Why Do Non-American Soccer Fans Think American Football Is So Complicated

One of the main reasons that immigrants in America find it difficult to watch American football is that the rules are not as simple as their regular soccer that most of the ones who have lived in Africa or other Spanish nations may be familiar with. Before migrating to America, I was mainly used to watching soccer.  

In Nigeria, soccer was quite a popular sport and had a considerable following, especially the English Premier League. Define loyalty that existed in Nigeria was very strong; in some cases, you would see many fans showing their commitment to English clubs while others would show their loyalty 2 Spanish or Italian clubs. I vividly remember this particular year, when Arsenal Football Club and Barcelona qualified for the Champions League final. In the city of Lagos, it was known that there was a lot of fighting between fans, and this was not just your regular fight; people got seriously injured.  

At that time, I lived in the Suru-Lere area of Lagos, and I had a clear picture of both drivers and conductors fighting themselves at the Kilo bus stop. For anyone who recalls that piece of history, you will know that many people were really passionate about the game of soccer. I even had this dry cleaner guy who would always refer to his club in the first person. He was an Arsenal fan, and if arsenal were to acquire a new player, he would say something like, "We just bought this player." I used to have this Barber who was also an Arsenal fan. I would never get him to cut my hair when arsenal had a game on 

I mainly supported Chelsea Football Club. I can't say if there is a difference between a supporter or a fan, but I am sure I chose my words carefully when I wrote "supporters." I do not see myself as a fanatic. Supporting a football club seemed to be a guy thing in our society. 

Some of my friends who live in the United Kingdom will also tell you that soccer is enormous. After all, it is their league that we go crazy about in Nigeria. Most Americans really don't care too much about soccer. Still, I began to notice a significant appreciation for the game when the United States female team won the World Cup. I have had a colleague refer to soccer. I say no-brainer, "All they have to do is kick the ball from one end to the other and try to get it past the goal line." For people who understand the game of soccer, we know that there is a whole lot more to it than kicking the ball from one end to the other. But to be honest, those are the easily observable traits of the soccer game, which can be easily observed by anybody and may as well be entertaining. But in the case of American football, whether it be college football or the NFL, you literally will have to go through a learning curve to figure out precisely what you are watching. You will see teams running into themselves, bumping into themselves in ways that sometimes may appear worrisome; if you had no knowledge at all of the game, you would first perceive it as a violent sport. 

The English premiership games come on pretty early on the weekends. This is due to the time difference between England and the US. College football games I mainly played on Friday nights and on Saturdays. The NFL kicks off their new week on Thursday night, and most of their games are played on Sunday starting from 1:00 PM. The last game of the week is played on Monday night. 

I must confess that when I came into this country, I knew nothing about American football rules. I was aware of the game and knew that it was a massive thing in the US, but I instantly loved it when I came to understand it. There are many more rules in American football than there are in soccer. When I started interacting with people and heard their conversations, especially when it was time for the playoffs, I took it upon myself to do what anybody on the planet now would do when you don't know something; I Googled it. 

I promise you at; first, you may not know what you are reading when you see the search results, and it was challenging for me to find any proper audio-visuals that would help me quickly understand the game's rules. But what helped was that I watched it anyway, and as I continued to watch, the rules became more apparent, and before you know it, you understand everything that is going on. It's like driving a car, one day, it just kicks in, and you know you can drive.  

It is a sport that most immigrants do not watch, especially those that watch soccer, but I would have to say that's if the learning curve were not a little bit steep, maybe more immigrants would have adopted it. I have no problems with it. The only issue I really have with it is that for a sport that has four quarters of 15 minutes each, which is supposed to be a total of 60 minutes, you may spend over three hours watching the game. This is because the clock only ticks while the game is in play whereas, in the game of soccer, you have two halves o 45 minutes each, but the clock never stops; the referee only allows for what is called an injury time-which usually is maxed out at 5 minutes and in some rare cases more if players were injured during the game. The game had to stop for a longer time. Also, one thing you will never find in soccer is a time-out. There are no time-outs in soccer, but in football, there are lots of time-outs of which they take you to commercial breaks that can stretch a single quarter that is supposed to last for 15 minutes two almost an hour in some cases. 

As much as I love the game, I cannot watch on all the three days start the games are played. In Nigeria, some could sit down the whole day and watch soccer games; they would watch three or four games. But in the case of American football, those four games may just be one game filled with time-outs, and may God help you if the game goes into overtime. Any American football game that goes into overtime is there a game that you cannot stop watching, I have found myself awake past midnight to complete a game, and I had to go to work the following day. I promise you if you understand the game, it is that engaging.