2010 is shaping up to be one of the biggest years - maybe the most tumultuous yet - for American soccer.
With a World Cup six months away, contentious labor negotiations between MLS and its players at an impasse, and the current uncertainty over the status of second-division soccer in the States, this could be a defining year for the American game.
We’ll be discussing all of these issues in greater depth over the next weeks and months, but before we do, there are a couple of things I’d love to see come to pass in American soccer over the New Year. They deal with areas that are vitally important to the game, but often get overlooked in favor of sexier issues.
First, I wish fans, clubs, colleges and leagues put an increased focus on refereeing in America.
Since I started writing about this sport about 15 years ago, I’ve heard from refs at all levels of the game in the States. Their complaints are consistent - they feel that the requirements for becoming certified referees in America are onerous and discourage some of the best and brightest, that fans and leagues alike unfairly blame them for making decisions that by the letter of the law are in fact correct, and that few people appreciate what they actually bring to the sport we all love.
Fact is, the men and women in the middle are rarely praised when they get the calls right, and universally loathed when they blow them. This is a bit unfair, of course, since fans and coaches get to review and parse the tapes, and paid bloviators like yours truly get many column inches to dissect them. Refs get just one chance, and one second.
Consider this next time some TV ‘analyst’ opines negatively on the length of a discussion between the ref and one of his linesmen. This is why I’ve supported the introduction of limited replay for refs in games - on goals and penalty kicks only - and why I think the game ultimately needs to adopt some true high tech.
But what I’d really like American fans to think about is why refereeing is such a thankless job - and why it is more important than ever that we provide the training, respect and support referees need.
The MLS standard of officiating is so widely condemned, that it’s almost a given among fans that at some point the ref will make a horrible call. The problem with this is (while sadly being correct) it ignores all the other decisions in a game that the referee gets right. More perniciously, it reinforces the mindset that a referee is an obstacle in the way of the game.
This attitude breeds contempt, and as we have seen overseas and here, it leads to ugly confrontations.
Refs are not obstacles. They are not there to ‘rob a team,’ or to ‘make a name for themselves,’ to parrot two common complaints I’ve heard from fans and coaches. Refs are there to make the tough calls, to keep players safe and to make sure every one plays on a level field.
Yes, some of them are not very good. But you know what? Some of the players and coaches aren’t very good either. And as for making mistakes, show me someone who doesn’t.
Instead of blasting the refs every time they make a mistake, we should be asking, ‘How can we make them better?’ Why are so few quality candidates available for what is clearly an important job? How can we improve their training and management skills? How can we improve their fitness? And last, but not least, how can we learn to appreciate them and give them a little basic respect?
My wish, then, is that one day this season - maybe after MLS, USSF and the NCAA have sat down and figured out a way to streamline the process and make respecting refs an integral part of the game - that a crowd will stand up and applaud the folks in the middle. Officials never ask for that, but they do deserve it.
My second wish is that folks would get together and figure out the mess that is college soccer. Really, people, it’s time.
Nearly every other sport in America uses the colleges as de-facto farm systems (NASCAR is an obvious exception) for the professional levels of the game. This has long been a great deal for the leagues - and perhaps not a great deal for the athletes, but that’s another story - but the bottom line here is that the system is well-entrenched in American culture and isn’t going to go away.
On top of giving the best athletes top-level competition, the best college programs also develop life-long ties between fans and the sport.
College football is arguably the number three sport in the nation, and college basketball is in most people’s top six. This has created a feedback loop where fans begin following the players at their universities, then to their professional teams, all the while building loyalty to the sport. It’s genius marketing, and soccer completely blows it.
A big part of the problem is that college soccer, while competitive in terms of finding a national champion, creates little or no interest at the league level.
A bigger part of the problem is that there are a great many people involved in college soccer who don’t want things to change because they fear they would be out of a job.
And, finally, there’s an even more pernicious reason - racism and xenophobia is alive and well in American soccer. If you don’t believe me, spend a few minutes on a soccer message board: You’ll find all sorts of vile stereotyping and racist invective, all of it stuff that I thought had gone out in the 1960s.
Beyond being simply revolting, this is an enormous waste.
Basically, because kids aren’t getting to play high-level soccer according to the world’s rules, they develop bad in-game habits. Because they are not in a professional atmosphere, they lack maturity. That this can happen on campuses with big-time football and basketball teams really causes me to smack my head into the desk.
And because their coaches, their officials, and their refs seem more concerned about preserving an antique vestige of the game than giving their players the tools to succeed later in life, college soccer selfishly sucks the life right out of our talent pool.
Moreover, soccer is blowing huge opportunities for merchandising and identification. I have a Syracuse shirt on today - because I went there and follow their sports avidly. The sports that ‘matter,’ that is. Why can’t soccer be one of those?
My wish is that USSF would finally get the gumption to stare down the NCAA. Form two regional super-leagues with colleges that really want to play the top-flight game.
Play by the real rules. And give it ten years and see what happens. It’s got to be an improvement, because right now, nothing is happening.
Jamie Trecker is a senior soccer writer for FoxSoccer.com.
