Soccer Shorts

Can we please notice that soccer players are short? I keep hearing reporters - at least on this side of the Atlantic - marvel that such and such a player is successful despite their lack of height. How can you be surprised: most of the people working in sports journalism are old enough to remember Maradona, who was famously short. Here in Canada there's no excuse, since Toronto FC's star player, Sebastian Giovinco, is 5'4", and nicknamed "The Atomic Ant" just in case it wasn’t obvious enough.

But this obliviousness reached new heights (pun not intended) today. I actually heard someone say that an up-and-coming player is considered "the next Messi" despite being only 5'7." Go on, guess how tall Messi is.

And these are hardly obscure examples. Many of the greatest players of all time were below average height.

Pele	5'8"
Maradona	5'5"
Romario	5'5.5"
Bobby Charlton	5'8"
Gheorghe Hagi	5'7.5"
Roberto Baggio	5'8.5"
Garrincha	5'6.5"

So I guess there is an advantage to shorter players. A lower centre of gravity will give greater agility, and that’s more of an advantage - at least for these offensive players - than the height needed to get to a header. Sure, some players do use height to their advantage (hello, Peter Crouch.)

So there can be an physical advantage to being smaller, and I can hang on to my fantasy that shorter people are taking over sports. Isaiah Thomas (5’9”) has emerged as a basketball star, José Altuve (5'6") is leading the best team in baseball, and honorary short person Russell Wilson (5'11") has a Super Bowl ring. So don’t look down, tall people, because we could be gaining on you.