Summer of '75: Tampa, FL watching Pele' dropping bicycle kicks on the Tampa Bay Rowdies at the "Old Sombrero" in Tampa. To this day, I can still remember the Rowdies team song (something to the effect of 'rowdies run here, rowdies, run there, they kick the ball around...rowdies run here, rowdies run there, then they fall on the ground...ohhhhhhhhhhhhh the rowdies, the rowdies, the rowdies arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre - - a kick in the grass!'). Even at the age of five at those matches that summer, I knew I was looking at something unique. And the thing I remember most vividly is that my elementary school in St. Pete had soccer as a regular part of the phys ed cirriculum, just as normal as baseball and basketball. The next thing I knew it was the summer of '94 and there were qualifying matches for the world cup at the Citrus Bowl here in Orlando and it was like an epiphany - WHERE THE H*LL HAS THIS GAME BEEN FOR THE LAST 19 YEARS?!?!?!? Two years later MLS came along, and it's almost like the wonderful game was never gone. My love for the game was reinforced in October 1999 during a business trip to northern Virginia, and I got to go to a United match against Revolution and El Diablo (the dude knocks me out!) put his magical left foot on a free kick and bent it around the keeper and stuck one in the upper left corner of the Rev's net...in the rain, on a Saturday night @ RFK. It was brilliant.
My first recollection of soccer was around 1964-65 when pro teams from Europe and South America would come here and play at places like Downing Stadium in New York and the games would be televised on channel 11 in NYC. Then there was the tape delay broadcast of the 1966 World Cup final on NBC, which spawned the birth of the NASL. By the time I was in college in the late 70s, I was able to go to Giants Stadium on a regular basis and was there when the Cosmos drew all the record crowds of that era. The best night of all was in August of 1977 when 77,691 showed up for an 8-3 rout of Ft. Lauderdale. It was absolutely electric.
Francis Field, mid-seventies on the campus of Washington University. St. Louis Stars of old NASL. How I miss those days of pro soccer in St. Loo.
Join the club (its a small one lol). Theres maybe 2 people at my school who follow MLS. So to answer the question...I was born like 4 years AFTER the nasl folded so i didnt follow that. I went to indoor games when i was like 6 and then when the wizards became a team i went there occasionally but these past few years ive gotten to be a fanatic.
i born in 1982... but i was already a soccerfan in 1989 when i saw atletico nacional win the copa libertadores... so... well i think its between 1984 and 1994... well i think that this poll nedds some thanges...
Nacional, sorry about that - the intent here was to get a feel for when people started following pro soccer in the US. The poll options were partially intended to see which, if any, of the milestones (NASL, WC 94, MLS, WC 98, WC 02) included in the options may have been more or less significant in getting people hooked on US pro soccer. I neglected to put "US" in the title that shows in the forum's page view (and haven't been able to edit it), but "US" is in the title of the poll itself, the subject line of the first post, and also explained in the first post. Still, sorry for any confusion due to my initial neglect and subsequent poll-editing ineptitude. When one became a soccer fan generally, as opposed to a fan of US pro soccer, is also an interesting question.
Hey ANDERSON, thanks for explainin... in that case... well i started to follow MLS in 2000... before that i thought that MLS was a JOKE LEAGUE (at least I'm honest).. with the shootout and the rest of stupid things that plagued the MLS... now i think in a diferent way...
Feburary 28, 2001 around 8 pm. It should've been earlier, my family's big on soccer. My grandfather emigrated from Poland due to the war, and is a huge soccer fan. My uncle attended West Point, and played varsity soccer for the academy. My mother was friends with the Pikuzinski's of the old Buffalo Blizzard. My father was the main reason I haven't been turned on to soccer until just recently. He played High School football, and wanted me to do the same. I ignored soccer, and played little league baseball and football. I started playing soccer when I was 10, mainly because of the fact my best friend was. One day, I was over his house and started leafing through one of his Eurosports. I asked if I could have one to subscribe, and he said yes. I subscribed, and finally decided to pick out a shirt to buy. I picked out England for some strange reason. As the Eurosports kept coming, I saw an article advertising the US's final round of qualifying for the upcoming World Cup. The first match was versus Mexico on 28th of Feburary. I hyped myself up for that match like it was the World Cup final. My fondest memory was sneaking out of Ash Wednesday mass, to run back home to catch the action. Oh the memories. Mathis setting up Wolff. Sam's Army singing Ole at the end. I was hooked. P.S. I feel your pain, soccerdome.
Speaking of MLS, did the league take the Labor Day weekend off? There's only one game on, Chicago @ Kansas City on Shootout. Is this only in the Philadelphia area?
That's probably not correct. While the NBA was hardly a major league, it had some well known stars even in the 1950s. More than 3% of the population was aware of it.
the original San Jose Earthquakes...which eventually became the indoor Golden Bay Earthquakes with Zungul...became a fanatic during the '94 World Cup after seeing the US/Brazil and Romania/Sweden at Stanford Stadium...the former had the most incredible atmosphere while the latter was a spectacular game...I was rooting for Hagi & Romania
I started following the Kansas City Comets of the original MISL in the early 80's. The first World Cup I paid attention to was Mexico '86 and I watched as much as I could on Univision even though I did not speak Spanish. I attended my first US national team game in the spring of 1989: USA vs. Costa Rica in a World Cup Qualifier. I was at the Wizards franchise opener in 1996. So if the Comets and the MISL count as pro soccer in the US, I marked my poll as pre 1984.
I come from a soccer fanatic family, well from my mom's side. I got hooked into U.S. Soccer (the sport in general) when I was 11 years old (now 19) during World Cup '94. I remember the US vs Colombia game (own goal by the Colombian player,RIP), US vs Brazil, also when Tab Ramos bumped into that one player, he had to be taken to the hospital. I used to dig watching that Snickers comercial where Tab Ramos used to come out in, I had a little crush on him(yes, i'm a girl). I can't believe I'm telling people this, but I also had a little crush on Tony Meola, that I even couldn't wait for the newspaper so that I could check if there were any photographs of him(lmao), if there was, I'd cut them out(don't know whatever happened to them). I also remember when they got eliminated, Meola kneeling covering his face, the players all down, it was a gutted feeling. Anywho, I just loved the fact it was a team sport and it was the US of A on the field. I hated thinking that I had to wait 4 more years just to watch the US play. About the MLS, I did not know we had a league out there(not even A-League or others) until '97. Ever since I have been following the LA. Galaxy with the rest of the league. Now I know pretty much of the world of soccer(Europe, N&S America, et all).
Good reminder about the indoor game. Now that we have a high-level outdoor league again, it's easy to forget how important the indoor leagues were for at least giving a lot of us something that we could follow fairly easily in a lot of places. (And keeping a fair number of soccer players gainfully employed in this country.) I lived in Denver for a while in the early 80's and I think I recall the Avalanche playing them. That was fun stuff - good crowds, good atmosphere. Do you think very many Comets fans have become Wizards fans?
It doesn't get more specific than that! I think this is my favorite post so far. And thanks for understanding me Buffalo.
I'm 33 years old. I had always been a little curious about the game, but I can't really remember the first time I saw a game. In 1990, I was a college intern at a chemical plant in Findlay, Ohio. There was one guy working there who was a soccer fanantic, and was crazy about what was going on it Italy. That's the first time I became aware that there were actually soccer fans in America. I watched a fair amount of WC 94. My wife and I went to the second Columbus Crew home game on a whim. We were really there to support the concept of pro sports in Columbus, rather than to watch soccer in particular. I bought the whole season the next day, and we've been season ticket holders ever since. This summer, I had a college intern working for me. He was from the Cleveland area. He'd played soccer his whole life. His dad is a licensed soccer referee and an organizer of their local youth program. And this intern had no knowledge of MLS or the US National team program whatsoever. It amazing how the MLS and US Soccer fail to reach potential fans.
Jesus, you were in Findlay working at a chemical plant? Could be worse, working at a chemical plant in Kenton! I was always involved in YMCA soccer and when WC 94 came, we had tickets in Detroit. So I went and the rest is history!
Well, I first got into the game around '87 or '88, when I watched Sangamon State play someone from Ireland on FNN or something. I have no idea why it was on, or why I watched, but I really liked it, even if the standard of play wasn't too high. I started watching regularly in '89, watching the US qualify for Italia '90 and then the tournament itself. I was exclusively a national team follower in those days; club soccer held no interest whatsoever for me. I watched a few highlight shows from the English and Italian leagues, but cared little. Then, in the summer of '93, I read the American Encyclopedia of Soccer, which detailed the NASL. Of course, it was published in 1980, so it left off detailing the league's bright future. I wished there was an American league. Lo and behold, I picked a USA Today and there was a league table for the APSL, which featured NASL team names like the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Toronto Blizzard. I flipped on SportsChannel one Saturday morning and found This Week and Pro Soccer, which covered the APSL. I was hooked, watching the rest of the season and then getting into foreign club soccer as well.
For me, it was in the early to mid 70's, although I didn't get to go to a "real" game until the US played China at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1977. I would see bits and pieces of games now and then (the first edition of the Atlanta Chiefs folded when I was 8 (1972), and the Apollos (the Chiefs with a really cool logo) folded the next year; we didn't have another team until Colorado moved here for the '79 season, and became the Chiefs (second edition). I began to follow the NASL around 1974 or so (when I started playing), when they'd show an occasional indoor or outdoor game. I saw the first game Pele played as a Cosmo (a friendly against the Dallas Tornado) in 1975. I can still see it in my mind as I write. My friends thought I was the biggest geek in the world, because not only did I play soccer, I also tried to keep up with it.
Whoa! I find it so amazing how someone like this didn't know about MLS and the US Nat'l teams. In fact, it's really quite sad. But your last sentence is quite correct. US Soccer needs to do more to reach potential/casual fans.
One of the neighborhood dad's played in Mexico growing up....I don't know how high a level, but it was really easy to get a game started in the neighborhood. That introduced me to the sport. I would watch the Sting when they were on (I never did go to a game), but what started me going out of my way to watch soccer was the 1982 World Cup, especially the semi-final between West Germany and France. This was reinforced 1) by attending five games at USA'94, and 2) by attending games in Section 8. Let me also say that I firmly believe that the amount of soccer on tv has made it easier for younger players. If I had a chance to watch guys like Shay Given, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, etc.(or back then, Schumacher, Pfaff, Jennings, Zoff, etc.), I would ahve been a much better goaltender.