favourite of the big four english team sports

Hockey is big in England?

field hockey: more popular with men than you thought

that was basically the default "let's get this up to four" anyway

"i would just like to point out that these sports have slightly more global popularity than america's"

if you think men's field hockey is more popular globally than either basketball or baseball, i'd like to see some data. i bet basketball beats rugby too.

football
cricket
rugby
lol polo

This isn't even a question.

obv football will walk this but by how much, is the thing

also lol dan, perchance tiddlywinks

btw: http://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/884751?articleid=884751

No fucking way that hockey's more popular than Rugby League.

Maybe shd look at how much TV companies pay for the rights to show live hockey.

bill, taken as counterparts:

field hockey is popular in more countries (eastern europe, indian subcontinent etc) and probably with more people than ice hockey
cricket is popular in more countries and certainly with more people (india has 1 billion people, most of them are cricket fans) than baseball
rugby is popular in more countries and with more people than american football (there's a world cup in it, after all)
and lol soccerball versus basketball

oh dear i knew i'd piss SOMEONE off with the whole rugby league thing

Cricket, by a long chalk, specifically Test cricket. I like football as well, although the last game I actually went to was Brentford against Colchester, but the sheer amount of media time devoted to it, and the consequent loutish assumption that anyone who doesn't care about The Amsterdam Tournament, for instance, is an effete freak and that all pubs, whenever possible, must show football, gets my dander up.

It has become a consuming religion. Sky Sports News - get thee hence.

English rugby union fans are tiresome.

I used to play hockey. I wasn't very good at it, and never really got over how much the ball or stick hurt if it got you on the shins, especially in winter.

Voted for cricket because it's hilarious.

i mean we could get into a pissing match on the phrase "global popularity" but baseball and basketball do damn well for themselves on that front.

anyway, i'm voting rugby.

i would just like to point out that these sports have slightly more global popularity than america's

Not sure about that. Rugby isn't really that popular, is it?

aren't rugby and cricket like insanely popular in about 5 countries each?

football and basketball are obviously the analogous ones here - they're the ones you just rock up and play with your mates at a moment's notice, their icons receive similar media treatment etc etc

rugby is enormously popular in the entire commonwealth + in france, specifically south france, also it is a rapidly growing sport in europe + south america

According to my article, both baseball and basketball have more global popularity that rugby and field hockey

so, you know, nyah

maybe louis is secretly scottish since rugby league means fuck all up here. Then again i suppose it means fuck all where he lives too.

Rugby Union means fuck all in Scotland too

yeah dan but i wasn't comparing baseball and basketball with either field hockey or rugby was i, read my breakdown to an extent

Not if youre a posh cunt or a farmer in the borders

Proper Football>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> American Football
Cricket >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Baseball

aren't rugby and cricket like insanely popular in about 5 countries each?

As Louis points out, cricket is virtually a religion in India, and there's, uhhhhhhhhhhh, quite a few people living down there

cricket is insanely popular in about 30 countries if we're splitting the Caribbean btw

also the chinese have decided to be boss dogs at cricket, i read an article and they really have gotten the bug apparently

I am going to Suggest Ban anyone who admits to voting for rugby.

and as for rugby union, didnt there used to be like 7 leagues just for the west of scotland? its popular. And Murrayfield sells out for Scotland games,unlike the smaller hampden park for Scotland footy games

but its impossible to choose between cricket and football, but i guess football as i have club allegiances and in cricket i dont. but im gonna give cricket a vote anyway since footy will walk it

I can promise you though,here in scotland, cricket would win a most hated game poll of any sports.

I should add that rugby is a sport so shit that even the British Empire couldn't force it onto most of its subjects.

and that includes synchronized swimming

my defence of promoting field hockey above rugby league: we already had one rugby, ice hockey needed a counterpart, it's a good sport, and it's WAY more popular abroad than it is in britain (germany, holland, australia and pakistan especially)

scotland are playing in the world twenty20 AGAINST ENGLAND tomorrow, surely the spirit of caledonia will rear its head

no RONG they are not playing england. but still.

Murrayfield sells out for Scotland games,unlike the smaller hampden park for Scotland footy games

I'd bet that Rangers and Celtic get more people going to watch them on one Saturday than would watch every club rugby match in Scotland in one entire season

There's plenty of cricket clubs in Scotland. But in no way is it popular.

Scotland played England in a 20/20 the other day

I can promise you though,here in scotland, cricket would win a most hated game poll of any sports.

I can promise you that that is bollocks

I am going to Suggest Ban anyone who admits to voting for rugby.

I heartily endorse this position unless it's a write-in for League.

oh i know that tom. I bet Accies get more

I take your points Louis but "we already had one rugby" is kinda adding insult to injury.

yeah that was it xp to pfunk

and i don't think you posted about it once

scottish cricket rip ;_;

(i DID hear that Aberdeen has the most cricket clubs per person in the UK)

i dont think louis understands how league is important in the north of england

I am going to Suggest Ban anyone who admits to voting for rugby.

BRING IT

NV, I'm only posting the sports that are most widespread in their popularity. League isn't particularly popular, not least on the global stage where only really (northern) GB, Aus and NZ take it at all seriously. You may write-in a vote for it, yes.

Nah I still prefer footie and cricket to League but it is a strong scoring third. Also, like I said, I could probly buy the broadcast rights to the next hockey world cup so fuck that shit imo

Northern GB? Theres no rugby league in Scotland,louis

Dude you wait til the next round of franchises. Also you had the big Easter weekend this year.

Basically you're accusing me of namby-pamby southern elitist classism, NV ;-)

But Scotland has an international rugby league team. Certainly used to have.

Likewise Wales and Ireland.

I used to enjoy watching the challenge cup final back in the 80s early 90s. Ellery Hanley's Wigan side.

Nah I'm not LJ, more like not recognising the awesome skills and thrills and appeal of the one true Rugby code.

Scotland has a cricket team but it doesnt mean its a popular sport

Or, y'know, the one version of Rugby where England actually run with and pass the ball.

It does mean that they at least play it there! (xp)

lol my favourite of these is actually hockey, which i don't think i've ever watched or played, but the others are so boring and awful. team sports suckkkk so much

football my favourite I guess, I watch it more than anything else, but I love rugby union, more and more each year too.

i probably wouldn't mind attending a cricket match as long as i could just booze it up and not care about the people doing nothing on the court/pitch/field/whatever it's called

football is def the worst of these

Go to a 20/20 match then Lex

Out of interest Lex why do you hate team sports so much?

xpost that's what everybody does at the cricket

League's a bit turgid, it reminds me of American Football. Union's just a bunch of tits running about like headless chickens, occasionally coalescing into something interesting but not often enough.

i probably wouldn't mind attending a cricket match as long as i could just booze it up and not care about the people doing nothing on the court/pitch/field/whatever it's called

this is both hilarious and actually kinda otm, as NV indicates

also also also take out your frustrations here, my good fellow: best code of rugby

Basically, the only reason for watching Rugby Union is to see England lose

League's got a couple of obvious similarities to American Football but I never get why people think it's slow, there's way more passing and running than most domestic Union.

LJ I swear I'll stop getting into League vs Union fights. It's only cos I live in a place where everybody agrees so our usual level of discussion is zinging Union if it happens to be on in the pub.

Unlike the old days when Scotland were good and were worth watching as it was the one team sport we were good at

team sports

- rubbish to watch as u can't see everything that's going on, too many people, always seems crowded
- rubbish conceptually as surely the point of professional sport is attaining individual glory, pushing the self to its physical and mental limits. u can't do that w/teammates dragging u down. team sports just seem so impure in comparison to individual sports. tbh i can't really think of them as sports at all, they're pastimes and games
- rubbish to play for a literally endless list of reasons

speaking as an amurrcan rugby is sort of a more fluid version of american football, which i can basically dig. i've also hung out w/some irish rugby dudes and they were pretty cool.

i like football well enough but it's a little fucked as a game--worse officiating than all 4 american sports which is amazing.

hating team sports suggests to me a preference for people, personality (ego) and (obv) individuality over interest in the nature of the game itself

rubbish conceptually as surely the point of professional sport is attaining individual glory, pushing the self to its physical and mental limits. u can't do that w/teammates dragging u down. team sports just seem so impure in comparison to individual sports. tbh i can't really think of them as sports at all, they're pastimes and games

what is this weird social darwinist bullshit?

I think the biggest problem people have with League is that it's too...easy? It's geared towards flowing play and plenty of tries, which is a good thing, but it doesn't have the mystical 'battle lines' Herculean war-struggle-epic-clash element which gets peoples' rocks off in the Union code. Also, in Union, when something spectacular does happen, it comes as more of a surprise, it's somehow more momentous. I personally have disdain for much of Union's mysticism, and I can completely see your point, but mine stands.

impure? nah im not gonna refer to a certain country in a certain period of time

the point of professional sport is attaining individual glory
u can't do that w/teammates dragging u down
team sports just seem so impure in comparison to individual sports

tongue-in-cheek i'm sure but...wow

also, the point of sport is to WIN, and any win that u have to share w/people who have perhaps done less than u have is diluted

Louis likes proper scrums

I find Rugby Union exhilarating to be honest, think it's really well run and since more players went pro it's just been getting better and better. The growing interest in it reflects that too I reckon.

It's not that League is slower, it's that League is like basketball. I can't see any appeal in league whatsoever, it's just Union minus all the set pieces and tactics.

x-post louis otm, after a big game of Union the players are utterly fucking butchered, it's astonishing athleticism.

x-x-post lex this is utterly mental, you can't possibly believe this nonsense.

Rugby League is to Rugby Union as Sky Sports All Stars Indoor Soccer is to the World Cup

the point of sport is to enjoy yourself and to entertain as well as having a will to win, but if you lose you do it with dignity is what the lex means surely

multi xpost to Lex

I guess I thought you wd say something like that. It's a valid take on sport I guess - it reminds me of some old line about a gentleman "never referring to soccer and rugger as sports - they are games". But you cd just as easily take the opposite view and look at sport as cooperative enterprise and the striving of a group to overcome the limitations of the individuals. Plus most team sports allow for the genius of the individual as well as the organisation of the team. I just feel like team games are ultimately richer and more rewarding texts precisely because its harder to follow everything happening at once.

I think the biggest problem people have with League is that it's too...easy?

Union's the easy one. For a start, everybody has to work in a Rugby League team whereas in Union you have half-a-dozen backs hanging around doing nothing.

lex this is some ayn rand shiznay, besides take cricket, which is comprised of little personal achievements within a sophisticated team context, i mean every team sport is like that when it comes down to it argh it's not like stalinist communism or whatever

admittedly it is kinda shitty to let down a team, but it happens to everyone, the lesson is responding to it, learning from it

NV otm

but its the backs that give all the excitement and flair!

It would help if they could catch and pass the ball!

All right, this thread is finally getting going. Lex, say something else.

but its the backs that give all the excitement and flair!

^^^ Never seen England's RU team

I used to dislike team sports until I got into basketball.

blah jonny wilkinson blah best tackler in the england team blah

lex are you serious about what you said?

it reminds me of some old line about a gentleman "never referring to soccer and rugger as sports - they are games"

yeah this person was a bellend

Fumbles, guys falling over, forward passes... Union's a veritable comedy of errors!

The Lex must be a Chelsea fan!

Ronan is right that Union has been improved since professionalism and, I'd argue, since League players came in or since players crossed codes more freely. My gripe is mainly directed at the utterly fucking tedious England team, but I'm not totally immune to the charm and excitement of watching two teams of chinless toffs hoofing a ball into touch for 80 minutes with occasional pauses for trying to kill each other.

That's what always gets me about Union, if these guys are so good how come they're forever dropping the ball!

it's only a matter of time until american football takes over england anyway

But you cd just as easily take the opposite view and look at sport as cooperative enterprise and the striving of a group to overcome the limitations of the individuals.

well, individual sports are about striving to overcome those limitations yourself. the internal psychological narrative is far more compelling to me.

Plus most team sports allow for the genius of the individual as well as the organisation of the team.

yeah but they don't reward it unless the genius individual is backed up by other individuals strong enough to carry the team through to the trophy!!

i mean, there's a reason that doubles in tennis is just a lark which singles players don't take seriously...

i mean, why should you have to rely on anyone else to help you overcome your own limitations??? that's not an ideal anyone should aspire to.

Martina did

McEnroe did

i remember some terrific wimbledon doubles games in the early 80s

being part of a team is awesome and exhilarating as shit.

btw saying this: rubbish conceptually as surely the point of professional sport is attaining individual glory, pushing the self to its physical and mental limits when sports like soccer (where you are pretty much sprinting for an hour and a half) and water polo (where you are sprint-swimming and treading water for an hour) exist is kind of silly.

also um individual athletes still have coaches, so your "they do it on their own" line isn't really true

I can completely dig on tennis or boxing for the purity and the gladiatorial ethic but that doesn't exclude team games for me. Also I like the idea that rugged determination and slightly pedestrian work-ethic can beat beautiful style sometimes and that happens a lot less often in single player sports I think.

lex do you hate football because it's a team sport or because of the people who like/play it?

both martina and mcenroe would've blown off a doubles match in an instant if it threatened their singles success

xps but once they're actually out in the arena they're on their own - which is why i'm so against on-court coaching in tennis. tarnishes the whole sport imo, a total embarrassment

Union's the easy one. For a start, everybody has to work in a Rugby League team whereas in Union you have half-a-dozen backs hanging around doing nothing.

The idea that either is easy is completely moronic. That said the second sentence is even stupider, have you ever seen Union recently? The backs put in as many tackles as anyone else.

As for "comedy of errors", this is just silly, if a team's dropping the ball it's cos they are put under pressure more or hit harder.

x-post I believe it's only in England (and say Leinster!) that it's a toff sport, think bigger. I'd disagree about league players influence, isn't it usual that these players are terrible? Trying to think of major success stories. Do many Union players go to League? It seems rarer...

yeah honestly there are few things more awesome than winning a championship with teammates, or watching your teammate come through in a big situation

lex do you hate football because it's a team sport or because of the people who like/play it?

w/football it's both, which is why it's the worst of these. every football player i've encountered in the media has been such an unsympathetic, obnoxious twat.

I believe it's only in England (and say Leinster!) that it's a toff sport, think bigger.

And Scotland

Lex is right about doubles, it's basically like when John Virgo used to do his impersonations of Dennis Taylor and Ray Reardon in the intervals during the snooker

Also sure it's cool when athletes overcome their personal limitations but often watching feats of athletic prowess is dull cos the aesthetic is so spartan compared to the inventiveness and fun and randomness of team sports.

I guess I'm kind of wholeheartedly against a definition of "sport" that excludes soccer/football/basketball/etc but includes table tennis.

being part of a team is awesome and exhilarating as shit.

no way, it's annoying and awkward and constraining

i always feel a bit sad for people who are holding up giant trophies w/their teammates and they can only get like one hand on it lol. how much more exhilarating to hold it up all by yourself!

Scotland outside of the Borders region,where farmhands play it. Theyre not exactly posh. Its not restricted to farm owners.

It's posher than it is England

Lex do you like Boxing?

it's only a matter of time until american football takes over england anyway

― k3vin k., Thursday, 4 June 2009 18:10 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hgG5resp3FA/SdGNjdQXthI/AAAAAAAAAD0/KppJ5lcSJek/s320/george_galloway.jpg

boxing isn't my thing but i def respect it

Golf?

I can't think of many League players that were exceptional successes at Union no. In fact the best example of somebody achieving at both would be Jonathan Davies who crossed the other way. I just feel like once the Iron Curtain came down a little of the tactical spirit of League crossed over into Union, by osmosis or something - again, I know this is mainly an England thing.

i imagine lex has the same bemusement w/ "teams" as he does w/ "bands"

yep, golf is great. its lack of athleticism prevents me from taking it tooooo seriously, but what a test of nerve it is...

I cant imagine the lex liking bands that dislike impurity in their field
xpost

I wish there was a US cable channel that showed cricket, rugby and (esp) snooker. Darts too maybe.

soccer > cricket > rugby. Field hockey can eat a bag of dicks.

lex, you're pretty much full of

yep, golf is great. its lack of athleticism prevents me from taking it tooooo seriously, but what a test of nerve it is...

Darts fan are you Lex?

haha whoops, xp

wait louis does the "hockey" in the poll mean ice- or field hockey? or is it assumed to mean both?

So what if posh people play a sport? It's fairly meaningless. Football may not be posh but to watch a game of it you'd think it was.

field xp

Lex dont you like the idea of a team working hard together to reach the status of being the very best? A mix of flair and determined professionalism with a will to achieve all they can?

darts is too far. it's as much of a sport as eating a bag of crisps.

damn, cut off before we could get to billiards

x-post why don't you win the world darts championship then?

obv it is field hockey, KK

for every andy farrell there's a jason robinson amirite

Football is a lot more posh than it used to be. A lot of people simply cant afford to go to football anymore. Just look at the prawn sandwich brigade,that didn't exist in the 1980s.

cuz i don't like crisps

xps

http://www.clovisdesign.com/IDS/images/bar-billiards.jpg

I used to know how to play that

^^^was played, with some success, at a recent london FAP

wtf is that Jim??

wait louis does the "hockey" in the poll mean ice- or field hockey? or is it assumed to mean both?

Ice hockey isn't an English invention, is it? Actually, I'm not sure "field" hockey is either. LOL, weird saying "field" hockey, how American is that phrase?

Bar Billiards, mentalist combo of billiards, jenga, and 5 pints of mild.

... what I mean is, none more American (xp)

i like billiards! and pool! was unbeaten at pool throughout 3rd year of university

Can't wait for favourite of the big four Scottish team sports:

Shinty
Errrrrrrrr, curling...... I suppose

I made sure these were all English before polling them!

OMG you do realise that all London ILX will be queueing up to play you at pool now

it seems almost dangerously bizarre to consider competition and collaboration as opposites

but i suspect anyone believing this would have laughable double-standards wrt dismissing collaborative competition in sport as opposed to entertainment or the arts

and i've had that same argument with irrational ilxors on football threads past

I lack the sport gene completely, but I can clearly see why football is the most popular sport in the world. It's an extremely elegant game. Doesn't mean I actually want to watch it though.

b/c sport ≠ art duhhh

xp

both pointless pursuits that provide some of the only justification for the existance of humanity imo

wait louis does the "hockey" in the poll mean ice- or field hockey? or is it assumed to mean both?

Ice hockey isn't an English invention, is it? Actually, I'm not sure "field" hockey is either. LOL, weird saying "field" hockey, how American is that phrase?

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, June 4, 2009 1:25 PM (8 minutes ago)

ha dude in america if u said "hockey" it would be universally assumed to mean ice hockey

I thought field hockey was an indian invention.

Strikes me that it's probably old as the hills

Played with the severed heads of your enemies and all that old bollocks

wikipedia says Edward III banned it.

I guess ball and stick games pretty universal.

I'd imagine the bollocks were hard to find on the field

The modern game grew from English public schools in the early 19th century. The first club was in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London, but the modern rules grew out of a version played by Middlesex cricket clubs for winter sport

the little field hockey i've seen suggests that it is an awful sport

lol dan they were like the golden snitch

field hockey is great fun to play fwiw

field hockey may be fun to play, but it's awful to watch

It's quite like football, in a lot of ways. Closer to it than rugby is.

Can't wait for favourite of the big four Scottish team sports:

Shinty
Errrrrrrrr, curling...... I suppose

Caber toss.

even girls hockey?

xposts

i watch field hockey occasionally, it is diverting

That's close to women's football (xp)

xposts. as in i'd need a team to throw a caber.

or a bloke called Caber

I'm imagining Lex is an avid fan of the World Strongest Man... errrrrr, the contest I mean

WSM is quality entertainment!

I never miss it!

Scottish sports: The sheaf-toss is my absolute favorite. I'll be watching some on Saturday, now that you mention it.

Football is a lot more posh than it used to be. A lot of people simply cant afford to go to football anymore. Just look at the prawn sandwich brigade,that didn't exist in the 1980s.

Think you're confusing league football with football here. Also, a lot of people can't afford to do a lot of things any more, it's not exclusive to football.

(also, a kid's season ticket at Celtic Park is £50, which is like under £3 a game, which wouldn't even buy you a prawn sandwich)

Sorry, LJ, I mentioned Celtic on your thread, please mock me forever in your stylish and inimitable way.

Voted football. Cricket is pretty great as well tho.

ailsa you are allowed 5 further mentions, allusions or otherwise before i object. use them wisely.

Maybe the lex will get excited by the start of the 20/20 cricket world cup today.

I went with cricket. I follow football more closely, but I enjoy a good Test match far, far more than any football match. Rugby union I could take or leave, but as a team sport it requires the most teamwork out of all 4 sports, so it has a certain appeal to me as well.

Rugby

Lex: if you go to a cricket match and you don't get steadily pissed whilst keeping half-an-eye on the match then you are basically doing it wrong. Cricket is the best spectator sport in this regard.

hurling, you little bitches. hurling.

sorry that came across a little aggressively. GAA does that.

anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQ2Vxez2V4

darraghmac that truly seems like a brilliant sport in every single way except for the "unbelievably dangerous for your health" element, which, and I have to be candid, puts me off a bit

i have some decent scars from playing it up to u-14 level, true, but last year was a record low for fatalities i'll have you know. fastest ball sport in the world.

Thought that was this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI-HqszRq0g&feature=fvw

it should be:

football
cricket
rugby
korfball

Stuff that could've replace hockey: tug of war, morris dancing.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

may as well give this one the big bump

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

England just fucking won the European Championship of hockey, I feel vindicated