“Footie in the States” is a series of articles which take an in-depth look at soccer’s past and future popularity. 

Last summer I got off at Bedford Ave on the L line to get to Smorgasburg, a food market which is basically the best thing ever. I was sporting a favorite jersey of mine, the 2014 Real Madrid home kit with Sergio Ramos on the back.

As I walked along, some guy in trendy clothing and some hip hat commented on my jersey as he walked by. He proceeded to tell me that he didn’t know who Ramos was and asked “why I didn’t get Ronaldo” on the back. Thanks, fancy hat guy.

I was surprised, though, that some random young dude recognized a Real Madrid kit. Granted, Madrid are literally one of the most famous and successful clubs in the history of footie, but I’ve worn that kit a bunch of times with no comment.

So I realized that somewhere along the way, soccer became “cool.” American football, basketball, and baseball were just too mainstream. This trend was mainly in large urban cities, such as NYC, Chicago, Boston etc.

European footie is relatively unknown. Wearing a footie kit is akin to wearing an obscure band t-shirt. In fact, footie as counterculture in the States centers more around fashion than it does the sport itself. Countless occasions I’ve run into someone donning a Liverpool or Arsenal kit who can’t name a single player on the team, nor have they ever watched a game.

Furthermore, footie is representative of youth. Most people who partake in footie as counterculture are aged 25-35. They view the more established sports as part of the old, and soccer is the new. It’s a form of rebellion, which is inherently tied to youth.

Most of these people aren’t fans of the sport itself, rather they are fans of the idea of the sport. They want to be nonconformists and feel that the other sports available are too commercialized or generally popular. Footie seems a viable option.

Thus, what has been a way of life for so long in Europe becomes a trend in the United States.

It’s hard wanting soccer to catch on in the US. After being so desperate for people to recognize the sport as legitimate, it seems counterintuitive to dismiss any newcomer to the sport, no matter how silly their reason for becoming a fan is. And trust us, we’ve seen some morally deplorable reasons for fandom.

Some guys just want to be part of the cool sport in an effort to be different. A staggering amount just want to buy all the merchandise and show everyone in the world just how big a fan they are. Some believe footie is the “next big thing” and want to jump on the bandwagon. Some guys just want to start blogs that no one reads.

The value of footie as counterculture is unclear. On one hand any new fan is encouraging, but how beneficial is a fan that doesn’t really care about the sport itself?