I grew up without the internet, my childhood and early teens consisted of reading newspapers/magazines, watching teletext and listening to radio to get all my football news. It was never enough.

My generation would be the last that would need to depend on things like World Soccer magazine to find out results from the leagues in Europe or further afield.

Now we have the internet and with that comes online betting, social media and of course blogs like this one. That means the average football fan can now keep right up to date with all the football news they want and with smart mobile devices they can do it whenever they want and wherever they are!

Online betting is a huge business these days and has done a lot to bring fans to new footballing markets.

NetBet offers the best football betting odds and live betting whether that involves the Turkish Super Lig or a game in Brazil between Friburguense and Fluminese. It’s a way for fans to interact and watch out for games in leagues that they desire, which may not involve the same old European powerhouses that crowd our usual TV schedules.

With more betting enthusiasts and fans wanting as much information as they can possibly handle. we’ve seen a growth in new age media. For example websites such as Goal.com have a whole host of editions covering every corner of the globe, giving the average fan all the latest footballing news.

The modern phenomenon of the niche blog or website is a great resource tool too. Belgofoot is there to give unique insight into the Belgian league, while SBNation will give you all the information you need on Major League Soccer.

Then you have social media outlets such as Twitter. All the big football stories break on Twitter these days and all major football journalists are on there leaking snippets of team news or the latest transfer gossip all the time. It simply gets the news out quicker and to a huge audience.

Then you have Youtube. On there you’ll see the rising stars from around the world. You’ll see all the best skills, goals and tackles. It helps fans see a new signing and what they are capable of.

Now I know smaller clubs look at the internet with fear as they think it can drive people away from going to games. Why would you need to go to a match and brave the winter weather, when you can get mobile alerts sent straight to your phone?

Well I believe that the one thing the internet cannot do is recreate the excitement that you get with a live atmosphere. The joy  that goes through your body when your star striker scorer a late winner while you are in the stands can’t be replicated on a computer.

The internet allows us to interact more with the game. We can get money back from it with online betting, we can hear new voices discussing the game or we can make friends with fellow supporters through the medium of Twitter.

That’s why football and the internet work so well together.

Posted on March 1st, 2016 by scott
Filed under: *New, Article