- Jason Davis

For years, soccer fans in the United States have existed as a sporting subculture distinct from the mainstream world of NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and big time college sports. If you followed soccer passionately you often needed to take extreme measures to do so; soccer pubs, tape-delayed broadcasts, and with the dawning of the Internet age, illegal streams of matches from around the world, were the mechanisms for getting your fix. It was all a bit covert and edgy, the byproduct of a greater culture that showed little appreciation for the world's game.


Times have changed. Soccer's emergence from sporting subset to mainstream phenomenon is slowing building momentum. It helps that 2010 is a World Cup year, of course, but there are other signs of soccer's move into the general discussion. ESPN has committed more time and money than ever to the game, becoming the home of English Premier League matches and games from Spain's La Liga. The biggest names in the world are now prominently displayed on America's ubiquitous sports broadcaster; though the effect of such a thing might never be truly measurable, greater exposure means more casual sports fans gravitating towards the sport. Slowly but surely that reality will infiltrate sportstalk radio (which is still almost universally ignores soccer), newspaper sports coverage (what's left of it), and perhaps lastly, the "water cooler" talk of mainstream America.


But does any of that really indicate that the soccer-loving community will emerge from the fringes and sidle up along the NFL, NBA, and MLB fans as full members of the mainstream sports culture? Subculture is often appropriated by the mainstream for commercial reasons, and though the behemoth of ESPN is now a player in the soccer world, simply broadcasting games does not mean they're using their full complement of resources to foster growth. Mentions of soccer on ESPN Radio are still few and far between, usually only coming due to an important USMNT result. The network's most influential pundits, almost to a man old guard types raised in a world where soccer was viewed as a joke, continue to treat it with bemusement and dismissive commentary. Soccer highlights are making the cut for Sportscenter with more regularity, but are rarely accompanied by anything beyond a quick mention, cursory description, and poor attempts to be clever (which almost always anger soccer fans) on the part of the anchors.


Soccer now exists in an odd limbo, with a community of passionate fans still left to their own devices for coverage beyond the matches themselves. We have two dedicated channels (soon to be three) that exist outside the established American sports infrastructure. We have a small group of professional writers covering the game, men and women who are big names within the soccer subculture but would likely struggle for recognition elsewhere. Few, if any, mainstream writers covering the general sports landscape include soccer in their regular rotations. Much of the day-to-day discussion on the sport in America is driven by amateur bloggers and podcasters, individuals who have committed themselves to filling the void the best they can. Because the game's profile is now rising thanks to more exposure for European leagues, American fans most often turn to British voices for commentary and analysis, an unfortunate situation that hamstrings new efforts to cover the sport from these shores.


The phenomenon of subculture almost invariably includes an element of elitism. People "in the know" feel superior or more worldly than their oblivious peers, often reveling in the closed-society feel of their community. Soccer is no exception, with a certain portion of American fans being attracted to the game specifically because it isn't mainstream. New converts to the sport may find it difficult to break into the community, with large elements of it seemingly closed off thanks to dismissive attitudes towards those with shorter histories of following the game. Fortunately, this elitism exists almost exclusively in the realm of the Internet; soccer fans in desperate need of an outlet for their energies turn to the web to engage other fans, sometimes finding that the world of bloggers, podcasters, writers, etc., is a cliquey collection of amateurs and pros who sometimes unintentionally separate themselves from the more passive soccer fan.


Local groups are a different animal. In American circles, where MLS is still a secondary passion for many, those cities with clubs spawn tight-knit clans of fans tied together by their mutual love for a team they can see and cheer on in person. Still connected to the wider community, they operate as welcoming bosoms for new fans in a way that the impersonal world of Internet interaction cannot. The term "subculture" still applies in many cases, but as more markets embrace their professional soccer teams, certain groups spring forth or move into the mainstream. This element will do more, brick by brick, to push the game to the forefront of American sports than the sheltered individuals who spew their opinions and observations via computer keyboards and PC microphones. The members of these groups are fans first, and as such care little about whether they're part of a elitist subculture, a rising movement of soccer passion, or just a collection of people for whom the fortunes of the local squad is paramount. For them, soccer becoming a mainstream sport is an afterthought to their primary mission, nor do they revel in identifying with a distinct American subculture.


As the American soccer-loving community coalesces, all the while searching for its identity, it will continue to be a patchwork of the Euro-centric, the locally-focused, and the Spanish-speaking culture that only occasionally crosses over with its English-speaking corollary. Like the character of the country itself, soccer passion in the United States spans a wide range of viewpoints, interests, and approaches; while identifiable as a specific subculture because the common element of the game itself, it is in no way definable within the constraints of that sport. Without the long history and established cultural interweaving of the sport into culture, as is the case in other countries around the world, the soccer community here is destined to be less a homogeneous construct and more a melting pot of different flavors and consistencies. There are a million different ways to love soccer, and we Americans cover just about all of them.


A small note: This is the 1000th post in MFUSA's history. I had hoped to write exactly 1000 words for it, and though I went just a bit over, it's close enough for government work. I don't want to belabor the milestone, but I do want to thank all of the readers, contributors, and friends that have helped make MFUSA a worthwhile place for soccer fans to visit over the course of its existence. Cheers.