[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]

Originally Posted by sidis

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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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]

Originally Posted by napolisoccer

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...?curpageid=391

[sidis]

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