Is soccer a contact sport?

[Anonymous]

Soccer played correctly is a "contact sport" but almost every game I go to moms and dads are screaming "that's pushing"... so most people don't really understand soccer.

I've never heard parents act like that, but I remember another kid getting so pissed when my son correctly defended in a futsal game with a minor and acceptable amount of pushing. It was sort of funny - the ref just told him to calm down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They classified Field Hockey as high risk too. I don’t get that one....

Thats a big miss, in Field Hockey contact isnt allowed. How is soccer less risky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Soccer played correctly is a "contact sport" but almost every game I go to moms and dads are screaming "that's pushing"... so most people don't really understand soccer.

I've never heard parents act like that, but I remember another kid getting so pissed when my son correctly defended in a futsal game with a minor and acceptable amount of pushing. It was sort of funny - the ref just told him to calm down.

I have definitely seen that on the soccer field - people don't understand that a lot of physical contact is well within the bounds of the game (a little like properly reffed basketball). In futsal, at least in the US, there is supposed to be less physical contact than in soccer - it is far easier to draw a foul in futsal than in soccer (and the consequences can be severe if you get enough in a half). But abroad, the sport is apparently a lot more permissibly physical. So the reverse of basketball, where international refs will call every touch fall in basketball. Let the kids play unless it really hinders forward progress. Shoulders are fine, hands are not, and you would expect a little pushing without having to blow the whistle.

[Anonymous]

Agree these is contact that is allowed. My favorite are those hard shoulder to shoulder tackles and if a player falls parents call it pushing. MY DS has given some and received plenty and all within bounds of the game. Each ref is different so a legal tackle could be considered a foul by different refs...its the nature of the game.

[Anonymous]

The way it is played at a young age in the US, a swarming blob of kids chasing the ball, is definitely a contact sport.

[Anonymous]

Soccer played correctly is a "contact sport" but almost every game I go to moms and dads are screaming "that's pushing"... so most people don't really understand soccer.


I've never heard parents act like that, but I remember another kid getting so pissed when my son correctly defended in a futsal game with a minor and acceptable amount of pushing. It was sort of funny - the ref just told him to calm down.


I have definitely seen that on the soccer field - people don't understand that a lot of physical contact is well within the bounds of the game (a little like properly reffed basketball). In futsal, at least in the US, there is supposed to be less physical contact than in soccer - it is far easier to draw a foul in futsal than in soccer (and the consequences can be severe if you get enough in a half). But abroad, the sport is apparently a lot more permissibly physical. So the reverse of basketball, where international refs will call every touch fall in basketball. Let the kids play unless it really hinders forward progress. Shoulders are fine, hands are not, and you would expect a little pushing without having to blow the whistle.

Yeah, when we were in vacation on Belize two years ago, my son joined in a few outdoor pickup futsal games (they had courts) and it was crazy how much physicality was involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Soccer played correctly is a "contact sport" but almost every game I go to moms and dads are screaming "that's pushing"... so most people don't really understand soccer.

I've never heard parents act like that, but I remember another kid getting so pissed when my son correctly defended in a futsal game with a minor and acceptable amount of pushing. It was sort of funny - the ref just told him to calm down.

FYI- only because we played teams lacking in rules: Setting picks and pushing/inhibiting opposing player when they do not have the ball is illegal in Futsal.

Yes —it is a contact sport. Very much so when you watch any FIFA match. Leaning in, shoulder, etc,, dribbling with arms out to make space all appropriate. Proper slide tackle, NOT improper from behind going at ankles only.

I played competitive soccer and as a woman it was a great way to get aggression out and was often dirty and physical. I used to be taken down by my braid, kicked after the fact, etc. Girls can be just as dirty.

My sons have had jerseys torn from opposing players pulling on them.

[Anonymous]

The way it is played at a young age in the US, a swarming blob of kids chasing the ball, is definitely a contact sport.

My son's a teenager and plays for Alexandria, which does a possession based style of play. It's still a contact sport.

[Anonymous]

Soccer is a high risk, contact sport.
Just because there isn't as much contact as in football doesn't change that.
If you're going be touching at any point, or even breathing heavily within 6 feet of someone else, then it's high risk.

[Anonymous]

Soccer played correctly is a "contact sport" but almost every game I go to moms and dads are screaming "that's pushing"... so most people don't really understand soccer.


I've never heard parents act like that, but I remember another kid getting so pissed when my son correctly defended in a futsal game with a minor and acceptable amount of pushing. It was sort of funny - the ref just told him to calm down.


FYI- only because we played teams lacking in rules: Setting picks and pushing/inhibiting opposing player when they do not have the ball is illegal in Futsal.

I'm quite familiar with the rules in futsal, as was the ref. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused as the why soccer is medium risk and lacrosse is high risk. My DD plays both and I would actually consider soccer a higher risk than lacrosse???

I guess thats why you're confused. You would actually consider soccer a higher risk.

I would too. I consider soccer a lower risk because although there is definitely contact, it is more incidental and not sustained with any one person for any length of time.

That’s just not true, or you have just never defended. There are a lot of players that are (or should be) touch tight most of the match. If soccer is being played without proximity or contact it’s not really soccer being played.

[Anonymous]

I would be interested in learning how and why they defined sports as they did. We know, for example, that the level of contact in basketball was sufficient to spread the disease, because it happened with the NBA. I do not see that close contact on a soccer field for any signficant length of time, but I do not think it requires any significant length of time to spread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused as the why soccer is medium risk and lacrosse is high risk. My DD plays both and I would actually consider soccer a higher risk than lacrosse???

I guess thats why you're confused. You would actually consider soccer a higher risk.

I would too. I consider soccer a lower risk because although there is definitely contact, it is more incidental and not sustained with any one person for any length of time.

That’s just not true, or you have just never defended. There are a lot of players that are (or should be) touch tight most of the match. If soccer is being played without proximity or contact it’s not really soccer being played.

The difference between man on man marking and piles of players all over each other on most plays followed by team huddles obviously make football riskier. I think the PP was just making a point about relative risk. And if you don’t understand that about football, you may have played plenty of soccer, but you did not play a down of tackle football in your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be interested in learning how and why they defined sports as they did. We know, for example, that the level of contact in basketball was sufficient to spread the disease, because it happened with the NBA. I do not see that close contact on a soccer field for any signficant length of time, but I do not think it requires any significant length of time to spread.

I don't think we know that NBA players got/spread it on the court, do we? Locker rooms, the bench, team meals, team plane...all sorts of ways it could spread among the NBA that would be avoidable for an outdoor, rec sport. So unless NBA players transmitted the virus to each other while actually playing on outdoor courts, it isn't a parallel to soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused as the why soccer is medium risk and lacrosse is high risk. My DD plays both and I would actually consider soccer a higher risk than lacrosse???

I guess thats why you're confused. You would actually consider soccer a higher risk.

I would too. I consider soccer a lower risk because although there is definitely contact, it is more incidental and not sustained with any one person for any length of time.

That’s just not true, or you have just never defended. There are a lot of players that are (or should be) touch tight most of the match. If soccer is being played without proximity or contact it’s not really soccer being played.

The difference between man on man marking and piles of players all over each other on most plays followed by team huddles obviously make football riskier. I think the PP was just making a point about relative risk. And if you don’t understand that about football, you may have played plenty of soccer, but you did not play a down of tackle football in your life.

I understand and have played plenty of pointy ball, which is referenced all of nowhere in the above discussion. The question was whether there was significant contact in soccer, the question was not whether there was more contact in soccer than football. There is more close contact in wrestling than soccer, that doesn’t change the fact there is a lot of contact in soccer. Just because there is another option that has even more risk doesn’t negate the risk inherent to soccer.