North American Regens

Discarding USA and Canada, why is there such a large portion of Regens born in North America?

Nations like ...

British Virgin Islands

Anguilla

Bermuda

St. Kitts & Nevis

Montserrat

... seem to get a massive amount of regens, who are pretty damn good. The nations are made up of players ranging from Prem Stars to BSN/BSN Stars, but the majority of the players are really good. I play in the BSP, and have about 7 players from said nations, and they are all miles better than any English player in my team.

After realizing just how good they were, I took the liberty of checking all the N. American national teams, and the results were amazing. There were SO many players in all these teams, yet you get big Euro Nations, and there are rarely any regens.!!!

The best way for me to find these regens, it to Player Search > Filter > Age no more than 17, Contract status - Unattached.

This gives me all the new regens with no clubs in the area, and its often filled with these guys.

Just wanted to know the reason they are so dense in the game, when in reality, I could only name about 15 players from N. America in total.

Just because you can't name any doesn't mean there are none out there with high real life PA. Some old footie legend - might have been Pele - said the USA should be winning the world cup virtually every tournament such is their pool of talent. It makes sense that there are tons of newgens from North America as a continent because there is a high number of "soccer" clubs and schools at youth level.

The only reason you never see these kids growing up into world class players is because of a lack of interest in the game in that region. If you are a world class athelete in the USA you play American Football or do athletics as there's far more money and prestige in those sports. If you're in Canada you learn to skate and hit things with a big stick. Given the amount of money poured into sports in North America - certainly the USA - if they WANTED a world cup winning side they could have one within a decade. The only problem would the huge numbers they'd have to select from.

In FM I don't think the problem is the number of high PA/CA North Americans. It's the LACK of high PA/CA European newgens. Bring the balance up and you'd barely notice it.

Meant to say that the same goes for the outlying islands re the soccer at youth level. But for different reasons they don't develop in their own countries - such as earning a "real" living. In real life only, of course. On FM, they must only look at the PA and assume they will go on to play for their country.

You're missing the point. He specifically said 'discarding USA and Canada'. There are vast numbers of players from the islands mentioned, way more than is reasonable. Bermuda, for example, has a population of 65,000 and very few players playing at a high level abroad. Suddenly coming across hordes of them in the game is just a bit weird.

absolutely agree

the amount of quality regens from tiny nations is so wrong because of the population base of those countries.

for example of the micro-nations in Europe only San Marino has produced a world star player, and he's one in a hundred years!

(can't remember his name, but played for Juventus in the late 1980s)

another example, it is not surprising to find one international class players in the small states of the CONCACAF regional tournaments, (e.g. dwight york, trinidad and tobago) but hardly ever more than one.

should be fixed.

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

Originally posted by Sigporsson59:

for example of the micro-nations in Europe only San Marino has produced a world star player, and he's one in a hundred years!

I agree with the OP but the quoted comment is totally wrong.

George Best - Northern Ireland

Ryan Giggs - Wales

To name just two, that appeared in the English game, not to mention people like Pandev from Macedonia playing in Serie A.

Originally posted by Nomis07:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sigporsson59:

for example of the micro-nations in Europe only San Marino has produced a world star player, and he's one in a hundred years!

I agree with the OP but the quoted comment is totally wrong.

George Best - Northern Ireland

Ryan Giggs - Wales

To name just two, that appeared in the English game, not to mention people like Pandev from Macedonia playing in Serie A. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's a deliberate wind up isn't it?

But if you were a top quality player from San Marino wouldnt you play for Italy as Giggs played for England at underage levels.

And several Montenegran internationals play for top quality teams, one plays for Sporting, i think.

Originally posted by bermybhoy:

That's a deliberate wind up isn't it?

No why would it be?

Ryan,,,

Not necessarily, some players are loyal and patriotic rather than glory hunters.

You're comparing nations of several million people to small island states/dependencies with populations of several thousand. Surely fairly obvious you're more likely to get more good players from the former.

If thats the case then why do so many people support Man U, Scoucerpool, Chelski and Arsenal. And dont several African players play for France.

ps. I never said it was a wind up.

Originally posted by bermybhoy:

You're comparing nations of several million people to small island states/dependencies with populations of several thousand. Surely fairly obvious you're more likely to get more good players from the former.

Yes, Northern Ireland's massive 1.5 million population.

Take my post in the context it was meant rather than pedantically splitting hairs. The original post I disagreed with was in relation to Europe and it's "micro nations" of which there are very few. Northern Ireland compared to a majority of Europe must be considered a small nation yet has produced a world class player. I thought it was pretty obvious

Originally posted by backpackant:

Just because you can't name any doesn't mean there are none out there with high real life PA. Some old footie legend - might have been Pele - said the USA should be winning the world cup virtually every tournament such is their pool of talent.

I don't usually get huffy about things, but can you please read my post until you understand it? I clearly stated "Discarding USA and Canada". The nations I mentioned are producing talent that is ahead of where they should be, as you will see with screenshots provided at the foot of this post.

Originally posted by Ryan,,:

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

Again, I never said anything about the level of players coming from the USA or Canada. From your post, I can only assume that you view "North America" as being just the U.S.A and Canada, as most do.

Here a few of the players from these nations. They all play in lower league football, With exception to the Guyana players, who play for a Professional club in Trinidad and Tobago .

Now, if anyone can tell me thats its just "the norm" for players from this nation to be this good, relative also to Real Life, then I'll say no more on the matter, but in all my years of knowing and loving football, I've never known more than 3 North American's outside of the big 2 nations to play professional football at a level such as this.

Sean Robinson - St Vincent

Chris Thompson - St Vincent

Darren Hallam - Montserrat

John Sutton - Montserrat

Jefferson King - Monthserrat

Dean Bradbury - St Kitts and Nevis

Simon Hunt - British Virgin Islands

Karl Lawton - Guyana

Guy Acton - Guyana

Nep most of those guys are crap! Only the GK would get in my Motala side!! I take it you scouted them and they all have high PA, I wouldn't be impressed with any of them coming thru my youth academy based solely on their stats...

I feel you've slightly undermined your argument...

...It's probably your tactics

Originally posted by nelsonmcjones:

Nep most of those guys are crap! Only the GK would get in my Motala side!! I take it you scouted them and they all have high PA, I wouldn't be impressed with any of them coming thru my youth academy based solely on their stats...

I feel you've slightly undermined your argument...

...It's probably your tactics

I don't have GenieScout / FMM so I don't know the P.A's. And those guys aren't crap, for the divisions they play in. Again, you really need to understand my posts. Those players play in the BSP and lower. There are players that play in the higher division from these nations, but I cba finding them all.

The stats on some of those players, for the positions they play, are very very good. You need to open your eyes.

"Its your tactics" - Grow up. That died off about 3 weeks ago after the millionth time it was used. It's not funny. Anymore.

what? nobody from bermuda? I had a star for braintree when he was 17. He's in the premiership now, not great I suppose, but I still feel a little pride knowing he would have retired at 16 had I not offered that trial.

I had always put it down to there not being many scouts/opportunities for the kids in those countries to make a living from the sport. I expect the unattached 17 and unders from england and europe to stink because if they were going to be at least decent, some other team would have already picked them up.

Originally posted by nogravy:

what? nobody from bermuda? I had a star for braintree when he was 17. He's in the premiership now, not great I suppose, but I still feel a little pride knowing he would have retired at 16 had I not offered that trial.

I had always put it down to there not being many scouts/opportunities for the kids in those countries to make a living from the sport. I expect the unattached 17 and unders from england and europe to stink because if they were going to be at least decent, some other team would have already picked them up.

Just had a bunch of Bermudans appear. I'm taking them all on trial now, and will report back with my findings

Originally posted by Nomis07:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bermybhoy:

You're comparing nations of several million people to small island states/dependencies with populations of several thousand. Surely fairly obvious you're more likely to get more good players from the former.

Yes, Northern Ireland's massive 1.5 million population.

Take my post in the context it was meant rather than pedantically splitting hairs. The original post I disagreed with was in relation to Europe and it's "micro nations" of which there are very few. Northern Ireland compared to a majority of Europe must be considered a small nation yet has produced a world class player. I thought it was pretty obvious </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you lumping N Irland and Wales with San Marino or not? There's as big a difference as there is, say, Italy/N. Ireland. Really not being pedantic there.

Originally posted by Nomis07:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by bermybhoy:

You're comparing nations of several million people to small island states/dependencies with populations of several thousand. Surely fairly obvious you're more likely to get more good players from the former.

Yes, Northern Ireland's massive 1.5 million population.

Take my post in the context it was meant rather than pedantically splitting hairs. The original post I disagreed with was in relation to Europe and it's "micro nations" of which there are very few. Northern Ireland compared to a majority of Europe must be considered a small nation yet has produced a world class player. I thought it was pretty obvious </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry but the likes of Wales and N.Ireland are not Micro nations, they both have populations in the millions. Faroe Islands has a population of 48,501, San Marino has 29,615, Monaco has 33,000, Lichenstien has 35,322 and Andorra has 71,822. These nations have population the size of towns, so calling Wales or N. Ireland ,with populations in the millions, Micro nations is silly.

i think this has big thing to do with your nationality. have you made yourself montserrat??

i find that good quality (not always sensational but above the norm) regens come from the obscure countries from my nationality.

i'm always australian with a small nation as my 2nd country and often find really decent new zealanders and even a couple of samoans running around.

again, their not good enough for the EPL, but quite often find themeselves playing in lower leagues in england, france, germany, etc.

Originally posted by G-Man11:

These nations have population the size of towns, so calling Wales or N. Ireland ,with populations in the millions, Micro nations is silly.

Did you read my post? I never labelled them a "micro nation" it was in the context of comparable size i.e. in relation to the rest of Europe.

Are you lumping N Irland and Wales with San Marino or not? There's as big a difference as there is, say, Italy/N. Ireland. Really not being pedantic there.

Dear God! It's bloomin obvious that there is a massive difference between Wales and San Marino, the context of my post was in relation to country size comapred to most of Europe. It's really not hard to get!

Mario Frick - Liechtenstein - played in Serie A in Italy a couple of times. Okay, not a world beater, but he made it.

Christian Karembeu is from New Caledonia.

Tim Cahill played for the Samoan national team.

It happens. Not as much as in the gane, but it happens.

Originally posted by Nomis07:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by G-Man11:

These nations have population the size of towns, so calling Wales or N. Ireland ,with populations in the millions, Micro nations is silly.

Did you read my post? I never labelled them a "micro nation" it was in the context of comparable size i.e. in relation to the rest of Europe.

Are you lumping N Irland and Wales with San Marino or not? There's as big a difference as there is, say, Italy/N. Ireland. Really not being pedantic there.

Dear God! It's bloomin obvious that there is a massive difference between Wales and San Marino, the context of my post was in relation to country size comapred to most of Europe. It's really not hard to get! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Excellent, glad you realise that. Weird examples to use in the context.

Anyway, point remains, bizarre number of players comnig from these nations as regens.

sydc4ever - My one and only nationality is English.

gmcker - Tim Cahill only played for the Samoan U-20's, and that was due to his heritage, and not his personal nationality. I never said players didn't come from these nations, but the volume of them floating around is stupid. I get about 10-12 new players from a small nation every season appear in my search, and they come in batches. 1 Season it'll be 10 Montserrat players, the next 10 from British Virgin Islands, the next it'll be 10 from Bermuda and so on. Its just extremely unrealistic.

Now, if anyone can tell me thats its just "the norm" for players from this nation to be this good, relative also to Real Life, then I'll say no more on the matter, but in all my years of knowing and loving football, I've never known more than 3 North American's outside of the big 2 nations to play professional football at a level such as this.

Sean Robinson - St Vincent

Chris Thompson - St Vincent

Darren Hallam - Montserrat

John Sutton - Montserrat

Jefferson King - Monthserrat

Dean Bradbury - St Kitts and Nevis

Simon Hunt - British Virgin Islands

Karl Lawton - Guyana

Guy Acton - Guyana

what I want to know is how well have these nations done in the CONCACAF world cup qualifying round. Have any of them been part of the 6 teams that make it to the final round (3rd round i think)?

if they have, thats quite an achievement for somewhere like st kitts and nevile...

otherwise, i think regens depend A LOT on what active leagues you have running.

Originally posted by Sigporsson59:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

Now, if anyone can tell me thats its just "the norm" for players from this nation to be this good, relative also to Real Life, then I'll say no more on the matter, but in all my years of knowing and loving football, I've never known more than 3 North American's outside of the big 2 nations to play professional football at a level such as this.

Sean Robinson - St Vincent

Chris Thompson - St Vincent

Darren Hallam - Montserrat

John Sutton - Montserrat

Jefferson King - Monthserrat

Dean Bradbury - St Kitts and Nevis

Simon Hunt - British Virgin Islands

Karl Lawton - Guyana

Guy Acton - Guyana

what I want to know is how well have these nations done in the CONCACAF world cup qualifying round. Have any of them been part of the 6 teams that make it to the final round (3rd round i think)?

if they have, thats quite an achievement for somewhere like st kitts and nevile...

otherwise, i think regens depend A LOT on what active leagues you have running. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just England running, and none of the teams made it anywhere.

Nep - do you feel sometimes that you're banging your head against a wall??

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

Nep - do you feel sometimes that you're banging your head against a wall??

I would be happy if it was only "sometimes" - to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I love this game, and it brings me a lot of enjoyment... but it doe's throw up some stinkers from time to time that never seem to get acknowledged.

Look out for my upcoming thread, detailing everything I think about the game ranging from transfers to regens, finances to records. I've been putting it together over the past few weeks, and should prove interesting to read.

Originally posted by Nomis07:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sigporsson59:

for example of the micro-nations in Europe only San Marino has produced a world star player, and he's one in a hundred years!

I agree with the OP but the quoted comment is totally wrong.

George Best - Northern Ireland

Ryan Giggs - Wales

To name just two, that appeared in the English game, not to mention people like Pandev from Macedonia playing in Serie A. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ass.

Yes, I've read the following posts. Didn't change my desire to make this post. Northern Ireland and Wales aren't "micro-nations", under any comparison. Wriggling towards "oh, erm, I actually meant small" is just pathetic.

I've got to say that this is one of the things that frustrate me the most with FM. After a couple of seasons, a quick flick through the BSP and BSN/BSS leagues and there's barely a club that doesn't have at least one regen from these countries. Whats worse is that many of them are also better then the level they are playing at.

This is total speculation on my behalf, but I think the reason why so many get generated is that, with all the players coming from these nations having an English second nationality, with the Englisg keague running, more are generated. I've noticed many former French and Portuguese colonies also having numerous regens generated when I have the French and Portuguese leagues running, but not when they aren't.

I think this is a valid point, the amount of regens from these nations of a greater ability than expected is a bit unrealistic.

The only counter argument to it, are the likes of the French and Dutch teams.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the likes of Lilian Thuram (Guadelope?), Clarence Seedorf (Surinam) and Bernard Lama (French something... tiny wee place) Christian Karembeu (havn't a foggy where he was born, but I know it wasn't France!).

I know not all of these places are that small, but there are occasions when it happens.

Yea, Zidane, Vieira, Herny, Gallas.... none are "French" - But they are from French Colonies, and rarely play for the home nation. But thats an exception, rather than the example.

Christ its like getting blood from a stone in this thread. Best of luck dealing with some of this Nep

I have the same thing in my game. It seems to occur when you only select English leagues as playable and former colony nations get a disproportionate number of regens coming through with English as a second nationality. In my game it is the following:-

26 May 2014

7171 Total regens

172 regen players from the Caribbean nations

108 of these with English as a second nationality

PA 160+ : 5

PA 140 to 159: 18

PA 120 to 139: 31

PA 100 to 119: 32

PA 80 to 99: 6

PA less than 80: 16

Nations affected (No of 'English' regens):-

Anguilla (11)

Barbados (2)

Bermuda (19)

British Virgin Islands (18)

Cayman Islands (8)

Montserrat (40)

I would hazard a guess that the same thing happens if you select French leagues only or Dutch leagues only with their former colonies.

These players seem to end up at the lower leagues of English football and even when they have high potential they get stunted due to being at a club with crap facilities and rarely reach their potential.

I'm with Nepenthez on this and think the algorithm for regens could do with a change with regards to dual nationality players from former colonies, their volume and their assigned PA.

Also beyond the 'colony' micro nations I have also noticed a similar thing with a 'refreshing' of the database where players from obscure footballing nations (Nepal, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, UAE, etc) get generated with good PA (150+) but disappear due to not getting signed because they are unknown or have work permit issues. They then get replaced by another batch of 'unsignable' regens and the cycle continues. It could be an intended way of controlling the database and distributing PA across all players (but that's a wild and probably inaccurate guess).

I don't think it's too unrealistic to have these nations produce a bunch of conference level players.

Many small towns have populations that are similar or smaller in size to these countries, but they can still field a conference side, so why not?

The issue is not that these players are good enough for the BSN/S, it's that so many of them are actually playing in the BSN/S, wheras in real life the clubs wolud not be looking anywhere near as far for players, and nowhere close to as many of the players would trek half way across the globe to trial at a semi profesional clup for not much over minimum wage.

I don't think there's a problem with these countries best few players being of this standard, it's just that most would not be leaving north america, if even their home country.

I know there are more nations tan USA and Canada in North America, such as Jamaica, Bermuda and the Dutch Antilles, but they are the main two nations and the only, if you disclued the central american nations, along with Jamaica who actually have qualified for a World Cup.

And i take it Real London are just an edited version of AFC Wimbledon.

i agree

isuckatfm, nice analysis of this to see if it's an actual issue. Note however, that when you say 'former colonies' some are 'current colonies'. That applies to Bermuda, Cayman and I think also BVI probably more, so people from these countries also hold a UK passport. For the sake of the game, that is given as English second nationality. In other words, the dual nationality is not in itself a problem.

I think Nick has hit the nail on the head, the standard of player might be spot on but it's unlikely the majority would travel as far for the sake of playing for some non-league team.

With the BSS/N thing, the clubs always sign a load of crap Irish rejects so why not these guys.

Originally posted by Ryan,,,:

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

I hate when people post such pretentious garbage. It's a language difference, that's all. Do you give people from Holland the same foolishness because they call it voetbal? Of course not.

And also remember that the English invented the word soccer, not us.

Originally posted by Uncle_Sam:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ryan,,,:

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

I hate when people post such pretentious garbage. It's a language difference, that's all. Do you give people from Holland the same foolishness because they call it voetbal? Of course not.

And also remember that the English invented the word soccer, not us. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Except, of course, that the Dutch speak a different language (Dutch), whereas Americans speak... English, or at least an approximation of such. Of 45 FIFA affiliates with English as their main tongue, only 3 (US, Canada and Samoa) have "soccer" in their titles. The other 42 manage to get the name right.

Originally posted by Ryan,,,:

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

Yeah, this is a pretty idiotic comment that I take offense to.

As a nation, football isn't our favorite sport, but just about every single kid in America plays "soccer" in a recreational league for a season or two. The kids that stick with it and get into "select clubs" are usually very talented.

America's problem is that the majority of our footballing youth usually don't stick with the sport past high school because of a lack of interest. Once more of our talented youth players really stick with the sport and trying to make a career out of it, the MLS and your national team will improve.

Originally posted by Synergy6:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Uncle_Sam:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ryan,,,:

I disgree, America doesnt even call the sport by its proper name, Football. Going around playing some game with socks doesnt make sense. And i do agree with the lesser sports such as basketball and american football, or is it american soccer, and good sports like ice hockey. I wouldnt mind Canada winning it as a canadian side, Galt FC, won the first olympic footy tournament.

I hate when people post such pretentious garbage. It's a language difference, that's all. Do you give people from Holland the same foolishness because they call it voetbal? Of course not.

And also remember that the English invented the word soccer, not us. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Except, of course, that the Dutch speak a different language (Dutch), whereas Americans speak... English, or at least an approximation of such. Of 45 FIFA affiliates with English as their main tongue, only 3 (US, Canada and Samoa) have "soccer" in their titles. The other 42 manage to get the name right. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

American English is not the same as UK English, very few people dispute this.

And the English invented the word soccer.

Proportionately I'd agree with Nep that the number of Caribbean players who come through and are more than capable of playing in England, or indeed Scotland is too high.

Unless of course SI are predicting future trends, which doesn't seem likely. Twenty years into my game I'm finding myself looking to Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Ethiopia for my new stars of the future. Not that there aren't still quality European regens but the shift keeps happening.

Could it simply be an attempt to 'spread the wealth' as it were and make sure that every country around the world gets a fair amount of decent regens?

And I'd also like to point out as others have that the English invented the word soccer, i.e. Association Football, distinguishing the game from Rugby Football, the rules for which were established around about the same time.

As rugby was often referred to as 'rugger(s)', some took to calling football 'soccer'. It stuck more so in use in America because when both association rules and rugby rules were first brought to the country, most American colleges either played one or the other, but rugby mutated into what they now know as gridiron football, and was by far the more popular of the two (i.e. soccer football and gridiron football), therefore, just like here, the more popular took on the name football and the less popular was known as something else (soccer and rugby).

History lesson over for the day, hope that Ryan,,, took notes.

Except, of course, that the Dutch speak a different language (Dutch), whereas Americans speak... English, or at least an approximation of such. Of 45 FIFA affiliates with English as their main tongue, only 3 (US, Canada and Samoa) have "soccer" in their titles. The other 42 manage to get the name right.

I think Australia does call it soccer too, actually. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they nickname their national team the Socceroos?

Yes but they also have Aussie rules football, so I'd imagine they use soccer to distinguish between the two.

i read an article recently in a well known football mag about english/carribean duel nationality players and there are many more than you would think. titus bramble has montserrat nationality,that is just one that springs to mind.i realise this will be second generation in most cases but maybe the increased number of north american regens is to do with this,though it would be better if more english born players had a second north ameriacn nationality in the game than the other way around.

Ok, fine. I was just stating that it is a sport called football, which you use your feet, as opposed to American football in which i have never seen anyone kick a ball in. So why call it football?

And i have recently been to Holland playing a football tournament and i couldnt help but notice they didnt speak English. Strange that.

Originally posted by Ryan,,,:

Ok, fine. I was just stating that it is a sport called football, which you use your feet, as opposed to American football in which i have never seen anyone kick a ball in. So why call it football?

And i have recently been to Holland playing a football tournament and i couldnt help but notice they didnt speak English. Strange that.

They do kick the ball. They kick it to begin a match, after every touchdown for the extra point, and to restart the game after a touchdown. They also kick it on the 4th down (punt) if they aren't really within scoring range.