Simply Jonathan

This is Simply Jonathan, online writing habitat for Jonathan Holst. In here, you may find content divided into three main categories: links, notes and essays. The links are to external content of interest; the notes are small thoughts and ponderings; the essays are longer, more thought-through entries, often debating a subject thoroughly. Read more about Jonathan and this site.

Football

28 March 2007, 4:29 PM CEST +0200

I saw a documentary some weeks ago, about David Beckham going to LA Galaxy, and what it would take for him to succeed. There was also an interview with a guy — I don’t recall his name, but I think he was a journalist — who was confident that Becks would fail, mainly due to all the problems Americans seem to have with soccer:

  • There aren’t a lot of goals. Americans like lots of goals.
  • Soccer is played with the feet. Americans like to use their hands.

I think there was one more, but I don’t remember it, and what I want to do is focus on his second point: Americans like to use their hands. And then it struck me, only in America can a game where the only foot-to-ball contact is the field goals (and the rare use of the foot to kick the ball forward), be called football.