The Economist is a reliably right wing rag but sometimes they do get pretty close to the truth. And in their recent edition, they categorically conclude, “It is possible that American exceptionalism may wane in the next few years, particularly if the Democrats can recapture the presidency. Unilateral action is out of fashion, thanks to the Iraq mess. But when it comes to sport, American exceptionalism looks more enduring. It is hard to imagine America’s indigenous sports being forced to cede much ground to soccer, short of a dramatic victory by the national team in July; and it is impossible for the rest of the world abandoning their beloved footballs for pigskins or baseball bats.”
Well, from today’s display, that dramatic victory ain’t happening.
And the uphill struggle to popularize soccer is as much political as the intrinsic demerits of soccer as a sport, that naysayers love to harp on. In 1986, Jack Kemp took to the floor of Congress to contrast “European socialist” soccer with “democratic” and “capitalist” American football.
More recently, the 9-11 Commission stated that one of the leading al-Qaeda terrorists was a European soccer player, prompting a blogger to point out (Michelle Malkin??), ” You don’t see any former NFL players or Major League baseball joining al- Qaeda, do you?”
“Yankee hostility to football draws on deep wells of both patriotism and populism. The history of assimilation has been one of abandoning foreign sports (primarily football) in favour of American pastimes. ”
In a reference to the ‘soccer moms’ demograph, the Economist states that “more recently, football (soccer) has become embroiled in the culture wars. The most prominent supporters of football, apart from new immigrants, are overclass parents who want their little darlings to play a civilized foreign game rather than the lumbering American performance that bears the same name.”
As Andrei Markovits, a professor (not amongst the many Andrei’s playing for the Ukraine in this World Cup), at UMich, Ann Arbor echoing European irritation with American ignorance or exceptionalism, puts it, “How dare they turn it into a women’s game! And how dare they insist on calling it “soccer”! (Andrei Markovits, Offside: Soccer and American exceptionalism).
(The Economist, June 10- 16th, 2006. Subscription required)
One comment on “The World Cup: The Economist is gloomy on the future of soccer in the US”
Seriously, the only people that care if “soccer” becomes popular in the U.S. are advertisers. People here that play and watch soccer do so because they enjoy it, those that knock it for whatever reason aren’t going to suddenly say “oh, I was wrong, soccer is a great sport!”. Sure, they’ll let their kids play, anything to get them off the tv and video games, and its great exercise, but your just not going to convince people to like soccer.
So lets get off this whole “when will soccer make it?” rant, its not constructive, and its getting old. Let those of us that care support soccer in all its forms here.
1) Go to MLS games, if you live in a city with an MLS team you should own season tickets, if you live within a few hours, try and go to at least a few games a season.
2) Coach a kids team. There are lots of “Everyone Plays” leagues, and most of them are coached by baseball dads because none of the parents know socce Donate your time to coach a kids team, get them genuinely interested in soccer, teach them the skill that they won’t get from baseball dad, and make sure they have fun!
3) Stop asking “when will soccer make it?”, and when asked, politely respond that it doesn’t matter. Soccer is not about forcing something down peoples throats, there are too many sports in this country and trying to change a national opinion on sports may be futile, but the more we do the above, the better face soccer will have and the more kids will grow up understanding the game and being able to pass that knowledge on to their kids.