Soccer became a part of American history in 1609 when in the colony of Jamestown, (established by the country of Britain) started playing a game that was similar to what we now know as soccer. However, it wasn?t until 1862 that it became a sport, when Ivy League schools formed a conference. There is a controversy brewing, that it is not widespread enough to still be considered a sport.
Salisbury, a journalist writer from Pennsylvania, along with hiscolleagues believes that Soccer will never be popular enoughthroughout United States. According to a poll conducted this past yearby the sports world, Football was rated as the most popular sport inthe United States followed by Basketball, Baseball, and Soccer. Inorder for Soccer to break into the top three sports, some culturalchanges would have to take place in the United States. The SoccerIndustry Council of America had already successfully predicted that bythe end of the 1980s about 12 million Americans under the age of 19(37% of them girls) were playing organized soccer. This ranked soccerthird among all sports, behind basketball (first) and volleyball(second). Further, soccer for children under the age of 13, it rankedsecond under basketball. Before further growth and popularity ofsoccer to take a stronger hold on the youth they needed to haveprofessional role models to follow. Therefore, a professionalorganization had to be formed.
Since the early 1960's, the United States has had professional soccerleagues. There were two leagues during the 1960's however, TheNational Professional Soccer League couldn't exist on their own sothey merged with The National American Soccer League. The NationalAmerican Soccer League (NASL) was created in order to raise thepopularity of the sport in the United States. The leagues presidentCharlie Zarzour would make the major decision that affected the growthof soccer in the United States. The league recruited the elite playersfrom Europe and Africa to play and train American players. As the NASLgrew to 21 teams across the United States, attendance grew strong withan average of 15,000. A recent poll conducted this past year by FoxSports Net states that the most watched sports on television today arebasketball, football, baseball, and then soccer. This should prove toskeptics that the popularity of the sport is actually here in Americabut just over looked.
Those in attendance found it easy to learn, less injurious than U.S.football, and equally enjoyable for both boys and girls. The NASL wasrecruiting top player out of Europe to come and play for the teams inthe States. The top players in the NASL were European, but werebrought to the United States to become teachers and role models forthe youth in America. Europeans have dominated the sport of soccerhowever, Americans are making a bigger presence due to the growingpopularity of the sport in the United States. These players weresparking more interest in the youth across the states. Americans now aday are adopting soccer as sport in the United States just like golfwas adopted into the culture in the United States. An argument putforth by Salisbury, all though contradictory to his beginningstatement, stating that soccer in the U.S. is as old as baseball andis no more foreign than golf.
Soccer is not a sport were a game will end up indouble digits in scoring, although if a one-sided match occurs it ispossible. A cultural trend now a day in the United States shows that avast majority of people can not spend long periods of time sitting andwatching a game without becoming fidgety. Research done by UniversalAttention Disorders, Inc has shown that anywhere between 5 % and 15 %of the youth today have attention disorders.With the growing rate of ADD and other attention disorders, Soccerseems to be considered as impossible to watch. There is a hugecontrast of cultural differences between the youth in the UnitedStates and the youth in Europe. Europeans were not brought up aroundthe video games and explosive television shows that the youth in theUnited States thrive on. The video games and television shows createan aspect to children that sports, let alone soccer, can fulfill.
Other then the aspect of American culture, Soccer is considered torepetitive, slow to watch, and considered to be a sport that lacksskill. Soccer has other interesting aspects that add to the enjoymentof the sport. There are certain skills player's need to use to eitherkicks a ball perfectly across a 50 yard field or to slide at a playerrunning at full speed and only kicking the ball away from him withoutcolliding into the player. Soccer is also very exciting when it dealsthe skill used to beat a player one on one. There are specific campsrun today in the States teaching kids how to dribble and how to domoves to beat a player one on one. Youth in America watch And 1 MixTapes, a street basketball tape that go through inner citiesdisplaying moves, not to see the amazing amount of points scored, butto watch the moves and the skill put forth by the players. Soccer hasaspects in the game that are interesting to all people. Those who likefootball and hockey because of the hard hitting would enjoy soccerbecause of the hard physical contact and the lack of protective pads.Those who enjoy basketball for the sleek moves would also enjoy soccerfor the same reason. And for those who like baseball, well, therereally is not anything inside soccer that is like aspects of baseball.
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