NetsForce wrote:AydinOrs wrote:NetsForce wrote:Amongst other things, the difference is our respective examples is the ease with which a game of basketball can be played.
You're right, but probably not in the way you intended. All you need to play soccer, is a ball. You can play it on any surface: indoor, grass, asphalt, paving stones, sand etc. Kids often just take off their jackets and put it on the ground to make a goal. Or they draw a goal on a wall with some chalk. There are hundreds of variations on the official game.
For basketball, the minumum you need is a ball and a hoop.
Where I was coming from was that to get a basketball game going you can bring along one friend go to a basketball court and play a competitive game.
With Soccer it doesn't work that way... You've got to get a handful of people together before you can play any form of soccer that resembles the way the game is supposed to be played...
Hence why I feel like sticking some hoops in the ground will go a long ways to promoting the development of basketball in England.
I fully respect your opinion and get your point, but the soccer culture around the world is very different from the image you probably have of it, even in rich countries. Playing 1 on 1 soccer is in fact very normal for kids. There are so many ways of playing soccer and in fact, somewhat like in basketball, most of the soccer stars are people who played endless hours on the street. The street game is really about the love of the game, about having fun and developing your skills. It's really different than the official game (Their lack of street soccer culture is probably one of the reasons why the USA has so few creative players and they all seem to play the same way.)
I know a little bit about soccer culture in the USA and the meaning of a term like soccer mom and how soccer is regarded by many as a suburban sport and how African-Americans don't care about it. The USA is really unique in this respect, because in Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, parts of Asia, it's the urban sport and also the unrivaled nr. 1 sports among minorities.
Largely off-topic, but wanted to get this out in this thread.