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| Royal Irish Rifles in a communications trench on the First Day on The Somme, 1 July 1916. |
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Coral Gables, FL
The world was a different place before the First World War. The world was beautiful. War was beautiful. There was progress, and Faith. But all this was changing. Modris Ekstein uses the ballet "The Rites of Spring" to show this change in his book with the same title. The ballet debuted in Paris and was different from what people were used to. The Rites of Spring did not have beautiful music and perfectly choreographed dances. It instead used complex rhythmic dances that almost never went along with the music to tell the story of a girl who was to be sacrificed to the God of Spring. It was primitive compared to other ballets, but this is what choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky and composer Igor Stravinsky wanted. They wanted to shock people by creating something that went beyond the accepted standards. This was the Avant-garde movement, but it went beyond art and literature.
The Rites of Spring used its primitive style to make the point that there is something beyond what society had accepted. Nijinsky and Stravinsky believed that things would be more authentic and meaningful if they were more primitive. The sacrifice of the girl broke the beliefs of morality. Morality placed limits on humanity, and morality was a western creation. The western world, some believed, had placed limits on human potential. This is how Germany felt prior to WWI. They wanted to break through the boundaries placed by England and France. They did not want to play the "game" anymore.
This view that morality placed limits on people was also the belief of a German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche believed that everyone made their own moral code. He called this "might makes Right", or the Will to Power. Will was something I mentioned in part one, it was what Vince Lombardi used to separate winners and losers. In the real world, to the Germans at least, it signified that they were above the western powers of England and France. Nietzsche admired “greatness”, talent, skill, and resourcefulness. He argued that in order to succeed you must be creative, assertive, bold, strong-willed, competitive, and determined. These were the characteristics of his Ubermensch. These were the characteristics of Germany.
Ten to make and the match to win
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play, and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat.
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote:
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
The sand of the desert is sodden red -
Red with the wreck of a square that broke;
The Gatling's jammed and the colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed its banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks -
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
This is Sir Henry Newbolt’s famous 1898 poem “Vitai Lampada”. The poem connects the sport mentality of the playing field, and the battlefield. On July 28th, 1914 the game made the transition from one field to the other. This was the beginning of a war that would change the world, physically, and emotionally.
The game of football entered its modern state in the 19th century, but the world wouldn't enter its modern state until the 20th century. For football it was the creation of rules, or laws. For the world, the birth of the modern age was World War I. This "War to End All Wars" was also a war to end the "Old World". The German Empire had grown tired of the "Old World" and its beliefs and values. They were tired of the sense of duty to the team. They wanted a new world, with new freedoms. A world of the individual, and not the "team".
Germany were supporters of the avant-garde movement. The Germans were not just innovative when it came to art and culture, their innovation followed them onto the battlefield, just like the "game" followed the British. The Germans were the first to use submarines and planes in warfare. They were also the first to use chemical weapons and flamethrowers. Why did the Germans use all these different methods of warfare? Well, they had to. They were fighting a two front war. France and Great Britain in the West, and Russia in the East. Their original plan was the Schlieffen Plan, created by Alfred von Schlieffen. This strategic plan was designed to win a possible two front war and involved moving troops from the north through Belgium and invade France. Once France was defeated and secured, the army would rotate back to the Eastern Front and attack Russia as they finished mobilizing their army.
While Germany is fighting a war to change the world, Britain is fighting a war to preserve the world. To the British, Germany's use of unconventional methods of warfare were seen as "unsporting". Germany was nothing more than an "insensitive, regimented brute" that "was incapable of playing the game". The reason why Germany was seen this way was because of their innovative methods of war. Using planes, chemical weapons, and flamethrowers were not playing by the rules.
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| British and German troops meeting in No-Mans's Land during the unofficial truce. |
Playing by the rules was important to the British. The Christmas Truce of 1914 was an example of them "playing by the rules". Giving the Germans the opportunity to enjoy Christmas was "playing fair". The truce is important for another reason, it also shows how different the world was before and at the start of World War I. To the British the Germans were an opponent, not an enemy. They were just the other team they were playing against in the game that was WWI. There was no real hatred for the other side, and this made it possible for something special to happen. This allowed for a Christmas day football match in no man's land. This would only be possible in a world that had not seen the horrors of the First World War. A world that had not begun to split between the Left and Right of the political spectrum. A world were you were either "with us or against us".
The war went on and the death toll began to rise. Over time soldiers would forget what it was that they were fighting for. They lost their connection with reality. The world they lived and fought in was nothing like anyone had seen before. War had made the land barren, it made the earth look like another planet. Nothing but death surrounded them all day, every day. Even through all this, the game continued to united the British and keep their morale up. In 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Captain W.P. Nevill lead his men across no man's land by dribbling a football. Just like Sir Henry Newbolt’s poem, Nevill wanted his men to "Play up! Play up! And play the game!".
Part Three Coming Soon.
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| photo by David Wilson |
- by Cole O'Brien, writing from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
It seems in the US we encounter the same problem again and again with our sport. Every time a World Cup rolls around, hoards of excitement centered towards the US national team arises. We hear everything from soccer blogs stationed across the web saying this is the year soccer will finally make an impact on the US; This is the year we will finally see soccer become what it is in other countries throughout the world. Now, how many times has that happened? If you pay attention to the annual World Cup viewers you'd think that soccer in the US takes a dramatic upturn every year.
The problem is one that isn't so complicated. America consists of an athletic minded population. They are individuals for which domination in every sport is simply granted to them. The ones that aren't a dominant force are simply never heard of and they resign to a life of solitude under the radar of major sports news. Soccer is the sole contradiction. It simply won't go down with a fight. While the average American sports fan has cast soccer aside as a minor sport that is mastered by the end of the second grade.
Nonetheless you must know history to understand where we are now. What many a soccer revolutionist doesn't know is that soccer wasn't always ignored by the general public. In 1972 when Pele joined the New York Cosmos a small change began. If you ask anyone that happened to be in high school around this time and asked them about soccer Pele would probably be the extent of their knowledge of the sport, but in a time where most towns didn't even sanction a single soccer field their knowledge of the world's greatest player is quite remarkable. This was only made possible by the fact that schools seemed to start finding it important to teach youth about the sport that the rest of the world was already in love with. This was in part due to the fact that the US's bid to host the 1994 World Cup promised reforms in American soccer. Now it seems you find David Beckham being the player that the youth is currently obsessed with. He followed a similar path as Pele, retiring from real competitive soccer and finding sanction with a nice life in the US where no one would notice him as a famous soccer star.
The problem is that the growth in popularity of soccer is taking all the wrong turns. Many soccer analysts predict the annual World Cup or famous player making the trip across the Atlantic will help boost soccer. However, if you simply cast aside that veil and really pay attention you noticed these events are simply a curse. All these events lead to is more exposure and more media attention for soccer. The problem we find is after the initial obsession the media has they start to discover that the soccer scene is America isn't quite so glamorous and the fans the US hopes to gain simply see soccer as something we will never prevail in and that are national team is nowhere near the likes of our friends across the pond.
The solution is one easily found, but not quite as easily fixed. U.S. Soccer has to focus on making our national team better and not focus as much on media attention. They just need to "fly under the radar." It is not a solution that will come easy or in the next decade for that matter. Turning your national team into a world power just simply won't come so easily. Soccer is a game from which all kinds of twist and turns occur. Jurgen Klinsman could bring the US to beating France in the upcoming November friendly or just as easily we could see them losing 6-0 come ninety minutes.
France will be the milestone for U.S. While Klisman and co. have performed under par in their initial friendlies it seems the team is finally coming together for the better. Could we see a big upset against the team who just last month qualified for Euro 2012, arguably the biggest international tournament besides the World Cup? Don't think wrong, while the U.S. hasn't played France since the turn of the century it's a big game as the French are excited to prove they've become an international power once again.
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Pembroke Pines, FL
It is not unusual for sport to be a source of inspiration in life. It may be just a game, but in these games we see some similarities to our every day lives. A game is made up of rules, and within these rules a player or team works towards a goal. However, in order to achieve this goal that player or team will have to overcome challenges. In life we also have rules, or laws, and within these rules we work towards a goal while overcoming challenges. Vince Lombardi once said: "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." In sports you have to have will. You have to have the determination to overcome obstacles so you can, hopefully, win the game. This also applies to life. We all have the power to control what we can and will do. Only through hard work will a person, family, player, or team, be successful.
Teamwork is also important in both life and sport. In life you will have to work as team with your co-workers. Being a “team player” will benefit every member of the team because his or her duties will be fulfilled. Not being a team player will most likely cause problems. A sports team is no different. Each member of the team has a role, and the success of the team depends on each and every player. A player needs to be able to fulfill their duties. If a player fails, chances are the team will fail.
So what does this have to do with War? Besides the common comparison of the playing field and the battlefield, where each team goes to war, War and Football have a relationship. This relationship can be traced back to the 14th century. From 1324 to 1667 football was banned in England for two main reasons. The first reason was its unruly nature. Early football is the father of Soccer, Rugby, Australian Rule’s Football, and American Football. Early football was known as "mob football", where one would do anything to win the ball. By anything I mean kicking below the waist, punching, etc. As you could imagine, this was not something a King wouldn’t want going on in the streets. So it was banned. The second reasoning behind the banning of football was because it distracted the people from practicing archery. Archery was important in warfare, so it was obvious that the King wanted everyone to be trained and ready.
These two views of sport changed in the 19th century. Thomas Arnold, educator, historian, and head of Rugby School, believed that games were an important part of education. He believed that sport would give "young men the body of a Greek and the soul of a Christian Knight". In 1864 The Clarendon Commission insisted that:
"the cricket and football pitches are not merely places of amusement; they help to form some of the most valuable social qualities and manly virtues, and they hold, like the classroom and boarding house, a distinct and important place in public school education"
In the 19th century football was beginning to resemble the modern game. Football was no longer seen as savage or a distraction for the British people. Football, and sport in general, was now the tool used to promote civilized society. The importance of the game soon began to develop; it was a source of encouragement, determination, and team spirit. Through this game children would learn about the sense of duty, duty not only to the team, but also to their role in the "game." Disguised in this simple game was a secret. Yes, the game was key to helping build a child into an "individual" and to "integrate him into the group", but it was not done just to play the game. It was done for something bigger. That new sense of duty to the team, and to an individual’s role as a player was really a sense of duty to your country, and your role as a citizen. The game was preparing men for war.
In the second half of the 19th century football was no longer just a game, it was a passion for the British people. This is where Will comes back into play. Passion and Will go hand in hand. Passion can actually be used to define Will. Football, and sport, will become a passion for both sides of the battlefield in World War I. For the British it was the passion for the "game", for duty to King and Country. For the Germans it was the passion against the "game", to break away from the old world, and create a new future for Europe. This was a future where the individual was not bound to the “team” and their ‘duties”, but instead was his own master. In 1899, after the English Football Final, Times said the game was a "great value 'in the battles of life'." The country, and the world, would soon fight in the battles that would shape the first half of the 20th century.
Part Two. Here
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| photo by Stephen Yeargin |
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Pembroke Pines, FL
The fundamental goal of a game is to win. That game can be monopoly, FIFA 11, a pick-up soccer game, or a Premier League game. The goal of every game is always to win. Wins, Draws, and Loses are measurements. They measure whether you did enough or didn't do enough to win. It can be argued that the result of today's game did not matter because it is a trial and error process in order to get ready for World Cup Qualifying. In this process there will be failures, which will ultimately lead to success. But how can you decide whether a game was a failure or success without looking at the results? In my opinion, you can't.
Let's pretend we are watching a U.S. friendly. In this friendly we are playing the Netherlands, the #1 team in the world. This game doesn't mean anything because we are not gaining anything by winning or losing anything by losing. In this game Jurgen Klinsmann decided to start a new midfielder, his name is Joe Curtis. This is Joe's first international game, and Coach Klinsmann wants to see what he can do. Joe goes on to score three and assist one leading the United States to a 4-0 victory over the Netherlands. U.S. supporters would probably react to this result feeling that it was a big step forward. As a result of the game Joe's future looks bright, and he is seen as a player that can help the team win when it "counts". Now let's pretend Joe didn't score three goals, and instead had two turnovers that resulted in goals. The result of this game was a 2-0 Netherlands victory. U.S. supporters would probably react to his performance by saying that he was not national team material, and could not contribute to the team. Looking at the two extremes, winning and losing, as a result of Joe's performance the result of the game was important in judging whether or not Joe should be a regular on the team. The game itself did not matter, but the result did.
Looking at the team as a whole, the result is also important. The United States may play an almost perfect game. Distributed the ball well, had plenty of scoring chances, but in the end they were unable to score. This continues for two or three games, and still no goals. The team may be playing well but at the end of the game the team with the most goals wins. The results of these games shows that the current tactics are not working and changes need to be made in order to score. If you are unable to score in friendlies, you most likely are not going to be able to score when the game "matters". Problems that you face in friendlies are going to be the same problems faced in non-friendlies.
A game cannot be evaluated solely based on performance and not the result. Win or lose there will always be positives and negatives, but without a result it is almost impossible to really judge if a team is successful or not. If you were to watch a game without a score, different people will have different opinions. One may see all the negatives and call it a failure. Another may see the positives and call it a success. The result is the deciding factor, because there will always be positives and negatives. The result shows whether or not that team was able to overcome the negatives or challenges. The ability to overcome challenges shows that the team is ready. If a team continues to fail to overcome challenges then more changes need to be made. Only with the result can this be judged.
I find it hard to believe that the final score of friendlies do not matter. As we get closer and closer to World Cup qualifying and the U.S. is still performing below expectation I think those who feel that way will have a different opinion. Life is all about results. A game is no different. The game may not mean anything to you because there is nothing to gain or lose, but the result of each and every game matters.
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| photo by Jonathan Assink |
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Pembroke Pines, FL
Outside of the United States, Soccer/Football is king. Children all over the globe dream of becoming the next Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo and imitate them in the streets and at local parks. They dream of the fame, glory, and of course money. Not everyone will be able to be the next superstar, but they may be able to become a professional player. The road to becoming a professional footballer is not an easy one. Some will find the ugly truth of the path to the beautiful game, but those are not the stories that are told over and over again. The stories that are told are those of success. These are the stories that people want to hear because it gives them hope. Hope that they will live their dream. Hope that they will be able to live a better life than they currently are.
The 2005 film Goal! is about such a story. It may not be a true story, but it is a great example of those success stories told all over the world. The film follows Santiago Munez, a young man who entered the United States illegally from Mexico with his father. He works with his father in landscaping as well as a busboy at a local restaurant. Santiago’s dream, like many around the world, is to become a footballer. This is a hard dream to pursue due to his family’s economic status, and as a result he begins to accept the fact that his dream may never become a reality. Luckily for Santiago, a former Newcastle United player and scout, Glen Roy, notices his skill and offers him a chance to try out for Newcastle. Santiago rushes home to collect the money he has saved to fly to England. When he arrives at his house he realizes that his father had used that money to purchase a new truck for their business. Again, luckily for Santiago his grandmother sold some of her jewelry in order to pay for his ticket to London. Glen Roy greets Santiago and invites him to stay at his house while he is on trial with Newcastle. Santiago’s trial, however, is a disaster. Once again, luck saves Santiago. Glen is able to convince the manager that Santiago’s poor performance was due to jetlag and Santiago is given a second chance. Santi eventually makes the reserve team, and then is called up to be a substitute for the first team. Thanks to injuries in the lineup, Santi makes his first appearance in a Premier League game against Fulham, wins a penalty, and helps his team come out with a victory. Later in the season Santiago scores a free kick goal that earned Newcastle a place in the Champions League.
Goal! is a great story, mostly because it has a happy ending. Santiago fulfilled his dream. This story is true for many. A real life example of Santiago is Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, a Mexican kid who was signed by Manchester United. In one season he went from unknown to indispensible. These are the stories that make the headlines. These are the stories that mislead people into believing that the road to becoming a footballer is an easy one. This is far from the truth. In the real world not everyone is as nice and helpful as Glen Roy was to Sanitago. Yes, the real world is filled with people who will offer trials with big teams to young players, but the majority of those people will abandon that player if he turns out to be not worth his time and money. The ugly truth is that money does talk, and everyone does listen. People do what it takes to get money. That most likely involves doing the opposite of what is morally correct.
Africa is the victim of the majority of these “soccer trafficking” acts. Kids in Africa grow up in poverty. Families in Africa hope and pray that they will be lucky enough to have children who can help provide for their family. Families see superstars like Didier Drogba, and Michael Essien who also grew up living in small shacks who are now football superstars. They and other players who were fortunate enough to make it to the top were able to move their families into new two-story houses on the other side of town. Families hoping that they too could be as fortunate as Drogba and Essien begin pushing their children to train in order to become the next superstar. Families feel that chances are good because more and more Africans are making it to the top. In 1989 there were four African players in the English Premier League. All of them were white. In 2009 there were 60 African players, nearly all black. This is where agents from Europe come in and “sell hope” to the families. These agents convince families that their son will be a superstar, and that they will be able to move out of the slums. They guarantee this, and all they ask in return is an upfront payment to cover travel and expenses for the trial with a team. In order to make this payment families make huge sacrifices, just like Santiago’s grandmother did. In Africa, however, this meant selling the family car, which could have been used for business purposes to bring in more income for the family.
Once the payment is made the families believe that they had just taken the first step to living a better life. The ugly truth is that the trial that was promised for their son does not always happen, and even if it does, they don’t always make the team. When this happens the agent just abandons the player. It is estimated that 20,000 soccer players are stranded across Europe. This is very different from the story in Goal! were Santiago also didn’t make the team the first time around, but Glen Roy (his agent) was able to arrange another trial. In the real world agents don’t always care because if you aren’t going to make them money you are not valuable. This leaves the families in Africa living worse than they were before, and missing a child. And yet families keep trying. If families know that they may give up their life savings and lose a child but are still willing to try it tells you something. The risk does not outweigh the benefits; losing a child is worth the chance to live a better life. It isn’t just agents who are involved. Local coaches can purchase the rights to a player once they turn 15. Coaches then sell the rights to agents, and in return get a percentage if that player signs a contract with a team. Players can also be sold to other local youth teams. Soccer/Football has become a business, a “total business”.
FIFA has made some efforts to stop soccer trafficking. Earlier this month FIFA blocked over 100 requests to transfer young players across national borders. FIFA official Mark Goddard said Thursday that more than 10 percent have been rejected since tougher transfer monitoring began last October. FIFA hopes that by making it harder to transfer youngsters it will change the behavior of agents and clubs who are involved in trafficking. "We don't necessarily think all minors are going through the system, but we're working on ways to make sure that becomes a very bad decision," Goddard said. FIFA received reports from South America that suggested that trading minors had become so difficult that clubs were beginning to wait until they turned 18. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end, but clubs will conitnue to find a new way to gain an advantage on competition.
Sources: "Soccer's Lost Boys" by Vanguard, GOAL!, NBCSports.msnbc.com
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| [photo by Gregory Melle] |
- by Andrew Orlando, writing from East Lansing, MI
The first area it is necessary to bring attention to is soccer’s representation online. Soccer seems to carry many negative connotations on the web. When one types the words “soccer is” into google, of the first 10 results, four of them are as follows; number one, “soccer is gay;” number six, “soccer is stupid;” number eight, “soccer is boring;” and number nine, “soccer is not a sport.”
More specifically there are several websites that promote an anti-soccer agenda. An example of this is soccersucks.net, a website well worth a closer look.
At first glance (especially by someone not familiar with the game of soccer) this website might seem somewhat credible, albeit over the top at times. Average readers might take some of the misinformation as factual, since it is presented as such. The author of the site attempts to organize logical arguments against soccer and its popularity.
One specific argument the author makes revolves around the idea that soccer is not in fact a sport. This is based on the definition of a sport as, “a physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively,”
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| [photo by Ole Olson] |
A casual Internet browser, lacking general soccer knowledge might stumble upon the site and see at is a trustworthy source of information. Its manifest appearance is to inform the world of how to most accurately feel towards soccer.
However, beyond the initially perceived intent of this website lies a more hidden purpose. The website’s real motive is to operate as a smear campaign against soccer much like politicians use. And like many politicians this website tries to ruin soccer’s image through any means necessary.
Soccersucks.net uses exaggerated and sometimes completely made up facts to support their claims An example of the totally false statements the site makes would be the author’s claim that the United States won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999.
The World Cup has been played, however, every four years starting in 1930 (expect for 1942 and 1946 due to World War II). Thus, if one were to do the math, at one World Cup every four years, you would see there was no World Cup in either of those years.
If an individual were to come across the website without the knowledge and/or ability to separate the website’s fact from fiction they would be susceptible to believe many of the slanderous lies told on the site.
Soccer also has an interesting relationship with the media. Newspaper, radio and television companies spend enormous amounts of money on their coverage of sports in the United States. Among the media’s sports covered regularly, soccer is conspicuously absent.
Every four years from early June to mid July one can find the FIFA World Cup being televised on ESPN. Outside of this time, soccer is relatively unseen in the American media. There are occasional Major League Soccer games but they are sporadic and hard to come by.
One might assume this lack of coverage soccer receives is due to the lack of soccer being played for the media to show. Instinctively, without thinking more critically, it would appear that soccer just is not prevalent enough to cover consistently. As Americans we value fairness and justice and feel compelled to give the media the benefit of the doubt that they are not purposefully cutting out soccer from their programming.
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| [photo by Drew Douglas] |
This bombardment includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey and occasionally NASCAR. But it also includes one critical element. He is bombarded with a lack of soccer.
One might consider, what affect does this lack of soccer coverage have on such a child? Or, for that matter, anyone that lacks any practical knowledge about soccer? The effect is that ESPN perpetuates an American ideal that soccer is a lesser sport. Their lack of coverage might say to a young child aspiring to play sports, “basketball, football, baseball and hockey. Those are good options. But soccer? What is soccer? Its hardly ever on TV, it must be inferior to the other sports. And why would you want to play an inferior sport?”
By not covering soccer as much as other major sports ESPN, inadvertently or purposefully, discourage children from seriously pursuing soccer past elementary school days.
Soccer is also the topic in other areas of American society. “Nutrition and Football; The FIFA/FMARC Consensus on Sports Nutrition” is a compilation book of scholarly studies. The books entire focus is soccer and nutrition (as the title so aptly suggests).
The book discusses the nutritional and training habits and needs of top-level soccer players through a compilation of many scientific studies. One study discussed in the book involves the need for a soccer player to have a high-carbohydrate diet.
The study had two groups; one ate a low-carbohydrate diet and the other a high-carbohydrate diet. Within each group, they were further spilt into two groups. The first group took part in 10 minutes of exercise while the other exercised for 30 minutes.
The results were reported as follows, “Muscle glycogen were reduced by at least 50% in the low-carbohydrate trial, and were associated with a dramatic reduction in the work performed in both exercise protocols,”.
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| [photo via TheDailySportsHerald] |
What this study really speaks to, however, is the amount of physical and mental toughness it takes to fight through the very fatiguing nature of soccer. The fact that a soccer player requires above average carbohydrate intake to perform best is a testament to soccer players’ ability to work and push their bodies to an extraordinary a high level.
Regardless of the level of play, soccer is often misrepresented throughout all of American society. Though not always blatantly, multiple messages are sent when soccer is discussed in any space. The many different representations of soccer in America can range from appearing informational to somewhat supportive.
Spaces like the Internet and the popular media reflect the most common and popular of American beliefs. That is most likely the reason for anti-soccer messages being far more prevalent than pro-soccer messages.
It is only in the scholarly arena where a more balance view of soccer can be found. Sports journals, such as “Nutrition and Football,” recognize soccer’s validity as a sport. Scientific fact is provided to support the effort and toughness required of soccer players.
So if one conducted a critical analysis of soccer representation in American society, they would find an overall misunderstanding of soccer. The only accurate image of soccer in America can be found, ironically, in the solemn facts of science. Perhaps these findings are reflective of American Society in general.
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Miami
Major League Soccer is structured so that the league has total control of every team. Operating as a single entity is a survival strategy that keeps the struggling league running by distributing revenue evenly. This also means that the league, and not the individual team, own a player’s contract. This brings us to our first obstacle on our journey to success: the Designated Player rule. The 2010 version of the rule allows teams to sign two players that would be considered outside the Salary Cap and give the option to pay a “luxury tax” of $250,000 to sign a third. 2007 was supposed to be the turning point of American Soccer when David Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy.
This was not the first time a superstar signed to play in the States, Pele signed with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in 1975. Regarded as “The Greatest Player of All Time”, not even he succeeded in making soccer a major sport in the United States. This summer saw the signings of international superstars Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez by the New York Red Bulls. It is going to take multiple big names to draw big crowds, which is something that we are more then capable of accomplishing. MLS needs to eventually restructure itself in order to allow teams to have greater control over operations, and give teams the ability to pursue talent. Luxury Taxes can stay in place in order to keep teams unable to acquire the top players on a somewhat even playing field. If the MLS makes this change not only will revenue increase, but it will also increase the level of competition in the league giving American players the opportunity to gain valuable experience at home. As competition increases so does the likelihood that American players will be better prepared for the International Level, as well as keep soccer prodigies like Giuseppe Rossi from deciding that they would rather represent another country.
The level of competition leads us the last obstacle Major League Soccer should address: How the League Champion is crowned. If this is restructured to mimic that of European leagues, Soccer could arguably appeal to Americans more than any other major sport. As I stated earlier winning is everything in the US, at the end of the season people want an undisputed champion holding the trophy. This is not always the case because in play-off format leagues “upsets” take place. Adopting the European league structure results in an undisputed champion. In addition this league structure also relegates the bottom three teams to the second tier and promotes the top three of the second tier to the first tier. Promotion and relegation once again increases the competition level, forcing teams to fight for their place in Major League Soccer. Promotions also add a special factor that appeals to all sports fans: The Cinderella Story. Cinderella teams appeal to Americans because they symbolize the American dream of achieving success through hard work and determination.
Making these major changes to the structure of the league could catapult Major League Soccer into the hearts of US sports fans. Analyzing what the majority of Americans expect from a sport would imply that this is exactly what needs to be done in order to have success. Americans caught a glimpse of why the world calls soccer “The Beautiful Game” and are giving the sport a second look. The time to grow is now, and like any other business looking to expand the first step is adapting to the needs of their audience or customer. The funny thing is, every other league in the world is already doing it.
this article was also featured on afootballreport.com