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 ;-)

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