[Football] Americans and 'Soccer'

[hans kraay fan club]

Don't be stupid, it's the name of the sport. Whilst soccer is indeed an English word (not an Americanism as some think) it is just the nickname for 'Association Football' as rugger is for Rugby football. Same construction. In Britain the word was used more in the past when the media was all run by Oxbrige types (as it is a snobby name invented by the Public School boys who used to play it, hence it's dislike by more ordinary fans). Nowadays it's more used by countries with more than one code of 'football' to differentiate between the sports.

Indeed. Even the IRISH call our game soccer.

 

[Simster]

Go and have a look on you tube for fans reactions to Donavan's goal against Algeria in 2010 - World Cup football is already main stream in the USA. The viewing figures in the US for Brazil are going to be insane, thanks to a favourable time difference, and the fact that baseball is the only real competition for sports eyeballs. And if the USA somehow get out of their group, expect it to be even better.

The kid doing the interviewing is a arrogant so and so.

The two kids in the Real Madrid shirts are just fools although Torres does have a chance of winning the golden boot. He won the golden boot at the last Euros.

What I'd like to see is the hours and hours of footage they filmed of people getting their questions right so they could get 5 minutes of American's chatting shit about Soccerball.

This. Utterly ridiculous, and a fairly cheap attempt to rehash the tired old cliché that Americans don't get soccer. It's bollocks. I've heard some soccerball shit talked about by people in THIS country, especially from the plastic numpty who sits next to me.

Exactly. It's no longer a question of "When the USA gets into soccer." The Seattle Sounders' average MLS attendance of 44,038 last season would have put them sixth in the Premier League, ahead of Chelsea, Sunderland, Everton, Aston Villa and Tottenham.

True, although the second highest average gate is under 25,000 - although I'm being disingenuous there because LA Galaxy were selling out 27,000 until a couple of years ago, and Portland and Toronto both have enormous waiting lists on top of their 20,000+ full houses every week, and Toronto is expanding BMO Field.

Indeed. Even the IRISH call our game soccer.

Outside of Britain, EVERY English speaking country does, not just America. It's odd how the Americans are the only ones slaughtered for doing so.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Surely a draft would only work if there's a MASSIVE overhaul of university football, with it becoming incredibly well supported? Which it won't, as the culture of supporting university sport to US levels just doesn't exist here (perhaps because we don't have student body's that are as large?)

yeah the draft system wouldn't work over here unless

a) theres a complete overhaul of the university sports system...ie offering sports scholarships...scrapping 'youth' football in favour of a high school--->university---->professional route

b) the PL becomes a closed shops with 'franchises' (eek) and the lower leagues become the 'feeder' leagues for the PL sides with a draft operating from that


either options sounds awful really

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It's bollocks. I've heard some soccerball shit talked about by people in THIS country, especially from the plastic numpty who sits next to me.

Sorry

 

[Simster]

Sorry

I did actually mean at work, but come to think of it...

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

25% of PL clubs are owned outright by an American or have a majority owner who is American. There are some aspects of the way that the big sports in the US are run that I would love to see in football here - salary caps and a draft system to name but two. If you want to properly address the parlous state of football's finances and also create a more level playing field in terms of which clubs win trophies, these two changes are, imo, the the best ways of doing so.

As I've said on another thread, part of the reason Americans like the Glazers want to own PL clubs is because we're not restricted by revenue-sharing and salary caps. British football is the sporting equivalent of the Wild West where you can make real money while the people who should regulate things (FA, Premier League, Uefa, Fifa) look the other way.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Surely a draft would only work if there's a MASSIVE overhaul of university football, with it becoming incredibly well supported? Which it won't, as the culture of supporting university sport to US levels just doesn't exist here (perhaps because we don't have student body's that are as large?)

Yes, you're right of course, if the aim is to completely replicate the US system. While I would like to see a full draft system, I do accept that a radical overhaul of the entire university system is both unlikely (!) and probably can't be justified. Perhaps some steps along that path could be taken though? A thorough review of the academy system; the transfer system for, say, U23s; and some rules about how many U23s have to start in FL and PL games, combined with much stricter FFP-like regulations with proper deterrents (points deductions?) would go some way towards the goal.

I don't claim to be an expert here. I'm just railing against a system which seems almost designed to create no proper competition at the top of our game.

 

[Shatner's Bassoon]

'Soccer' will never be as annoying as 'footy'.

 

[MattBackHome]

'footy'.

Yeah I hate that.

 

[Gritt23]

The USA will ruin football so much. We need to keep them away from it. Franchises over there are awful and we should move towards the German model with fan ownership.

Green Bay Packers.

That is all.

 

[halbpro]

Green Bay Packers.

That is all.

The Packers are literally the only example in all of American major league sports though, and current NFL rules block any other franchise using the same public ownership format (owners on all other franchises are capped at 32).

I will concede it has worked well for the team, particularly the clause that any proceeds from a sale of the team go to charity, so there's no financial incentive for shareholders to sell their shares in the franchise to new owners.

 

[Cian]

Thank Christ American's aren't into "soccer" yet - if you think the beautiful game has been ruined by money, it's nothing compared to what it'll be like when the yanks get into it.

They are quite in to it in certain regions at this stage. The MLS pay system actually hugely limits the damage money can do - I'd be very happy to see it or the Irish system (65% of turnover on salaries max - not loss/loss ratio related at all)

 

[Wellesley]

I have just seen a Justin Bieber video in which he uses the word 's****r'. In his defence the video was five years old and he has apologised, stating that he hadn't realised the power of certain words and how the could offend. (yes, I know he is Canadian.)

 

[Dan Aitch]

If you hate the Americanisation of 'soccer', then stop using 'EPL' for the Premier League, and ignore the proliferation of stats, particularly 'assists'.

Otherwise shut up.

 

[livewire11]

Brilliant!!!

 

[Easy 10]

To the guy in the black shirt: "Who's gonna win it ?"
"I'll go Brazil, they got a hot team right now. Spains kind of on the down slope, the Germans always screw up somehow"
"What do you think of the United States chances ?"
"Very slim"

- Well, nowt wrong with that, he knew his stuff. This snidey "Americans know nothing about football" is tediously snobbish. Its not a major sport over there, but its growing.

Lets see an American with a mike in Leicester Square asking us limeys about the the NFL and the World Series and see how goofy most of us look off the back of a few "obvious" questions.

 

[RexCathedra]

Soccer's like hockey here. It'll never compete with the big three plus NASCAR -- but neither will hockey.
Where it's big, it's big, though, and the people who follow it really know the game.


Everyone knows how to play it. It's easier to get up a kick-around at a school class field day than just about anything else. I haven't seen a pick-up baseball game in years and years.
What's growing fastest here in the schools, though, is lacrosse. Trendy as hell, and cutting into the numbers for high school soccer, which has long since lost any lustre it had from being foreign.

 

[Seasider78]

Was in the US earlier this year and was really impressed how much the game had grown over there and the amount of airtime given to the sport. Had a good long chat in a bar with a guy who was a American Fulham fan and knew all about our league and was surprisingly clued up on the championship and where the albion were in the division.

Say what you like about Americans but they love their sports and are embracing the beautiful game.

 

[Baldseagull]

Soccer will increase further in popularity in the States, it will surpass Rounders, Rugby with Helmets and Netball in time

 

[edna krabappel]

Didn't somebody suggest recently that the 1994 World Cup in the USA was (until that point at least) the best attended World Cup of all time?

And the USA will have the largest contingent of supporters of any country in Brazil apart from the home nation. Alright, it's a big country, but 150,000 travelling fans when the game times are all favourable enough for them to stay at home & watch on TV suggests that soccer must have some pull over there.