Thesis topic related to Soccer?

[Jerlon]

Does anyone have an idea for my High School senior thesis? I would like it to be something related to soccer, whether it be related to MLS or anything else. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[saml00]

What subject? History English? or anything?

[saml00]

Cause you could definitely do something Business Law related with the Bosman Ruling

[IASocFan]

Some ideas -
the SEM concept - fairness to players, fans, etc.
soccer hooliganism, problems with baseball, football, etc.
Is soccer overtaking any of the big four?
FIFA/USSF charitible contributions
The politics of soccer - choosing Germany over South africa for 2006.

Good Luck

[rauld10]

What do you find interesting about soccer? Figure that point out and go from there. Cheers, David

[Jerlon]

Originally posted by saml00
What subject? History English? or anything?

It is for an English class, but the topic can be anything. Any links on this Bosman ruling or info for me on what it is?

[Jerlon]

I'm beginning to think that hooliganism is the best route to take. But, what could I be proving about it? And, are there enough sources to write a descent paper?

Again, thanks.

[SCBozeman]

Re: hooliganism.

There's a lot. Probably too much.

Off the top of my head, I can think of American writer Bill Buford's "Among the Thugs", Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch" and a few other books you can find at, say, bigsoccer.com's store. Hooliganism in England itself was, as I'm sure you know, a huge problem until there were attempts to change the game's market (middle-class and family vs. working class) and the stadia (no more terraces, vastly improved security, etc.) I'm sure the English would hate to hear this, but it's become more Americanized.

They feel they have cleaned up the game incredibly. But during it's heyday, it was a topic that generated a great deal of scholarly writing in England. One I recall was a geography study that correlated pitch invasions with the selling off of clubs from communities to corporations and posed the theory that hooliganism was an attempt to regain the "territory" in the stadia when the club members (i.e., young toughs) realized they didn't own the clubs anymore.

There are still problems of course, especially outside of England -- Turkey, Africa, Argentina, etc. If I were you, I'd limit to a very particular segment of hooliganism -- comparing it to American sports, the demonization in the US media, the actions taken by the English to clean up the game, the nature of sectional fighting, etc. Buford's read is good, if dated, because it's actually about "mob mentality" as opposed to soccer. That's just the place where he could really experience it. Good luck.

[AFCA]

So much has been written on hooliganism... 99% of it is ************ that is written by people who have a million phd's (or sumtin like that) in ************************ting all over the place but no clue when it comes to the topic at hand.

But it's the easiest way to go, definitely. I guess that's why so much BS has been written about it in the past :-)

[Jerlon]

I want to do something regarding the effect of hooliganism on the violent style of play. I was thinking of a thesis statement of;

“Hooliganism among soccer fans is a leading cause of violence in the game, and steps must be taken to make the game of soccer less violent.”

Anyone want to tweak this for me? Any help with other sources? Roy Keanes book might help. Anything else? Any information in a peer review journal?

Thanks

[Jerlon]

What player was it that went to court for being involved in a bar scrap that was like a 10 on 1? Was it one of the Keanes?

Thanks

[beineke]

Check out this article
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=akeis8%241hfe48%241%40ID-116622.news.dfncis.de

[ColdCuts]

Originally posted by Jerlon
I want to do something regarding the effect of hooliganism on the violent style of play. I was thinking of a thesis statement of;

“Hooliganism among soccer fans is a leading cause of violence in the game, and steps must be taken to make the game of soccer less violent.”
To be frank, that's a pretty shoddy thesis statement. Do you mean to suggest that violence on the field is the result of violence among fans?! I think that's simply not the case. Furthermore, few people would consider soccer an inherently violent sport--relatively speaking.

What soccer could REALLY use is some POSITIVE image management. American sports writers are constantly panning the game. Since you're a fan, why not be an ambassador for the game? You could PROMOTE soccer by writing a paper with a positive spin.

[ColdCuts]

Originally posted by beineke
Check out this article
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=akeis8%241hfe48%241%40ID-116622.news.dfncis.de
Good article. However, for Jerlon's purposes, I think it is important to point out that this article has little or nothing to do with soccer in the United States--an important distinction to make if you're writing a paper to be read by an American audience.

[GreenDay]

Originally posted by ColdCuts
To be frank, that's a pretty shoddy thesis statement. Do you mean to suggest that violence on the field is the result of violence among fans?! I think that's simply not the case. Furthermore, few people would consider soccer an inherently violent sport--relatively speaking.

What soccer could REALLY use is some POSITIVE image management. American sports writers are constantly panning the game. Since you're a fan, why not be an ambassador for the game? You could PROMOTE soccer by writing a paper with a positive spin. Same here. You are gonna find that extremely hard to prove because it isn't true.

[Jerlon]

Hey guys. I deffinitley worded that way wrong, and I think I actually pasted like the first one I wrote out out of maybe 25 or so. I have them all saved at school, so I will get it tomorrow when I am back there. I deffinitley didn't mean to post that on pitch fights are caused by hooliganism. But still, does anyone have a good idea of what I should prove?

[ColdCuts]

Jerlon, since your assignment allows you the freedom to write about whatever you'd like, make it easy on yourself--you don't have to necessarily "prove" anything!

Here are some ideas that I hope will help:

1. Consider what you enjoy most about soccer, then elaborate.

2. Compare and contrast, soccer vs (American) football.

3. In the US, soccer is the perennial 'next big thing'. Why, in your opinion, is this true and why does this never come to fruition?

4. Tell the story of how the USMNT shocked the world by reaching 2002 World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.

Good luck! :)

[GreenDay]

Originally posted by ColdCuts


4. Tell the story of how the USMNT shocked the world by reaching 2002 World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.

Good luck! :) And to prove it you can quote Billie-Joe Redneck who said: "They have a World Cup for soccer??!!"

[NCFire]

Its not really close to what others are saying but here are a few that wouldn't bury you with background and you could give a decent account of in 10-20 pgs

1. looking at how structural changes in the way US Soccer develops players (club,ODP, college vs P-40, Super Y, etc) affected the development of MLS and of the Nats program. Look at shifts in age breakdown, career trajectories of players, et al.

2. American soccer fan culture as a mixture of indigenous fans and Euro/latin immigrants. I didn't notice if you're near an MLS city but a study of membership and influence of 1 or 2 fan groups could be interesting in terms of cultural integration. Most of the guys at the heads of the fan clubs are on BS and would probably be at least a little willing to cooperate and help.

3. If you want to do something more closely related to English, you could do something contrasting the symbollic use of soccer in 2+ works of fiction. The obvious first that comes to mind is Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. Maybe with that S. American book of poetry that came out recently and was excerpted in the December issue of Harpers' Monthly whose name escapes me...soccer as metaphor for life, relationship between fan and club proxy for father-son bond etc.

If you do choose the hooli topic, check out Gary Armstrong's (Sheffield lad and Anthropology PhD.) book Football Hooligans. Its the better of several academic accounts of Brit. hooly culture that I've read.
Good luck

[Werdguy]

don't write about hooliganism