Let your friends know that Drew Carey of“ The Price is Right,” Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are all invested in the game, and more are joining. Why? It’ s a great sport and fun to watch when you understand it. The great Tom Brady has been telling people about soccer and even investing in the game. And former Major League Baseball player José Bautista owns the Las Vegas Lights of the USL. Why do they like the game? They have learned some of the intricacies of the game and enjoy it. For them, it’ s also a potential revenue generator.
Anything to do with soccer should be promoted. The Soccer Tournament’ s( TST) 7v7. Million Dollar soccer tournament, arena soccer and the MASL, beach soccer, futsal— it’ s all related to the game, and it’ s your job to get folks excited about anything to do with soccer.
Now, your non-soccer buddies may still be negative about some aspects of the game. Remember, if they don’ t know the rules, they will not watch or appreciate the game so make sure you educate them on that. I don’ t have to tell you how to do that. Same with promoting the top players. You can do that.
But the biggest challenge is how to tackle those three dreaded questions or complaints about our game.
# 1 – Why is soccer such a boring, low-scoring sport?
# 2 – Why do players keep going down as though they’ ve been shot?
# 3 – What the heck is up with offsides?
Yes, those three questions are the top complaints I hear from my non-soccer friends, based on an unofficial survey. They are often the reasons they can’ t seem to follow soccer seriously.
And these answers seem to have worked the best for me. Feel free to use them.
# 1: How Baseball and Soccer Are Alike
To explain the allure of what some people call a boring sport, I use baseball as a comparison.
Now very few people would expect me to compare soccer with baseball, but I have reverted to this way of thinking after years of trying to defend the game of soccer here in North America.
You cannot compare it to hockey, because hockey is fast, up and down, and is generally a higher-scoring game. Let’ s not even talk about basketball, but they cheat a bit in basketball because each time someone scores, they get 2 or 3 points. But once again, it’ s up and down, fast, and with lots of points. The other big North American sport where fans expect big numbers is American football. Although there is more standing around than playing, a 21 to 7 final gives the impression that it’ s a high-scoring sport.
But the allure of baseball is anticipation, not the score. With every moment( pitch) a point( run) can be scored, and a game can be won or lost. Soccer is a low-scoring game and, generally, one goal at any time can also decide the game.
Think of this scenario. Your team is at bat and down by one run. A man is on second base and you have a man at the plate. The crowd is getting excited because they know that on the very next pitch your team could: a) not score and potentially lose the game; b) tie the game; or c) take the lead and potentially win the game. One pitch, three different possible outcomes. If your team is in the field, it’ s the same anticipation. One pitch and your team could strike the batter out; get a ground out or fly out and potentially win the game; give up a single to tie the game; or give up a homerun to potentiality lose the game. Of course, other things can happen in between.
But it’ s that anticipation and possible scenarios that result from those moments that capture the fans and keep a somewhat slow game exciting. Because the game is only boring if you don’ t know the rules and ramifications of each play. The strategies in the game also help build up the anticipation. For example, the type of pitch, location of the pitch, location of defending players on the field of play. All these things add to the enjoyment of the game. It’ s all about anticipation.
Baseball can be a bit like a chess game. We all know soccer can be similar, but many North American fans have no idea what might be going on in that regard. One could argue that every potential moment in a game could result in the one goal that wins the game. Just one goal is needed to win 29 % of games, according to a prior FIFA study. If non-soccer fans can appreciate that the opportunity to score— often created by tactics and strategies— combined with the anticipation that just that one goal can decide a game, then maybe they can enjoy it more and be entertained by soccer.
Maybe it can encourage them to watch more. We can only hope.
# 2: Why Players Go Down as Though They’ ve Been Shot
When people complain about this, don’ t you want to put on a pair of cleats with those sharp studs and kick them in the shins and see how they react?
Admittedly, there are times when players are trying to sell a foul to gain an advantage, looking like they’ re going for an Academy Award for“ Best Performance on a Soccer Field.” But more often than not, this is not the case.
I recall coaching at a youth soccer camp a few years back. I was standing behind an eight-year-old, making sure the drill went as planned, when the kid, not knowing I there, took a step backwards and stepped on my foot. Suddenly I got very religious.“ Holy Friggin’ Christ!” I shouted, trying not to swear in front of the kids. I think I even heard angels singing from the heavens as if inviting me to join them. My gosh did it ever hurt. After the training session, when I got home, I checked my toe and it had turned black, blue, purple, and all the other colors of the rainbow.
It was hard to imagine an eight-year-old causing so much damage but after looking at my soccer shoes, I realized they were as light as a feather and paper-thin. Basically, my shoe offered no protection at all. And the soles and studs of a tradition soccer shoe nowadays seem to have daggers on them. Apparently, with the intention of gaining more traction, the studs are longer and sharper. They don’ t only dig into the grass, they dig into your foot, shin, or anything else they make contact with. Sometimes I wonder if they should even be legal. Let your non-soccer friends know that taking a cleat to the ankle, foot, leg or anywhere else really, really does hurt.
# 3: Soccer’ s Offside Law: Complex, Convoluted, Confusing and Controversial
Soccer’ s offside rule is the rule that most annoys folks who don’ t follow the game. It’ s hard to understand. It annoys the fans, players, coaches and even referees just as much, depending on how the call goes. So, explain the purpose of the law before getting into the nitty gritty. And make it funny so it’ s memorable. Here is what I tell my non-soccer friends about what the law is about and how it originated.
I tell them that no one knows for sure how it came about but one can assume that a bunch of kids were playing some form of soccer or rugby in the schoolyard and one particular kid didn’ t want to do much running. He wanted all the glory and to be the one who scored the goal or propelled the ball past the opponent’ s line to get the points. So, he pulled up a chair in front of the opponent’ s goal and sat there waiting for the ball to come to him. Once it was nearby, he put down his bag of potato chips and got the ball and scored. Of course, this upset the opponents who said he shouldn’ t be allowed to sit in front of the goal just waiting for the ball.
They started calling him a“ goal hog,” but he didn’ t care. It wasn’ t until his teammates also started complaining that things started to change. His teammates were upset that they had to do all the running to go back and defend. At this point, the person who owned the ball( and who was not a“ goal hog”) said that unless everyone came together to create a rule to prevent a player from standing in front of the opponent’ s goal all game long, they would not be able to use his ball to play. He would go home.
Everyone agreed except, of course, the“ goal hog,” so a new rule was devised so that the kid who owned the ball would stay and the game could go on. The rule stated that no player can stand in the opponent’ s half of the field unless the ball crossed it first. This prevented the lazy kid from camping in front of the opponent’ s goal. He had to retreat to his end of the field whenever the ball was there. This is why soccer and similar sports have this rule, called the offside rule.
Now you can elaborate how the rule has changed to its current state in your own way,
14 | Soccer Journal