favourite of the big four english team sports

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.

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