hollinger on sports Soccer tries for U.S. hearts
By DON HOLLINGER
Soccer, a favorite European sport, has now tried to take its place in the ever-changing American sports picture. Sports announcers on all three of the major networks have predicted soccer would soon be the most popular sport in the country.
Attendance, the scale by which most sports are judged, favored soccer for the first few weeks of the season. But later attendance figures showed a marked decline.
Football, the American sport to which soccer is most closely related, draws more crowds than any other sport in the country. To move into a competitive position with football, soccer will have to gain a lot of popularity.
Soccer players have complaints. CBS, the network that broadcasts soccer on a nationwide basis, virtually controls the entire National Soccer League. A comparison of network "ownership" of professional teams could be made with the New York Yankees, who collapsed shortly after being purchased by CBS.
According to some of the soccer players, the network instructs officials to call "fake" penalties to allow time for an advertisement. The network also asks certain players to feign injuries for the same purpose.
The players feel that there would be enough time for an advertisement during the short periods before free kicks, and that there is no need for the unnecessary breaks. This is one of the many problems that must be solved before soccer can be truly successful.
Another problem is the lack of knowledge of soccer in the United States. Few people know the rules of soccer as well as they know those of baseball, football, or tennis. Once the American people learn the rules and technicalities of soccer, the popularity of the sport may grow.
Perhaps soccer is too violent a transition for the American people. Americans have a natural dislike for anything new and different. Introducing soccer to the United States is like introducing football to England—it will take a while to catch on. Soccer should meet with moderate success, but it will be a long time before it gets the nationwide acclaim of sports that have been native to the United States since the turn of the century.
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Jim Ryun, KU track star who ran the fastest mile ever Friday at the National Amateur Athletic Union Track and Field Championship at Bakersfield, Calif., has one more meet before returning to Topeka for a month of training.
One more Ryun race then a month's rest
By RICK FOLKMIRE
six fastest miles ever run, including the too three times of 3:53.2,
3:51.3 and the new one—3:51.1.
In Dusseldorf, Germany, Ryun will run the 1,500 meter race August 17 and plans to finish the summer at the team's triangular meet with Italy and Spain by running either the 800 or 3,000 meters there.
FOLLOWING THE tour, the young Kansas star will return to his home for a vacation before enrolling as a junior at KU.
After his clocking of 3:51.1 in the middle distance event, Ryun plans to run the 1,500 meter race in the United States-British Commonwealth meet July 8 before returning to Topeka for the first break from competition since prior to his indoor campaign that began in January.
Ryun presently owns four of the
Summer Kansan Friday, June 30, 1967
WHILE TRAINING from three weeks to a month, Ryun must bypass the Pan American Games and the trials for the U.S. team that competes at Winnipeg the latter part of July and early August.
As a member of the American team's European tour, Ryun will resume running again August 9 in London where he will run his last mile this summer.
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