|
Post by ryanhubbard on May 2, 2011 23:03:11 GMT
As much as I'd love to write about football for a living, I doubt I'd ever be in a position to be able to give up the day job to pursue a chance. I have a house to run, bills to pay, etc. This for me would always have to be my priority.
|
|
|
Post by andrewcharding on May 4, 2011 20:52:14 GMT
I initially got involved in the originally tweet conversation but only just got round to actually writing my thoughts on this subject.
What makes you do what you do? Personal enjoyment. I get a kick out of seeing something that i've written especially when its something i have a genuine interest in.
Why do you do it? For me, it's very much a release so to say. It's like a type of therapy for me. After posting something, i do fell good about myself. Call it a safe kind of high.
Why did you start? I blame Twitter for getting the ball rolling. I don't remember exactly how at first but after reading a blog and seeing the reaction and discussion that followed, i realised i wasn't as alone as i thought. I've been writing from a young age but felt there was little purpose. To see people writing in a similar style to my own and about subjects away from the mainstream excited and does still excite me.
What makes you carry on? There's a lot of subjects i really want to write about that i haven't got round to yet. People are also now actually looking at my blog and that only adds more fire to my internal motivation. The reaction has been positive too which if course is a huge boost further still. I saw the points people made in the intial conversation regarding site statistics and it made me laugh a little bit when people were saying "if i got less than 300 hits a day i'd pack it in" and things like that. My best day so far has been 74. I know people have been doing it a lot longer than me so of course expectations change. Views are of course a nice quantitative way of validating why you do what you do but i'm more for the conversations that can come about from it, rather low numbers and people with a keen interest as opposed to a quest for ratings as it were. Then again maybe i'm just being naive.
What would make you stop? I've only really just started so my answer isnt really valid. I suppose zero interest in what i write would certainly reduce my motivationbut so far i'm joyous at the albeit little but i think and hope keen interest people have shown in what i've done thus far.
|
|
|
Post by dolphinhotel on May 5, 2011 7:07:14 GMT
What makes you do what you do?
I like writing and my main interest in football is what happens around the game itself - the reactions of the fans, the cultural and social significance of the clubs and players. Basically, it's a way of cataloguing my experiences watching football with a bit of history thrown in for my own amusement.
Why did you start?
I was going to Glasgow one New Year and I fancied seeing a game of football on the way back. When I was looking for some info on Queen of the South I came across a groundhopping blog. I'd never really thought of myself as a groundhopper before but I was interested enough in the blog to make a quick calculation of how many grounds I'd been to and came up with 96 (hence the accidental bit in the name of the blog). That got me thinking about some of the games and places I'd been to. One thing led to another, as they say.
What makes you carry on?
I enjoy it - and this year it makes a nice change from reading about Applied Linguistics. I've also met some top people through the blog, such as Rob from the Two Unfortunates and the rest of the lads who turned out for Northern League Day.
What would make you stop?
If I end up living in a country where there's absolutely no football grounds to visit. Otherwise, my posts might become less frequent but I doubt I'll ever give up.
|
|
9men
New Member
Posts: 27
|
Post by 9men on May 6, 2011 15:06:33 GMT
What makes you do what you do?
I like writing about Dagenham because it gives me an avenue to share my thoughts on the club with those who might not normally plunge into a discussion on a forum for example.
Why did you start?
Years ago I ran a few other Daggers sites, back when we were a non-league club. There was very little coverage of the club online at the time and I mainly did match reports, news etc. As other commitments took over I stopped. Then I decided to get back into it a couple of years ago, with more opinion-based content to separate myself from official channels.
What makes you carry on?
I do enjoy it, although motivation is occasionally a factor as you might notice from my sporadic posts. When I do post I tend to get a fairly decent number of readers for a club of our limited size which helps me think I'm doing something others are interested in. Mainly though it is just because I like to post my thoughts on the internet!
What would make you stop?
If I get bored of it. As I mentioned, motivation is sometimes an issue, especially when very little is happening other than the matches. Whilst there is massive coverage of bigger clubs and plenty of talking points, for us the only thing to really discuss is matches at this stage of the season. I actually prefer the one-off and slightly quirky pieces to those which report on recent events, but they are difficult to come up with on a regular basis. I've even run out of lookalikes and amusing things to say about Jon Nurse!
|
|
|
Post by jenni on May 9, 2011 12:24:23 GMT
What makes you do what you do? Why do you do it? Why did you start?
^^ These three kind of role into one answer for me, albeit a long rambling one
- I used to be the chief city reporter for my local paper, when I joined I was already pretty obsessed with local football. I had to cover one game as part of my logbook for my journo exams and loved it so much I started going to watch every week (Ciren Town). When I moved papers I continued to travel to Ciren and go to away matches with the team and send reports to my own sports desk. One of the Ciren lads told me that no one covered Gloucester games, I thought he was talking rubbish but after I checked up it turned out it was true so I switched teams, Gloucester were pushing for promotion at the time. It took ages to win the fans over, they were and still are suspicious of the paper.
Anyway a year later I left the paper and full time news reporting (I'm now a press officer for the NHS three days a week), the whole time I'd covered football on top of my normal (horrendous) hours for no extra pay and if anything widespread condemnation from my news colleagues (they viewed and still view the City's football team as a bit 'tinpot'), when I went they said they'd pay me to do the reports, which was fine by me.
Then they changed the paper's deadlines so match reports from a Tuesday wouldn't appear until a Thursday, the paper would only be held for the reports from the rugby club.
So I set up my own website (www.sportglos.co.uk) to fill the gaps - I got sick of hearing from other match report folk at games that their reports were being butchered or left out, so SportGlos prints whatever it is sent in full, with as many pictures as people want to send.
The blogging and opinion stuff has just kind of developed - Gloucester City could have their own soap opera what with the floods, the constant battle in the shadow of the egg-chasers, being in the North etc...and the more I find out about other teams on my travels the more I write. My personal blog is all the opinion stuff I can't put on SportGlos, I try to make SG as neutral as possible, the USP is 'non-league football in Gloucestershire,' my blog is my actual views on mainly local footballing issues and my personal experiences of football...
What makes carry on?
The stuff that makes me angry and passionate - When I was writing properly (ie as a 'news reporter') sport was a bit of an escape because I could be a bit more creative and have opinions and that hasn't changed. I've never been a 'proper' sports writer, just a fan really...
I like fighting the corner of the underdogs - like with the Almondsbury Town story which still makes me angry when I think about it or the stuff about Radio Glos and their ridiculous attitude to sports coverage which I put on my wordpress site a while ago.
What would make you stop?
I've just renewed my hosting stuff for SportGlos and I did have moments in December when there was no football and I had sod all visitors to the site when I thought 'what is the point' but then I get reports and interviews sent to me out of the blue by other people who really care about their teams and it makes it a bit worthwhile.
|
|