Why don't black athletes dominate soccer?

I assumed this thread was talking about Americans, but that's probably just my jingoistic nature.

 

Not sure about other countries, but in the U.S. I'd say there's several reasons:

1) The sport just isn't as popular here. There's less emphasis (and less money on the pro level) than there is in football, baseball and basketball, so unless a kid shows a tremendous talent for soccer he's steered toward another sport.
Baseball has a similar issue, but has better PR. There's still a lot of African-Americans who grew up playing baseball as kids and it's more of an "American" game, for lack of a better term. It's easier to sell it as a cool thing to do in the inner cities.

2) In the men's game, Title IX plays a part. A lot of colleges simply don't play men's soccer (including the SEC, which draws its athletic talent from a number of states with a large African-American population). If there's no real level to jump to after high school it's hard to sell people on spending all that time and money to develop themselves into an elite prospect. In a lot of places there's no way for that great high school player to continue to improve.

3) The expense of developing a player is high for families. In my state, at least, high school soccer is a way for kids to stay in shape between seasons with their club teams. That's a lot of travel, a lot of registration fees and a lot of sacrifice -- pretty much year-round -- that many families can't or won't endure.
Some of these problems aren't limited to just African-American players, of course, but when you throw in the socio-economic angle it just compounds all of it.

 

You would need a perfect storm of circumstances for an African-American male to become a dominant soccer player.

Among them:
*A true passion for the game
*An unwillingness to be swayed by other sports
*Parents/sponsors/coaches who can afford to send said player to elite camps
*A defining moment that propels him into the national spotlight
*Has to be media savvy
*Avoid Maverick Carter

Will it happen in the next 5-10 years? Doubtful. But it will happen, much like we will see the same scenario in hockey.

 

That's kind of the problem in the U.S., be it a black kid, white kid, brown kid, purple kid. In soccer nations, scouts go out and beat the bushes to bring in the best promising youngsters. Over here, promise is measured on whether your folks can afford to put you on a travel team, not talent.

It's rapidly becoming the same way in baseball, basketball, volleyball, etc. with all the AAU and club/travel team stuff.

College coaches don't recruit the local high schools for top talent in those sports. Rather than go out to five different schools five different nights, they wait and go to one tournament where they can see 40 teams. If a family can't afford to get you in front of the coaches, you're future prospects are stunted.

 

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.

Certain subjects are off limits and that to explore them risks at best embarrassment and at worst the questioning of one's character.

We, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.

 

But the top player selected in the last NBA Draft sure as shit was not a Garden Club AAU kid.

 

Dare I ask what in the world you're talking about?

 

I think you'll find that players of African decent will be represented at the highest levels of soccer in similar proportions to those of other sports based on their levels of participation.

Many European nations just don't have large African populations.

But, there have been several players of of African ancestry from nations that you might not suspect like Paul McGrath of Ireland & Henrick Larrson of Sweden. (McGrath's father was from Nigeria. Larsson's from Cape Verde.)

 

Do you not recognize those statements?

I'm sure you do.

 

I recognize my post, which you quoted. I'm wondering why you quoted it.

 

Why don't you think some more about it.

 

I really don't get what you're trying to do here. Sorry.