# Why Americans don't like soccer? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 29, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111 "2011-04-29T02:39:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/141 "2011-04-30T09:26:14Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > I’m sure it makes you feel better to put words in my mouth and act as if I said them, but that’s simply delusional. No word-putting took place. That also is a delusion on your part. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/142 "2011-04-30T09:59:55Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Those comments, while occasionally couched as merely personal, subjective preferences, are actually more like definitive pronouncements about the objective nature of the game. “More like” just how, exactly? You mean, in your personal, subjective opinion? Honestly, do you really think that those of us who’ve posted silly, funny or serious criticisms of soccer are not aware that no matter how definitively we phrase it, we realize that our assessements are stricly subjective and that millions of people in the U.S. and around the globe feel differently? The OP asked why those of us who don’t like soccer don’t like, he didn’t us to prove our dislike as objective matters of objective fact. > [@mhendo](#): > > As **Mahaloth** says, the whole thing is pretty fucking ignorant and depressing. Which of course is nothing but yet another personal, subjective viewpoint…and one hardly worthy of sadness on anyone’s part. Some people like certain sports; other people don’t. Some people like certain kinds of music; others don’t. Etc., etc., ad infinitum. We’re all ignorant of far more than the most brilliant person will ever know, and there are a virtually unlimited number of things in this world to be sad over that are more worthy of the emotion than the fact that some people are dismissive of soccer. Or so it seems to me, at 4:58 a.m., on this Saturday morning, April 30, in the year 2011. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/143 "2011-04-30T10:00:11Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > As someone who loves soccer and rugby and cricket and hockey and baseball and American football, and who has strongly defended baseball and American football on these Boards against non-Americans who ridicule those sports while knowing almost nothing about them, i think it’s just as sad when Americans get all sneering and superior about soccer. And it happens plenty on this board, your apologetics notwithstanding. > > As **Mahaloth** says, the whole thing is pretty fucking ignorant and depressing. Bravo mhendo, I was reading this thread a mentally composing exactly like this, though less succinct I’m sure. There is no objective measure of “skill” or “toughness” or “boring-ness”. So it is meaningless to make comparisons. Ultimately it is very difficult to supplant a well established sport. That is probably the reason why it is hasn’t happened in the US. In the rest of the world there was less to dislodge. I think the biggest reason soccer is the worlds most popular sport is the minimal amount of manpower and equipment in order to have a meaningful experience. For soccer you need a) a round object (not even a ball) b) one person That is it, Any more: goals, more people, grass, merely adds to the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/144 "2011-04-30T11:17:56Z")
Plenty of violence in Soccer–it’s all up in the stands. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/145 "2011-04-30T12:58:53Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Hear, hear. To be fair, some people have doggedly repeated the one correct answer – that other sports got there first – And that you can’t explain the “causes” of a cultural preference. Exactly. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Which of course is nothing but yet another personal, subjective viewpoint…and one hardly worthy of sadness on anyone’s part. Some people like certain sports; other people don’t. Some people like certain kinds of music; others don’t. Etc., etc., ad infinitum. We’re all ignorant of far more than the most brilliant person will ever know, and there are a virtually unlimited number of things in this world to be sad over that are more worthy of the emotion than the fact that some people are dismissive of soccer. > . What? I mean…what? I don’t care if people are dismissive of soccer. I don’t even care about soccer. I mean…what? Huh? What are you talking about? I thought it was rather obvious that I was saddened by the negativity and ignorance on display about cultures and the sweeping generalizations people are making about America and other countries/cultures. I have no idea what thread you are reading to post that about me. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/146 "2011-04-30T13:13:14Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > A precursor of Real Madrid was largely founded by ex-pat British students and professors in the city. Barcelona’s first president and some of its players were British. Hamburger SV took up soccer when a number of Brits joined the sporting club in 1891. I’m sure there are other examples. In Souther South America, British also founded the first soccer clubs. In my country you have clubs with names such as Everton and Wanderers, which were founded by people from the islands. I bet, River Plate in Argentina has a similar story. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/147 "2011-04-30T13:20:55Z")
By the way, baseball is a very beloved game in the Caribbean and Central America, where it is as popular as soccer. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/148 "2011-04-30T15:01:46Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > By the way, baseball is a very beloved game in the Caribbean and Central America, where it is as popular as soccer. This is an interestinmg example because it’s not quite true; depending on the island, one sport is usually distinctly more popular than the other. In Cuba, the national sport is baseball. Soccer is very popular but it’s not on par with baseball. In the Dominican Republic, again, it’s baseball… but on the other side of the same island, in Haiti, it’s soccer. In Jamaica baseball isn’t nearly as popular as soccer but the real national obsession would be either cricket or track; in Jamaica, high school track meets draw thousands of paying customers. You could say this is a divide between Spanish places and everyone else, but then why is soccer more popular in many Hispanic countries than baseball? It’s simply history. Soccer’s lack of spectator popularity in America has nothing to do with the nature of the sport. It has nothing to do with television - that’s one of the most cart-before-the-horse arguments I have ever read on the SDMB. It’s simply that soccer came to the USA too late to get its niche. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/149 "2011-04-30T15:59:30Z")
LOL, i’d be a soccer fan too if my favorite football team was the Saskatchewan Roughriders! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/150 "2011-04-30T17:05:39Z")
Huh, now pinguin is banned. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/151 "2011-04-30T17:50:58Z")
Besides the fact that it’s cool, why did he do that? Why take the risk on an otherwise easy block? I bet he’d have felt pretty dumb if he missed and the ball scored. Edit: that was in response to Pinguin’s video. Now I see he’s banned. I guess I’ll never know the answer. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/152 "2011-04-30T17:54:18Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Huh, now pinguin is banned. He had it coming. [Here’s the announcement](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606752). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/153 "2011-04-30T18:13:10Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > Besides the fact that it’s cool, why did he do that? Why take the risk on an otherwise easy block? I bet he’d have felt pretty dumb if he missed and the ball scored. > > Edit: that was in response to Pinguin’s video. Now I see he’s banned. I guess I’ll never know the answer. Assuming you mean the “scorpion kick” video, it’s a party piece move of the goalkeeper, Rene Higuita. In this case, the whistle had already blown for offside, so if the ball had gone in, it wouldn’t have counted. He heard the whistle, and decided to pull of his move for fun. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/154 "2011-04-30T18:22:08Z")
Missed the edit window, but here’s an explanation… [http://www.suite101.com/content/the-rene-higuita-scorpion-kick-save-a153726](http://www.suite101.com/content/the-rene-higuita-scorpion-kick-save-a153726) I’m not 100% sure that the ref had blown the whistle, but that’s what I read. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/155 "2011-04-30T22:38:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I have no idea what thread you are reading to post that about me. Me neither. I was talking to **mhendo**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/156 "2011-05-01T00:05:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Me neither. I was talking to **mhendo**. 😉 Oh, well, we do both have “m’s” starting our name. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/157 "2011-05-01T00:07:24Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > He had it coming. [Here’s the announcement](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606752). Wow, thanks for that link. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/158 "2011-05-01T01:18:51Z")
> [@pinguin](#): > > Why do you think? > > Some of my hypothesis: > > (1) Because they consider it a game for women. > > (2) Because Americans never win at soccer, so they don’t want to be defeated.. > > (3) Because it is a real team game and Americans are too individualistics > > (4) Because it lacks lot of equipment and Americans like sports with a lot of protections, hard hats, etc. > > (5) Because it is too boring, not many goals on it. > > (6) Because it is played by normal people, unlike most of American games that are for tall or oversized peoples. > > (7) Because is not violent, in general. (Not much on the field, at least; the public is other story) > > Yours oppinions? Now that I’ve answered your questions as best I can, I wonder if I’m just being sensitive that many of your proposed reasons given above are, at best condescending and some border on insult. I’m sure that was unintentional. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/159 "2011-05-01T01:28:40Z")
_Reads the posts at the top of this page._ Oh. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111/160 "2011-05-01T01:39:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > This is an interestinmg example because it’s not quite true; depending on the island, one sport is usually distinctly more popular than the other. > > In Cuba, the national sport is baseball. Soccer is very popular but it’s not on par with baseball. In the Dominican Republic, again, it’s baseball… but on the other side of the same island, in Haiti, it’s soccer. In Jamaica baseball isn’t nearly as popular as soccer but the real national obsession would be either cricket or track; in Jamaica, high school track meets draw thousands of paying customers. > > You could say this is a divide between Spanish places and everyone else, but then why is soccer more popular in many Hispanic countries than baseball? The reason for this divide has a lot to do with the degree of American influence and military intervention in these countries. If you look at the history of the Caribbean and Latin American countries where baseball is popular, you’ll often find at least one incident of American military intervention. This is because where American troops went, they took along baseball which was soon picked up by people whose country or colony they invaded. The one notable exception to this is Haiti (which used to be one of the largest manufacturers of baseballs). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-americans-dont-like-soccer/580111.md?page=9)