Noticeable Differences Between US and UK Soccer
I am a former amateur soccer player from the UK and I have noticed a big difference in the way both countries appear to treat soccer at the junior or children's league level.
For a country that invented the game you can probably understand, after reading this, why English soccer is not the world force it should be. In fact it's so far behind the majority of the world it's become an embarrassment.
From the International squad all the way down to schools soccer England FA is failing the fans of the sport.
Firstly at the moment English soccer teams are being bought out by business men who care very little about the traditions of the English game and secondly the influx of foreign players coming into the English game.
How can that possibly affect the game at school level? Simple, the kids who are playing at school know that for most of them, no matter how talented they are they will never make it to a major club. So any chance of realising the ambition of playing for their country is well out of reach. So why should they make the effort.
OK I concede all the big clubs have academies were the kids, not with talent but whose families have money, can attend. Saying that though how many actually make it through to represent their country, less than 5%.
This Problem affects the game from the very top all the way down to schools soccer.
In England much the same as the USA we have kids leagues, but these are school teams, not individual teams were various kids from different backgrounds come together to form a team. In England it makes soccer elitist. My reason for saying that is this. If you have 200 children (ball park figure) in each form, 15 kids may get selected for the team. What that means is this, kids from impoverished homes or kids who are taken care of by the state do not get the same chances as those from working class backgrounds. So what happens to the other 185 kids? Well in amongst those kids you may get some who have a gift for playing. I'll explain further.
As a kid growing up there was very little for the kids to do in the town we were living. So some kids with imagination formed a small soccer league. Only about 5 teams if I remember but the way you got into the team was to not play for a school team. This was a conscious decision because the idea was that we would eventually take on the school teams and show what talent really was.
We managed to get local businesses to buy uniforms for us, not decent stuff but uniforms just the same. Shoes were more difficult, there were kids going through trash cans and charity shops to find them, if they were too big you would pad them out with paper.
Now wait, I am supposed to be talking about gifted players well this is what I mean by a player not being given the chance to prove himself.
My cousin and I had managed to scrape together 12 kids of varying shapes and sizes and fitness. We then had to find somewhere to practise. There was a school at the back of my mom's house called Ellis House, this was a school for kids with learning difficulties or "mentally handicapped" as they were called in the 70's, this place had a ¾ length soccer field complete with goals. The house gave us permission to practice and to play our games there. It would be entertaining for the people in the house.
I remember one particular practice session. There was a kid who resided in the house who would religiously watch us. So one day my cousin invited him to join us. Not thinking he would be any good we felt it would be a nice gesture. This kid turned out to be brilliant, seriously good. So we invited him to join our team. I think by now the number of teams in the league had risen to about a dozen. Suddenly because we had the guy from the home in the team we were the brunt of much ridicule, until that is the teams played us. We had our own ground our own changing rooms and our own supporters........... Ok they were the residents of the home but none the less they were loyal fans.
The point I am trying to make is that if it hadn't been for us this kid because of his disability would never have been given the chance. The same applies to the other 185 kids in school. They would never be given the chance.
In the USA they have things sorted, soccer is not confined to schools and the kids for the most part have never met. They meet by playing soccer, the other great thing is co-ed teams. It's great to see boys and girls playing the same sport to the same standard rather than segregation.
For a country that invented the game how come we have dropped so far behind the rest of the world in our own national sport. England are currently 15th in the world rankings and falling. The USA are currently 28th and climbing. All this is the fault of the money men at the top. England can't even get an Englishman to take charge of their national side.
As long as the USA has the grass roots of the game sorted as they do now I see a bright future for the American Kids who love the sport of soccer. For England I see a different picture, I see the game falling apart, I see kids losing heart because there is no point in playing the sport they love.
I see a point in time when the USA will move ahead of England in the world standings and I see it sooner rather than later.
Bear this in mind too, The USA are top of the ladies international league, England are 11th almost 300 points behind. If the English football association cared they would do something to reverse the trend.
Truth is they just don't care enough
I am a former amateur soccer player from the UK and I have noticed a big difference in the way both countries appear to treat soccer at the junior or children's league level.
For a country that invented the game you can probably understand, after reading this, why English soccer is not the world force it should be. In fact it's so far behind the majority of the world it's become an embarrassment.
From the International squad all the way down to schools soccer England FA is failing the fans of the sport.
Firstly at the moment English soccer teams are being bought out by business men who care very little about the traditions of the English game and secondly the influx of foreign players coming into the English game.
How can that possibly affect the game at school level? Simple, the kids who are playing at school know that for most of them, no matter how talented they are they will never make it to a major club. So any chance of realising the ambition of playing for their country is well out of reach. So why should they make the effort.
OK I concede all the big clubs have academies were the kids, not with talent but whose families have money, can attend. Saying that though how many actually make it through to represent their country, less than 5%.
This Problem affects the game from the very top all the way down to schools soccer.
In England much the same as the USA we have kids leagues, but these are school teams, not individual teams were various kids from different backgrounds come together to form a team. In England it makes soccer elitist. My reason for saying that is this. If you have 200 children (ball park figure) in each form, 15 kids may get selected for the team. What that means is this, kids from impoverished homes or kids who are taken care of by the state do not get the same chances as those from working class backgrounds. So what happens to the other 185 kids? Well in amongst those kids you may get some who have a gift for playing. I'll explain further.
As a kid growing up there was very little for the kids to do in the town we were living. So some kids with imagination formed a small soccer league. Only about 5 teams if I remember but the way you got into the team was to not play for a school team. This was a conscious decision because the idea was that we would eventually take on the school teams and show what talent really was.
We managed to get local businesses to buy uniforms for us, not decent stuff but uniforms just the same. Shoes were more difficult, there were kids going through trash cans and charity shops to find them, if they were too big you would pad them out with paper.
Now wait, I am supposed to be talking about gifted players well this is what I mean by a player not being given the chance to prove himself.
My cousin and I had managed to scrape together 12 kids of varying shapes and sizes and fitness. We then had to find somewhere to practise. There was a school at the back of my mom's house called Ellis House, this was a school for kids with learning difficulties or "mentally handicapped" as they were called in the 70's, this place had a ¾ length soccer field complete with goals. The house gave us permission to practice and to play our games there. It would be entertaining for the people in the house.
I remember one particular practice session. There was a kid who resided in the house who would religiously watch us. So one day my cousin invited him to join us. Not thinking he would be any good we felt it would be a nice gesture. This kid turned out to be brilliant, seriously good. So we invited him to join our team. I think by now the number of teams in the league had risen to about a dozen. Suddenly because we had the guy from the home in the team we were the brunt of much ridicule, until that is the teams played us. We had our own ground our own changing rooms and our own supporters........... Ok they were the residents of the home but none the less they were loyal fans.
The point I am trying to make is that if it hadn't been for us this kid because of his disability would never have been given the chance. The same applies to the other 185 kids in school. They would never be given the chance.
In the USA they have things sorted, soccer is not confined to schools and the kids for the most part have never met. They meet by playing soccer, the other great thing is co-ed teams. It's great to see boys and girls playing the same sport to the same standard rather than segregation.
For a country that invented the game how come we have dropped so far behind the rest of the world in our own national sport. England are currently 15th in the world rankings and falling. The USA are currently 28th and climbing. All this is the fault of the money men at the top. England can't even get an Englishman to take charge of their national side.
As long as the USA has the grass roots of the game sorted as they do now I see a bright future for the American Kids who love the sport of soccer. For England I see a different picture, I see the game falling apart, I see kids losing heart because there is no point in playing the sport they love.
I see a point in time when the USA will move ahead of England in the world standings and I see it sooner rather than later.
Bear this in mind too, The USA are top of the ladies international league, England are 11th almost 300 points behind. If the English football association cared they would do something to reverse the trend.
Truth is they just don't care enough
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