The only real serious problem with soccer hooligans are a small segment of fans from England. It is NOT a widespread issue worldwide at all.
There are certainly pretty serious fan brawls right here in the US. Just recently in fact there was a case of a group of Red Sox fans seriously beating a Yankee baseball bat. Earlier this year a fan was beaten to death in the street after an NHL playoff game. Then of course there are the cases of Philadelphia Phillies fans throwing batteries at opposing players, New York Giants fans pelting the field with chunks of ice, and who can forget the infamous Detriot Pistons and Indiana Pacers game that erupted into a riot. All of these instances happened not too long ago, so don’t try to convince anyone that it is confined to soccer.
Your assertion that most Americans don’t like soccer and that the sport is only played here because it costs little to play is also very misleading. Last year’s average attendance at Major League Soccer games was at around 16,000, which is about the same as the NBA and NHL. This is even more impressive when you consider that the sports media bombards us with NBA coverage while paying little, if any, attention to MLS (and the NHL). Finally, perhaps the biggest indicator that professional soccer has, and is gaining, a significant amount of popularity in this country are the brand new soccer specific stadiums in Denver, New York, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, and Toronto.
These are the facts.
South America is on another planet?
South America is on another planet?