Why the World Loves Soccer
Check out this month's National Geographic cover story on soccer. It features essays from different writers on their native countries' obsession with the world's most popular sport. The articles are esoteric in nature, and most of them only touch on the game itself. Instead, they look at soccer as a cultural and political force.
There is also a pretty cool pullout that serves as a guide to the upcoming World Cup.
Plus, as always, there are a lot of beautiful soccer-related photos like the one above.
posted by cvo @ 4:09 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:18 PM,
Unknown said…
For two years, when I was nine and ten years old, I played soccer for a private club. My team never won a game. I believe that on each of two occcasions, we tied the opposing team.
I attended a couple of MFC games in high school.
As a parent, I have so far put each of my three oldest children through at least two seasons of soccer. I'd say that I've now attended at least 12 child-years worth of games. A couple of years ago, I went through linesman training and have regularly been making crisp gestures with a flag along the sideline. The linesman's job is surprisingly difficult, and I worry about screwing up or looking stupid in front of the ref every time I do it, but I have to do it because I'm usually the only parent around who is willing to try hard to do a competent job.
These days, soccer for me consists of
* watching kids learn how to think as soccer players, even as they occasionally bunch up and forget to play their positions,
* talking to parents, some of whom hail from various places as Mexico, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Nebraska, but every one of whom wishes for children to have a soccer experience,
* remembering to bring snacks when appropriate,
* noticing whether the recipient of a pass was nearer the goal than the last non-goalie defender at the point in time when the pass was originated,
* trying hard to be prepared to render an instant decision as soon as the ball goes out of bounds (the hardest thing of all), and
* eating lots of pizza at the end-of-year party.
I haven't read the NG article, but I thought that I'd throw in reflections from someone in my culture.
At 12:31 PM,
cvo said…
Unlike golf, tennis, or even basketball and baseball, you only need a ball and a dirt field to start playing soccer (and sometimes kids improvise with balls made of rags or tape). That goes a long way towards explaining soccer's popularity in even the poorest and most Third World regions of the world. Funny that the world's richest country has the least amount of interest in soccer as far as sheer numbers of fans and money devoted to professional leagues.
I've always enjoyed the multiculturalism of soccer, especially when attending the World Cup. There is so much color and atmosphere in the stands that the actual game becomes almost secondary. And then of course there is the traditional trading of jerseys after the game in which sweaty men from two different countries on opposite sides of the world literally take the shirts off their backs and give them to an opposing fan as a sign of goodwill no matter the outcome of the game.
It's easily the biggest sporting event in the world, surpassing even the Olympics in size and scope and fan interest. I highly recommend it to anyone who has not been to one. The 2010 World Cup is in South Africa, so start planning now if you want to go.
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