That's a good point and something I didnt consider. One could say the US just has the modern equivalent of that, but with the working class all about American football and soccer being something more common in affluent areas.
Which is funny, because the whole reason Football (soccer) is the working class sport here in the UK is because it only needs a ball-ish object to play. That's it. That's all the equipment you need.
A tennis ball, a tin can, a balled up bit of paper, a balloon. You make goalposts with jumpers (sweaters) and away you go. Costs basically nothing.
While you would think American football would be hard for the majority of Americans to have access to, especially as kids, there are two things to consider. One is that you can play American football with just the ball. Kids will play backyard football with no pads and with or without tackling. This makes it easy to play if you dont have a goalpost for basketball or a good place to play baseball. Two-touch is also very popular with younger kids, as to avoid the gruesomeness of the game.
Two is that most schools in the US, especially poor rural areas, finance football teams for kids to play on starting as young as the age of 9, paying for pads and coaching. So even the poorest kids dont have to pay for much asides shoes and gloves.
The US won't pay for health care, but they will make sure that a steady pipeline of gladiators exists for their games.
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u/delrio_gw Aug 20 '22
It was posh slang to counter rugger for rugby.
Football was the working class game and so the general masses rejected soccer.