Yes US Soccer has the money to back anything they want. They also have the political backing. As federal documents will show US Futsal officially trademark the Futsal name in 1987. No one knew what Futsal was in 1987 or 2000 for that matter. It is only recently that people see the value in Futsal. Not just with youth skill development but with money. Obviously US Soccer sees lots of $$$$ in there eyes now that FIFA wants a Futsal World Championship in the US. I did a little research in this matter over the past few months. Did you know that FIFA did not change the name to FUTSAL until 1996? That's ten years after US Futsal incorporated the name.
Regardless it's still about the kids. Now that the sport is growing the more US Soccer wants it. They want it for the $$$$$. Nothing more nothing less. For years US Soccer did not care about US Futsal. It's obvious since they never promoted the game until the past year or so. They certainly never gave US Futsal any $$ to help develop the game. As a matter of fact almost all of the dues went to US Soccer.
I remember how US Soccer was 25 years ago. It was not much. They had no money. Decent leadership but no real cooperate backing. And a large volunteer core. Kind of like US Futsal is now.
Please remember that the AMF is not affiliated with FIFA. They seem to be doing OK. Perhaps US Futsal will join forces with the AMF. Sounds good to me. Did you know that the first US National Futsal Team match took place in 2002 in Washington and Baltimore? WOW! US Soccer did nothing financially to help that event except provide a team to play that was completely made up of MISL players. I'm sure US Futsal could have come up with a better quality team. A team made up of Futsal players.
You are correct about the MISL. They should take a good long look at the indoor game. If they see the benefits of Futsal, more action, more scoring, more fan excitement than any MISL indoor soccer game, then maybe they will see the light as we all have. They need to reevaluate their business plan.
----- Original Message ----
From: David Phillips <david0@...>
To: futsalonline_newsgroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, August 5, 2007 11:21:24 PM
Subject: [futsalonline_newsgroup] Re: US Futsal
I see futsal in the hands of US Soccer as both a blessing and a curse.. The good part is that
they have the resources and the money to actually promote the game and take it past the
grassroots level. The downside is that the national team will continue to be made up of
mostly MISL players, probably none of whom play futsal outside of national team preparation
(and don't think for a minute that the MISL will lift a finger to have a futsal tourney or
anything to help get them ready). The only hope I see for a pro futsal league in this country
would be to have Nike or somebody have some sort of pro tour (like the old roller hockey
league that played at Disney), and pay ESPN or Versus to show it in between "Extreme Butt
Scratching," and "World Series of Finding Pi" (hey, they show the national spelling bee and
drum corps, so why not?).
Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell.
Having problems with message search?
Offline 
Send Email
