The World's Soccer Wasteland"

[elricko]

I think all have to agree with me that Canada truly deserves this title . I have suffered through 30 gloomy "soccer" years in this country, and the way that the sport is played, presented and promoted is truly awful. Press coverage is pretty abysmal, and usually error-prone, TV matches have allowed insidious commercials to gradually creep in, and as for performance on the field , I feel the latest abject WCQ attempt sums that up concisely--CANADA -"The World's Soccer Wasteland"

[SABuffalo786]

What about Antartica, eh?

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by elricko

I think all have to agree with me that Canada truly deserves this title . I have suffered through 30 gloomy "soccer" years in this country, and the way that the sport is played, presented and promoted is truly awful. Press coverage is pretty abysmal, and usually error-prone, TV matches have allowed insidious commercials to gradually creep in, and as for performance on the field , I feel the latest abject WCQ attempt sums that up concisely--CANADA -"The World's Soccer Wasteland"

I too have suffered 30 years of doom and gloom, but to call us a wasteland is a bit too harsh. There are over 100 countries worst than us in the men side. In the women side we are amongst the best. Our youth system is one of the best organized ones in the world. The real wasteland perhaps lies in the lack of support and head association.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

Our youth system is one of the best organized ones in the world.

I disagree massively. We have a vague setup of provincial selects leading to some sort of national team. Most players fall by the wayside and the some of the most talented can't get selected because they don't have the means to pay the additional fees for provincial teams.

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

I disagree massively. We have a vague setup of provincial selects leading to some sort of national team. Most players fall by the wayside and the some of the most talented can't get selected because they don't have the means to pay the additional fees for provincial teams.

Very true. I was thinking more in global terms of total kids, boys and girls, playing the game in organized games, schedules, fields, officials, strips, standings, administration, etc. The selection and scouting of them kids for provincial and national teams needs a lot of work. You are very right in that respect. Perhaps this very organization tends to curtail some natural development of the kids in terms of overcoaching by unqualified persons. I am thinking of South and Central America where kids tend to develop mostly on their own until they are 14 or so when the most naturally talented ones tryout for farm teams of the pro-leagues. Correct me if I am mistaken.

[elricko]

it's precisely those thousands of young promising players , with immense talent at times, that in their early years are so refreshing to see, BUT, then at a later date , so many of these players "drop off" ( I saw my 3 sons decide to stop playing) --and then there's nothing. Who on here can honestly say that there is much promise and hope for the future of "top-level" soccer in Canada . You cannot keep surviving on mere optimism, it takes action and it will take a Canadian league, supported by the media and promoted by the media. Please don't use the climate as an excuse, B.C. ,alone , is bigger than many Northern European countries that produce great talents.One huge problem is the fact that soccer is regarded as a fun sport for youngsters, their Mums and Dads know that they will not try to "career " at that sport, and that really says it all--there's no future playing soccer!! We are a huge , modern , industrialised country that cannot support the world's No 1 sport, there may be a 100 countries below us ( who?), but those countries do not have our resources. I do believe that out of all the industrialised nations, we rank as one of the very worst, if not the worst.

[Cheeta]

Wasteland Football Club.

That soooo works for me!

I SUPPORT WASTELAND FOOTBALL!!! a.k.a Canadian Soccer

I AM A WASTELANDER!!!

Not so sure about the fun/rec. aspect of youth football in this country. Quite sure that's very true for a great many familys involved (such as they are) in the sport, but that would also be very true of many familys involved in hockey, the majority of whom play good old club hockey and not the elite variety. I can honestly say I had a real eye opener last year. There are a great many familys who participate in the sport with that sort of intesity which rivals the worst hockey parents. More than I'd ever thought possible.

But I have to admit with the young ones, they know very, very early, by their early teens, that if they're serious about sport, "soccer" is the wrong direction.

And isn't that a shame? At the age when hockey looses so many young talents that soccer isn't able to step up and recruit these junior atheletes.

And do you know why?

Canadian investment in hockey= likely billions per year

Canadian investment in football= sweet fu'k all.

[elricko]

I would like to know the 100 countries worse than Canada--100!!!

[marktci]

Elricko,

Since you do, apparently, have access to a computer, go to FIFA.com and look up the world rankings. While you may or may not agree with the rankings, there are over 100 coutries below us at this time.

And you're right. That soccer is regarded as a "fun sport for youngsters" is a huge problem. Someone should put a stop to that immediately.

[bettermirror]

hey mark. that is the exact problem with the u11 boys i coach. too many of the parents encourage it as a "fun place to be" - even when so many of them have MASSIVE upsides and talent to boot.

as coaches we finally got sick of it after losing our derby match badly - despite being 2nd (them) and 3rd (us) - we laid the boots to them on mondays practice. informed them that's how it'll be the rest of the season until they realize this isn't recreation. we are here to win AND have fun. but losing isn't fun. so we have to work hard to win. the boys responded with aplomb.

[redhat]

It's actually close to 20 years rather than 30. We were in the World Cup in 1986 in Mexico.

Some countries have not done so. Ask Finland. Or T&T. Or Malta.

And here are some of the countries ranked lower than us:

North Korea (96), Haiti (98), Panama (101), El Salvador (102), Lithuania (103), Congo (105),

Cyprus (105), Northern Ireland (107), Malawi (109), Singapore (118), Armenia (123),

Mozambique (128), Liechtenstein (140), Andorra (143), Luxembourg (155), Sierra Leone (157),

Bermuda (159), Nicaragua (160), Central African Republic (179), Puerto Rico (202) ...

And some countries just above us, some quite surprising since they're "football nations":

Bolivia (94), New Zealand (92), Macedonia (91), Iceland (90), UAE (88), Burkina Faso (83),

Austria (82), Cuba (81), Chile (80), Bosnia (79), SCOTLAND (77), Hungary (74), Thailand (72)...

We are NOT the world's soccer wasteland, but your points are well-founded. "Soccer for

youngsters" concept has to stop, and we need to play MORE games to get better, with a

commitment to reach loftier goals.

If that's not better for you, I'd suggest immigration to "non-wasteland" countries that

offer slightly better football, but have some problems that come with it: air quality, crime,

higher poverty, poor health care, food availablity and quality, water, corruption, death, etc.

[amacpher]

quote:Originally posted by redhat

It's actually close to 20 years rather than 30. We were in the World Cup in 1986 in Mexico.

Some countries have not done so. Ask Finland. Or T&T. Or Malta.

And here are some of the countries ranked lower than us:

North Korea (96), Haiti (98), Panama (101), El Salvador (102), Lithuania (103), Congo (105),

Cyprus (105), Northern Ireland (107), Malawi (109), Singapore (118), Armenia (123),

Mozambique (128), Liechtenstein (140), Andorra (143), Luxembourg (155), Sierra Leone (157),

Bermuda (159), Nicaragua (160), Central African Republic (179), Puerto Rico (202) ...

And some countries just above us, some quite surprising since they're "football nations":

Bolivia (94), New Zealand (92), Macedonia (91), Iceland (90), UAE (88), Burkina Faso (83),

Austria (82), Cuba (81), Chile (80), Bosnia (79), SCOTLAND (77), Hungary (74), Thailand (72)...

We are NOT the world's soccer wasteland, but your points are well-founded. "Soccer for

youngsters" concept has to stop, and we need to play MORE games to get better, with a

commitment to reach loftier goals.

If that's not better for you, I'd suggest immigration to "non-wasteland" countries that

offer slightly better football, but have some problems that come with it: air quality, crime,

higher poverty, poor health care, food availablity and quality, water, corruption, death, etc.

But the argument is not 'is Canada the worst footballing nation?', its 'is Canada the World's Soccer wasteland?'. How could countries the size of PEI and/or countries where the majority of people never had any opportunities to waste to start with, be considered bigger soccer wastelands? For sure Canada is one of the 5 (at most) worse when it comes to # of kids playing organized football only to have it all come to nothing (wasted).

[canso]

That's the beginning of a great soccer chant, to the tune of Teenage Wasteland by The Who:

We're in soccer wasteland, oh yea"

And we're all WASTED!!"

[Impact supporter]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

I disagree massively. We have a vague setup of provincial selects leading to some sort of national team. Most players fall by the wayside and the some of the most talented can't get selected because they don't have the means to pay the additional fees for provincial teams.

Then do we really NEED these provincial select teams? Is there any alternative to them?

[Daniel]

Provincial select teams are a great way of identifying SOME talent, but once money enters the equation, the less fortunate don't get a fair shake. I've always been for the development of youth players by pro clubs (ie the Impact should have youth clubs at different levels in the LSEQ - not Y-League, to control costs - and pay for all the player expenses).

[Tim St.Pauli]

quote:Originally posted by amacpher

But the argument is not 'is Canada the worst footballing nation?', its 'is Canada the World's Soccer wasteland?'. How could countries the size of PEI and/or countries where the majority of people never had any opportunities to waste to start with, be considered bigger soccer wastelands? For sure Canada is one of the 5 (at most) worse when it comes to # of kids playing organized football only to have it all come to nothing (wasted).

Yeah, thats right! Canada is not the worst team, but soccer wasteland!

There is no other team that bad with any sort of comparable wealth and number of population.

Canada is the worst ranked of all economical well developed countries country with a pop. over -lets say- 5 mio. And there are so-called least developped countries ahead of us (Burkina Faso). I mention the wealth factor because for a non-traditional soccer country like us or USA it is necessary to have a certain point of wealth to develop soccer, like it worked in the USA. They are ages away and it used to be different (1986)!

Canada is so rich but there is no sum of money that can buy the worth of a high percentage of people who love the game. But it should be possible to improve the system. Canada is lacking an own league or a shared league with the US. Canada is probably the only country in the world without a own championship!

There is no European team behind us except Northern Ireland, Georgia, Lithuania and all the real small ones like San Marino, Faroer etc.

There is no South American team behind us (of the teams who belong to SA in soccer, not political).

Jordan is 39, we are 95!

No disrespect to Jordan, they did a good job in WCQ and that's the difference that counts!

[Former Champ]

Don't forget dudes, that the European soccer season srarts in the fall and goes to Spring. They don't play in the summer because it gets too hot. From fall to spring in most of Canada you can actually die of hypothermia just from being outside. Winter of 97 in Calgary, it didn't get above -30C for 3 solid weeks, and I moved here for the warmer weather. Wasteland really does desribe the parts of Alberta I grew up in for a minimum of 7 months a year.

Doesn't mean I don't still love The MNT. I'll vow right now that I will bleed for them again someday. But Canada will never be a Men's Soccer power until global warming really kicks in!

[elricko]

Well , some good points were made, and some uncalled for sarcasm, and comparing Canada to Belize's population of 274,000 is just plain stupid, and the facts are that Canada is quite correctly regarded as a giant on the world stage in economical terms, health care, education , medical treament, freedoms etc, etc,BUT taking all these huge benefits into consideration, one would think that progress could be made at soccer . It is ridiculous to compare Canada to so many third -world countries. Would anyone care to predict where Canada will be in the rankings in 10 years time. Most industrialised countries regard success at sport as part of a national patriotism--maybe that is what we lack here?

[marktci]

quote:Originally posted by elricko

Well , some good points were made, and some uncalled for sarcasm

Speaking of uncalled for sarcasm...

http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5243&whichpage=2

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by amacpher

How could countries the size of PEI and/or countries where the majority of people never had any opportunities to waste to start with, be considered bigger soccer wastelands? For sure Canada is one of the 5 (at most) worse when it comes to # of kids playing organized football only to have it all come to nothing (wasted).

Based on your definition, we're the biggest soccer wasteland because

of the ratio of kids playing. That's true. But that's because

soccer is not a Canadian priority. And our #1 sport is HOCKEY. They play HOCKEY in the NWT and Nunavuut, than soccer.

The Canadian priority would be hockey, basic medicare, a decent

standard of living, and hockey.

I hate the "Soccer Wasteland" label, but I wouldn't trade down

(immigrate) to any of these 3rd-world soccer "powers" either.

[elricko]

quote:Originally posted by bettermirror

hey mark. that is the exact problem with the u11 boys i coach. too many of the parents encourage it as a "fun place to be" - even when so many of them have MASSIVE upsides and talent to boot.

as coaches we finally got sick of it after losing our derby match badly - despite being 2nd (them) and 3rd (us) - we laid the boots to them on mondays practice. informed them that's how it'll be the rest of the season until they realize this isn't recreation. we are here to win AND have fun. but losing isn't fun. so we have to work hard to win. the boys responded with aplomb.

[elricko]

Nice to see that " bettermirror" has adopted an attitude of winning with his boys team. Soccer is a great sport, kids of all sizes, speeds and talents can play, and winning most certainly is not the most important thing--BUT losing constantly and being perennial runners-up "a la Canadian at most sports" - is no fun either. The right spirit is play to enjoy the game AND play to win, and far too many Canadian soccer parents do not share this belief.Soccer should not be regarded as merely a fun thing that fits in between piano and swimming, it should be a "fun" committment to play to your best, attend EVERY practise,play as a team and play to WIN.If coaches stress the importance of these statements,maybe a winning attitude would be converted to some strenth in building a soccer nation?

[Tim St.Pauli]

quote:Originally posted by elricko

Well , some good points were made, and some uncalled for sarcasm, and comparing Canada to Belize's population of 274,000 is just plain stupid, and the facts are that Canada is quite correctly regarded as a giant on the world stage in economical terms, health care, education , medical treament, freedoms etc, etc,BUT taking all these huge benefits into consideration, one would think that progress could be made at soccer . It is ridiculous to compare Canada to so many third -world countries. Would anyone care to predict where Canada will be in the rankings in 10 years time. Most industrialised countries regard success at sport as part of a national patriotism--maybe that is what we lack here?

But why is Canada so much ahead in Hockey then? Do you mean that there is a "Hockey-patritiosm" but no "soccer-Patriotism" or do you mean that there is no patriotism at all?

Germany as a result of WW II has defintetly the lowest patriotism of all countries that I know, but used to be the best soccer nation in the World.

I guess all you need is tradition and if you're lacking it, you need to spend money to get good results!

[elricko]

I do not regard ice-hockey as a conventional sport, as it allows out-right fighting,and outrageous behaviour within the rules. Any so-called sport ( excluding boxing) that legally permits the combatants to trade punches, gouges,kicks etc, etc cannot be compared to soccer,rugby,aussie rules et al, where admittedly bad behavior takes place, but is clamped down upon by the match officials. The USA have most assuredly taken a rightful top 20 place in the soccer world , and have a very respectable league, whereas ice-hockey usually draws smaller crowds than "Scrabble " tournaments. You cannot compare soccer, a sport that is recognised as THE No 1 sport in the world, with a declining 'WWF-on-ice" , that is being shunned more and more by the Mums and Dads of Canadian kids.

[Cheeta]

Sport participation/popularity tends to roll in cycles. Watch the numbers for enrollment in hockey the next couple of years. Think you'll find we're starting to enter into an enrollment rebound.

Also think that you'll find that the real drop off when it comes to hockey enrollment begins years before the sort of violence in the way of fighting, becomes an on-ice factor.

True, it's a very physical game, and a game in which physical intimidation is a reality. Fair enough. But simple economics of time and money is realy what dose in hockey for a lot of familys as the kids get older.

You got two kids in hockey? Turn your life off and budget an extra mortage payment every month because that's what it's going to take. God help you if they're in elite hockey.

Dought you'll ever see that by playing football.