Alternative Sports

Growing up in an urban community can offer many obstacles that can hinder a person’s growth and affect their world view. In other words, urban areas can greatly affect the things you like and don’t like. Two recreational activities that are almost universally disliked by people who come from urban environments are soccer and golf. The reasons why may vary, but the most common are that they are both “boring” and “slow” sports and more importantly, don’t have many African-American players who are superstars that younger kids can identify with and look up to. The fact the soccer hasn’t picked up in America in general is particularly astounding because it is known as the “world’s sport”. In urban areas in Brazil, Mexico, England and Spain children live and breathe soccer. The same can be said for the sport of golf. Golf is played around the world and an African-American golfer (Tiger Woods) was at one point the best golfer on the planet. The real reasons behind why black children aren’t playing soccer and golf include financial and political issues that can work against people coming from urban communities. The sport of soccer, or futbol as it is called in the rest of the world, is the most popular sport in the world that up to 240 million people play worldwide (Spires, 2008). The average viewership for the World Cup in 2006 was 93 million people during any given match (Spires, 2008), and the World Cup final in 2010 drew 700 million viewers around the world (Roxborough, 2010). The first professional soccer league was formed in England in 1863 but the roots of soccer can be traced over 3000 years to Ancient China and Greece (Spires, 2008). The game has grown exponentially since then and now most countries have some form of a professional soccer league (Spires, 2008). Despite having a rich history around the world it wasn’t until 1968 that America formed a professional league that was of any prominence. The North American Soccer League (NASL) combined two

References: 1. Barnes, L. (2008, April Friday). African-Americans and Golf, A Brief History. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from African-American Registry: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/african-americans-and-golf-brief-history 2 3. Duke, G. (2011, September 21). Can European Soccer Stamp Out Racism? Retrieved October 18, 2011, from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/football/09/21/football.racism.bulgaria.russia/index.html 4 5. Holt, P. (2011, October 26). John Terry Racism Allegations. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/oct/26/john-terry-legal-view 6 7. Litterer, D. (2008, March 8). North American Soccer League. Retrieved October 1, 2011, from American History Soccer Archives: http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/nasl/naslhist.html 8 9. Matthews, F. (2007). A Plug in the Pipeline. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education , 22-27. 10. McCormack, R. (2011, September 19). The State of American Youth Soccer. Retrieved September 21, 2011, from The Shin Guardian: http://theshinguardian.com/2011/09/19/a-treatise-the-state-of-american-youth-soccer 11 12. Newberry, P. (2009, March 31). Golf Still Mostly White. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from Associated Press: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/2009-03-31-584252466_x.htm 13 14. Ortiz, M. (2010, February 4). U.S. Soccer Diversity A Work in Progress. Retrieved September 21, 2011, from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/story?id=4887049 15 16. Sailer, S. (2007, April 13). Decline of the Black Caddie. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from UPI: http://www.isteve.com/golf_decline_of_the_black_caddie.htm 17 18. Spires, T. (2008). Soccer: The Beautiful Game. Library Journal , 39-42. 19. The Guardian. (2011, November 17). Sepp Blatter Mus Resign. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/17/sepp-blatter-resign-gordon-taylor 20 21. Wells, S. (2005, June 17). Racial Divide Driving a Wedge into Soccer 's Grassroots. Retrieved September 15, 2011, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2005/jun/17/ussport.football 22