Why Don't I Love Soccer?

[Race Radio]

13,000,000 people in the US watched the USA-England game on TV. Add another 1-2 million in bars and that is a fair amount of fans.

 

[stephens]

For what it's worth, you can add Japan to the list of countries that call it Soccer.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

13,000,000 people in the US watched the USA-England game on TV. Add another 1-2 million in bars and that is a fair amount of fans.

We have been saturated by ads hyping this for many weeks, yes, it's a solid number, but if the antiques road show had that type of pub, they would have pulled a number like that, too.

 

[uphillstruggle]

13,000,000 people in the US watched the USA-England game on TV. Add another 1-2 million in bars and that is a fair amount of fans.

Yeah but that is around 3% of the US population whereas at a guess around 40% of the UK would have tune in for that crap excuse for a football match.

 

[Race Radio]

Yeah but that is around 3% of the US population whereas at a guess around 40% of the UK would have tune in for that crap excuse for a football match.

What else are you going to do in England?

 

[rhubroma]

Soccer is too elegant for Americans, they either like raw prepotency (NFL) or else corney, nostalgic imperialism (baseball).

In any case the origins of soccer-football go back to an ancient Roman military camp game among the soldiers, which still "lives" on today in Florence (calcio fiorentino) which has to be the most caotic, violent clash on a playing field that exists. Then the British gave it rules.

Sport reflects culture and if one is not within a certain "culture" one can "miss the point" as it has been suggested. This only reinforces America's detachment from the rest of the planet and also affirms its superpower status.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Soccer is too elegant for Americans, they either like raw prepotency (NFL) or else corney, nastalgic imperialism (baseball).

In any case the origins of soccer-football go back to an ancient Roman military camp game among the soldiers, which still "lives" on today in Florence (calcio fiorentino) which has to be the most caotic, violent clash on a playing field that exists. Then the British gave it rules.

Sport reflects culture and if one is not within a certain "culture" one can "miss the point" as it has been suggested. This only reinforces America's detachment from the rest of the planet and also affirms its superpower status.

Soccer is like watching grass grow, same for NFL (or gridiron as the aussies like to call it) and baseball. My favorite sports are hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. I guess for me they require speed, skill, strength, and toughness all in equal measure. Growing up in upstate NY USA may have molded my choices.

 

[uphillstruggle]

What else are you going to do in England?

Train in the rain. It's what gave guy's like millar their mental strength and never say die attitude.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Train in the rain. It's what gave guy's like millar their mental strength and never say die attitude.

Why does he seem to always say die at some point?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Oh, I am going to eat this thread for breakfast.

1. Soccer is a game where hardly anyone scores. There is very little action.
2. 98% of the time the players just chip the ball around backwards.
3. The players are ALL a bunch of actors and wusses! Even when they clearly don't touch the player they still roll around like they have broken their leg.
4. Their is very little physicality in the game.
5. It is a slow game.

Now don't take me wrong. I do know it is the "world game" and I have tried to appreciate as others have tried to get me into it but honestly it is so boring. I think if many of the europeans and americans saw how skilled and athletic the Australian Rules Footballers are and how fast and physical it is I think some of you would recognise what a great exciting game it is.

I watched the germany Australian game and even when germany were ripping it apart and scoring, there were still a lot of boring parts in it.

btw, it is Soccer in Aus and always will be. There are many codes of sport which can call themselves Football before Soccer can.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The NFL wants Europeans to like Am. Football so they can make more money. The American people really could care less who likes Am. Football. We love it, we don't need other people to love it to feel validated.

Yes, because Americans are often self obsessed!

Nothing. Soccer is boring as hell. The number of goals is way too low. It's like watching a porno where the actors seldom get past second base.

+1

What else are you going to do in England?

Drink!

 

[Anonymous]

There are many codes of sport which can call themselves Football before Soccer can.

name some.. football was called football long before other things called themselves football, hence why other things are not called football

In the 1300s, the king of England, Edward III, banned football, hockey, and handball. This shows a difference between sports using the feet, hands and sticks. So football was traditionally played using the feet and not the hands.

In 1863,at Cambridge University, a group of Englishmen formed the Football Association and invented the modern game of football.

After this event, many other "versions" of football were invented. Rugby and Australian rules were the first. In North America, rugby and football were both played, and a hybrid, American football, was invented.
The first sport called football with global rules is football; other sports using the term football have words placed in front such as rugby, American or Aussie Rules (Australian) or Gaelic (Irish) to differentiate them from association football.

 

[auscyclefan94]

name some.. football was called football long before other things called themselves football, hence why other things are not called football

In the 1300s, the king of England, Edward III, banned football, hockey, and handball. This shows a difference between sports using the feet, hands and sticks. So football was traditionally played using the feet and not the hands.

In 1863,at Cambridge University, a group of Englishmen formed the Football Association and invented the modern game of football.

After this event, many other "versions" of football were invented. Rugby and Australian rules were the first. In North America, rugby and football were both played, and a hybrid, American football, was invented.
The first sport called football with global rules is football; other sports using the term football have words placed in front such as rugby, American or Aussie Rules (Australian) or Gaelic (Irish) to differentiate them from association football.

Read the first part of that line. IN Australia it is and will be. We don't need your boring euro sport soccer down in Aus.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

If you don't understand football, better don't criticize it.

And the only way to fully understand football is to experience it. Go live in the UK for a year (or anywhere in Europa/africa/South-America/...), watch some games. If you love sports, you'll love football.

The thing i don't understand about american sports, is that teams can switch to another city? That would NEVER work in football.
My team is my team, and will stay my team for the rest of my life.

 

[rhubroma]

Oh, I am going to eat this thread for breakfast.

1. Soccer is a game where hardly anyone scores. There is very little action.
2. 98% of the time the players just chip the ball around backwards.
3. The players are ALL a bunch of actors and wusses! Even when they clearly don't touch the player they still roll around like they have broken their leg.
4. Their is very little physicality in the game.
5. It is a slow game.

Now don't take me wrong. I do know it is the "world game" and I have tried to appreciate as others have tried to get me into it but honestly it is so boring. I think if many of the europeans and americans saw how skilled and athletic the Australian Rules Footballers are and how fast and physical it is I think some of you would recognise what a great exciting game it is.

I watched the germany Australian game and even when germany were ripping it apart and scoring, there were still a lot of boring parts in it.

btw, it is Soccer in Aus and always will be. There are many codes of sport which can call themselves Football before Soccer can.

For the sport's fan base, which means pretty much the world, your assessment shows an utter misunderstanding of the sport.

Little physicality? The athleticism of the sport, and its elegance, is to be appreciated in how the players must resort to every means to place the ball in the net without hands. This is the challenge and the apeal.

And I'm no fan of the sport, in the sense that I don't follow it.

For many folks cycling would be categorized as like watching grass grow.

 

[craig1985]

I live in Australia and I always call it football, ever since I have been a fan of the sport and I always will do so. I just use the term 'soccer' as a generalisation.

 

[galaxy1]

hmmm... interesting.

i'm not a huge football fan but i do understand why it is so popular worldwide. one of the key reasons is accessibility. all you need is a ball, the rules are very simple, and anyone can play, in any numbers. scale it up to international level (and truly international competition has a lot of benefits for helping a sport to spread) and the game is as skilful, complex and tactically interesting as any other. "minutes to learn, a lifetime to master" is a very powerful positive for any pastime.

conversely, i have never understood how american sports got so popular (in america). to take american football as an example, you need loads of equipment and lots of people to play even a simple game, the rules are complicated, the game is very physical even with all the padding, there is no international competition, or even true local competition (the sport is a franchise business). etc. etc.
the US started with the same european heritage as everyone else, and has been in occasional contact since(!), so isolationism, mentioned in an earlier post, is not the only reason. i know the US has incredibly low rates of sport participation, which negates the "easy to play" point i suppose.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

For many folks cycling would be categorized as like watching grass grow.

Indeed. Calling it a boring sport is a strange argument, coming from a cycling lover

BTW, for once and for all:

 

[auscyclefan94]

For the sport's fan base, which means pretty much the world, your assessment shows an utter misunderstanding of the sport.

Little physicality? The athleticism of the sport, and its elegance, is to be appreciated in how the players must resort to every means to place the ball in the net without hands. This is the challenge and the apeal.

And I'm no fan of the sport, in the sense that I don't follow it.

For many folks cycling would be categorized as like watching grass grow.

Yes but it is not just in a confined area where you are watching it. You have the scenery, the people on the side of the road, etc.

 

[craig1985]

I absolutely love cricket, and loads of people will say it's boring, but then I can point out the same for cycling, so it really doesn't bother me too much.

 

[Offtheback]

Oh, I am going to eat this thread for breakfast.

1. Soccer is a game where hardly anyone scores. There is very little action.
2. 98% of the time the players just chip the ball around backwards.
3. The players are ALL a bunch of actors and wusses! Even when they clearly don't touch the player they still roll around like they have broken their leg.
4. Their is very little physicality in the game.
5. It is a slow game.

Now don't take me wrong. I do know it is the "world game" and I have tried to appreciate as others have tried to get me into it but honestly it is so boring. I think if many of the europeans and americans saw how skilled and athletic the Australian Rules Footballers are and how fast and physical it is I think some of you would recognise what a great exciting game it is.

I watched the germany Australian game and even when germany were ripping it apart and scoring, there were still a lot of boring parts in it.

btw, it is Soccer in Aus and always will be. There are many codes of sport which can call themselves Football before Soccer can.

NFL, (Formally Victorian "Football" League), bouncing the ball alternatively from one end of the oval pitch to the other and kicking the ball between mile wide posts, where you get 6 points , or 1 if you miss and you get scores of 100 odd. Riveting! No wonder 99.99% of the population aren't interested. Yeah, and I'm an Aussie.

 

[Sheltowee]

I considered putting this in the Fifa thread but I think it deserves it's own discussion. Why don't I and many of my countrymen and US neighbours like soccer? Sure, it's status is improving but it's still at best a second tier sport, MLS is struggling in several cities etc. I watched a little bit of the world cup this am and here are my impressions. There is a certain excitement watching when you know that practically every single person in the two countries involved is watching. It makes me feel like a citizen of the world instead of just a Canadian. Beyond that I find it excruciating to watch. If I see the same two guys pass the ball between each other one more time I'm gonna f***in loose it! I've heard the argument that North Americans are too in love with sports with constant action( x games, basketball etc) to enjoy the subtleties of soccer. Well I'm a fan of cycling and baseball, so that doesn't really fly. Also, I have a problem with players rolling around crying because someone tapped them in the shin; or in many cases never came close. Finally, the offside rule, at least sometimes, seems like the dumbest rule in sports. Seems like a player should be rewarded for getting in behind the oppositions defense.
Please understand that I mean none of this in an arrogant or disrespectful manner. Soccer is the #1 sport in virtually every country on the planet except ours. Only a complete jerk would suggest we're the only ones with any sense. But that said, can someone tell me WHAT AM I MISSING?

You're not missing a thing. I can't stand watching isoccer/football, but enjoy playing.. Don't care much for watching cycling either. But love participating.

 

[stephens]

I think at some level, folks saying soccer is boring is akin to saying all black people look the same or all rap music sounds the same, things that are only true to the outside who has no experience with it and therefore isn't able to identify the differences and intricacies.

Soccer is like chess. I'm sure a lot of people consider chess "boring" too because there is so little scoring. These people must see the world in a much simpler way than i happen to.

 

[auscyclefan94]

NFL, (Formally Victorian "Football" League), bouncing the ball alternatively from one end of the oval pitch to the other and kicking the ball between mile wide posts, where you get 6 points , or 1 if you miss and you get scores of 100 odd. Riveting! No wonder 99.99% of the population aren't interested. Yeah, and I'm an Aussie.

I think you mean AFL. Yes, 99% of our population aren't interested,. what a load of bull ****! A lot more riveting than soccer.

 

[RedheadDane]

BTW, for once and for all:

Oh, that is brilliant! I'm gonna use that... "So... who's your fave handegg player?"