Soccer a kick around the world

A South African friend of mine mentioned in a recent email that his beloved Bafana Bafana was bounced from competition and is no longer in the running for the African Cup of Nations.

A few years ago, I would have had no idea what he was talking about.

I grew up playing soccer. I was never particularly good at it, but I did thoroughly enjoy the sport and fondly remember the games behind Palmer Junior High in the old reversible green and gold MYAC jersey. Trips to the Midnight Sun Tournament in Fairbanks were a summer staple, and school vacation revolved around the game and practice schedule.

When I moved to Europe, however, it became clear that I truly knew nothing about the sport. Friends would speak of professional players and leagues and fixtures and I would sit quietly thinking about my next vacation or my desire for a good burrito. I have never been a watcher of sports. While I will happily attempt to play just about any game, I tend to get a little bored watching other people engage in an activity that I would rather be doing myself. Additionally, I think growing up in Alaska, where there is a dearth of professional sporting teams, afforded me a detachment from loyalty to any particular team. When I got to Europe, I resolved to go native, and since the whole of the continent seemingly has decided that watching soccer ranks somewhere between winning the lottery and experiencing the birth of your first child, it seemed like a fine opportunity to attempt an interest in televised sports.

The numbers are staggering. Some 3 billion people worldwide are soccer fans. I am not sure how this estimation is made, but if it is true, and if the football estimates are correct, then that means there are about 10 soccer fans for every one American football fan. On a side note, the second most popular sport in the world seems to also be the goofiest of all, one that I have tried and failed to comprehend more than once, one whose central tenant appears to be taking five in order to eat cucumber sandwiches. Cricket. I don’t know how that fits into anything, but I do recommend challenging your frontal lobe by sitting down to try to understand that peculiar pastime at least once.

Here’s what surprised me about watching soccer. I actually became interested in it. As a sport to watch on television, it doesn’t seem to be any more or less exciting than the others, so it wasn’t that aspect of the game that grabbed me. It is fascinating because it is the most international, and I would argue the most American, of sports.

Let me explain.

First, the international competitions between the teams of different countries are wonderfully educational. In 2010, I became engrossed in the aforementioned Africa Cup of Nations, not for the quality of play or the beauty of the game, but because competition is wrapped in a geopolitical environment that I know very little about. It is a rabbit hole that leads you through the tragedies and triumphs of modern Africa. That particular competition was unfortunately fraught with calamity, as the team bus from Togo was attacked by terrorists while making its way to the competition in Angola. The horror of the event shocked the soccer world, and two players and a bus driver were lost to the misplaced fury of a terrorist group fighting for control of a region that I had never even heard of.

I took to watching games with a laptop nearby, investigating the different teams and countries as they struggled for athletic dominance of the continent. I emerged with a renewed interest in that oft-forgotten region of the world and a deepened understanding of the political, social and geographical landscape of the region. Quite an accomplishment for a sporting event.

The professional side of the soccer world is a touch more confusing. First, each European country has its own league system. For instance, English professional soccer, or Association Football as it is referred to in England (which, incidentally, is the root of the word soccer), is divided into multiple tiers of teams, the highest being the Premier League. The teams comprising this league, however, are not fixed; each year the three worst teams in the league are relegated, or bumped, to the lower league and the three best teams of the lower league are promoted to the Premier League. If the NFL operated in this manner, then in 2013 the Raiders, Jaguars and Chiefs would be dropped to a lower league and three lower tier teams would be given an opportunity to claw their way through the NFL. This approach strikes me as a true meritocracy — one befitting our great democracy.

Additionally, each season the best teams from the best leagues in each European country play each other in the Champions League, a super-league of sorts that crowns a winner each spring. In theory then, if Major League Baseball adopted a similar policy of relegation and promotion, the Mat-Su Miners could fight their way to the World Series. A hugely unlikely prospect, of course, but the possibility would infuse the game with a little bit more fight and a touch more hope for the little guys.

This past Sunday the Africa Cup of Nations finished up with Nigeria taking home the purse. Had it not been for my friend sharing his anguish, it would have slipped by me unnoticed. While I don’t think that international soccer will ever rival the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB in the states, I do think that international competitions of this sort offer an intriguing depth often unseen in sports. And, given the bizarre fascination of the sports world lately with imaginary girlfriends, maybe a little depth is just what we need.

Pete LaFrance grew up in Palmer and has moved back to the area after a number of years living abroad.