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Is World Cup soccer socialist?

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by

mwkruse
in ,

Christian Science Monitor: Is World Cup soccer socialist?

No, and Americans — especially conservatives — should embrace soccer as a democratic and meritocratic game.  …

… At a deeper level, many Americans – especially conservatives – resent having soccer foisted upon them. Glenn Beck rants, “We don’t want the Word Cup, we don’t like the World Cup, we don’t like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.” The late Jack Kemp even opposed a congressional resolution supporting US efforts to host the 1994 World Cup, stating, “a distinction should be made that football is democratic, capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist [sport].”

But soccer has plenty to offer Americans of all political stripes. For one, when you take in a soccer match, though goals may be scarce, you’ll be watching 90 minutes of almost nonstop action (not commercials!).

Let’s compare that with America’s favorite spectator sport, professional football. According to a Wall Street Journal study, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL games is less than 11 minutes. The remainder of the 174 minutes that make-up a typical broadcast are filled with images of players huddling and milling around, images of coaches and referees and, of course, commercials. …

… For conservative hold-outs, soccer may be the most capitalist game going. In most American sports leagues, failure is rewarded as the worst teams get the best shots at the top draft picks, and most leagues have revenue sharing and salary caps to spread the wealth around.

In contrast, the free market reins in most European soccer leagues. Teams that finish last must move to a lower division the following year, while the best of the lower divisions move up. It’s the ultimate meritocracy. …

… America’s ambivalence toward soccer probably has less to do with politics or lack of scoring than with our already saturated sports market. But we are a sports-loving nation. And as our exposure to soccer continues, I believe we’ll find room for one more sport to love.

Comments

4 responses to “Is World Cup soccer socialist?”

  1. ZZMike Avatar
    ZZMike

    “… you’ll be watching 90 minutes of almost nonstop action (not commercials!).”
    And 90 minutes of uninterrupted vuvuzela noise.
    It does seem odd that after 4 or 5 fays of play, the winning team is decided by a 1 – 0 score.
    “… ball is in play on the field during an NFL games is less than 11 minutes”
    That’s on a par with baseball, golf, and professional grass-growing.
    The thing about soccer is that it’s really international (unlike the World Series), which makes for diversity, which is the liberal’s rallying-cry.
    On the minus side, we get a Wold Cup every 4 years [?], while here in the civilized sports world, hardly a day goes by without nail-biting competition over baseballs, footballs, basketballs, and occasionally hockey pucks.

    Reply
  2. David Avatar
    David

    I too believe it will take some time for the US to warm up to soccer. But the younger generations are growing up with the game as did my boys. So in a generation it will become embraced here in the US as well as our other team sports.
    As far as the political thing…whoever posed that question needs to get a real job……

    Reply
  3. phil_style Avatar
    phil_style

    zzMike,
    World cups might only be once every four years, but that’s not to say there isn’t nail-biting competition in almost every nation, almost every week of the year. In fact, football (soccer) has numerous club competitions as nail biting and competitive as, say the World Series.
    Michael,
    You’re right that football is a meritocracy. The draft and franchise based system looks far more socialist than footballs’ market transfer and relegation/promotion systems. If a team comes last in most club soccer competitions they get kicked out of the league! I can’t see that happening in the NFL for example.

    Reply
  4. ZZMike Avatar
    ZZMike

    David:
    “I too believe it will take some time for the US to warm up to soccer.”
    It might not take all that long. Almost everyday at local parks in this city – and I don’t think we’re unique – kids are playing soccer.
    One of our neighbors is a holdout – I saw him playing catch with his son the other day. It’s OK, though, he’ll be assimilated.
    Phil: Your note on the meritocracy (or socialism) of football clicked with something I read the other day:
    “A game called football was invented about 1870 to provide healthful physical exersise for the undergraduates on bright autumn afternoons.
    Seventy years later the undergraduates who needed exercise most were seated in the stands of a city baseball park on Friday night, with their flasks and their coeds, while on the grass (or mud) below, the undergraduates who needed exercise least pushed each other about under the floodlights.”
    Carroll Quigley, “The Evolution of Civilizations” (1961, 1979), p.111-112
    He goes on to talk about how the game evolved from informal games between groups from one college, to building the first stadium in 1903. Night games started in the 1930s, so that working people could attend. Then they made the ball smaller, to encourage passing over kicking.
    He’s talking about how instruments (early football, Roman cavalry, medieval knights, the bayonet charge in war) become institutionalized – that is, become something apart from their original purpose (and in the last examples, unlikely to change – leading to disaster in warfare.

    Reply

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