why are some sports only popular in certain places?
 

Maybe somebody can help me. Just wondering why some sports become MASSIVE in some places, but just don't catch on anywhere else.

Liek why is American Football so popular in America, but nowhere else?

Why is ice hockey so big in Canada, and to an extent in America and the soviet & nordic states, but nowhere else?

Why is cricket so MASSIVE in India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh, but not that relatively popular elsewhere, especially in the Americas?

Why did football never really catch on in America?

Lacrosse?

Why is rugby popular in a few countries, but rugby league isn't?

Why is basketball only big in tiny European countries and America, and not really anywhere else?

Why is baseball big in Japan and America and it's neighbours, and nowhere in between?

Other than a terrible attention span possibly explaining why cricket and football never caught on in America (although, doesn't explain baseball), I really have no answers to any of the above.

Most countries' allegiances to sport have been integrated due to the old British Empire (Rugby Union, Cricket). Football is most popular around the world because it's such a simple and inexpensive game which anyone can play. The United States pretty much made up their own sports as a symbolism of independence.

It's usually because of which sports the social elite were playing when sport started to be organised into associations. This then filters down through the rest of society. Therefore, the British colonials brought their sports to various parts of the world, the social elite would adopt them to be more like the British and eventually the sports would open up and catch on with everyone. Similarly, I believe basketball and American football (not sure about baseball, which is virtually identical to rounders) have their roots in American social elite.

In America, immigrants would obviously leave behind their own sports to assimilate.

I have nothing to add to this thread but I think it's a great question.

gridiron footy, basketball and baseball are the best because they are American baby. Other countries are weird and like other stuff bc they hate our freedom

A lot are usually popular in their birthplace or places like it.

Soccer/Football not being popular in America: Attention Span problem. 45 Minutes without a commercial break, halftime and then another 45 minutes without a commercial break. Also a "fuck what other countries like" mentality.

also it's boring as shit 85% of the time

Wrong.

The thing about Lebron is that he's now a Liverpool shareholder, that's why they were reporting about him. And NFL is still being done at wembley.

I wouldn't say NFL is getting "big" here but it's gradually growing. The NFL has had spurts of popularity in the past and has died down pretty quickly. It's just a cyclical process of the NFL temporarily exploiting our interest and then it gets pulled away when the realisation comes that nothing huge can come of it. We can fill Wembley Stadium for a one off game sure, but to really gauge and test the true popularity and commitment of real British fans they need to start doing more than one, which they haven't got the balls to do. They're likely to pull the plug on the International Series before they start playing 2 games. I hope I'm wrong but I can't see it. I've been to all 4 International Series games at Wembley and a lot of the "fans" are just locals who've gone along for the occasion and the pre-game tailgate party and don't have a clue about what's going on. Don't get me wrong there's a lot of real fans there too but not 90,000 of them.

Also the Super Bowl is watched by every one, it doesn't really mean anything in terms of measuring a fan base. It's a shame really because a lot of people really get into it by watching the Super Bowl but it's such a long wait until September that they forget about it by the time the new season rolls around.

Im sorry TL, but soccer is so goddamn boring its not funny.

A 1-0, or 2-1 game is common and thats terrible.

No need to apologize for being wrong. If you wanna boring sport check baseball or basketball. Don't expect you guys to 'get it' anyhow. :cool:

It isn't like american sports are always the best action ever anyway. NHL/NFL only ones i watch and NFL is frustrating alot of the time. Basketballs just non stop same shit over n over with Lakers always winning every year, and you know my thoughts on Baseball.

I only really watch hockey, trying to get into baseball during the summer as its hockeys offseason, but even I admit that its pretty boring.

Football is ok, Ill watch it if I have nothing else to do, I like the physicality of it but the season is only 16 games and sometimes teams dont face each other all season which makes no fucking sense to me at all.

Basketball? Id rather watch golf, seriously.

This is what gripes me about non-football fans. If you're only watching it for the goals then you're going to be disappointed. It's so much more than that. Fair enough if you don't like the sport, it's just a shitty reason.

I'd rather watch a 0-0 football game than a 110-108 basketball game.

Yeah that's what i wanted to point out also but couldn't the fucking words.:facepalm:

it's not the lack of goals

it's because I don't much care for watching people jog around a field for an hour and a half

Seems you're a baseball fan though Skippord, so you'd much rather watch people just standing there, and someone chucking a ball and a batsmen mostly missing it for 3 or 4 hours? Seriously there's more to football than just jogging around but as i said, you wont get that unless you've given it a proper chance.

I'm really starting to enjoy watching curling.

I'm watching that.

that was great

Heh. Batsmen.

Money is a big factor with soccer being one of the cheapest sports to play due to all that is needed is a ball and a field of any type (ex. grass, dirt, sand, concrete). Other sports require more stuff or special circumstances like hockey needing ice.

Rugby used to be huge in the US until the early 1910s when too many deaths from college games forced the US version of rugby to evolve more into today's current football.

Cricket is far too complicated for Canadians..... we like things simple..... you have a stick and you use it to put a black disc into a net.....

hockey can be played anywhere, not just on ice.....

I think there is something to be said of sports as a tradition. I played baseball and football because my dad did and he got me into them.

American SPorts are very young. Cricket and Footie are centuries old. the NFL is less than 100 years old and the modern game is only like 50. They are spreading, but the foothold takes time.

goals being relatively rare is what makes football ace. like it is a proper cause for euphoric celebration rather than in basketball where people only really give a shit if someone wins the game right at the buzzer.

of course it helps to be emotionally invested in a team to get this effect.

Basketball is pretty brutal, the game doesn't mean anything until the fourth quarter and the last 2 minutes end up taking 2 days to play because of all the time outs.

I watch Ice Hockey over here, It's not huge, but Nottingham's arena is awesome and the Coventry one holds at least 2,000 and is always full or 95% full.

soccer is more popular in america than most people realize. it's just not followed by the major media

and rugby is played in most colleges and on almost every military base i've been on

Soccer and baseball are the two most boring sports I have ever witnessed. Basketball is slightly more entertaining, but American football is where it's at.

Football is only boring when teams don't know what the fuck they're doing. You can either have a beautiful passing game the likes of Barca and (at one time Liverpool), chuck the ball up front for your springheeled Ferdinand's or go down 5/6 leagues from the premier and watch people bash the shit out of each other in mud fields.

It's like every sport. It can be boring when there's a shit game on the go. It happens, but as the legendary Andy Gray said "That's why I love this game, anything can happen, just when you think it wouldn't"