"I love soccer. That's all I ever watch. I'll watch it all day if I can. But I'm too bloody old to play now"
About this Quote
Then comes the punch of mortality: "too bloody old to play now". The swear works like a shrug and a wince at once, a bit of British grit that refuses sentimentality. The subtext is not just aging; it's the familiar creative-person dilemma of watching a craft you once lived in your body. For musicians, the stage can extend youth artificially; the body gets punished but the persona stays loud. Soccer doesn't give you that loophole. It draws a hard line between participation and spectatorship, between being inside the game and orbiting it.
Context matters, too: Butler is a working-class Birmingham guy, and soccer is the local civic religion. The quote taps into a specifically English idea of loyalty and routine, where loving the sport is as normal as tea, and losing the ability to play is one more ordinary indignity. In a culture obsessed with staying "forever young", his honesty lands because it doesn't sell reinvention. It just admits the trade: you keep the passion, you surrender the legs.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Butler, Geezer. (n.d.). I love soccer. That's all I ever watch. I'll watch it all day if I can. But I'm too bloody old to play now. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-soccer-thats-all-i-ever-watch-ill-watch-it-111067/
Chicago Style
Butler, Geezer. "I love soccer. That's all I ever watch. I'll watch it all day if I can. But I'm too bloody old to play now." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-soccer-thats-all-i-ever-watch-ill-watch-it-111067/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I love soccer. That's all I ever watch. I'll watch it all day if I can. But I'm too bloody old to play now." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-soccer-thats-all-i-ever-watch-ill-watch-it-111067/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.








