After seeing how extensive the 2010 World Cup thread was I started wondering why CF doesn't have a sub-forum for international soccer similar to the Astros/Texans/Dynamo thread. I'm trying to see both sides of the issue though so here are some reasons for and against creating the forum: Reasons to create the forum 1) As stated before, the 2010 World Cup thread was practically endless; clearly interest exists within CF. Creating a forum would be a great place for people to discuss various newsworthy events, transfers, major tournaments etc... It would also give a home to random other soccer-related threads that currently exist in the Hangout. 2) This would add another facet to CF, potentially bringing in new members who would (hopefully) make contributions to the tip jar. 3) Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think soccer's growing in popularity in the states and CF could increase its popularity as a BBS by taking advantage of this. Reasons to not create the forum 1) I misjudged the level of CF members' interest and soccer's just not popular enough to warrant it's own sub-forum. 2) We don't need another GARM - With an almost endless season full of transfers, speculation could run rampant causing a repeat of the many threads that popped up speculating about player movement. While these threads can be an entertaining enough way to pass the off-season they usually tended to spiral downwards into becoming personal attacks between members. 3) Bandwith/Moderating issues - I don't know anything about the technical aspects of running a site like this so I'm not really clear as to what the effects of adding another forum to it would be. It may very well be that the time/effort to run and moderate the site are excessive as is. I realise there are other reasons for/against I just wanted to highlight a few. Personally speaking I'm a huge fan of CF and soccer and think it would be great to have a place to discuss soccer without having to go to a different board. Clutch what are your thoughts? Would this be a possibility?
Why not just create a thread in the Hangout called International Soccer and bump it to talk about international soccer related topics, games, etc...? I highly doubt there is enough interest in soccer to warrant a dedicated forum. Dynamo threads rarely make it past the first page. That's not int'l soccer but it should give you an idea of the level of interest. People use the Hangout to talk about college football, tennis tournaments, hockey, etc... and it seems to work just fine. It worked well for the World Cup, too.
I think this could work but it would have to be a Sticky. R2K? Clutchcrew? can you help us make a sticky? You said Dynamo interest. Interest in International soccer is far most prevalent on the board. Look at the "what team would you want to own" thread. I agree with the World cup analogy but I think the sticky at least helps get it started so it doesn't just get lost in the forum.
A sticky should probably be reserved for something that is of interest to the majority of members, which isn't the case with anything related to soccer. For the 0.01% of CFs that would likely post in that thread, just add it as a favorite so you can get to it without using the search function.
There have been threads for EPL/Champions League in the past that were just bumped every so often and that worked well. An entire forum seems like overkill. I think there has been talk about making an "Other Sports" forum which would be a good solution.
this and this I don't make final decisions, so while it isn't up to me, there have been several requests for a sub-forum dedicated to lesser followed sports and they haven't been granted, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a soccer forum. Just do as BB suggested and bring up the thread when you have something to say about International Soccer.
Yeah I wasn't really expecting it to happen just wanted to see what the possibility was. Given the relative lack of responses to this I definitely misjudged the interest level. I also thought about it some more and if a request like this was granted then it would probably lead to requests for individual forums for other sports like tennis, golf etc... An "Other Sports" forum seems much reasonable, any shot at that?
I like the idea of just a general misc. other sports forums... But I would settle for the idea of just splitting up the Texans/Astros/Dynamo forum into 3 separate forums for Texans/NFL, Astros/MLB, and Dynamo/Soccer.
I said it once and I'll say it again......Only teams that deserve their own subforums are the ones who have won a championship in their respective leagues: Rockets and Dynamo. :grin: I wish this was also applied to approving stadiums/arenas. God knows why the Astros get their own ballpark before Rockets. (ya I know it's about money)
Maybe I'm missing something, but as it's neither Houston, nor Basketball, I just don't see this happening... The only non-basketball/houston forums created so far (D&D and Fantasy Ball) were done more to remove the political and fantasy wienies from the hangout then out of reverence for their particular interests. Us soccer guys are easy enough to ignore.
Houston Sports Section changed to Other Sports Section: then broken into 2 sub sections Local Houston Sports Teams General Sports Outside of Houston
Ugh, you've got to be kidding me. Clearly interest exists in the sex lives of barely legal kids. And photos of scantily clad women. Maybe we should have a Conquest Forum and a Babe Forum too... at least those are American and not about some foreign invasive like (shudder) soccer, which happens to be more boring than Ultimate Frisbee. I'd rather learn the metric system than have to look at the title of a soccer forum every day.
Considering the Dynamo, Texans, and Astros do not have their own I think this would be hard to justify. I think a stickied thread in the hangout would be more than enough
I would prefer an NFL subforum first than a soccer subforum People will be more interested in a NFL subforum than in a soccer one. I would like to see a subforum like the NBA Dish, but about the NFL (not including the texans) Outside the world cup there is no much interest in soccer, and there are threads for the international soccer tournaments. And the sports team you wanted to own, people went to soccer, because its where the money is (Manchester Utd, Barcelona, etc) But the idea of having a subforum for other sports seems good.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure a sticky thread for European league soccer, particularly the EPL, would be pretty popular. There's lots of good subject matter that goes undiscussed because either there is no thread or specific threads that are started are bound to get lost quickly in the jungle that is the Hangout. For instance, I'm sure there are a fair number of people who have had opinions one way or another about the ongoing Arsenal versus Barca Fabregas saga, but no thread -- just a few posts in the world cup thread that eventually fell off the front page. Chicharito getting signed by ManU, Chelsea trying to pry Torres away from Liverpool, Henry to New York, etc. etc... there's plenty of discussion material and the season hasn't even started. I say at least give the sticky a shot. If it fails to gather legs as the season begins then unsticky it.
