A soccer team in England set a new travel record with its match on Saturday, which pales in comparison to high school football in Montana. The European mind can’t comprehend the size of the United States.
They would not be able to handle the grind.
More rural states sometimes require its high school football programs to travel the entire length of the United Kingdom for road games. A nine-hour road trip is nothing.
English soccer set a new travel record.
Truro City F.C. is based out of the English city of Truro. It is the only city in Cornwall as the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, approximately 230 miles west-south-west of London.
Truro City F.C. competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English soccer league system. As does Gateshead F.C.
Gateshead F.C. is based in Gateshead, England, right next to Newcastle upon Tyne. Newcastle is the northernmost city of England. The exact opposite of Truro.
Thus, for Truro City to play at Gateshead requires a lengthy road trip. 914 miles round trip, to be exact.
The drive from Truro to Gateshead and back is longer than the drive from Paris to London and back. It was the longest away trip in English soccer history. They ultimately played to a draw at two goals apiece.
Montana high school football is spread out.
England made a big deal of the 914-mile road trip for soccer. The European mind could never comprehend the amount of travel required to play high school football in the United States.
Lets use Montana as the example.
Approximately 1.5 Englands can fit inside Montana. Montana is 55% larger than England.
However, 66.8 million fewer people live in Montana than England so everybody is more spread out.
Thus, high school football games force teams to drive as many as a few hours for a conference game. It gets even crazier during the playoffs.
Baker High School played Lincoln County High School during the first round of the Class B playoff in 2019. Baker is located on the easternmost border of the state near North Dakota. Lincoln County is located in Eureka, Montana, way northwest up near Canada.
The two schools are separated by 669 miles. Baker drove more than 21 hours round trip for the game.
That is more than five hours longer than the longest road trip in English soccer history. And that was for high school football, not even professional sports.
Imagine trying to explain to someone from England that Cal vs. Miami is a conference game. They could never understand.