Why the USA has failed at soccer.
As we have discussed in class, soccer has deep roots in American sports. But in a more modern sense, soccer has a reputation as a sport played by “grass fairies.” But why is this? Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but in America it may be classified as the 5th most popular, or even lower.
For the past four years, I have been following European and American soccer teams on a near religious level. There are HUGE differences in the style and structure of soccer in America and Europe. For the most part, all the European leagues follow the same rules, but Major League Soccer, the US league, has rule like no other league in the world.
First we will explore players between leagues. In Europe, players are traded, sold, and bought from other teams like the MLS, and free agency is also the same. Trading deadlines are similar to the transfer windows between the two league styles. But what the MLS has is a draft. A very “American” sports tradition, the MLS draft is how teams obtain new young talent. Most Europeans, at least from what I have read and seen on TV, laugh off this idea. In Europe, nearly every club team has what’s called a “Youth team.” This youth team is made of 11 to 18 year old kids who play football more as a fun sport, but some of the bigger clubs, take youth teams very seriously. Because the talent can be harder to see at a young age, if a team can see the talent early enough, then the payoff will be higher. Drafts aren’t a bad idea, but it almost promotes losing. Now hear me out. How does it make sense for the worst team of a league be able to get the most “talented” player of a draft, it’s just never made sense to me.
Another thing to look at is the league structure. In all European leagues, after a season is over, the bottom 2 to 4 teams are relegated to a lower league. Similar to the Minor leagues in baseball and hockey, but US sports don’t have a relegation system, because of the lack of teams for multiple levels of leagues. The MLS barely has enough teams to support a full league, so I have to cut them some slack for this reason.
In Europe, football is sometimes considered a “sexy” sport. With high profile players, speed, agility, and fancy footwork seem to dominate the game’s tactics. I think the US plays a more enjoyable football. There a few superstars, but mainly there are just some young players trying to make a name for themselves. Its not about the money with MLS players, its about pride.
Secondly we can look at the other sports played around the world. In America we have the big 4 sports; baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. In Europe, the Soccer is the top sport. But basketball, rugby, cycling, and Formula One racing are all second sports due to the large following of soccer. When we discussed in class about why nearly every one of us played soccer as a kid, was because it was the most available sport to play. Despite a huge drop in popularity, the United States has more numbers of youth soccer players than any other country. But because more sports become available to play as kids grow older, soccer is usually abandoned to play other sports like football or basketball.
I think regional has another thing to do with soccer’s success. In all US professional sports, teams are allocated by the economic market they might succeed in, or by the private investor who wishes to own a team. In Europe, nearly all the teams were once founded by small local groups, and some built their way up into being the giants we see today. England alone has over 7,000 teams in their 24 level, 480 divisions of soccer. That’s right, I know its Wikipedia, but this explains it best. (My jaw really dropped when I saw this.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system
Part of me wants to say that the opportunity to play other types of sports is the reason why soccer isn’t as loved in America. But part of me thinks that it is because soccer is not American. Soccer was created by the Britain’s in the 1800s. I still think by then the American mentality by our newly founded country was to not act like the British. It seems like our nature is to not do what the rest of the world does, but that we should play the sports that we want to play. Many people consider soccer a “foreign game.” A term I consider unfair to the sport.
But this actually gives me hope that soccer will become a bigger sport in the US. The United States hosts the best sports leagues for baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey in the world. And you might also add NASCAR to that list for arguments sake. But soccer is left out of the equation. The United States has won some sort of international title is hockey, baseball, and basketball. (American Football is not an internal sport to the extent of internal competition.) Soccer is left out of our trophy case. The US Women’s national soccer team has won 3 Olympic gold medals as well as two Women’s World Cups.
The Men’s national team has not had the same success. They did finish 3rd in the 1930 World Cup, but that can’t be good enough. I personally think that the US has a shot to win the F.I.F.A World Cup in South Africa this summer. The US beat Spain in the Confederations Cup this past summer, and they were ranked #1 in the world. I’m not saying that we are guaranteed to win the World Cup, but it seems that the World Cup would be the last trophy the USA would need to complete the collection. Soccer is the final frontier for American Sports. If we can learn some methods of our European counterparts, maybe we can become reputable in this sport.
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I agree that one of the major reasons why many Americans stop playing soccer is because of the many other sports that become available as they get older. I did not play soccer as a child, but many of my friends played when they were younger. However, most of them stopped playing as they got older because they became interested in other sports that became available to them, including baseball, basketball, and football.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post about the state of soccer in the U.S. You make many valid points about why the sport has largely failed to become highly regarded in this part of the world. Also, a lack of consistent media coverage can play a part in how our society views the game of soccer.
ReplyDeleteIt appears as though there is not enough glamor in the sport to gain traction in the states. Personally, I enjoy watching the teams from the English Premier League, and the points you made about the differences in the U.S. style of play versus the European style of play are spot on. I believe that even a casual viewer can easily notice the disparity in the level of competition when watching the MLS teams compared to the EPL clubs.
Another potential argument is that in some of the European and African nations, football (soccer) is all they have in terms of a sporting outlet. Whether it is because of cost -- soccer is a relatively inexpensive sport to play -- or developmental programs, other countries tend to have the advantage over the U.S. when it is time for International play.
However, this could all change over the summer if the U.S.A. has a strong showing at the World Cup in South Africa.
We shall see.
Brendan- Excellent Post! You really gave a lot of great information looking into the similarities and differences in the worlds of soccer. In your first paragraph you used the term “Grass Fairies,” I have heard this word my whole life. I had always tried to defend the sport I loved playing, but then I realized that the people that were saying it (usually the football players) had no idea what they were talking about. People who ‘dis’ the sport don’t understand it in my opinion. And to compensate for their lack of knowledge, instead of keeping their mouth shut, they use defamation to the sport.
ReplyDeleteAnother great point is that soccer was not Made-in-America. With the game originating in Europe, it gave American’s a reason to try to break away. This mirrors the history of America wanting to be independent from its Europe rulers. Possibly one of the cultural reasons soccer hasn’t stuck. My opinion is that soccer will grow in interest of Americans with the right exposure; the question is when…
Soccer as a sport played by "grass fairies?" That is an interesting concept. I do agree that one reason soccer is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in the rest of the world (at least among men's teams) is because it is perceived as being "foreign." And that was surely a reason for turning to other sports--because soccer (or futbol) was linked to the British. I am really amazed that you think the U.S. might have a shot of winning the World Cup in South Africa. I wonder what that would do to the popularity of soccer in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThis is an outstanding post!