That's simply incorrect. People are making the same mistake this author is making: they are identifying the problem, and fitting it into their own bias.
You are, I think, not hearing what others are trying, I think, to say.
The problem is not with the sport per se, it is what the sport seemed to represent (and still does) to many of its advocates.
It’s not my bias. I talk with my friends who have kids in soccer and that’s what they tell me. Nobody keeps score, everybody plays, only cheering allowed, nobody’s a loser.