It’s funny. My daugher is very sports-involved. Plays soccer, softball, volleyball. Wants to play (american) football when she hits HS - YIKES!! but is not interested in watching women play any of same. We live near a university with a good womens’ sports program, but the only thing she will attend is MEN’S football. And watch the nfl on TV.
Go Bears!
I was outraged and offended when I first read the OP too, until I realised that if I still lived in the US I’d have pretty much the same reaction if the NFL folded. Selfish? Absolutely. Xenophobic? Not necessarily at all.
As a fan I’m saddened, as the father of a player I’m heartbroken. My daughter and I have the schedule stuck to the fridge and the TIVO set to record the first match (she has a game at the same time) we have lost some really good bonding time. She’s 11 and soccer(football) is a major part of her life and so a large part of mine as well.
I’ve never understood the appeal of soccer, but that’s neither here nor there. I’ve already had this argument with lots of people- I’ve never persuaded a European that baseball is interesting, they’ve never convinced me that soccer is exciting. So, there’s no point fighting over this. Best we all agree to enjoy our favorite silly sports, and let other people enjoy THEIR favorite silly sports.
Do I get any enjoyment of seeing women’s pro soccer fold in the USA? No- but I WILL get a kick out of something that’s bound to happen over the next few days.
American newspapers and TV networks have completely ignored the WUSA for its entire short existence. They rarely bothered to cover the games at all. But now that the league has folded, watch all the sports columnists and commentators shedding crocodile tears! We’ll be treated to hundreds of columns and TV editorials about how tragic this is- even though the reporters doing the weeping NEVER showed the slightest interest in the WUSA while it was a going concern!
We’ll be treated to a similar show of false grief when David Stern gets tired of propping up the moribund WNBA.
That does kind of surprise me. The Norwegians have had such strong Women’s World Cup teams that I thought perhaps that country was a hotbed.
VenusProbe, just to be clear the Women’s World Cup is still on; I think that there is even a later round game scheduled in Portland, IIRC. Maybe you could make it down? So don’t throw out the TV schedule if that’s what you’re referring to. Just the women’s pro league has gone belly up; the sport will persist, particularly with kids in that age group.
I personally don’t think it has anything in particular to do with soccer/football, but rather the perception that women’s sports are sub-par when compared to men’s sports. Oddly enough, soccer/football is one of the few where the women’s brand of the game can be just as exciting as the men’s.
I think the World Cup will still go on–it’s just the league that’s gone. Just like how we almost always had a US men’s national team even when we didn’t have a league.
I agree that the names are pretty stupid, but that seems to be a feature of new teams, no matter what league they’re in. [aside: Whatever happened to the days when teams were named after quantifiable objects/personages instead of vague concepts? Now we have teams like the Orlando “Magic,” the Colorado “Avalanche,” the Dallas “Burn.” I don’t understand this trend at all.]
I never watched the women’s league, or the MLS for that matter (I prefer the English Premiership). So I guess the disbanding of the WUSA shouldn’t affect me like, say, the disbanding of the English league would.
Still, I couldn’t gloat over the demise of any professional league, even those sports that I don’t care about, like the NBA or the NFL (I would be really upset if MLB went under). I feel bad for the fans, especially the younger ones, like VenusProbe’s daughter–I can’t imagine how distraught I would have been as a kid if Major League Baseball had been disbanded.
Stupid corporate sponsors.
Wait a second.
Were these the women who tore their clothes when they won? I wanted to see that!
I’m a pig, I know.
Nobody thinks you’re a bad person for not liking soccer and nobody feels you owe any loyalty to the sport. Actually, nobody in this thread even said anything to that effect.
But I think the OP was incredibly jerkish for revelling in the downfall of something that a lot of people enjoyed but which had absolutely no genuine impact on your life and served no inconvenience to you in any way. Was your life any worse with soccer around? Has your life changed for the better with the WUSA out of business? No and No.
But that’s not true for the soccer fans. Obviously, you don’t think the two sports can peacefully coexist, so you feel obliged to gloat like the 300lb schoolyard bully when the 80lb weakling suffers misfortune. That certainly makes you a lot of things, I suppose, but I’ll agree it doesn’t make you a xenophobe.
**
Actually, I do think my life was just a tiny bit worse with soccer around, and I feel that much better with the WUSA out of business.
Please. Soccer enjoys worldwide popularity, while football is of regional interest. Who’s the 300-pounder here?
Europe isn’t a monolithic place. Women’s football is popular in Norway, though if you’re thinking league football it’s not as popular as men’s. The national teams are another matter - the women’s national team has been consistently among the best in the world for years, while the men’s team has a distressing tendency to play well when it comes to qualifying for something, and then once qualified, play something that is almost but not quite entirely unlike football…
Back in 2000 during the Sydney Olympics the whole country almost shut down for the women’s football final. This is unusual for any event not involving skis 
I think Denmark won the woman’s World Cup once?
While men’s football is the unrivalled number one, as a spectator sport woman’s football is very long, very very long down the list of popular sports. There is even this saying: “Life is too short for women football” which has moved into everyday life. Though, as a practised sport, it has gained some popularity, especially among young girls – still nowhere like boys football. And if women’s football is popular in Norway, it’s of course only because their men’s team suck so really really badly. 
What’s wrong with saying that? 
Those are wise words that need to be said. Wasn’t it the Liverpool manager who first uttered the famous and very true words: “Football is considerable more important than life and death”?
Talking about gloating. I read some men were quite miffed that the rebel rally yell for the last woman’s World Cup apparently was “Girls rule; boys drool; soccer’s cool”. This was a female on female tournament, why the need for this swing at the poor boys?
- Rune
There was a womans soccer league here in the US?
The first Women’s World Cup was in 1991, won by the USA in China. Norway won the second in 1995 in Sweden. USA won again, this time on home soil in 1999. Denmark have never won (although they may have won the UEFA championship).
The fourth WWC kicks off at noon tomorrow, Saturday September 20th with Norway vs France, in Philadelphia.
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
I don’t really understand the attitude of the OP, either. I’m no fan of women’s football either (and let’s not get into the male vs. female debate here), but what’s the point in doing the happy dance when something someone else enjoys, stops?
It presumes some sort of system where if football becomes more popular, this automatically must mean more “American” sports will vanish. Why the insecurity? They started up a European NFL competition a couple of years ago. Yup, American Football, played in Europe. It’s not my kind of thing, but it doesn’t make me all defensive, either. I just don’t pay that much attention to it. But anyone who does, be they European, American, or otherwise: more power to them, and I hope they enjoy the games.
Of course the league folded. The only question is why this didn’t happen sooner. “Women’s” and “soccer” are the kisses of death for a pro sport league in the U.S.
I think it’s safe to say that the men’s national team is followed by many more than the women’s.
I agree 100%, but probably NOT the way you intended…
I agree 100%, but probably NOT the way you intended…