EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (AP) - U.S. and international soccer officials are puzzled over the acting New Jersey governor's outrage that the American national anthem was not played before a friendly between England and Colombia.I'm sorry...what did you say? The British people didn't want to hear it? Well then go play you stupid match in Canada, I hear some people actually gave a damn when the "Queen" comes to visit.Acting Governor Richard J. Codey, who attended Tuesday's match at Giants Stadium, was steamed when he realized that the "Star-Spangled Banner" would not be played along with the anthems of the countries in the match.
He said he immediately asked game organizers why it wasn't played and was told, "Governor, we're really very sorry. The British people don't want to hear it," The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers.
The governor fired off letters to the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which manages Giants Stadium, and to Britain's ambassador to the U.S."The failure to play our national anthem was disrespectful not only to us as a the host, it was disrespectful to our country, the teams, the sport and all involved. This shouldn't happen in New Jersey, and it shouldn't happen anywhere," Codey wrote.
George Zoffinger, chief executive of the sports authority, said not playing the U.S. anthem before an event at the complex is a violation of the authority's policy.
However, playing only the anthems of the two teams competing in a soccer match is standard for such international games, including the World Cup.
"Part of it (anthems) is for the introduction of those players in the match," said FIFA spokesman John Schumacher. "The match protocol is only the two teams."
Jim Moorhouse of Chicago-based U.S. Soccer, concurred.
"The normal international protocol would be (to play the anthems of) the two nations that are playing," Moorhouse said. "There are lots of international games played on neutral sites all over the world."
I don't care what the "internatioanl protocol" would be--it's disrespectful and not to mention a violation of the sports complex's policy.
It's a good thing I played football for 10 years and I'm not one of those soccer bashing ignoramuses because I'd sure have a few choice words to say about FIFA's "international protocol".