European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 06, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday october 6, 1989. The stars and stripes Page 23 sports letters pointing the Way for Susareu sports i would like to take this Opportunity to express my opinion in regard to the future of the Usa eur sports program As depicted in your article time to save Usa eur sports dated sept. 29. Yesterday i received a Tasker to provide my Chain of command an information paper to prepare the Community commander for an upcoming conference for which this very Issue was to be discussed. Unfortunately task cars with extremely Short suspense usually result in far less than Complete or dare 1 say perfect responses. I would like to go on record to state that what follows is my personal opinion and May not necessarily be one that is shared by the Frankfurt military Community. To give the Reader a sense of perspective would like to give a Short synopsis on my qualifications to address this subject matter. In october 1982, i served As the Community sports director for kaisers Lautem West Germany. It was my goal to provide for our soldiers one of the finest Overall sports pro Grams that time Effort and Money could produce. In those Short two years i witnessed the Usa eur sports program at its very Best and was extremely proud to have been associated with a fraternity of professional leadership that was dedicated and committed to achieving excellence. Many of the people that fit into this fraternity were for the most part mentioned in your article. In the following five years i moved up the professional ranks by serving As the chief of physical activities in arc Mchaven and for the last three years As the chief of Community recreation in Frankfurt. Although some what removed i have made it a Point to keep my Eye on the pulse of the sports program not just within the communities that i have served but also on the pulse of the sports program in Usa eur. In those five years probably the biggest Impact on the Usa eur sports program was the sudden loss of leadership and with it any sense of  entire sports staff decided to move on to other challenges and with their departure a huge vacuum was formed from which the Usa eur sports pro Gram has yet to recover. Larry Parker hit it squarely on the Nail when he stated that too Many new peo ple with not enough historical perspective Are in the Driver s scat to effect change. Within the next month a decision will be reached by Gen. Crosbie a Saint cinc Usa eur that will have a significant Impact on the future of the Usa eur sports program. It is no longer a ques Tion of when but a question of How it will change. I believe in change because if done wisely it can be very healthy to All that it impacts on. Change is the one thing that is constant in life and that can be no More evident than working for today s army. Inthe last six years that i have worked As a civil servant in Usa eur i have been proud to have been a part of the Many changes that have positively impacted the Quality of life for those we have been entrusted to serve. I would like to think that the same forces that have created these positive changes will also be working to accomplish the same in the Usa eur sports program. I can Only Hope that this change will be a step Forward instead of backward that this change will be accomplished by not working within a vacuum and that this change will be progressive instead of regressive. There arc Many ways to effect change everyone who has a stake in this decision should make it a Point to express their opinions. I for one would like to Sec the following changes in the Usa eur sports program i. Usa eur should continue to organize and administrate the sports program with a greater emphasis being placed on the major commands and military communities to execute assigned championships. If Lack of Money were an Issue the staff should be reduced to positions that Are Only absolutely necessary to run the program. 2. Usa eur should continue to work toward establishing championships for All the unit level pro Grams i.e., Flag football basketball and softball. This concept is Long overdue and should have been implemented before the Community level program. In addition this program should be totally funded with congressionally funded monies As mandated in a 215-2 morale welfare and recreation update. 3. Usa eur should continue to subsidize the Community level sports program until corporate sponsorship can be obtained to offset operation expenses. It should be no Surprise to know that there Are numerous corporations and private organizations that would jump at the Opportunity to have their name associated with the Usa eur sports program. One private organization that already Doc so much for soldiers would be the association of the United states army. 4. Usa eur should finally get off the dime to allow civilians to participate in the sports program. This concept has been bandied around for years and has been implemented with varying degrees of Suc Cess at both the Mil com and Macom Levels. 5. Usa eur should work toward establishing a closer relationship with Safe by combining their coaches and officials clinics. There is absolutely no sense in having two separate organizations funding two separate stateside professional clinicians teach ing the same rules. 6. Usa eur should work toward establishing joint championships with Safe. This would Defi we now live in very challenging times resources that were once sacred arc dwindling rapidly or Are no longer sacred and it will take some creative thinking to be a Leto do More with less. Let s rally around the Flag pole and give the decision makers something to think about be fore it is too late. Let s help persuade Gen. Saint to not Only make a Wise decision to keep the Usa eur sports program but to provide him with innovative ideas on How to catapult a revamped revitalized Usa eur sports program into the 1990s. Karl Gaffney Frankfurt West Germany world league in for sack after having read for the umpteenth time about the american bowl and How Tex Schramm will get Europe interested enough in football to support the world league of american football i feel the read ers need to see the other Side of the Story. The Olaf in Europe just won t work. Don t get me wrong i m not anti football. I think it s a great  to have a farm system for football As it s the Only major american sport with out one. But Why in the world set up part of the shop in Europe an untested and potentially unfriendly Market for american football the main stumbling Block the Olaf faces in Europe is being in Competition with the world s game soccer. Tex Schramm acts As if it would be no big Deal to go up against soccer. Given a few months the euro peans would take to the Gridiron sport at the expense of soccer. By choosing the soccer hotbeds of Milan Barce Lona London and Frankfurt As Olaf cities Schramm really thinks he can pull it off. But Schramm s springtime game can never go against the european love of soccer. It can t compete with next june s world cup in Italy one o the venues will be Milan and the focused attention of the world on that tournament. It can t compete year in and year out with the regular soccer league matches the National cup matches and the three euro Pean wide cup tournaments All of which Climax every year in May and june. It can t compete against the quadrennial same year As olympic games european nations cup Europe s version of the world cup which takes place the whole month of june. It can t compete against the countless qualifying matches National teams play for the olympics the world cup and the nations cup. Finally and most importantly football cannot compete with the Rabid fan support for the soccer clubs of a Milan fcb Arcelona Arsenal of London and Eintracht Frank Furt. Milan Barcelona and Arsenal arc three of the Best teams of Europe so it really is curious Why the Olaf thinks it can draw fans away from those teams. Only in Frankfurt and possibly London could the Olaf get any meaningful support from american servicemen but the Olaf should have selected  As a Host City if it intends to depend on american fan support As some la officials have stated. It seems awful presumptuous of Olaf officials to think europeans will come to watch a Bunch of Sec Ond or third rate american football players especially if there is virtually no Chance in seeing local Talent make it out on the Gridiron. How would americans react if England s second division of soccer had a team in the states that Only had English players going up against other teams full of English players boy i bet americans would flock to those games finally something needs to be said about Bucky Fox s interpretation of the american bowl. Aside from the factual inaccuracies like the one about Philadelphia not being in a super bowl were you in a coma in 1981, Buck Fox made several irresponsible generalizations about How the English would support football and How americans would not support soccer. These arc patently false the English arc in no Way As organized in football As the americans Are organized in soccer. The English do have Sci professional football but the . Has four distinct professional soccer leagues two outdoor and two indoor. These two facts arc Well known More american youths play soccer than any other sport and Spectator Wise soccer was the most watched sport of the 1984 los Angeles olympics. Not Only was the Rose bowl sold out for the final but most of the normally unexciting first round matches were sold out As Well. American National youth teams arc regular finalists in world youth soccer cups and the american National team has the Best Chance in years to qualify for the world cup in Italy next year. When will a British team be Able to qualify for the super bowl my final observation is this As testimony to americans not being Able to support soccer the . Was awarded the rights to stage the world cup in 1994. I suggest Bucky that you make plans to attend this event and then Tell us that americans won t support soccer. And while you re at it Tell us the next time London will Host the super bowl. Sonny Beyer  a West Germany More Ink for academies i think it is absolutely incongruous the Lack of Usan Academy sports coverage Here in Europe. With almost 90,000 air Force members currently stationed Here it seems unbelievable that All the Academy sports warrant is barely a score among All the other College  is particularly irritating when i read a two column write up on the army is. Wake Forest games a sept. 25 you need to go out of your Way to provide a balanced sports coverage for All the forces serving Over Here. Or the Bottom line is you Are not doing your Job col Adelbert Carpenter Ramstein a West Germany editor s note you re right of course and we Are working with the wire services to Correct the problem. Our recent coverage of College football has suffered because the associated press National wire we receive at our Headquarters in Germany provides game reports on Only the top ranked teams. Ajax soccer club booted from european play Zurich Switzerland a Ajax Amsterdam the Netherlands most famous soccer club was banned from euro Pean Competition for two seasons thurs Day because of the actions of a teen age fan. The 17-year old forced a european cup game to be called last week when he threw a piece of steel Fence at the opposing team s goalkeeper. Ajax chairman Micheal Van Praag said he will Appeal the ruling by the control and disciplinary committee of the Union of european football associations. We have very Good arguments to prove that we can t be held responsible for the acts of three or four people who did t know what they were doing Van Praag said. The panel awarded the sept. 27 first round second leg uefa cup game to Ajax s opponent Austria Vienna by a score of 3-0, disqualifying the dutch from this year s tournament. It was the first time in More than 30 years of european cup history that a game was called because of fan violence officials said. Ajax a three time european champions cup Winner is the first dutch club to be banned by uefa. The five member committee chaired by italian Jurist Alberto Barbe described the incident As grave. At the match the teen age fan ripped a steel bar from the stadium fencing and hurled it against the Back of goalkeeper Franz Wohlfahrt after the visitors tied the score at 1-1 with 16 minutes left in Over time. A tic would have eliminated Ajax from the tournament. Wohlfahrt suffered a Bruise. His attacker could face a maximum of six years in prison. The teen Ager was arrested sunday along with four other spectators