Written By Jeffrey Reed
For decades, the global game of football–soccer, as we call it in Canada–had a defining definition and simple necessity: “A boy, a ball and a wall.” That was all you needed in order to enjoy the game known as, the Beautiful Game.
Soccer–just as much a girls’ game as a boys’–has been defined in many ways, but none better than “the ballet of the masses.” Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, a lifelong fan of the game and a soccer referee, quipped that phrase. In 1929-30, he composed a famous ballet titled, The Golden Age, which features a football match as part of its storyline and is deeply tied to the sport’s cultural history in the Soviet Union.
Boxing may be, the Sweet Science, but a soccer game, played with grace and unparalleled athleticism on the pitch, is indeed a ballet of the masses. It’s more global than any other sport, rivaled only by golf, and it’s the most popular youth sport in Canada. No longer is it just a boy, a ball and a wall: it’s boys and girls–50% of Canadian youth 18 and under–playing organized minor soccer at the club and minor sports association levels.
Passion is what makes soccer stand out from any other sport. We see it now with FIFA World Cup 2026 fever. It makes the Stanley Cup playoffs seem like child’s play.
Youth soccer is no joke, though, with half of our youngsters involved on the pitch. That number stems from a recent report from Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. It says just 22% of our youth play minor hockey–ranking eighth on the list of participation sports involving Canadian youngsters.
Soccer is much more than a ball and a wall–even though that’s all a kid needs in order to practice kicking a soccer ball–but economically speaking, soccer is much more affordable than almost every other organized sport. The median annual cost for a kid to play soccer for one season in Canada is $450. Hockey, as we know, is not inexpensive: it has a median annual cost of almost $2,000–and that’s on the low side given all of the necessary spinoff expenses of playing minor hockey.
The study reports, Canadian families spend an average of $3,100 a year on organized athletics.
Sixty-four per cent of Canadian children participate in organized sports. The result? Parents say overwhelmingly, and not surprisingly, that sports participation reflects positively on physical and mental health.
Around the world, soccer is woven deeply within communities, and then comes full circle when helping define who we are. FIFA World Cup 2026 reveals, perhaps for the first time, that Canada is a soccer nation. Given our deep hockey history, that speaks volumes about the game.
Indeed, soccer is ballet for the masses.
Award-winning writer Jeffrey Reed has covered Middlesex County sports since 1980.
He is publisher and editor of LondonOntarioSports.com. Reach him at
jeff@londonontariosports.com.
