Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 UW 5/3/83; site uw-june Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!ewan 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.