kicking kids out of football

"In the 19th century America's white suburban cricketers strove mightily to avoid any contact with Negroes, Germans and (shudder) the Irish. As a result the sport all but died and baseball inherited the earth.

Amazingly, in the first decade of the 21st century, US soccer might be making the exact same mistake."

The above comes from a fascinating article by Stephen Wells on the racial divide in US soccer - it's well worth a read. Despite the presence of four African-Americans in the US national team (one of whom, Freddy Adu, is one of the best young footballers in the world), football (or soccer, as they'd have it) is overwhelmingly white; the basketball it's safe for the kids to play, evidently.

Very interesting, if depressing, stuff.