I'm an English football fan. It is a huge part of my life, I love playing it and I enjoy watching it.
There are many things I love about football, but there are some things I do not like about it. Aside from the poor referees and Arsenal, another huge dislike for me is the word soccer. England invented the game of football, and they called it football because you kick a ball with your foot, hence—football.
So I don't understand why it is called soccer.
Of course, football is called soccer in the USA. Football is the most popular sport on the entire planet, yet in the most important country on the planet, it remains unpopular. Why?
The U.S is a nation that has provided some of the greatest sportsman ever, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, the list could go forever. However, though, you will not find any footballers in the list.
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One of the reasons football has never taken off in America is because they are not good at it. There has been no major U.S. soccer player to have played the sport. In the U.S. their most popular sport is American Football, that's because they are the best at it. The same with baseball and basketball.
I've heard many times, that in America a majority of young children all play soccer, but then as you grow older and you start to fill out and become more muscular you are encouraged to take up Amercian Football.
That's because thats where the money is in the U.S. That's what receives the most publicity and attention.
In the UK, it is every young boys dream to play in the World Cup final. I doubt that you will find any young Americans with that dream, instead their dream is to play in the Super Bowl.
Until that changes soccer will never be as big. People will always want to play in what is seen as the bigger and better sport. It will not change though, because football still does not receive as much publicity.
Many players, including the best player of all time Pele, have tried and failed to make soccer big in America. Right now David Beckham is attempting to make it big. He may succeed in getting a few extra people to play the sport, but no way near the numbers to make it their most popular sport.
Will the U.S. ever join the rest of the world and embrace football as their most popular sport?
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3 months ago
I’m a afraid I don’t agree with you. Association Football (AKA Soccer - a name coined in England) has been played in the U.S. since the 1600’s In the 1920s it was as popular as baseball. After the U.S. failed to win the World Cup in 1930 and poor promotion - football (AKA soccer) lost popularity in the U.S. and went into a “dark age”. It is again gaining popularity. The United States Soccer Federation has the most registered youth players (3.9 million) in the world, with 2.3 million male players and 1.5 million female players. Germany is second and Brazil third. There are four times as many players participating in youth soccer than in Little League Baseball. Major League Soccer has attendance has the 11th highest in the World and is rapidly growing. I currently live in Houston Texas and have attended 2 games with over 70,000 attendance. The Houston Dynamo have had sold on Robertson Stadium during the playoffs (> 32,000). When Beckham played with L.A. against New York Red Bulls last year - there were 66,000 in attendance. It’s not happening overnight but is getting there. I lived in Europe for 11 years in Italy, England and Spain. I watched many games on television and in person. Major League Soccer hasn’t reached the level of maturity of these leagues but is just as exciting. Although it's true there are a proportional greater number of boys in the U.S. at this point in time who dream of playing in the Superbowl of gridiron football, there are also many who dream of playing the World Cup final. Again, youth soccer is now the largest participate sport in the U.S. The Superbowl was copied off the success of the 1966 World Cup which was beamed by satellite for the first time around the World. At the same time - it was the 1966 World Cup which resparked the growth of the true football in the U.S. In 1967 (year of the first Superbowl) - professional soccer was reborn in the U.S. When Pele joined the North American Soccer League in 1975 there were very few American professional players. Most were at best semi-professional. The North American Soccer League failed in 1984 due to mismanagement and overexpansion but MLS came in it's heels in 1996 and is growing and has a strong fan base. The of the World Game in the U.S. is here and is continuing to grow. In order to see that soccer is actually growing in the U.S. - you have to keep this historical perspective.
3 months ago
Nice try my friend but soccer is getting big in the US. True, we are bigger than most, but that doesnt mean we're not good at the game. Everything I was gonna say has been said by Jonathan. So...there.
3 months ago
The most important country on the planet. Your modesty overwhelms me.
from 3 months ago
I'm english and i called america the most important country, so i dnt understand ur comment.
from 3 months ago
I didn't realise. Now I really think your strange.
3 months ago
You are all right , kinda. Soccer is here to stay in the USA, it WILL be as big here as it is in Europe. But the one thing it will never have is the Tradition that Euro soccer has, i.e from father to son to grandson following the same team. Every kid in Ireland (where I grew up) "follows" ttheir favorite English team with rabid passion.
MLS teams now have soccer specific stadia, the cash is being invested and the key which is the grassroots part is extremly strong. We have for the first time a generation growing up with soccer, and that my friends is the magic formula.
Ian
youth soccer coach
3 months ago
I'm english and i called america the most important country so do not understand your comment
3 months ago
I think soccer will be big here in the USA but not as big as American Football but above Hockey and we will have one of the best leagues in the world.
3 months ago
the people that are coming down on beckham for coming to america were against soccer's growth to begin with. they want beckham to fail.
3 months ago
Just because England is so big in football doesnt really mean anything. Wait... Did they get into Euro? How've they down in the recent world cups? Not to much better than the US, considering football there is life. Doesnt say much for England. But you do have some big name players right? Appearantly thats all the matters. US is coming around quicker than you think. I give it 4 more years and it'll be huge.
3 months ago
I've noticed a few things about popular sports in america: American football, baseball, Tennis, Golf,ice hockey and basketball - They like short, frequent burts of action in quick intervals. Football is a skill game and often an aatck may break down or they don't shoot when they get up there. It doesn't provide this and it is a game for people who have played the game and therefore appreciate the skill. This is where is can be saved as more and more kids are playing and hopefully they keep playing when they get older.
3 months ago
I would argue that Pele was a success as far as raising the profile of football in this country. Old NASL fans have been telling their children about the time they saw Pele and how incredible he was, and the children are growing up with a healthy interest in the game.
MLS also does some great outreach work with its MLS Futbolito competition. That isn't just some pickup game in the park, you'll get hundreds of teams at all age levels turning out at every event. I'm seeing plenty of children playing, and playing competitively. Plus, every participant gets a ticket to an upcoming MLS game. Great advertising there.
Lastly, all the immigrants in the US are helping quite a lot. Freddy Adu, Brad Guzan, Benny Feilhaber, etc. There's a long list of American players born to non-American parents. These are the players that are going to help the National Team succeed the most and that will in turn help the game as a whole in the states.
2 months ago
@Johnathon 1600's is a bit far fetched. America wasn't even founded til the 1700s. Our sports really only started a hundred years ago or so. And professional soccer was only started recently.But I believe soccer or futbol will eventually grow here. At least I hope it would because it really is a good game. But americans are attention span are really short. We've grown accustomed to watching sports with alot of timeouts and commerical breaks, that anything longer than 5 minutes of continuous action, we get bored. Futbol will never be as big though because it is not nearly as fast paced or 'entertaining' enough to watch. We watch sports because of the drama that comes with it. The chess matches that comes with every sport(Any playable sport in the world have strategies) and while we love those. We love watching people shoot quick 3's to end a game. The instant score of homeruns. The long bombs or RBs outrunning everyone to the endzone. Anything that makes you have to go step by step to score, we grow tired of because of our attention spans. Hockey, golf, and soccer apparently are from those cases. At least from looks of it. We don't really want to watch futbol because players advance the ball so far to the goal and then have it taken away and the game restarts again. Basically we pay to watch entertainment. And we have money to spend. Being the largest economic power. we tend to only watch and play sports momentarily and then we go back to making money and bitching about it.
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