How the US got sick with football and why not everyone likes it

Elina Chebbocha

If you have ever been keen on American sports, you should have noticed that the headlines of the local sports press were rarely replete with reports of European football. According to the legend, they consider it “European” only there, and even came up with their word - “soccer” instead of “football”, because they already have their football and the ball in this football is not at all round.

In fact, the stereotypes about the American Scoker little in touch with reality. The statistics, unpleasant for Russian fans, is such that 24 million Americans play football - as opposed to 2.4 million in Russia. In the US, 4.2 million people are officially registered in clubs, and in Russia - 350 thousand. In the US, the stadiums collect an average of 18 thousand fans, and we have 12. Moreover, they are not particularly involved in fixing the term "soccer" for the USA. According to a monumental study by Stefan Szymanski, a professor at the University of Michigan, the British were partly to blame for such a linguistic enclave: "The use of the word soker has decreased in the British press since 1980, and if used, in the American context. This decline seems to be a reaction to the increased use of the term in the United States, which is presumably associated with the rise of the North American Football League in the 80s. " Frost out of spite grandmother.

People trying to push football to the Americans are the same people who claim that we love the HBO series “Girls”, the monorail, Beyonce and Hillary Clinton

Of course, football is not the most popular sport in America, but it is in the top four, ahead of ice hockey, by the way. If the average European or resident of Latin America calls out a dozen names of football players (local league) and twice as many foreign ones, then the average American will most likely remember only Landon Donovan (the best football player of the United States), Messi and David Beckham, and the last sarcastic context, as he still can not forgive tastelessly dressed wife and conflict with Donovan.

So it was exactly before the World Cup 2014. Until 2014, interest in football was marked by rare bursts of audience attention, as in 1999 during the final of the world championship on women's football between the United States and China. The USA vs. Portugal 2014 World Cup draws 18 million viewers on ESPN, and before the match against Germany, all the country's media outlets were mad at football. The New York Times make breathtakingly beautiful and understandable infographics on the topic in a special section, explaining step by step how and why teams enter the playoffs. In BuzzFeed, they dug up photos of hottest football players in their childhood and published a draft of a note to justify their absenteeism. As you know, if you wrote about “European football” in BuzzFeed, this indicates a national interest in playing the game.

RT @Andrewfootie @RorySmithTimes Dupont circle right now. I wonder if all their grandparents were born outside the US pic.twitter.com/1UXTBjUaGW
- Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 26, 2014

In the end, the national madness can be judged by the number of negative comments in the direction of "this is not our sport." Columnist Ann Coulter considers the introduction of football into the life of an ordinary American as a forerunner of the apocalypse and, wait for it, a "moral decline." “I am outraged that we are being forcibly fed this football. People trying to push football to the Americans are the same people who claim that we love the HBO series“ Girls ”, the monorail, Beyonce and Hillary Clinton,” writes Colter in his article. And he continues: “If Americans are now watching football more, it is only because of the change in the demographic picture that followed Teddy Kennedy’s immigration law of 1965. I promise you: not one American whose great-grandfather was born here doesn’t watch football. only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will eventually give up their football fetish. " Even if you do not take into account the small madness and racism of the author, this opinion is not unique.

American interest in football cannot be ignored and written off only on demography - after all, it is disrespect for sport and leveling the significance of statistics. Moreover, they are so similar to us in everything related to football. One of the biggest bursts of the Russian press was provoked by the personnel placement of the Russian national team coach Fabio Capello, when it turned out that he had not included Roman Shirokov, the most popular and best football player in the country. The same thing happened in the US team - Landon Donovan, America’s most popular and strong footballer, did not make it. Although the reasons for the decision were different (recurrence of injury at the first and fatigue and conflict with the coach at the second), the national reaction to this event was the same - surprise and disappointment. However, football in America will always be more frivolous than here. National teams of both countries will go home (we are already now), Landon Donovan did not go to Brazil, but he is okay with it, because football in an American way is when you lose, but you still remain in the game.

Photo: Getty Images / Fotobank, Shutterstock