US interest in 'soccer' caused by immigration and 'moral decay'

Right wing columnist Ann Coulter has written an article complaining about the World Cup. Ms Coulter does not approve of the World Cup for a host of ill-thought-through and prejudiced reasons, chief among which is her concern that 'No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer'.

It is, therefore, an immigrant's game. Ms Coulter says 'One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans [who like soccer] will drop their soccer fetish with time.

Ms Coulter is a well-known and controversial figure in the US. She has written ten books which have sold 3m copies. She is beloved of the far-right wing Tea Party movement and a bête noire for Democrats. She describes herself as 'a polemicist' – meaning that she is a writer who puts forward her own arguments and is not too concerned what others think.

Soccer is for girls

Ms Coulter says that football is a girlish, un-American sport whose players are not required to show heroism. In proper, manly American sports, such as basketball, baseball and American football there is 'individual glory' something which Ms Coulter does not see in soccer.

'The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport. Most sports are sublimated warfare' Ms Coulter opines' perhaps unaware that soccer, or rather, football, once led to a genuine war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969.

The Football War (La Guerra del Futbol) broke out between the two countries after a World Cup qualification match held in Mexico. After El Salvador won the match 3-2 after extra time, it cut diplomatic relations with Honduras. Three weeks later, it began bombing Honduras.

Opposable thumbs

Ms Coulter also complains that players are not allowed to use their hands in the game of soccer. She says 'What sets man apart from the lesser beasts, besides a soul, is that we have opposable thumbs. Our hands can hold things. Here's a great idea: Let's create a game where you're not allowed to use them!'

It seems that Ms Coulter has lost sight of the fact that the game is called 'football'. Perhaps one shouldn't blame her for that. In America, the game is known as 'soccer'. Americans could not call the game football because that would have resulted in confusion with the game of American football.

And so they turned to the word 'soccer' which is an abbreviation of the word 'association'. Soccer was a name used for Association football at English public schools to distinguish it from Rugby football (which was known as 'rugger').

Soccer is 'foreign'

The main reason that Ms Coulter dislikes soccer though is simple 'it's foreign' she says. She likens soccer to the metric system which came from 'revolutionary France'. 'Soccer is like the metric system, which liberals also adore because it's European'.

'Naturally, the metric system emerged from the French Revolution, during the brief intervals when they weren't committing mass murder by guillotine' she says.

Ms Coulter goes on to say that she prefers to use inches, feet, yards and miles, seemingly oblivious to the fact that these measurements come from England, as does football, or soccer.

'The browning of America'

It is clear that Ms Coulter has an agenda. She has previously warned against the 'browning of America'.

Hitherto, she has said that she opposes immigration because most immigrants would back the Democratic Party (of course, Ms Coulter is a fervent Republican and a supporter of the radical right-wing Tea Party movement.

But now, with her World Cup rant, it is clear to see, through all the hate, through the confused thought processes and through the prejudice that what it is really about is race.

Bush's America Roach Motel

Perhaps we should not be surprised. After all, she wrote in a piece entitled Bush's America Roach Motel in 2007,




Sanwar Ali of said 'I am afraid that Ms Coulter is likely to be disappointed if she wants Americans to ignore the World Cup.

'Soccer is growing in popularity in America. That popularity began among immigrant communities but now many Americans whose families have been there for generations play it too. If the USA team beat Belgium on 1st July, that popularity will only increase'.

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