Why player doesn’t necessarily mean fan

In an interview with #5 Magazine promoting his new movie with dad Will Smith, Jaden Smith told Man Utd’s Rio Ferdinand that he  plays soccer & is a fan. He said he loves the game and grew up playing it, but doesn’t really watch or have a fav team, which reinforces our theory of why American youth who play the game aren’t necessarily soccer fans. Thus, the love of the game doesn’t necessarily transfer over into the media arena and being a fan in the stands or a fan from a screen. Jaden is like many of today’s teens, they’ve never grown up watching it. So how can you be a fan of something you didn’t grow up seeing. The American soccer establishment loves stating that it has the most youth playing organized soccer in the world.  This is true. However, as we know, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are fans of the game or the American game at that.  A lot more work has to be done to increase the soccer fan base here in the states…..

Like UrbanStreetSoccer on Facebook. Follow UrbanStreetSoccer on Twitter @UrbanStSoccer