Around the world, soccer is ubiquitous; it exists in the streets, in the prisons, in backyards, in dirt and stadiums. Soccer is a competitive sport with physical contact, high intensity of running for miles and miles. Once people begin playing, they fall in love with the sport and never want to stop. Soccer is widely popular in Europe, Africa, and America. But there are some struggles with it like women’s soccer is a feminist issue, how it actually changes people’s lives across the world, and why soccer is less popular in the USA. Women’s soccer can be such a feminist issue around the world. The US Women’s Soccer Team has struggled since 1985. They have struggled to gain sponsorship, viewership, and even validation that women could play 90 …show more content…
One question though always remains in people’s heads, why is soccer less popular in the US? Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, nations all over the world began the implementation of national sports. It became a craze around the world (which further distinguishes America as an anomaly when it comes to soccer), capturing the focus of countries throughout the world, with the exception of the US (Ontko, Fogleman, Nevola, 2013). In each society, there is a limited amount of ‘space” for sports and once that designated space is filled by one sport (such as football in the U.S.) there is little room for other sports. Andrei Markovits argues that in the US, soccer was “crowed out” by American football and baseball and therefore could not take root in the national culture. Most Americans also don’t like soccer because it disrupts the “American Dream” (Finn, n.d.). In sports, Americans want to optimize for justice. We want the team who won to have earned it—they played harder, they had more talent, they played more as a team, they were more clutch. The best team doesn’t always have to win, but they have to deserve their victory. Most people say soccer is where sports justice goes to die. So your saying soccer is not as popular as American football? Nothing is as popular as American football. This is to be believed to be known as a “straw man” argument. 24.3 million people tuned in to the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but 111.5 million Americans sat down to watch Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 (Jose, 2014). First, soccer is a global game so it’s played all over the world. Second, the way soccer works is that there are really two leagues, one based on clubs and one based on country. The biggest even for countries though is the World Cup, but national teams play in tournaments aside from qualification for the World cup itself. This is a reason why soccer isn’t as covered on national television as most
Football is the most popular sport in the world. It is backed by a long history that's incomparable to other popular sports in the world like basketball, volleyball, and tennis. In fact, two of North America?s favourite sports in American football and rugby were created based on the game we call 'soccer'. So why is it that the original game of football is not as nearly as famous as in North American than any other countries outside our continent? A real good reason for this is because soccer doesn't have a great tradition in North America, unlike other sports such as American football, hockey, or basketball. Also, the cultural difference makes soccer less rampant in North America because many of us can?t seem to be patient enough to watch a sport with no frequent excitement. This mostly involves a preferred team scoring numerous times during a match. There are also plenty of other exciting sports that North Americans love to watch and play. Thus, soccer is put in the middle of the backseat of a crammed van, a place where nobody wants to be in or even pay attention to.
Franklin Foer the author of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization is an important contributor of the small topic of the how soccer is related to the world. Foer from the New Republic who writes from time to time in the well known newspaper of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal had traveled around the world especially the continent of Europe, Asia, North and South America. Going from the topic of why the Islam religion, Islamic law, and religious paramilitary militia prohibits the passionate, die-hard Islamic women fans; from attending and/or watching soccer games and then partying hard like the men after the game if their country or favorite club wins. To the topic of how America relates to soccer when the middle class accepted this sport because of the little violence that they thought the sport contained and to how some Americans support writers such as Tom Weir from USA Today’s “that hating soccer is more American than apple pie, driving a pickup, or spending Saturday afternoons channel surfing with the remote control” (Foer 240). The majority of Americans that support this quote are the lower class, liberals, majority of sports reporters, and narrow minded Americans. These topics and/or chapters really show how soccer is creating more globalization around the world especially with Islamic women getting rid of their traditions and trying new things such as showing their passion for soccer. In addition, America is trying to pass its apple pie and watching American Football on a Sunday to watching beautiful game of soccer. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization is really divided into three groups; the first being the rivalries between clubs and human beings, sec...
Women are becoming a bigger part of the professional sports world. The number of professional sports for women is growing at a very fast rate. Right now though, the comparison of women's professional sports to men's professional sports still varies greatly. For example, men's professional sports range from wrestling to football to skateboarding. Women on the other hand, do not have the opportunity to participate in these professional sports. But this is changing quickly. Women are beginning to receive the same opportunities in sports as men.
Franklin starts by giving reasons why he has used soccer to explain the failure of globalization and also clarifies that his objective is not to argue economic changes and factors, but to address cultural issues. In the first part of How Soccer Explains the American Culture Wars, the author goes into depth that how and why soccer entered into his life and what role his parents played to ensure that their child excelled in the sport. He then talks about the cultural divide in America; the different mindsets of the elite and the working middle class and how individuals from these classes reacted to the introduction of soccer in America in the 1980’s. Moving on, in the second part of his analysis, the author sheds light on the hateful comments of some eminent Americans such as Tom Wier, Jack Kemp, Allen Barra and most importantly Jim Rome. These individuals have openly expressed their hatred for soccer and they believe that it is “not a sport”. To counter claims and criticism made these men, Franklin presents some facts and figures that clearly state that over the years soccer has managed to make its way into the American culture, while the most American sport i.e. Baseball has lost viewership. This section is summed up by differentiating between the stances of two contrasting groups towards globalization. In the last part of the
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports. When the American people think of women in sports, they think of ice skating, field hockey and diving. People don’t recognize that women have the potential to play any sport that a Man can play, with equal skill, if not better.
Women in sports is relatively a new thing in the U.S. Until 1972, discrimination in sports on the basis of sex was very prevalent. Title IX established fairness in regards to sex discrimination for women in federally funded schools and programs. I had the ability to interview a woman who lived and went to school during this era.
Soccer differs in Spain and in America when it comes to attendances and passion for the sport, play style, and the way their players are shaped into professions. The United States is said to play a hybrid form of soccer compared to hispanic countries (Parrish). American soccer athletes are typically taught to emphasize conditioning and possession. Secondly, Americans and Hispanics’ passion for the sport are extremely different from one another. The people in Hispanic countries live for soccer, as they are devoted, passionate, and loyal to the teams. Contrarily in America, football, basketball, and baseball trump soccer making it only the fourth most attended and watched event. No matter how the sport is played or how many people attend the events, soccer is well liked in both the United States and Hispanic
It has taken many years for women to gain a semblance of equality in sports. Throughout history, women have been both excluded from playing sports and discriminated against in sports. Men’s sports have always dominated the college athletic field, but women were finally given a fighting chance after Title IX was passed. Title IX, among other things, requires scholarships to be equally proportioned between men and women’s sports. Although this was a huge gain for women, gender inequality still exists in sports today. An example of this persisting inequality can be seen when looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. In college, baseball and softball are both major NCAA sports. It is widely accepted throughout today’s society that baseball is a man’s sport, and softball is a woman’s sport. Very few people question why the two sexes are separated into two different sports, or wonder why women play softball instead of baseball. Fewer people know that women have been essentially excluded from playing baseball for a long time. This paper will focus on why softball has not changed the way women’s basketball has, why women continue to play softball, the possibilities and dynamics of women playing baseball with and without men, and the most discriminating aspect of women being banned from playing professional baseball.
In the world of sport, soccer and football with respect to demographic has had numerous controversies. Although both sport are known famously around the globe, for many years fans from both sides are known for asking, is American football same as soccer? What’s the time limit on both sports? What’s the game objective? Do they use the same ball? However they both have similarities and differences which I will be talking about in this essay.
Soccer Today soccer is classified as one of the most popular sports in the world, from Europe to South America. A synonym for soccer is “Football.” Soccer is played in approximately every nation of the world. The sport has a lot of international fans, with spectacular stadiums worldwide (Auerbach). Soccer is a sport that brings countries together from all around the world to play.
It may not seem like it because football is most popular in North America but soccer is the most popular sport in the world. My perspective is that if there were more soccer stadiums, more federations, and more soccer associations in the United States it might be more popular than football is in North America.
Soccer has proven to be a notable sport throughout the years starting with its unique history. Soccer began all over the world tracing back thousands of years. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Vikings, as well as other nationalities all played a form of the game soccer. In China and Rome, games that were similar to soccer were played around 200 B.C. (Helmer and Owens, 5). People believe that soccer started more than a thousand years ago when villagers killed attacking pirates by cutting off their heads and kicking them around (Helmer and Owens, 5). As time went on, people in Europe also played a game similar to soccer during Medieval Times. In fact, soccer was used to prepare warriors for battles in Ancient Greece and Rome (Dilov-Shultheis). In later history, the English called the game “Football” because soccer was played by kicking the ball with the foot (Helmer and Owens, 6). The name “soccer” came to be when the American’s Association Football was shortened to assoc., and later to soc. Eventually in 1895 it was called soccer (Helmer and Owens, 9). By the late 1700s and 1800s, soccer was played in many universities, but the rules were not ...
Gender in sports has been a controversial issue ever since sports were invented. In the early years, sports were played only by the men, and the women were to sit on the sidelines and watch. This was another area of life exemplifying the sexism of people in which women were not allowed to do something that men could. However, over the last century in particular, things have begun to change.
“A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human,” Vera Nazarian. Unfortunately now in the United States, women are being treated less than their male counterparts, especially when it comes to professional athletics. In an article entitled, Taking a Closer Look at the Gender Pay Gap in Sports, written by John Walters on newsweek.com, he exclaims, “Each player on the USWNT earns $99,000 per year provided the team wins 20 “friendlies” (exhibition matches), the minimum number of matches they would play. By contrast, each men’s player would earn $263,320 for the same feat and would still earn $100,000 if the team lost all 20 games.” Not only does this topic relate to the difference in pay for women and men in soccer but it also relates to all of the other sports like, basketball, tennis and the many other were males participate too in separate organizations. The topic on whether female athletes should be paid the same as their male counterparts, is a massive debate with two opposing sides. On one side of the debate, people believe male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations, the competition in male sports is more intense, and more fans want to see thunderous dunks and the athletic ability of males over the lesser abilities of what females can do. On the contrary, female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise, females go through the same types of workouts males go through and they participate in the same types of events, and females don 't have the same abilities as males due to the way they ar...
For many years gender inequality in sports was still present, even after the women's right movement, Title IX was passed in 1972 (Sandys, 2007). Title IX banned sex discrimination in any education program that is federally financed. This was supposed to correct the imbalance of treatment between the sexes of college students. Since the passing of the federal gender-equality law, universities started to offer a chance for many of women to participate, that was not previously offered before (Adams & Tuggle, 2004). Now that more women have jumped into the sports arena, many institutions are giving the appearance of offering more sports to females (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Equal opportunity for women in sports would provide better psychological and sociological development that would derive from the impact of sports participation.