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It may well find a place in the sporting landscape but if you believe that Gridiron football will replace football in this country or on this planet you are living in cloud cuckoo land! We've had the NFL trying to ram the game down our throats 'over here' for 40 years + They've spent billions doing it too. I think the game has grown to some extent but to this day I still don't actually personally know anybody English that has an interest in it.
The World Cup was NOT the first football tournament, The first football tournament was in 1871.
The sports marketplace in the UK is hardly saturated. No one is trying to ram anything down anyone's throat. If you do not like it, do not go to it or turn the station to another station. But games sell very well, and viewership is higher than ever. Its clear that people enjoy it. I know many many UK citizens that enjoy American football.
Not true to be honest with you, football has always been FAR more popular in the UK than rugby, football (for obvious reasons) took off in the UK way before anywhere else in Europe (or the world), in the UK football was attracting 60'000 crowds by the end of the 1800's. I'm not sure why Australia took on the rugby code instead of the football (soccer one) - perhaps it is actually because in the UK football was more popular than rugby?
Could be the case, there was a bit of a strong anti-english thing in Australia for a time, which came moslty from the irish settlers, and or course Australian football is close in play style to Galic Football.
Still it baffells me though, as it was not just Australia, that did not really take to football India, Pakistan, Canada and New Zealand have never been known as footballing nations either.
Could be the case, there was a bit of a strong anti-english thing in Australia for a time, which came moslty from the irish settlers, and or course Australian football is close in play style to Galic Football.
Still it baffells me though, as it was not just Australia, that did not really take to football India, Pakistan, Canada and New Zealand have never been known as footballing nations either.
India, Pakistan, Canada, and New Zealand took to cricket instead. Cricket's popularity has since faded in Canada but it's still the second-most popular sport in New Zealand, and it's practically the official state religion of India and Pakistan.
India, Pakistan, Canada, and New Zealand took to cricket instead. Cricket's popularity has since faded in Canada but it's still the second-most popular sport in New Zealand, and it's practically the official state religion of India and Pakistan.
Yeh I know as a guy who likes Cricket, from my understanding cricket was also actually very popular in the USA for a while as well until baseball took hold.
I suppose the question is, if footall was so popular in the UK at the time, why did the expat population that was huge in the countries in question at the time not spread it?
Yeh I know as a guy who likes Cricket, from my understanding cricket was also actually very popular in the USA for a while as well until baseball took hold.
I suppose the question is, if footall was so popular in the UK at the time, why did the expat population that was huge in the countries in question at the time not spread it?
My guess is, football/soccer was more of a "working class" sport while cricket was the "gentleman's sport;" and it was the "gentleman" class who governed most of the colonies so their sporting proclivities were the ones that got exported to the colonies.
My guess is, football/soccer was more of a "working class" sport while cricket was the "gentleman's sport;" and it was the "gentleman" class who governed most of the colonies so their sporting proclivities were the ones that got exported to the colonies.
That is very plausible. I'd agree.
This whole thing has got me a bit interested in the history of football (soccer) in Australia.
Apparently the first recorded soccer match in Australia was between the Brisbane Australian football club, and the Goodna lunatic asylum.(goodna Is now a outer suburb of Brisbane) in 1875.
Would have been an interesting match up, that's for sure
I suppose the question is, if footall was so popular in the UK at the time, why did the expat population that was huge in the countries in question at the time not spread it?
Interesting question. It was the Irish and Scottish that took the game to South America, you can still see those roots today, in O'Higgins FC and players like Alexis McAllister, however the game of the British establishment was rugby, not football. Football was the working class game, rugby was played by the gentlemen, hence it was exported to colonies like Australia, USA, Canada and NZ (where they made up their own versions, NFL, CFL, Aussie Rules etc.)
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, now that's a different question. There's an exhaustive book on the history of football by David Goldblatt (The Ball is Round - A Global History of Soccer/Football) who goes on to suggest that in India's case, football didn't mesh well with the caste system, Cricket was much more hierarchical and more suited - but even in India today, football is very popular, in West Bengal, Kerala and Goa specifically it's popularity surpasses cricket.
The sports marketplace in the UK is hardly saturated. No one is trying to ram anything down anyone's throat. If you do not like it, do not go to it or turn the station to another station. But games sell very well, and viewership is higher than ever. Its clear that people enjoy it. I know many many UK citizens that enjoy American football.
lol i just read about baltimore game that almost half a stadium was from baltimore and reason they know it their chant from home that they do when national anthem is played. 1/3 of those stadiums are europeans rest of are americans
The sports marketplace in the UK is hardly saturated. No one is trying to ram anything down anyone's throat. If you do not like it, do not go to it or turn the station to another station. But games sell very well, and viewership is higher than ever. Its clear that people enjoy it. I know many many UK citizens that enjoy American football.
It isn't? I think you may be mistaken, there seems to be a belief 'over there' that Europe is all about football (soccer) and nothing else which isn't actually true. Have you seen anything of the Rugby World Cup? The quarter finals were sublime, the main sports stories in the UK right now are the national rugby teams and the English cricket teams who are all playing in the 2nd and 3rd 'biggest' world cup competitions on the planet. Tomorrow its the turn of the national football team that is playing Italy for a place in the Euro's. The biggest sporting headline in Scotland right now is football, yesterday Scotland qualified for the Euro 24 tournament, their rugby team is unfortunately already knocked out the World Cup. You will find it hard to find much news about american football in British newspapers - NOT because there is anything wrong with the game but rather that there is a lot going on in 'other' sports that don't make much headway into the US.
PS The Ireland v New Zealand and the France v South Africa rugby quarter finals this weekend were just about the best rugby union matches I've ever seen, incredible games! I don't think the Argentinian and English sides (the other two left in the competition) have much hope beating New Zealand and South Africa.
Interesting question. It was the Irish and Scottish that took the game to South America, you can still see those roots today, in O'Higgins FC and players like Alexis McAllister, however the game of the British establishment was rugby, not football. Football was the working class game, rugby was played by the gentlemen, hence it was exported to colonies like Australia, USA, Canada and NZ (where they made up their own versions, NFL, CFL, Aussie Rules etc.)
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, now that's a different question. There's an exhaustive book on the history of football by David Goldblatt (The Ball is Round - A Global History of Soccer/Football) who goes on to suggest that in India's case, football didn't mesh well with the caste system, Cricket was much more hierarchical and more suited - but even in India today, football is very popular, in West Bengal, Kerala and Goa specifically it's popularity surpasses cricket.
I don't think Alex McAllister has anything to do with the spread of football from the UK to Argentina, he's not THAT old!
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