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A question of variety...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
When i was in high school I played basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, handball, waterpolo and we've done athletics and gymnastics too.
When I came to the UK I notices that there's not much of a variety when it comes to sports. It's football and rugby pretty much dominating everything yet when you go to the Continent it's quite different.
Why is that??
When I came to the UK I notices that there's not much of a variety when it comes to sports. It's football and rugby pretty much dominating everything yet when you go to the Continent it's quite different.
Why is that??
Post edited by JustV on
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Because of the media coverage I suppose. People play them other sports too regularly but they don't be on T.V. half the time.
In Ireland, Gaelic sports are probably the most popular one's going so we're lucky to have that.
Having said that, at my state school we did football, rugby, cricket, tennis, badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, basketball, softball, hockey, netball, cross country, orienteering, weights and fitness training, athletics and volleyball. So bite me.
However, had I wished I could have also done cricket, swimming, basketball, tennis, tabletennis, badminton, athletics and orienteering. But interest for those was never as strong. For one it's quite difficult to organise matches with other schools, as very few schools played them compared to the other sports I mentioned.
What country you from? Im assuming the States or Australia calling it high school.
My old school had a reputation for churning out Welsh Internationals so the Rugby team always took priority and the PE staff were only ever concerned about the "best".
I'm not an athletic person however I was quite good at Handball, Cricket and to a lesser extent Football but because I wasn't any good at the shit code of Rugby I could forget having any form of coaching.
I think it's because British Countries are really shit at those other sports which brings us to the vicious circle, because the British are shit, the sports are not that popular and they don't get coverage by TV (although they've tried various things with basketball)... or maybe the country as a whole is not sports mad, (maybe football mad, but not sports mad).
I've been here for 10 years and have yet to hear anyone talking about handball and volleyball, I've not seen anyone play it or on TV.
Eurosport shows some volleyball matches sometimes but not much.
Before I was here, I was in the States, and there are channels dedicated to sports that run 24/7 showing every sports imaginable no matter how big or small.
And all at different times so there is no clash with big games and things.
Maybe it's coz government is crap at funding sports in this country!
Your right though in the states it is a sport dominated nation. I wish it was like this here, but we havnt got alot of funding either for P.E in schools.
I do apologize.
But that doesn't prove my theory is out.
Cricket is hardly played in Europe and the States...
Why is netball not on TV?
Is it not that the government and the TV moguls are too $$$ hungry to care about sport development in this country. Apart from football. I mean £24m for Eriksson and for what.
Even if there is talent here for a sport to go pro there is no infrastructure to support it. To me it seems ridicilous.
But that's just me.
Netball isn't on TV because noone will watch it. Same with women's rugby. TV companies aren't going to spend money airing an event unless it's going to get a significant number of viewers.
I think sports are actually quite good in this country at a school level. We're just not as successful as somewhere like the USA at said sports professionally, because we're a much much smaller country therefore there's less talent.
Obviously football and rugby are going to receive the best coaching and most money because they're the most popular, just like in the USA where american football and baseball dominate.
Is it a Sports College now?
What sports does it teach?
What opportunities does it give to a talented sports person?
Are there any other colleges of its kind in the UK?
I am not really talking about sports at school level or even University level.
I am talking about competative sports, national leagues etc...
Like I said just now, it's not about the school level.
the UK has 60 million people as opposed to 300m in the States, so by logical reasoning for every 5 of talented individuals in the States there should be 1 in the UK, which is not really the case.
Obviously those sports will receive much money but that doesn't mean that the other sports shouldn't be encouraged and given a chance, which they are not!
As for the US, American Football and Baseball might be the biggest money spinners, but the NBA is the second most watched global sport after F1, esp after Yao Ming joined the Rockets. College basketball and WNBA might not be as big but still get loads of money put into it. Soccer, look how much money they are putting into training and the teams are rich.
College football is a big money business these days.
NASCAR is huge in the states, and so is Ice Hockey.
Indy used to be popular but that's gone down a bit now...
Athletics is also huge in the states.
The US national volleyball team (men and women) is awesome.
etc etc
Still it all comes down to what is popular - those that are popular receive the most funding.
Perhaps the USA is pumping money even into less popular sports like 'soccer' because they want to be taken seriously around the world at ball sports, as noone else takes their main ball sports so seriously.
Interesting take. :thumb:
However, I don't think their ball sports are not taken seriously. That's just bollocks and you know it.
Maybe I should change the question...
Why aren't other sports popular here as much as football and rugby are?
And again, popularity aside, the UK is not even giving other sports a chance. And also the school funding which includes PE in this country is rubbish.
Seems that the UK doesn't strive to athletic excellence like most countries in the world.
Oh come on, everyone laughs at the USA and their 'World Series'. Yeah, World Series my ass, unless the world spans from New York to California maybe, though we all know how internalised that US is.
Only a handful of countries actually play baseball or american football. Basketball is more popular in other countries, but even despite the USA's almost infinite wealth, and basketball infrastructure, they're not even world champions at that.
People watch football on TV. They enjoy watching it, and I suppose every young boy aspires to be a footballer. Then they'll start playing, and keep playing throughout their lives, that's why it's the most popular (and because it's the best sport in the world
Perhaps the UK doesn't give the best funding it can, but I'm sure it still funds sports better than most other countries, obviously not on same scale as somewhere like the USA though.
But there are plenty of examples beyond football and rugby. I mean what about F1 which is controlled and promoted by a Brit and gains much of it's sponsorship and technical expertise (if perhaps not quite enough of it's good drivers) from Britain? Or snooker? Or darts? Or horse racing? All of which have a fairly large audience within the UK and are organised and funded from here. And where practical, people will not only watch, but will also play them for recreation. Okay darts and snooker might not be your idea of a good sport, but plenty of other people enjoy them, and compete in amateur leagues up and down the country.
And how could Sky charge £15 or whatever it is now to watch British boxing contests with the likes of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe if there wasn't an interest? I mean people were even interested in Audley Harrisson for a while. And look at the interest in the Ryder Cup, and Wimbledon, and the Ashes. Britain has people competing at the top level in each and every one of these sports, and enthusiastic spectators cheering them on.
what? going to the gym and looking good isn't accepted? how does that work then?
We seemed to do that as well. However, if you were a girl, you were never taught football in PE (well, twice in about 5 years) and always did netball. Sometimes we did other games but I don't ever remember playing rugby.
The World Series as a term was first used in the late 19th century when baseball was dominant in USa and Canada and especially in the USA at it's highest level. Thus since no one else in the world played it, it was called the world series, which is quite logical. The term has the same meaning as Super Bowl in terms of a trophy though. So what might seem funny to you, actually isn't to a lot of people...
Handful of countries? You are joking, aren't you? It's even played here...obviously not at the level of NFL or AFL but it is quite popular on the Continent. As for basketball, the centrepoint of NBA is their stars, however wrong that is and back in days of the Dream Team, those players were actually able to be a team, but not these days. Individually, those players are better than anyone but as a team, no. Also the gap in rules and style of play is too large still, where EG. Europe concentrates on technical skills, the US concentrate more on speed and energy and ball skills. That gap is being cut down very fast these days as NBA is full of international players.
They might not be the World Champions, but they have the best league in the world.
Maybe this young boy is not even given a chance to be interested in other sports because his dad is so into football that nothing else matters? Like i said before it's a vicious circle, the more popular a sport is the more coverage and more money it gets. But that doesn't mean that UK can't be good at other sports...
Have a look at the gym facilities in UK schools, bloody awful!
yes and yes but the government still pours loads of money into schools to encourage kids. And those kids strive to be the best in their sports however popular it is. Hockey is still a widely commonwealth sport. Sailiing - rich people sport. Netball - why don't people like to watch it??? badminton, please!!!
Yes F1 is run by a Brit, but that Brit has earned most of his money away from the UK. Silverstone is in danger of not being run in the schedule because of bureucracy. Most of the other tracks are rotting. And not everyone can get to F1. Money talks.
Snooker, again how many players are non-British?
Darts...bunch of fat, beer drinking guys throwing darts at a board...not a sport.
Golf...still a white mans/white collar mans sport.
Boxing, hardly inspiring, full of fixing and money laundering and shit and the fights are so fucken glamourized. Why is SKY charging £15 a match, that's a rip off!! Because most of the matches are held at a few selected venues where you can only fit so many people in. And is boxing a locally popular sport?
Cricket again, well the Ashes is the right word for it, isn't it!!
And tennis, try playing or being good if you ain't rich...
Britain is a nation of couch hugging people, i tell ya!
I actually sometimes wish I went to an American school.
I've never heard of people going to the gym being mocked, unless it's all they do, because that comes across as a bit sad and obsessive.
I use my uni gym from time to time, as do all my friends, and I've never got 'mocked' for doing so. Don't really understand how anyone could condemn someone else for wanting to stay reasonably in shape.
And no I dont walk around in tight tops.
Still shouldn't be called the 'World Series' because it's not the world. You never would see, for example, an all-Ireland gaelic competition being called the world championship, even though most of the gaelic sports (until recently) were only played in Ireland.
No, not many countries play american sports seriously i.e. with national teams etc competing in international tournaments. Sure you'll get small local teams starting them up just for a bit of fun, but they're not established sports, except in the USA and a small number of other countries.
Just like the obese USA then!
So you think drink and drugs are accepted in society because they're what 'most kids your age do', but going to the gym isn't because it's 'unusual' for your age group? Doesn't seem logical.
I would say gym going is a very accepted activity. Perhaps because you put it above everything else, you encounter mocking, same way someone who obsesses over computers etc, will probably get mocked for being a computer nerd or something, despite computer use being an accepted practise of course.