did not do you any favors at all. They acted like crazed lunatics at the mere thought of someone not agreeing with their Canada finger pointing and went bat shit crazy. But that's expected because well, they hate them!! and let's face facts, we know why they really hate them when it comes down to it and it sure isn't because their fans gripe about reffing(whose fans don't do that?) I mean, surely you get that, you're don't come across as a naive person or dumb.


They sure didn't give a great look here to back up what you what you have been saying I don't think.
Bottom line, I can't agree with you or anyone else on this just because you/they want me to, not when I know different, hell...........you see it right on this page.

European fans are just as big assholes as anyone else, it's just the way it is. But again, we are just going to go back and forth forever if you think otherwise, I don't really see the point of that.

 

[SwedishFire]

So I'm stupid and prideful because I don't accept what he says and have another viewpoint? I am supposed to bow to him and you because he/you says so?

You're not just stupid, you're arrogant and obtuse.

Get out of here man.

The thread should indeed be locked, you have zero ability to be unbiased and lack any reasoning.

On a discussion you have a dialoge, not a monolouge. Throwing away others posts, just for it doesntbfit your taste, well then we could just skip talking. Like you just did. Its just.. stupid. Selfish, inmature, and narrowminded
So Im done here. It takws just to much energy to pull someone back to a respectful dialoge.

Have a good life. Bye

 

[jj cale]

On a discussion you have a dialoge, not a monolouge. Throwing away others posts, just for it doesntbfit your taste, well then we could just skip talking. Like you just did. Its just.. stupid. Selfish, inmature, and narrowminded
So Im done here. It takws just to much energy to pull someone back to a respectful dialoge.

Have a good life. Bye

You don't have a dialogue or a monologue, you just have blind hatred,
What can I or anyone else do about that?

And also, Swedes have better english then this, your spelling and sentence structure is low and that tells me a lot about the nature of your posts and more importantly of you, it suggests an immature riled up teenager.


Don't waste anymore of my time until you cool down and want to talk reasonably and by the way, in case you are not aware, reasonably does not mean demanding me or anyone else blindly take shit from you or agree with everything you say, because that has been your tone from your very first post. I won't reply any further until you do and just put you on ignore.

 

[Phil McKraken]

Not to be a grammar nazi or anything, but I feel a bit embarrassed about some of my countrymen's English skills in this thread. I don't expect you to nail every local colloquialism or various other subtle grammatical nuances (like I do ), but at least know your limits and keep it brief if you're going to argue with native speakers.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

This thread turned quite hostile, who’d have thunk?

I can somewhat see where you’re coming from @jj cale as to my countrymen but you lost your composure there. I thought they called you the breeze, that you ain’t carrying no load?

 

[jj cale]

This thread turned quite hostile, who’d have thunk?

I can somewhat see where you’re coming from @jj cale as to my countrymen but you lost your composure there. I thought they called you the breeze, that you ain’t carrying no load?

No I didn't, pretty clear to see the kid lost it and was looking to be disrespectful.

He has to wear this one, he came in guns blazing and I told him how I saw it in my response, he didn't like it and went more loco.

I call it straight down the middle, and it's been clear right from the start in here that I cut Canada fans no slack.Having said that, i don't cut any other nations fans slack either, if I see evidence of something I will say it. He expected me to agree with what he said and if he had made a different accusation against fans from here that I think is true I would have agreed but he didn't, he made an accusation that I thought was totally false and said so and gave my opinion on the matter. He couldn't take it, simple as that. If he can't take a differing opinion and loses his shit that's his problem not mine.

that's it, sorry.

 

[member 305909]

The estimate that in Finland there's least interest in hockey is just nonsense. Perhaps only in Russia there's as much interest in hockey as there's in Finland. That's a big perhaps.

Sweden and Switzerland are more of soccer-countries and in Germany there are millions of people who don't know anything about hockey or that such a sport even exists.

 

[Snauen]

Not to be a grammar nazi or anything, but I feel a bit embarrassed about some of my countrymen's English skills in this thread. I don't expect you to nail every local colloquialism or various other subtle grammatical nuances (like I do ), but at least know your limits and keep it brief if you're going to argue with native speakers.

You are embarrasing yourself. When out of argument you turn to nitpicking on people trying to communicate with you on "your" language. You know the history of your "native" language?? You know that a lion part of the words and expressions you use come from the Scandinavian languages and Swedish? Like the most common ones like, me - mej, you-du , we - vi etc. Its all from Swedish .
You telling us how to talk and write is like some obnoxious kids telling their grandparents how to express themselves properly. And how they got to talk your way or to "shut up" lol .. I know you understand like 100% of what we are saying, you are merely beeing asses. Know your history..

Edit; This post was ment for nyquill and jjcale. Yet I guess its a good read for the Swedish turnstile Phil Maccracken too..

 

[member 305909]

The estimate that in Finland there's least interest in hockey is just nonsense. Perhaps only in Russia there's as much interest in hockey as there's in Finland. That's a big perhaps.

Sweden and Switzerland are more of soccer-countries and in Germany there are millions of people who don't know anything about hockey or that such a sport even exists.

Sorry, wrong thread. I was going to put this on the one about rankings of different leagues in Europe.

 

[Macbanan]

Not to be a grammar nazi or anything, but I feel a bit embarrassed about some of my countrymen's English skills in this thread. I don't expect you to nail every local colloquialism or various other subtle grammatical nuances (like I do ), but at least know your limits and keep it brief if you're going to argue with native speakers.

I don't want to restrict myself from discussing because of my bad English skills. Just the natural language barrier is big enough. Setting an additional barrier that I need to keep it brief would probably make posting feel unsurmountable, which would end up being counter productive to me ever improving.

As long as my ideas are communicated reasonably clearly, people will just have to deal with the errors.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

know the history of your "native" language?? You know that a lion part of the words and expressions you use come from the Scandinavian languages and Swedish?

Man, I really felt my fellow Swedish posters were handling this thread decently until recently. Not picking on you specifically but…

It’s just a game why u have to be mad?

 

[Czechboy]

I don't want to restrict myself from discussing because of my bad English skills. Just the natural language barrier is big enough. Setting an additional barrier that I need to keep it brief would probably make posting feel unsurmountable, which would end up being counter productive to me ever improving.

As long as my ideas are communicated reasonably clearly, people will just have to deal with the errors.

One of my fav Czech posters uses a translator and does very well. Nice long posts and I always get what he's saying. You can tell he's passionate and knows a lot. Keep on keeping on!

 

[NyQuil]

Edit; This post was ment for nyquill and jjcale. Yet I guess its a good read for the Swedish turnstile Phil Maccracken too..

Let it go dude, geez.

Someone said "slided" and I corrected with "slid", pointing out that English was a pretty crazy language because there are so many exceptions to the rules, but also that the poster's English was far better than my Swedish.

I've learned French and German and they are far easier to learn because they generally respect the grammar rules.

I'm sorry to have offended you.

 

[NyQuil]

I don't want to restrict myself from discussing because of my bad English skills. Just the natural language barrier is big enough. Setting an additional barrier that I need to keep it brief would probably make posting feel unsurmountable, which would end up being counter productive to me ever improving.

As long as my ideas are communicated reasonably clearly, people will just have to deal with the errors.

There are Canadians who communicate in English worse than you do.

I remember a guy in my dorm in university who was enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses after the English aptitude test results for engineering students came out.

He said to me, "Damn, that's rough." I was confused. "Nothing wrong with that."

And he said, "All I speak is English. I just have a French last name."

 

[jj cale]

You are embarrasing yourself. When out of argument you turn to nitpicking on people trying to communicate with you on "your" language. You know the history of your "native" language?? You know that a lion part of the words and expressions you use come from the Scandinavian languages and Swedish? Like the most common ones like, me - mej, you-du , we - vi etc. Its all from Swedish .
You telling us how to talk and write is like some obnoxious kids telling their grandparents how to express themselves properly. And how they got to talk your way or to "shut up" lol .. I know you understand like 100% of what we are saying, you are merely beeing asses. Know your history..

Edit; This post was ment for nyquill and jjcale. Yet I guess its a good read for the Swedish turnstile Phil Maccracken too..

I don't normally give any poster a hard time about their english skills but when you are being "an ass" like you put it and as that poster was being then it's fair game with me to give a dig about it. He didn't deserve respect the way he acted IMO and I still think he doesn't.

The bottom line is that he contacted me and gave me an opinion which I didn't agree with and I gave him a counter opinion and he couldn't deal with it and it seems neither can you. That is what this about, not english skills, that's just trying to change the subject and make oneself look a little better.

So a fellow countryman of yours calls people stupid, selfish and immature (that's not being an ass?) and I respond telling him his english skills are subpar you get all enraged about the english part only? I wonder why that is!! get out of here man, don't waste my time.

If the the guy is not able to deal with differing viewpoints then he shouldn't have replied to my post, bottom line. P.S: it's on page 14 of this thread about 21 posts down if you need confirmation on how this started out, you can watch it develop from there.

 

[Husqvarna]

I don't want to restrict myself from discussing because of my bad English skills. Just the natural language barrier is big enough. Setting an additional barrier that I need to keep it brief would probably make posting feel unsurmountable, which would end up being counter productive to me ever improving.

As long as my ideas are communicated reasonably clearly, people will just have to deal with the errors.

The most of the HF-Boards can't even say or write a word in Finland, Swedish, or German language. Even though everyone is a immigrant more or less over there Canada/USA - the year 1900 Chicago was Sweden largest next biggest city for an example. Remember.

So I don't even care for a minute or even a second if they (HF-Boards) can't understand me or not - coz they do. They do.

När Chicago var Sveriges näst största stad

 

[Puck Dogg]

The estimate that in Finland there's least interest in hockey is just nonsense. Perhaps only in Russia there's as much interest in hockey as there's in Finland. That's a big perhaps.

There's no doubt hockey is number one sport in Finland and by large margin. They are hosting the World Championships upcoming spring and had to result to lottery due high demand on tickets. They sold 1,6 million tickets that way and keeping in mind that's a country with around 5,5 million population.

Some of the fanbase is bit weird though. Must be the language barrier or something with the culture.

 

[Elias40]

One of my fav Czech posters uses a translator and does very well. Nice long posts and I always get what he's saying. You can tell he's passionate and knows a lot. Keep on keeping on!

Who do you mean? Do I know him?

 

[Czechboy]

Who do you mean? Do I know him?

Sorry. I meant one of the hf posters on here is a great poster on Czech board. They have said they use a translator before. It's never once affected my understanding their points. Big fan. And yes... One of our regulars!

 

[Husqvarna]

Finland scary monsters both their team an their fans.

 

[Husqvarna]

... and just about that: we are all over Europe/World (Finland fans that is) not just in Finland. And we follow the lot SMJK and the other lot. We do. We do

.

 

[Husqvarna]

The last time at our "home turf" there in Hungaroring, Hungary, we were around 20, 000 Finland or so around. As always. We do like our Formula 1. No matter what.

That and our hockey ... and believe it or not our football too.