It is, they seem to think, just a more aerobic version of croquet. He conjures up an image of the American soccer fan as effete leftist, interested in the sport only for its strategic conundrums. My familiarity with soccer, it seems, comes from a very different source than Derbyshire's. For me, soccer is a rough, violent, populist game, with none of the traits that liberal elites might find attractive. On Puerto Rico, my isla hermosa , the game is played in the heat of the humid afternoon, by thin, shirtless kids in dusty street alleys.
Goalposts are trashcans, and the soccer ball is scuffed and dirty.
However, Derbyshire isn't just content to miscategorize soccer as a purely elitist European pursuit. Brazil, a country obsessed with the sport, isn't even mentioned in the article. Derbyshire tries to have it both ways. He points to the numerous riots in Germany and Belgium, and claims that the 1969 war between El Salvador and Honduras was actually ignited by a soccer game. The reason for the popularity of the game in Puerto Rico and throughout South America is rather clear.