As much as soccer is irrelevant to me. I got to thinking about it because of your and Stacey's back and forth over soccer and it dawned on me that I have never seen a soccer game, match or whatever it is called. My stepsons and son (21 to 31) never expressed any desire in the sport so I never got dragged into the sport and I never tried to steer any of them towards any particular activity other than fishing. The next soccer game I watch will be my first, maybe in my next life.
It is the world's most popular sport for a reason. It's cheap to play. Basically all you need is a ball. I could not believe how huge the sport was in North Texas. Wichita Falls is a town of 100k people. The soccer complex had fields A-Z, and AA thru FF. Games started at 730am and went till about 8pm on all fields. Kids would start playing there at age 3 or 4. It is much easier to watch and learn the game when your kids are playing. I started taking my jambalaya pot out to the fields. Pretty soon, we (my kids' teams and parents) were making a day of tailgating at the soccer fields. Good times.
I've always said that if they got rid of the goalie, I'd watch soccer. Even if they shrunk the goal down by half.
I don't know if I'd call it that cheap to play. The shoes/equipment were an expense, and if the kids in North Texas are serious about it, they join expensive club teams and also travel a lot. Of course, as a dance mom, that activity isn't cheap, either--not by a long stretch, especially the more classes they add and the costumes and the ballet company that has a ton of added costs in it. But the most expensive activity may end up being band. Hundreds of dollars of "rent to own" for a trombone and $100 worth of private lessons each month.
I said basically, all you need to play is a ball. Think globally. Kids in Mexico kicking a ball for hours. I was alluding to why it is the world's most popular sport. Of course it is more expensive in suburbia. My point was more toward world popularity and it finally catching on in a big way in the states.
Of course, leave it up to Americans to make a cheap sport expensive. We're good with that kind of stuff.
We're a lot more safety (and law-suit) conscience than most contries around the world, so there is more equipment involved here. Also, there's the greed factor. If someone builds a field or a complex, they are almost always only doing it to make a profit.
I agree with most of what you said. However, in Wichita Falls, the fields were city owned and run by a non-profit. Pretty cool setup. Before every game, the refs would have the kids line up for equipment check. If they didn't have the correct equip (safety gear), they couldn't play.
In Plano, that's the way it is, too. But I'd still like to know how the PSA (Plano Sports Association) could afford the fancy complex they have. That's just for indoor sports and registration.
