Even black men hold soccer in so little regard that they won’t kick field goals in the NFL. Although blacks make up about two-thirds of pro football players, none has had a substantial career as a placekicker in the NFL since Nigerian soccer player Donald Igwebuike in the 1980s.
One irony is that compared to American football and basketball, whose rules have been frequently tinkered with to give sprinting athletes of West African ancestry advantages by stopping the action to allow them to rest, soccer’s rules are set to encourage a broader biological diversity of races.
