The problem is that at the highest level a pitch must be exactly 75 yards in width and also artificial turf is banned.
When they first got together in 1997 Victoria Adams (as she was then) was more famous than David Beckham and they enjoyed pretty much equal profiles when they got married in 1999, though ever since the early 2000’s David Beckham has definitely been the one with a higher profile.
The issue here is long-term damage. Professional soccer hasn’t seen the problems arise on the same scale in former players and where they have arisen they have usually been associated with the old-style heavy lace-up footballs which haven’t been in use for many years.
If you can sit there and tell me every soccer field everywhere is exactly 75 yards in width, then we can agree that US high school would be severely lacking in some way by converting football fields that are only 60-75 yards across.
Unfortunately, it appears that the problem is damage from sub-concussive blows that accumulate, leading to long-term effects. A recent study showed that elite soccer players with no history of concussion had changes in the white-matter of the brain as compared to swimmers (ref). However, other than a few case studies (e.g., Paul Gascoigne) there are yet to be former soccer players with dementia consistent with CTE.
Helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures, but do not decrease translational force or rotational force sustained in collisions.
Every soccer pitch used in the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, La Liga and probably a few of the other top leagues is in theory exactly 68 metres in width (so actually 75 yards isn’t quite right, more like 74.3 yards). There is some room (down to about 70 yards) in the regulations for exception due to stadium construction.
I’m not saying that american football stadiums can’t be perfectly good dual-use soccer stadiums, but an american football stadium won’t automatically be ideal if it can’t accommodate a wider pitch or uses artificial grass.
Paul Gascoigne was not the most stable personality to begin with and chronic alcholism and drug use are almost certainly the major factors in his mental illness.
Yes, but are not nearly all MLS stadiums either soccer specific or built with dual use in mind? I don’t think stadium size is a major impediment to soccer in the US, it has plenty of stadiums that are close enough the highest international standards for soccer stadiums and at lower levels pitch size doesn’t matter quite as much. I’m just pointing out that an average american football stadium is not automatically equipped to host high-level competitive soccer.
That’s my point. The US is huge. We have a lot of stadiums here. If you have even a middlingly popular team and you want your own stadium, it’ll get built. So all the MLS teams are in purpose-built stadiums designed for soccer. Field size is not a problem for the US soccer movement. Never has been, never will be. So why it was brought up at all (and then defended by a few unrelated people) is baffling to me.
I don’t know about that. Unlike American football (which is played in nearly all types of weather short of a hurricane or blizzard with 6 inch visibility), soccer depends on the weather being at least somewhat tolerable for fans and players. A season lasting from September to March includes the most inclement months in most parts of the US and Canada. I can’t imagine a match being held, for example, in January “on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.”
Soccer is traditionally an all-weather winter sport, there’s an orange ball for playing in snow for example. Obviously in places like Norway, Sweden and Russia a summer schedule is preferred to a winter schedule, that said as FIFA drives towards a universal Winter schedule, even the Russian Premier League will be now run from Autumn to Spring.
MLS could be played from September to March, but whether its better than the current schedule is the real argument.
One thing I wonder about american football is stagnation. Obviously its been around for a while and by attendances and TV ratings is still in rude health, but it’s also pretty insular without much outside reference. Has the game evolved much tactically, strategically or technically in the last few years or is a fairly conservative sport in terms of style of play?
If they’re thinking about playing soccer in the middle of winter in Russia, they’re obviously going to have to change the uniforms. I hope they don’t expect the players to go out −15 °F / −26 °C weather clad in only the shirts and shorts that were shown in your linked photo.
They already do play (a few) matches in the Russian winter as when Russian teams qualify for European competitions some of the games may be scheduled in the winter. UEFA rules state that teams can choose to cancel matches if it is below -15 °C (5 °F) and a few matches have been played near this temperature recently (when FC Kazan played FC Twente of Holland it was officially 14.9 °C). Teams wear the same uniforms whatever the weather, but a lot of players would choose to wear gloves, a thermal undervest, thermal leggings and even hats and neckwarmers in addition in such weather.
A couple of years ago FC Tom Tomsk of Siberia stated that they were trying to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. If that had happened I’d guess they might’ve had to play their home games somewhere else.
Er no. The game is developing nicely in the US and it is already the World’s most popular sport. It will continue to grow in the US to become the fourth or fifth biggest sport. Interest in the best EU leagues will also continue to grow.
Back to American Football, any thoughts on how the lawsuits will go?
