Support Local Soccer
Support Local Soccer
IMS friends Ben Rycroft and Duane Rollins from Canadian Soccer News had this piece on the CSN site the other day.
This is a really nice video that was put together at a local bar in Toronto called the Football Factory. I think Canadians should be behind their team. But who am I to say that as an American?
In the U.S., I still hear soccer fans say they don’t support the USA because they aren’t good enough. When will they be good enough and will you be able to say I supported the team and helped them to get there?
From another angle this piece inspires me to want to put something together to say the same thing to US Soccer fans about lower level soccer in the U.S. As those in the film said:
“Support – Local – Football!”
“Everywhere in the world, local soccer is supported. Why not here?”
“Support – Local – Football!”
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“Not good enough” doesn’t stop people from rooting for the Pirates, Clippers, or Bills, so why should it stop them for rooting for USA soccer? I root for the United States because this is my country, and the team represents my country. Same goes for MLS and the levels of the game below it.
That’s a great video they put together.
Cool video it had me go out and hunt up the “local football” video about Irish football.
Great video, but I wonder how many of those guys on the video were at Lynx games? Also, I brought up a similar issue on Big Soccer about this. All the hate for those who were termed “Eurosnobs” but no criticism of all the fans who didn’t go to lower league matches but suddenly turned up for their “local” MLS team. In fact, Dan Loney even took the time to write a big apologist blog about the issue defending all those fans who never bothered to show up for their local teams before there was an MLS team.
I’ve been arguing online with multiple Minnesotans about their indifference toward the Stars. Apparently they only want to go to an MLS-level game and feel strongly that Minneapolis should have a team. They cite old attendance figures for the Kicks as proof of viability for MLS. They also tell me that Minneapolis is a PRO sports town, “we don’t do minor league sports.” I’ve posted articles from both IMS and du Nord (i.e. Minneapolis-based websites!) that reinforce my position that they should “go local,” but they treat me like a rube. Even a moderator told me, I live less than 10 minutes away from the NSC, but I can’t bring myself to see the Stars. WTF? If you can’t be bothered to support the Stars, then I say screw you. You don’t deserve to have pro soccer at any level.
I can’t say I’m surprised MH. That seems to be the attitude for far too many lovers of the beautiful game in this country. What makes it even more sad is people like Dan Loney defending such behavior.
I don’t think these people know what they’re missing. The Stars are a solid team and Lagos is one of the better young coaches around. There’s a lot of good soccer happening right in their backyards.
I’ve been thinking about all these things and of course I’ve been dealing with these issues for many years. I really think that it’s going to take a concentrated national effort supported by people who came from lower league soccer and are now playing MLS or National Team along with US Soccer and others getting behind this movement.
I think the bigger problem is when you have MLS players, National Team player and others who they themselves know nothing about lower level soccer then its a hard sell. Recently Lisa Eisenmenger was interviewing a famous US Womens National Team player and asked her a question about the USL. She responded but then admitted a bit later she didn’t know what the USL was. Yikes! This is not an isolated incident by the way. I’ve read plenty of quotes from top U.S. players who don’t have a clue about lower level soccer in this country.
This is going to take time folks but don’t stop what you are doing. The more concentrated effort the more the word will get out little by little.
I will leave you with the quote I received from my friend Bruce McGuire for an article I penned recently.
“I asked some people at a U.S. National team game in Atlanta once if they watched their local team [Silverbacks] and they said no, they’d never been to a game. I then asked them how the pyramid looks upside down – cause if you only support the USA that’s all you get.”
http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/04/25/supporting-pro-soccer-in-minnesota-making-a-commitment-to-the-game/
MH said, “I’ve been arguing online with multiple Minnesotans about their indifference toward the Stars. Apparently they only want to go to an MLS-level game and feel strongly that Minneapolis should have a team. ”
While this attitude is a bummer there is a positive to it as well, 4-5 years ago those same people would have probably even turned up their nose to MLS. So, while it may be frustrating that people still aren’t supporting lower level soccer at least they are starting to show an interest in American soccer.
As for me the most frustrating thing I have about the whole lack of support for league soccer kinda plays into what BQ is talking about regarding national team/MLS players Why is it that Adrian Healey; who just started doing play by play for MLS, actually seems to know about the history Seattle, PDX, and Vancouver have in the lower leagues but when John Harkes talks about a player who spent a few years developing in the lower leagues it sounds like they just started playing the game when they joined MLS.
I doubt many of those guys have ever been to Lynx games because they live in Toronto and don’t like basketball.
(best joke ever)
First, LOL at the one Canuck telling his countrymen to support the Canadian national team while wearing a baseball cap with an American team’s logo on it.
Second, for those of us who are supporting local soccer, it is not enough to be fans, we also need to be soccer evangelists. Over the last 2+ years, I’ve met dozens of new ECS members whose passion for the game I would not doubt for a second, but never knew the USL Sounders were even around in the past. We need to be proud to be soccer fans, and we need to promote that idea that supporting your local team goes hand-in-hand with loving the beautiful game.
I mean it really seriously irks me when John Harkes leaves out information about MLS players time in the lower leagues. I feel like Uchiyama seeing a whole in Jack Elliot’s swing.
I feel your pain smatthew. This has bothered me a lot this year with Portland. It’s like they are brand new and have these brand new supporters and brand new management. And-we will go though the exact same thing again next year I presume when Montreal comes into the league.
Couple of things
1. Everyone has different preference in regards to sports. Some people prefer European soccer because probably they are very familiar with it: TV coverage, news coverage, etc. I’d love to eliminate “Eurosnobs” term because I just feel it creates a division. If we want to introduce and attract them to local soccer, would it be better to welcome them with open arms instead of “hate” (this might be too strong but I can’t find a better term, no offense) ?
2. When you want support, we’re talking about stability. Then relationship is essential. Find what the target markets are. Not everyone wants to go to the Stars game, so find out what will make them go. I might get criticized here, but let’s say if people want to see a famous player, no matter how old he is, sign him, make him an ambassador of the club. If Miami FC could have Zinho and Romario, why cant’ we do the same ? Zinho came when he was 38 years old to Miami FC. Find couple of players whom the “target” can identify and they shouldn’t come too expensive. This is one of the strategy when J-League was introduced: they signed old and post-peak players like Zico, Pierre Littbarski, etc. I realize that J-League is definitely different from NASL but on similar strategy on limited scope can be implemented here. Hopefully, the fans will come and then return.
Someone here mentioned the Lynx: that’s exactly the problem with the Lynx until last season (which has been too late to be addressed): the franchise doesn’t have any connection with local fans and it missed the boat when it refused to draft Lindsay Whalen who has TONS of fans and is connected.
3. When you want respect, we have to earn it. You can have respect when NASL (or USL) can generate more players to the next level (MLS), when the league can show stability (financially, organization-wise) and growth. I understand BQ and smatthew’s anguish but I guess it’s more of the commentators not doing enough homework to understand players’ background or there was not enough information available.. I might be wrong though
4. Encourage local soccer figures to be assertive and responsive. I sent an e-mail back in the winter to inquire about the soccer coaching process to one of the contacts in certain organization and I never got any reply. Small matter ? probably yes but I’d love to coach soccer as I’ve been following soccer since 1984. There’s a lot of people who want to be involved but if we want a grassroot movement, be assertive and responsive.
Lynx comments = Toronto’s team before MLS = Toronto Lynx
Taylor, Neal is correct.
Also, most teams hardly have enough money for payroll let alone a special aging players who usually want more money than an average D2 player makes. In fact a LOT more money. Miami FC was able to get those players because of their owners, Traffic Sports who are very powerful and located in Brazil.
Also, it’s rare a high quality player wants to finish up a career in the MLS let alone D2 soccer. Not sure why a guy playing at a top level making millions would want to come and play for a D2 team and make $1,500 a month for 7 months. What would the motivation of the player be?
“Not everyone wants to go to the Stars game, so find out what will make them go”
Myself and others have been trying to do this for 10 years. As has been mentioned, some people just won’t come because they feel it’s below them. They are truly the ones missing out. As I already stated I think it’s going to take a large national movement to say, “It’s OK to go to a lower level soccer game.”
Taylor, when Kartik Krishnaiyer and I first started reporting on the riff between the TOA and the USL you wouldn’t believe all the people that said, what do we need a 2nd and 3rd division for. If they want soccer let them watch MLS. Seriously, we got that comment a lot. The one weird thing that the NASL v USL debate has done is brought lower level soccer more into the conversation. We’re not hearing those sort of comments anywhere near as much anymore.
Nice Picture of a younger Tino Letteri
I noticed Tino too… the Italian Stallion !!
My joke about the Lynx was over the heads of many.
Darn.
Thanks, BQ – that was my ignorance not to understand that Lynx comments are related to Toronto instead of the WNBA team.
We definitely need D2 soccer if we want soccer to develop in the US. Unfortunately, I feel the the MLS and US Soccer don’t really care about this as MLS get significant majority their talents through draft (NCAA pipeline). While in Europe, each football association has interests in lower league (not just the highest division) and the highest division also pay a lot of interests in lower divisions (due to promotion/relegation system, the ability to farm their youth team members, etc)
ya, think your dead on with this one Taylor. Especially with the US Dev. Academy, pretty much any kid that is playing high level soccer has been scouted many, many times by the time he gets to the point of being ready for college or at least graduation from high school. D3 and even more so D2 is not really on MLS’s radar and perhaps for good reason.
Also, the biggest factor for D2 and D3 not being as relevant in this country is because we don’t have pro/rel. I’ve stated that many times here before. I AM NOT saying we should have pro/rel. I am not one of those with my head in the clouds that don’t try to understand the lack of infrastructure and history of soccer in the US. Also how teams were built differently than in most of the world were most teams in a country started at the same time and those who were superior rose up but at the same time lower level teams grew as well. But it does explain a lack of relevance to many in this country including many of the soccer sports writers. I’ve had this discussion with them and this often comes up. No pro/rel, what is lower level soccer significance and why should I pay attention?
So clearly those things are factors. However, it is still live soccer in your back yard and the larger the net we throw out the more players playing at a high level, the more the sport will grow and the quality will improve across the board.
Yeah, I have had a rueful laugh several times at American soccer fans who get up in arms about Eurosnobs who won’t pay attention to MLS but then do the same thing themselves relative to lower division soccer.
But I would also take issue with the statement though, that “Everywhere in the world local soccer is supported. Why not here?” That just isn’t true. First off, a large chunk of the world doesn’t support any kind of soccer in any meaningful way. If you take India, China and Pakistan, you’ve got like half the world’s population and very little support for soccer on any level. I know those countries probably don’t count as far as this question is concerned in people’s minds, but if you’re going to say Everywhere in the world – that’s like 1/2 the population of the world right there.
How many countries could you say really have a well supported first division, let alone lower levels of “local soccer” that people actually go to? Really, unless by “Everywhere in the world” you really mean, “certain cherry-picked countries in Europe and a couple in Latin America”, that statement just doesn’t hold water. Take a look at the actual 2nd division attendance, even in Europe. NASL attendance would fit right in. Maybe not in the top 10 attended second divisions in Europe, but not far behind that mark.
1. It’s not just soccer, all minor league sports are a tough sell. Minor league hockey’s littered with defunct teams and leagues. Minor league basketball is chaotic, with teams folding, moving, or switching leagues. Minor league baseball’s fairly stable, but only a decade or two ago was in a period of decline. Most people get their sports information from mainstream media outlets, and so they aren’t really forced to question the idea that the major leagues are the only ones that matter.
2. There is no magic fix that’s going to get Eurosnobs to suddenly accept domestic soccer. Pro/Rel is just the latest excuse. They didn’t come over when the shootout was eliminated. They didn’t come over when regulation draws were allowed to stand. They didn’t switch over when the clock was made to count up instead of down.
3. If you were to call the sports radio station in any AL city besides NY and Boston and say that, for the good of the game, the so-called fans who only show up when the Yankees or Red Sox are in town should be given equal respect as the loyal fans of the home team, I can guarantee you, not only would the hosts laugh you off the air, all the callers for at least the next 15 minutes wold start their calls off with a reference to you as “that idiot.” Gloryhunters should not be tolerated. Gloryhunters should not be acknowledged as soccer fans until they adopt a domestic team. The only acceptable excuse for a real soccer fan to not go out to see live soccer is that there’s no live soccer to go out to see in his/her area. (And then, they should be doing everything in their power to bring live soccer to their area.) If you’re only supporting overseas megaclubs, you’re just reinforcing the notion that soccer is a foreign sport. Of course this isnt to say that a real soccer fan can’t acknowledge that some of the best players in the world play on those overseas megaclubs, and seeing those world class players playing their best is truely thrilling to behold. But admiration of their skill should not come at the cost of ignoring your local soccer club.
Edward,
right now we don’t have the luxury to “alienate” glory hunters. If we’re NY Yankees and Boston RedSox, we can do that. But we are not there yet and I personally rather have a broad fanbase who can generate money, regardless whether these fans will only be there for some time. Ideally, yes, they’ll stay, but if they only come to the stadium / support when their team(s) is (are) successful, fine. It’s better than no support at all.
Glory hunter will always exist anywhere and what kind of measures you want to classify them ?
I’d rather us attracting people to come and support rather than selecting them first. Someone who prefers euro soccer might be turned off when he attends a local soccer game if he’s labeled as Eurosnob or glory hunter. That’s why in my earlier post, I’d love to eliminate the term.