28 Feb 2014 02:29:08
Just watching a report on ABC news about the dangers of heading the ball repeatedly, under the headline - Safety Questions About Soccer.

They claim the ball can travel at 50mph (?!?) on to young heads (whilst showing images of 6 and 7 year olds playing a game, and the ball barely travelling further than five feet at a time, and certainly not above knee high!), and used one example of a young lad dying from a brain injury to prove their theory.

I thought kids playing American Football would be at greater risk of injury, with all that deliberate barging into each other head first, but they say it's safe because, 'they wear helmets'! Leather on head, or hard plastic on head?

Can you imagine a report coming out over there claiming American Football was dangerous? It seems there really is an anti-football agenda in mainstream US media - any of our Yankee posters able to elaborate on how much, if any, football is making inroads in the US?

Knowing how safety conscious American 'soccer moms' can be, you'd have to wonder if football will ever really take off on the other side of the pond, if they're watching scaremongering reports like this.

ps. It might explain my boy's last exam results, tho.

1.) 28 Feb 2014
The dangers of American football are all over the news here. The NFL has been dealing with concussion/brain-related issues with its former players for the last few years. it's in the forefront of society.

"Soccer" is much more popular here in the States than it was even 10 years ago. It gets coverage on Sportscenter and it's entered the general sports ecosystem here, which is already quite saturated. Even if people don't like it, many of them at least know about it and are familiar with the teams now.

On a side note, I haven't posted in a long while, but have been lurking in that time. Love the site and all the regulars. Cheers, everyone.

2.) 28 Feb 2014
This has nothing to do with anti-football anything over here. It has everything to do with the media using the fear to get parents to watch. But news coverage of American football head issues is 99.9% of the coverage over here, and rightly so with the reports we've seen, but a soccer player did just die from the same CTE that we've seen in American football players so it's bound to get some attention.

As for participation, far more American kids play soccer than any other sport and there's zero sign that the issues being raised regarding concussions in children have affected soccer one bit.

3.) 28 Feb 2014
As for media coverage in European football it's at an all time high and expanding rapidly. This is partly due to the incredible amount of football that is available now (every match I could want I get live). There are now multiple football networks and every sports channel has a football show and match rights of some kind. I get more coverage and matches than my friend who lives in Liverpool! That being said we still have countless other sports that get much of our attention, whereas rugby and cricket seem more like things the papers talk about only when nothing is happening in football. Check out the dozens of 80000+ capacity stadiums just for American college football. Between American football and basketball you're more likely to lose elite athletes than you are to rugby or cricket. And you're certainly more likely to lose airtime and column inches as well. Nevermind that Wayne rooneys mind blowing contract is about what a good but not great baseball, basketball or even American football player makes.

4.) 28 Feb 2014
Cheers for the replies, lads. Sometimes over here, it looks like the US media just isn't buying into the whole football thing.

Didn't know if it was because it was just an alien concept, or if maybe they're worried about it's growth, and saw it as a threat to the national sports.

I really hope it does get ingrained in the national consciousness over there.

Even if some of the terms used to describe it, sometimes grate a little :)