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From: ewan@uw-june (Ewan Tempero)
Newsgroups: net.sport
Subject: Re: World Cup History (or what's wrong with the USA)
Message-ID: <14@uw-june>
Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 23:36:36 EST
Article-I.D.: uw-june.14
Posted: Thu Oct 31 23:36:36 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 06:23:47 EST
References: <834@utai.UUCP> <235@Navajo.ARPA> <411@ssc-bee.UUCP>
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 59

> 
> does something like national funding, etc, make a difference??
> 

I doubt it, believe it or not, there are countries out there who do
do quite well with minimal ( to the point where they have rely on public
donations and commercial sponsorship ). These players get their accomodation
and airfares paid ( maybe meals....:-). The author to the comments below
is probably correct ( no or little committment )

> and anyone know anything about letting "professinals" play in the 
> Olympics?? It doesn't seem to me that there is that much of a difference
> between someone who is govt-supported, gets money for side endorsements,
> or accepts money outright...

Same comments as above, many of the players in Olympic teams are neither
paid to play for a team during regular season or subsidised to train for
such teams. ( Players have been known to lose jobs 'cos they take so much
time ( unpaid ) off work... )

>	1.  We don't take it seriously enough.  In other countries they treat
>	    soccer like Texas treats football.  Kids in Europe and South
>	    America get soccer balls instead of a nerf or a baseball mitt.
 
Mainly true but it's not just that people don't play as much, they don't get
any support from their fellow countrypersons. In countries such as Australia
and New Zealand where Rugby rules, the country will still stop to support 
their soccer teams.....I hardly hear about *any* soccer here let alone
international games.

>Here in the NW we have leagues that run year round (Men's, Women's, and Coed)
>Leagues are also broken down into over 30 and 40 classifications not to 

Yeah it's great!

>mention the indoor soccer clubs that are beginning to spring up.

A comment I saw in the paper some months ago by some guy who's big in
US soccer said that indoor soccer ruins soccer players. It requires different
skills ( or rather a subset of what's necessary ) and a different type of
stamina to play indoor ( never mind the injuries you receive )

As James commented, US hasn't done as badly as you might think, it's just
that no-one knows about it ( extremely biased media ) and most people don't
care. However you would think, given the number of soccer players in the
country ( while a small fraction of the total population, is probably
larger than soccer populations of many soccer nations ) US could provide
a better showing.

By the way, US isn't the only country that has Europeans playing in the
off-season but the other countries still seem to do well in the Cup ( maybe
it's because the other countries send their players to Europe to play? )
-- 
            Ewan

------------
Ewan Tempero                                      "Oh no, not again"
UUCP: ...!uw-beaver!uw-june!ewan    ARPA: ewan@washington.ARPA
Please check all nuclear arms at the door.