I'm watching Fox Soccer Channel...and watching some Argentinian futbol championship league, and some team named River Plate beat Olimpo BB for their league championship.
While the match was interesting, I was more into crowd watching. The place was insane!
The announcer claimed that the scene was bedlam, and I don't disagree at all....random fights, chants, streamers, and even fireworks being launched from the stands....madness
this match got me thinking. Latin America and Europe have soccer, Africa and Asia have cricket, and Canadians have hockey...what do normal Americans have?
The usual suspects are American style football or baseball. While they are both worthy, neither seems to inflame the passions of humans as much as soccer does. The closest that we may have is college football, which while being awesome, its decidedly tame compared to the soccer spectacle. With a straight face, can you say that the bedlam at a Michigan / Ohio State game....or a Texas / Oklahoma game will come anywhere near to any of the matches between Arsenal and Chelsea?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteinteresting post. At least, for me since I follow football (as it is rightly called, and NOT soccer as North Americans like to say). However, to avoid confusion -- I will henceforth, relate it as soccer.
ReplyDeleteFirst of, River Plate is one of the most popular clubs along with Boca Juniors since soccer in Argentina came about. Both teams were founded way back in the 1900s, I believe. Some of the other teams in the league have dissipated due to financial struggles, but I know that you have no interest in knowing anymore, so moving on.. :)
In response to your main question -- I absolutely do not think that North Americans will ever come even close to the passion exuded by soccer fans. This is because soccer "hooliganism" actually dates back to the 60s long before soccer even became a sport. In fact, during some period, Italy had even come about with an idea to ALLOW fanatical fan support by transforming matches more into a battle of spectacles (riots, chanting, stomping, fireworks, etc). I have no idea what was the reason behind why they wanted to do this -- but I'm sure it brought further attention to soccer. Many of these practices or methods (such as what you witnessed on TV and during the World Cup) are still part of traditional soccer spirit.
Besides being a part of tradition, I also think that most, if not all, soccer fans treat soccer like religion (the sign of the cross made by many players after scoring a goal or even before a penalty kick, or the infamous 'hand of God' by Maradona are no coincidences). If soccer and/or the World Cup was not such a huge deal in Europe and S. America, there wouldn't be players who received death threats if they caused their team to lose a match. Football fans breath, eat, and live soccer.
Good point. I forgot about the Columbian player that was shot and killed after scoring an "own goal" against the US in the 1994 World Cup...
ReplyDelete