When soccer players flop down onto the turf and seem to exaggerate injury in widely televised international matches, it draws the ire of the social media world — and brings more hate on a sport that already seems to draw the most hate of all.
Commentary on this summer’s Euro Cup, and on international soccer in general, seem just as centered on evaluating the legitimacy of the sport and how tough or entertaining it might be, than the specifics of the teams or matches at hand. Contrast it with commentary on American football, which rarely centers on whether NFL games are interesting to watch (they’re not, in my opinion), and is more about elements like concussion and illegal-contact rules.
No other sport seems to draw this kind of wrath from detractors. Millions of people who don’t find curling, downhill skiing or motocross very interesting — particularly when it comes to TV viewing — yet there is little outcry during the rare moments these sports get their moments of exposure every few years, such as during the Olympic Games.
Even sports that are popular nearly everywhere but the U.S., such as cricket, gain no haters here. Hardly any Americans talks about cricket as not requiring the strength, speed or coordination needed to play a “real” sport, such as football, basketball or hockey. NBA fans seem to look at me like I’m from another planet when I point out all the flopping and foul-fakery in basketball — especially at the pro level.
College has its share of flops as well, but there is nobility there in enduring hard contact, whereas millionaire NBA players seem to avoid hard fouls, both on offense and defense. No, the NBA doesn’t get the kind of criticism soccer receives.
This is partly due to ignorance — Americans, save for those who follow the game closely, rarely learn enough about soccer to know the difference between MLS, international and European styles of play and officiating — and partly due to a often-unspoken idea that soccer isn’t American enough. Apparently, millions of children, teenagers and adults playing soccer on a weekly basis isn’t enough to convince Americans the sport is here to stay.
Maybe, as more and more Americans experience soccer the way I have, it will seem more germane to the nation.
I played a couple of years of youth soccer in my last years of elementary school, while was following a local team, the Washington Diplomats. My divorced parents simply ran out of time and resources to run me to matches, and my younger siblings’ activities took priority.
I finished my bachelor’s a degree at the University of New Mexico — just as the Lobo men’s soccer team was rising to national prominence. In 2005, the Lobos hosted three NCAA tournament matches — the last one vaulting them to their first College Cup.
If you’re not a soccer fan, being at your alma mater as the crowd rushes the field will certainly help you love the sport.
I haven’t talked to a single person who was there that night who didn’t become more of a soccer fan — although there were plenty of people there who had experienced the sport as a lifelong passion in the first place.
Any sport that has its own terms like “match” and “pitch” doesn’t fit the mold of American sports, and must market itself in aggressive-yet-conventional ways. Not everyone is going to be exposed firsthand to the kind of soccer experience — less “flopping” and more personal connections to players and teams are the kinds of things that will help the sport escape its most-hated status.
Contact Jason W. Brooks
at jbrooks@newtondailynews.com