Soccer in the history

[napolisoccer]

In what nations of the world , the soccer was the most popular sport in the years before of the First World War?

[dannytoone]

England?

[#10striker]

Argentian, Uraguay?

[austinsm11]

Hey guys, I need some help here.

I have been debating a guy who has basically done nothing but trash soccer and the world cup.
His reasons for not liking soccer:
1. Low-scoring (when I asked him if he would watch a higher scoring indoor game, he still replied no, so I don't think this was a legitimate excuse)

2. It is a trophy sport, all kids get trophies (isn't this true in most sports at the younger level?)

3. It is a participation sport where everyone plays (also, true in most sports at the younger rec. levels).

4. The US wasted their time running around for 90 minutes when they lost to the Czech Republic (my reply was, should they have just quit? Do teams that go down by 2-3 touchdowns or a grandslam just forfeit the game?)

5. The US doens't like soccer because they are not winners (what about the woman's team? Also, our American sports basketball and baseball teams didn't seem to fair to well recently)

6. His final argument is that the US is an advanced nation and has evolved from soccer into a higher class of sports. He found a soccer article by a financial analyst (great credentials) about the origins of soccer and it being a war game. I asked him to state his top 10 advanced countries in the world and tell me what their most popular sports are. Why is the US the only advanced country where the top 1-2 sports is not soccer?


Any help defending the history of the sport and sports in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[sidis]

England, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Italy...

[Kubala]

England, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Italy...

In Italy, definitely not.

Sport became really popular only in the late Twenties/beginning of Thirties, and still "ciclismo" (is it cycling in english? anyway: bicycle races) was probably more popular until the beginning of Fifties.

[scaryice]

Hey guys, I need some help here.

I have been debating a guy who has basically done nothing but trash soccer and the world cup.
His reasons for not liking soccer:
1. Low-scoring (when I asked him if he would watch a higher scoring indoor game, he still replied no, so I don't think this was a legitimate excuse)

2. It is a trophy sport, all kids get trophies (isn't this true in most sports at the younger level?)

3. It is a participation sport where everyone plays (also, true in most sports at the younger rec. levels).

4. The US wasted their time running around for 90 minutes when they lost to the Czech Republic (my reply was, should they have just quit? Do teams that go down by 2-3 touchdowns or a grandslam just forfeit the game?)

5. The US doens't like soccer because they are not winners (what about the woman's team? Also, our American sports basketball and baseball teams didn't seem to fair to well recently)

6. His final argument is that the US is an advanced nation and has evolved from soccer into a higher class of sports. He found a soccer article by a financial analyst (great credentials) about the origins of soccer and it being a war game. I asked him to state his top 10 advanced countries in the world and tell me what their most popular sports are. Why is the US the only advanced country where the top 1-2 sports is not soccer?


Any help defending the history of the sport and sports in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1. If you counted each goal as 7 points like the NFL, then it would be magically higher. Also, the amount of scoring has nothing to do with the excitement of the game. A pitcher's duel in baseball, for example.

4. Haters love to talk about how it's "a bunch of running around and no scoring." What they fail to realize is that there is just as much tactics and strategy as any other sport. I'm sure your friend could name every player's job on every play in football, right? But when you're not familiar with soccer, you don't understand all that is going on and it may just look like running around.

6. Soccer is like the 4th biggest sport in Australia.

[Rowdies4ever]

In what nations of the world , the soccer was the most popular sport in the years before of the First World War?
Why before WW1 in particular?

Anyway: England, Scotland, Germany (remember the 1914 Christmas truce and the soccer game in no man's land), probably most of Europe as well except in places where cycling or rugby was more popular at the time (ie, France). All or most of South America, too; the sport was still young there, but it was the most popular, especially true in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay.

It gets confusing when you have to decide what is meant by "most popular" since things were still in a state of flux in some countries.

[Burkies Ginger Mop]

Read this. It's about the origins of the game.

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_football.cfm?curpageid=391

[sidis]

i n brazil soccer becomes popular in the early 10's, before that the most popular sport was rowing

[ZeekLTK]

3. It is a participation sport where everyone plays (also, true in most sports at the younger rec. levels).

Soccer is the only team sport I can think of in which the entire team CANNOT play during the game. In baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey every single player on the bench can come into the game at any time, and can come back in after they have come out to rest (well, not in baseball... but in all the other ones). In soccer you can only make 3 substitutions and once you have left the game you are not allowed to come back in...

[sidis]

Soccer is the only team sport I can think of in which the entire team CANNOT play during the game. In baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey every single player on the bench can come into the game at any time, and can come back in after they have come out to rest (well, not in baseball... but in all the other ones). In soccer you can only make 3 substitutions and once you have left the game you are not allowed to come back in...

hi is talking about biotype, in soccer you can be short, tall, bigger, stronger or fragile and can play with equal chances to play good.

[apostolo1]

II guess it would be fair to say that these were the countries members of FIFA. Why would you be a member if soccer was not popular in your country? In 1914, or the year when WWI erupted, there were 20 members in Europe, 2 in South America and guess who?... the US.
I think it fair to include the US too!!!

[dannytoone]

II guess it would be fair to say that these were the countries members of FIFA. Why would you be a member if soccer was not popular in your country? In 1914, or the year when WWI erupted, there were 20 members in Europe, 2 in South America and guess who?... the US.
I think it fair to include the US too!!!

Soccer was quite the popular sport in America before American Football started gaining ground in the Universities.

[ajdjad]

Hey guys, I need some help here.

I have been debating a guy who has basically done nothing but trash soccer and the world cup.
His reasons for not liking soccer:
1. Low-scoring (when I asked him if he would watch a higher scoring indoor game, he still replied no, so I don't think this was a legitimate excuse)

2. It is a trophy sport, all kids get trophies (isn't this true in most sports at the younger level?)

3. It is a participation sport where everyone plays (also, true in most sports at the younger rec. levels).

4. The US wasted their time running around for 90 minutes when they lost to the Czech Republic (my reply was, should they have just quit? Do teams that go down by 2-3 touchdowns or a grandslam just forfeit the game?)

5. The US doens't like soccer because they are not winners (what about the woman's team? Also, our American sports basketball and baseball teams didn't seem to fair to well recently)

6. His final argument is that the US is an advanced nation and has evolved from soccer into a higher class of sports. He found a soccer article by a financial analyst (great credentials) about the origins of soccer and it being a war game. I asked him to state his top 10 advanced countries in the world and tell me what their most popular sports are. Why is the US the only advanced country where the top 1-2 sports is not soccer?


Any help defending the history of the sport and sports in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1. A soccer came lasts 2hr max which includes a 15min half time and a few minutes stoppage time. A football game lasts 3-4hrs with all the clock stopping and 4qtrs. Take away the scoring multipliers and the field goals and only count the touchdowns made in 2hrs and guess what the scores are the same.

2. You made your own argument. My reply. So what.

3. Again So What.

4. Your right. Just say the Czech Republic was ranked 2nd in the world and our guys played well against such a good team.

5. Our guys are winners! With little support or backing they managed to dominate the region (CONCACAF) and qualify for the World Cup 5 times in a row. Which is not an easy feat since 199 teams tried to qualify for 2006 and only 32 did. If you ask me being in the top 16% is pretty good. And your right about the recent "American" sports competing in the international arena. America should have dominated but they flopped miserably.

6. His beloved Football "evolved" from soccer. The only reason it is different is becaused it evolved in a vacume kind of like the Galapocos(sp) islands. Soccer came to the Americas from England at the same time it was just forming in England. We had the same arguments as england did. Hands or no hands, hince Rugby and Association Soccer developed in England. Well same thing happened here except Association Soccer was almost winning out until Harvard lacking competition for their hand rules played a team in Canada who played Rugby. The two rules morphed into Football. Then there was Football and Association Football in America just like Rugby and Association Football in England. Association Football soon morphed into Soccer (short for Association). That is why a game dominated by handling is called Football.

[Lancealot11]

[5. The US doens't like soccer because they are not winners (what about the woman's team? Also, our American sports basketball and baseball teams didn't seem to fair to well recently)]

The U.S has very little fighting spirit if we can't succeed at something we just make up a sport we can succeed at so we can dominate it like putting Basketball in the Olympics or extreme sports in the winter olympics. Another thing is that we are not always the best at a lot of the sports in the olympics but a large part of our country still watch the olympic games. America sucks cause we have no passion for sports its just a hobby that people can pick up when their team is doing well and drop when they are not. So it says little about soccer being a good game and more about our culture.

[johan neeskens]

Hey guys, I need some help here.

I have been debating a guy who has basically done nothing but trash soccer and the world cup.
His reasons for not liking soccer:
1. Low-scoring (when I asked him if he would watch a higher scoring indoor game, he still replied no, so I don't think this was a legitimate excuse)

2. It is a trophy sport, all kids get trophies (isn't this true in most sports at the younger level?)

3. It is a participation sport where everyone plays (also, true in most sports at the younger rec. levels).

4. The US wasted their time running around for 90 minutes when they lost to the Czech Republic (my reply was, should they have just quit? Do teams that go down by 2-3 touchdowns or a grandslam just forfeit the game?)

5. The US doens't like soccer because they are not winners (what about the woman's team? Also, our American sports basketball and baseball teams didn't seem to fair to well recently)

6. His final argument is that the US is an advanced nation and has evolved from soccer into a higher class of sports. He found a soccer article by a financial analyst (great credentials) about the origins of soccer and it being a war game. I asked him to state his top 10 advanced countries in the world and tell me what their most popular sports are. Why is the US the only advanced country where the top 1-2 sports is not soccer?


Any help defending the history of the sport and sports in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Football is by far the biggest sport in the world. Literally billions enjoy the game every day, so there must be something to it. In other words, if your friend doesn't like football, and wants to miss out on all the fun, that's his loss. Football doesn't need defending, it's rather popular as is, with or without the US.

[Excape Goat]

He found a soccer article by a financial analyst (great credentials) about the origins of soccer and it being a war game.


Many sports were evolved from war games. I also read that rugby became a popular sport among the boarding schools in UK becasue the sport is good for military training and most of the upper class sent thie kids to the military at the turn of the century. I am not defending my own theory because I do not know the answer. I just want to say that many sports started out as some sort of war games.

[John Simkin]

You will find a comprehensive account of the development of soccer here:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ENCfootball.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fhistory.htm

The answer is England but it could be argued that Scotland produced the best players before the First World War. However, the most talented went to play in England:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fmigration.htm

[Slater]

Correct. You will all find the best DVD Set here. (http://www.amazon.com/History-Soccer-Beautiful-Terence-Stamp/dp/B0000C238U/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0744045-1561611?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1187352570&sr=8-1)