Opinion: Bring Soccer to FSU
posted by Westley Reaves Jr. | September 26, 2022 | In News, SportsSoccer is the world’s most popular sport, that’s a fact. Literally almost every country in the world has their own national team to represent the country and their own professional soccer league.
In the United States, we have an interesting take on the sport that the rest of the world loves. For the most part, older Americans would not put soccer in their top three favorite sports. However, for the younger generation soccer is their favorite sport. According to The Perspective, in 2019 over 850,000 girls and boys were playing high school soccer in the U.S. This shows a high interest in the sport by the youth that is only growing.
The United States’s professional men’s soccer league is the Major League Soccer. This league has seen significant results in the growing popularity of soccer. With now 30 MLS clubs in the league, all except for a few have soccer-specific stadiums, and they average high attendance numbers well over 20,000—which is on par with the attendance for NBA games.
One of the 30 MLS teams is right here in North Carolina with Charlotte FC, who started their first season this year with major success in terms of attendance. However, that’s not the only team in NC. There are multiple professional clubs around the state such as Greensboro FC and North Carolina FC— both part of the Division II United Soccer League. North Carolina is also home to the famous NC Courage. Part of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), in recent years the Courage has been one of the best teams in the world.
All this is to say: the fact that Fayetteville State University doesn’t have any involvement in soccer is just not right.
Specifically, at least women’s soccer which, in North Carolina, is one of the most popular sports for women and young girls. I talked with students around campus to gain their input and universally, most agree that there should be at least a women’s soccer team to represent FSU. Most of the students I talked to were women and a lot of them have previous experience playing soccer in high school or when they were younger. The reason I emphasize women’s soccer over men’s is because FSU has a greater number of women on campus than men. So, to me, the only way to have a successful introduction of the sport is to give a team to the dominant population of students.
Historically HBCUs have never really been involved in soccer. Most are involved in the most popular American sports, such as football and basketball.
Even so, we have seen a shift over the years when it comes to Black players playing professionally. On the women’s side, the biggest soccer name to come to mind is Crystal Dunn—the famous Olympian and U.S. National Team Player is also a World Cup winner. Former star for the North Carolina Courage team, Dunn also played for the Tar Heels at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She currently plays in the NWSL for the Portland Thorns.
Other famous Black players that come to mind are Sophia Smith, Sydney Leroux, Brianna Scurry (famous World Cup USA goalkeeper from the 99ers), Brianna Pinto, and Trinity Rodman—yes, the daughter of famous NBA Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman. All these women have played for Women’s National Team at some level and are the reason more and more women and girls are playing soccer today.
Bring soccer to FSU.
It’s clear that the popularity and the involvement is already here. You can see it all over the state when it comes to the professional teams and on the amateur level. Women’s collegiate soccer as we know it today was established by Coach Anson Dorrance and his team at UNC-CH. Also, the opportunity to bring more athletic scholarships to the school for women’s soccer players would be incredible for scouting in an already deep talent pool that North Carolina possesses. Bringing a soccer team would be a big move for FSU and would be just the third HBCU to do it, joining the teams of Lincoln University and Shaw University. Having soccer at FSU would be a big deal and a welcome one.
Photo courtesy of dankos-unlmtd
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