Anyway, Jennifer Doyle "The Professor" as she's now been dubbed (how great is it that we now have an Arsene Wenger reference in the American blogosphere), posted a followup piece on her blog today, directly or indirectly addressing a lot of what came up in the comments thread during and after her posts, and expounding upon her general soccer world-view . I'll echo that Timon guy when I say, THIS:
You just can't underestimate the positive impact of the sport on girls and women. For all sorts of reason. And I don't see why that shouldn't be enough - why any WPS team should turn itself inside out wondering how to make men who don't care about the game come to watch a match. Women make up half the population (slightly more, in fact). They earn money, they spend money. They spend their families money. Why on earth should the business model for the "success" of the women's game should be almost fear of alienating men?
Lest you think I'm a separatist, I ask: Why don't we have more faith in the men in our lives? (We seem to trust them enough to coach the cast majority of the teams.) I see lots of guys at matches, of all sorts of ages. They are often more romantic about the women's game than women are! (e.g. "This is how the men used to play - as a team - before it became all about money and militaristic defense.") I don't think they care either way about the sexuality of the players - and we don't need to keep them in the closet to hold their attention.
There's a lot more I think is interesting and/or agree with, but I'm not going to quote the whole first part.
As for the part about Latinos:
Here's my cross - the link between gay fans of women's soccer & Latino/a fans of the men's game: I think fútbol fans feel this way because they have been kept in the closet.
Yeah, the point's more nuanced than that, but again, fair use is fair use. For my part, I think MLS has bent over backwards to reach and engage the Hispanic community. From Spanish language broadcasts to youth leagues to signing players from Latin America in droves. Has the league always been effective? Hell no. And the Professor is right about there being a disconnect between the anglo soccer culture that sprung up in the 60's and has continued to this day in various forms, and Hispanic soccer culture. To be fair, it's a divide that cuts across our whole society, with a few notable exceptions.
I do think things are changing. In a lot of ways, it's not 2004 anymore. Do you know where this picture was taken?
Columbus Crew Stadium. The place where the Germanically named Nordecke is home to frat boys, Anglo/Euro footie fans, and Hispanic fans on Crew game day. Things haven't always run smoothly in the stands along those cultural lines, but there's been a lot of good to come out of the fusion of the groups in the corner.
Now that picture didn't appear in the English language newspaper of the same company this week, which really underlines the current situation. But the Hispanic situation is one where MLS is truly adapting. There's too much money at stake not to.
From another perspective, it's not like the communities the Professor is talking about are going to have a whole lot of trust by default in MLS. And much like the girlfriend or boyfriend who had to work out their issues before you could get with them, the Hispanic immigrant community has a lot to come to terms with in regards to its own identity before you'll find its members lining MLS and WPS stadia en masse on Saturday nights. It's a relationship that will take a lot of work on the part of *both* parties, and not even that will guarantee a healthy symbiosis.
Fake Sigi out.
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