Things I will never understand about world soccer Vol. 31
7 Comments Published by Cardillo on July 10, 2008 at 12:28 PM.
So Tuesday night I happened to catch a smattering of the 'Fox Soccer Report' and heard Jeremy St. Louis mentioning something about Roy Keane completing 230 hours of "course work" to receive his proper UEFA coaching badges.
Ah herm?
This is likely an inherent difference between American sports and the rest of the world. Do you think Isiah Thomas ever cracked open a textbook in his tenures at the Indianapolis Pacers and New York Knicks? It's highly unlikely immortals like Wayne Fontes ever studied into the wee hours of the morn in order to receive written certification that he was in fact, a "coach."
At the basest and most common level in America a person with the label "coach" needs three minimum things.
1) Clipboard
2) Suit
3) Ability to irrationallyberet berate officials.
Yes, for arguments sake, it's a little more nuanced. A little. But the field of coaching is open to pretty much any former player and that's about it. To go back to the formations of baseball in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there weren't formalized training, but guys like John McGraw simply invented the tactics of the game as we now know them playing for the original Baltimore Orioles, not reading textbooks.
It just strikes me as bizarre that coaches in Europe are required some kind of authorization in order to have a license. Naturally, one could read about this, namely consulting Wikipedia and pretending to understand it. The practical use however? It probably gets lost somewhere over the Humbolt Current. Though, in the American youth set-up, it would help the game immensely if everyone wearing the 'coach' mantle had some sort of basic training, not simply how to slice oranges properly.
For what it's worth, perhaps these badges hold some importance. While reading through David Goldblatt's immensely satisfying 'The Ball is Round' he mentions how modern coaching didn't arrive with soccer until Herbert Chapman at Arsenal around 1920. If you care, Chapman helped pioneer the 'WM' formation.
By contrast, at places like Newcastle United the chairman of the club picked the team up until the 1950s and ironically enough current Magpie owner Mike Ashley might be doing the same thing in 2008.
In closing to quote theWalterJohn Huston classic, 'The Treasue of the Sierra Madre', Americans? 'We don't need no stinkin' badges.'
(Sorry, if this post seems scattershot, I simply cannot muster up the lather to worry about the on-going Ronaldo/Lampard/Barry/Ronaldinho transfer sagas. Get me to August, please.)
Ah herm?
This is likely an inherent difference between American sports and the rest of the world. Do you think Isiah Thomas ever cracked open a textbook in his tenures at the Indianapolis Pacers and New York Knicks? It's highly unlikely immortals like Wayne Fontes ever studied into the wee hours of the morn in order to receive written certification that he was in fact, a "coach."
At the basest and most common level in America a person with the label "coach" needs three minimum things.
1) Clipboard
2) Suit
3) Ability to irrationally
Yes, for arguments sake, it's a little more nuanced. A little. But the field of coaching is open to pretty much any former player and that's about it. To go back to the formations of baseball in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there weren't formalized training, but guys like John McGraw simply invented the tactics of the game as we now know them playing for the original Baltimore Orioles, not reading textbooks.
It just strikes me as bizarre that coaches in Europe are required some kind of authorization in order to have a license. Naturally, one could read about this, namely consulting Wikipedia and pretending to understand it. The practical use however? It probably gets lost somewhere over the Humbolt Current. Though, in the American youth set-up, it would help the game immensely if everyone wearing the 'coach' mantle had some sort of basic training, not simply how to slice oranges properly.
For what it's worth, perhaps these badges hold some importance. While reading through David Goldblatt's immensely satisfying 'The Ball is Round' he mentions how modern coaching didn't arrive with soccer until Herbert Chapman at Arsenal around 1920. If you care, Chapman helped pioneer the 'WM' formation.
By contrast, at places like Newcastle United the chairman of the club picked the team up until the 1950s and ironically enough current Magpie owner Mike Ashley might be doing the same thing in 2008.
In closing to quote the
(Sorry, if this post seems scattershot, I simply cannot muster up the lather to worry about the on-going Ronaldo/Lampard/Barry/Ronaldinho transfer sagas. Get me to August, please.)
FSC is virtually unwatchable. The video quality is on par with public access channels circa 1988.
The talent is about the same.
The ability to irrationaly "beret" officials seems to be more of a requirement in France, non?
That's a little harsh on FSC, Brad. Yikes.
Maybe its just Directv, but FSC's video quality is atrocious. Last year, I grew to dread when my team was playing on FSC instead of the much better Setanta feed. It is EASILY the worse video of any of my 600 channels. (And that's saying a lot. Ever watch the Rural Farm Channel?)
And moving your channel 6 slots down the grid with no notice is a sure way to gain/retain soccer fans, too. Who came up with that?
Sometimes I wonder if they are purposely sabotaging the sport.
I tried watching the MLS double-header last weekend. The Columbus game's feed was decent, but the feed from the Chivas-SJ game was about as bad as if you shot it with your VHS camcorder. Dark, grainy, horrible.
And during the latter game, the production crew missed a crucial corner at the end and never got a replay. Max is no play-by-play guy. Etc.
The EPL feeds are nearly as bad on FSC. Blurry, you can't read the numbers on the players backs, etc. Setanta blows them away with quality.
yeah, it's something i've never understood, especially as they always seem to be letting coaches get round it. david platt @ florientia, paul ince @ blackburn.
can understand it if you're coaching kids maybe but when your employed by a professional club?
There are certifications for youth league coaches; I know in New Jersey, for example, youth football (american) coaches need to go to classes administered by Rutgers University. With each major club around the world having academy and youth teams, maybe the thought is for something similar?
Walter Huston? John was the name. And *everybody* misquotes this: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"