Soccer in Fort Collins Represents a Roadmap for a More Globally-Inclusive Future

I could spend thousands of dollars flying from continent to continent, country to country, in hopes of experiencing the various cultures, customs, and personalities that make the world the diverse home we know. Or I could stop by a pick-up game of soccer at a public park in Fort Collins, Colorado.

As the most popular sport globally by a rather wide margin, soccer is one of a very limited number of activities that tends to break down barriers. Whether these may be race, age, cultural background, education level, or language-based, the game finds a way to keep potentially divisive differences at bay.

Looking at the sport from a global political lens, there would seldom be a time in which, for example, a Palestinian would be working hand-in-hand with an Israeli in any modern-day setting. However, take Hapoel Hadera FC, an Israeli team participating in the highest division of Israel’s domestic league. Its squad features 21 Israeli players alongside one Palestinian. While outside the stadium confines a war continues to rage on between the two ethnic groups, inside the stadium the players all wear the same jersey, all pass the ball to one another, and all shake hands together in sportsmanship afterwards.

In such a rare situation like this, off the pitch disagreements and controversy may be likely, but once the whistle blows and the ball is kicked, any concern besides the betterment of the team fades away.

Narrowing the focus to Fort Collins, the impact of soccer on allowing diversity to flourish is easily recognizable. Being an active participant in the local soccer community, I find myself constantly in a state of pleasant surprise with regards to the numbers of varying backgrounds encountered each time we step onto the grass for a game.

The demographic makeup of Fort Collins exhibits a vast gap in the racial groups represented. In fact, according to information from the United States Census, over 88 percent of the city’s more than 170,000 people are of Caucasian background.

However, at City Park on a Tuesday evening, this racial disparity is unnoticeable. I’ve made friends and connections with Eritreans, Saudi Arabians, Congolese, Indonesians, and Venezuelans just to name a few. More often than not, even in one of the least diverse large cities in the country, players of Caucasian background are the minority on the pitch.

Furthermore, soccer is also representative of America’s resistance to foreign influence. It’s popularity worldwide, but lack thereof here stateside is evidence of our unwillingness to allow change and the fostering of global relationships. Our most popular sports are all American-made — baseball, basketball, and football — while the world’s most popular — soccer and cricket — have little influence on our society. America’s inability to embrace soccer is a microcosm of its greater inability to fully embrace global issues, such as climate change and poverty.

Although Fort Collins may not provide a diverse melting pot demographically, the soccer fields unquestionably do. I glance over my shoulder and there’s a 35-year-old woman from Brazil who has a husband, two kids, a full-time job, and a lack of English language skills. She has only been in the United States for less than a year. On the surface, her and I have absolutely nothing in common. That is of course until the ball is kicked.

Here and abroad, the sport can bring us together. It teaches us to ignore assumptions of others in pursuit of a common goal. Before making any more hasty decisions based on stereotypes, Fort Collins and the United States altogether should take a peek at what the sport of soccer is capable of illustrating to us all about working through and around barriers.