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Forums - Sports Discussion - Why football failed to catch on in certain countries

I find a brain for breakfast and he explained why football failed to catch in some countries.

Interestingly, many countries where it's not the most popular sport were formerly part of the British Empire:  United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.

I'll summarize them.

Ireland: Due to Anglophobia, native sports such as curling and Gaelic football were promoted by Irish nationalists.
Canada: The cold climate lead to ice hockey becoming the dominant sport.
United States: Baseball was the first major professional sport, American football became the dominant sport and basketball became the urban sport of participation.
India: Cricket became popular in India due to consistent competition with commonwealth countries such as England and Australia from their test nation status.
Australia: Due to Australia's physical isolation, the native sport of Australian rules became popular. Cricket remained popular due to a similar reason as India.

I know he didn't explain Japan in the video, but baseball became the dominant sport there because Americans brought the sport there and baseball became the main game at university campuses.

Last edited by HomokHarcos - on 23 July 2018

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HomokHarcos said:

I find a brain for breakfast and he explained why football failed to catch in some countries.

Interestingly, many countries where it's not the most popular sport were formerly part of the British Empire. United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Perhaps because the british are A lousy team since the creation of the game.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

NightlyPoe said:
It's more surprising that it's as popular as it is in the world in general. When being a spectator, the main draws of a game are the ability to tell a narrative and for excitement to build with a climax. Of the five biggest sports in the United States I'd rank them as follows.

1. American Football: Easily the best narrative of any sport. The game can be sub-divided into three separate categories mini-dramas on almost every play. The need to get 10 yards in 3 plays to continue a drive, the narrative builds as the make-or-break 3rd down approaches. Where the team is on a drive, the closer to scoring the team is, the more exciting the play, and the overall score within the game. And, of course, there are big plays that happen within the narrative that scramble the whole story.

No other sport comes close to this level of narrative brilliance, and that's why it has eclipsed the others.

2. Baseball: Surprised to see this so high? You shouldn't be. Baseball is highly underrated as a spectator sport. Like football, it has a rising narrative and multiple dramas within each pitch. The tone of the game changes based on whether the count is 0-1 or 3-1. Whether someone is on base, how many outs there are. It's more nuanced than football, so it requires a bit more knowledge, which drops it well behind the other sport.

Tied for 3rd: Basketball and Hockey:

Ironically, these are the two fastest-paced games of the five, but they both have huge deficiencies in their design.

Basketball's flaw is that a goal is worth so little. You could watch a player make the most amazing play ever, and it'll still only be worth two points. Roughly 1/50th of what's needed to win a game. You get a lot of them, but there's more of a feeling of watching whose point total can go up faster than a sense of who is really doing better. If a team wins by a typical score of 105-95. What does that make them? 10% better? A few, almost random makes and misses that seemed meaningless when it happened and that score is overturned.

Hockey might well be my favorite, but its flaw is that the scoring feels almost random. It's hard to know when a goal is going to be scored or the goalie is going to make a save. There are a decent number of goals per game, which is good, but outside of powerplays, it's hard to know when to expect them. Spectators are left to cheer when something happens instead of expecting something to happen and occasionally being blindsided by a big play. Instead it's all or nothing.

5. Soccer: Oh boy, this is bad. Take all of hockey's flaws, make the game slower, lower scoring, and toss in the dumbest rule in sports, the soccer offsides rule, which inspires bad defense so that the ref can bail them out (toss the rule out once they get to the top of the box guys), grown men crying on the ground for minutes at a time as a delaying tactic, and a weirdly all or nothing penalty system. 90 minutes and pretty much nothing can happen until it randomly does. Because the goals are spaced so far apart and come so out of the blue, there's really no edge of your seat excitement until just moments before it happens. So you're watching a long, boring game, punctuated by a few moments. It's the worst of all worlds and by far the least exciting sport to watch as a spectator.

Seems like you don't understand soccer at all if you can't get the expectation of the game at every play.

Also one of the few sports where upsets are so common.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

NightlyPoe said:
It's more surprising that it's as popular as it is in the world in general. When being a spectator, the main draws of a game are the ability to tell a narrative and for excitement to build with a climax. Of the five biggest sports in the United States I'd rank them as follows.

1. American Football: Easily the best narrative of any sport. The game can be sub-divided into three separate categories mini-dramas on almost every play. The need to get 10 yards in 3 plays to continue a drive, the narrative builds as the make-or-break 3rd down approaches. Where the team is on a drive, the closer to scoring the team is, the more exciting the play, and the overall score within the game. And, of course, there are big plays that happen within the narrative that scramble the whole story.

No other sport comes close to this level of narrative brilliance, and that's why it has eclipsed the others.

2. Baseball: Surprised to see this so high? You shouldn't be. Baseball is highly underrated as a spectator sport. Like football, it has a rising narrative and multiple dramas within each pitch. The tone of the game changes based on whether the count is 0-1 or 3-1. Whether someone is on base, how many outs there are. It's more nuanced than football, so it requires a bit more knowledge, which drops it well behind the other sport.

Tied for 3rd: Basketball and Hockey:

Ironically, these are the two fastest-paced games of the five, but they both have huge deficiencies in their design.

Basketball's flaw is that a goal is worth so little. You could watch a player make the most amazing play ever, and it'll still only be worth two points. Roughly 1/50th of what's needed to win a game. You get a lot of them, but there's more of a feeling of watching whose point total can go up faster than a sense of who is really doing better. If a team wins by a typical score of 105-95. What does that make them? 10% better? A few, almost random makes and misses that seemed meaningless when it happened and that score is overturned.

Hockey might well be my favorite, but its flaw is that the scoring feels almost random. It's hard to know when a goal is going to be scored or the goalie is going to make a save. There are a decent number of goals per game, which is good, but outside of powerplays, it's hard to know when to expect them. Spectators are left to cheer when something happens instead of expecting something to happen and occasionally being blindsided by a big play. Instead it's all or nothing.

5. Soccer: Oh boy, this is bad. Take all of hockey's flaws, make the game slower, lower scoring, and toss in the dumbest rule in sports, the soccer offsides rule, which inspires bad defense so that the ref can bail them out (toss the rule out once they get to the top of the box guys), grown men crying on the ground for minutes at a time as a delaying tactic, and a weirdly all or nothing penalty system. 90 minutes and pretty much nothing can happen until it randomly does. Because the goals are spaced so far apart and come so out of the blue, there's really no edge of your seat excitement until just moments before it happens. So you're watching a long, boring game, punctuated by a few moments. It's the worst of all worlds and by far the least exciting sport to watch as a spectator.

Football and Baseball are definitely the best, but the reason they aren't so popular is simple. The chance to pick up and play. Football and Baseball takes a lot of strategy and players, so it is harder to understand for viewers.

In terms of ease it goes like this:

Tied for first: Soccer and Basketball. Can 1v1 and it is still the same or 2v2, 5v5 and etc. for a full game. Just find a field/urban landscape to put 2 goals in.

3rd: Hockey, similar to Soccer and Basketball but requires more equipment.

4th: Football, Requires more people than a 1v1 to actually play football, otherwise you just throwing it back and forth.

5th: Baseball, Similar to Football, but requires more equipment.



Farsala said:
NightlyPoe said:
It's more surprising that it's as popular as it is in the world in general. When being a spectator, the main draws of a game are the ability to tell a narrative and for excitement to build with a climax. Of the five biggest sports in the United States I'd rank them as follows.

1. American Football: Easily the best narrative of any sport. The game can be sub-divided into three separate categories mini-dramas on almost every play. The need to get 10 yards in 3 plays to continue a drive, the narrative builds as the make-or-break 3rd down approaches. Where the team is on a drive, the closer to scoring the team is, the more exciting the play, and the overall score within the game. And, of course, there are big plays that happen within the narrative that scramble the whole story.

No other sport comes close to this level of narrative brilliance, and that's why it has eclipsed the others.

2. Baseball: Surprised to see this so high? You shouldn't be. Baseball is highly underrated as a spectator sport. Like football, it has a rising narrative and multiple dramas within each pitch. The tone of the game changes based on whether the count is 0-1 or 3-1. Whether someone is on base, how many outs there are. It's more nuanced than football, so it requires a bit more knowledge, which drops it well behind the other sport.

Tied for 3rd: Basketball and Hockey:

Ironically, these are the two fastest-paced games of the five, but they both have huge deficiencies in their design.

Basketball's flaw is that a goal is worth so little. You could watch a player make the most amazing play ever, and it'll still only be worth two points. Roughly 1/50th of what's needed to win a game. You get a lot of them, but there's more of a feeling of watching whose point total can go up faster than a sense of who is really doing better. If a team wins by a typical score of 105-95. What does that make them? 10% better? A few, almost random makes and misses that seemed meaningless when it happened and that score is overturned.

Hockey might well be my favorite, but its flaw is that the scoring feels almost random. It's hard to know when a goal is going to be scored or the goalie is going to make a save. There are a decent number of goals per game, which is good, but outside of powerplays, it's hard to know when to expect them. Spectators are left to cheer when something happens instead of expecting something to happen and occasionally being blindsided by a big play. Instead it's all or nothing.

5. Soccer: Oh boy, this is bad. Take all of hockey's flaws, make the game slower, lower scoring, and toss in the dumbest rule in sports, the soccer offsides rule, which inspires bad defense so that the ref can bail them out (toss the rule out once they get to the top of the box guys), grown men crying on the ground for minutes at a time as a delaying tactic, and a weirdly all or nothing penalty system. 90 minutes and pretty much nothing can happen until it randomly does. Because the goals are spaced so far apart and come so out of the blue, there's really no edge of your seat excitement until just moments before it happens. So you're watching a long, boring game, punctuated by a few moments. It's the worst of all worlds and by far the least exciting sport to watch as a spectator.

Football and Baseball are definitely the best, but the reason they aren't so popular is simple. The chance to pick up and play. Football and Baseball takes a lot of strategy and players, so it is harder to understand for viewers.

In terms of ease it goes like this:

Tied for first: Soccer and Basketball. Can 1v1 and it is still the same or 2v2, 5v5 and etc. for a full game. Just find a field/urban landscape to put 2 goals in.

3rd: Hockey, similar to Soccer and Basketball but requires more equipment.

4th: Football, Requires more people than a 1v1 to actually play football, otherwise you just throwing it back and forth.

5th: Baseball, Similar to Football, but requires more equipment.

I'd say football is easier to pick up than hockey. All you need is the ball, a group of people and then pick two opposite areas as touchdown areas.



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The sport did not catch on in those countries because they are terrible at the sport. In addition they have a reputation for being bad sports and they get upset when they lose. The English are the kings of being bad sports and they created football.



jason1637 said:
Farsala said:

Football and Baseball are definitely the best, but the reason they aren't so popular is simple. The chance to pick up and play. Football and Baseball takes a lot of strategy and players, so it is harder to understand for viewers.

In terms of ease it goes like this:

Tied for first: Soccer and Basketball. Can 1v1 and it is still the same or 2v2, 5v5 and etc. for a full game. Just find a field/urban landscape to put 2 goals in.

3rd: Hockey, similar to Soccer and Basketball but requires more equipment.

4th: Football, Requires more people than a 1v1 to actually play football, otherwise you just throwing it back and forth.

5th: Baseball, Similar to Football, but requires more equipment.

I'd say football is easier to pick up than hockey. All you need is the ball, a group of people and then pick two opposite areas as touchdown areas.

You need a lot of people to play real football though. Hockey can just be 1v1 with 2 hockeysticks in a street.

NightlyPoe said:
Farsala said:

Football and Baseball are definitely the best, but the reason they aren't so popular is simple. The chance to pick up and play. Football and Baseball takes a lot of strategy and players, so it is harder to understand for viewers.

In terms of ease it goes like this:

Tied for first: Soccer and Basketball. Can 1v1 and it is still the same or 2v2, 5v5 and etc. for a full game. Just find a field/urban landscape to put 2 goals in.

3rd: Hockey, similar to Soccer and Basketball but requires more equipment.

4th: Football, Requires more people than a 1v1 to actually play football, otherwise you just throwing it back and forth.

5th: Baseball, Similar to Football, but requires more equipment.

American football is, by far, the most popular sport in this country, so I'm not sure what you mean there.  Also, don't know about anyone else, but football was, by far, the most common sport we played when I was growing up.  We had a dozen or more kids running around all the time and all we needed was a football.  Touch on pavement, tackle on grass.

Its only popular in USA, with a minor amount of interest in Canada, Mexico, UK.

Yes I only played Football too. It still required quite a bit of coordination to get a good game going with a lot of people. And most times we could only play pseudo football with either no rush or 5 count rush.



Oh, you are talking about soccer, not football...😜



I'm not nearly as much of a sports fan as in the past but there was once a time that ESPN was basically all I watched. I grew up with American Football and Basketball (mostly college before the NBA) and have always enjoyed both. I didn't watch Baseball as a kid but I learned to like it well enough and appreciate certain aspects a lot. I'd never even seen an NHL game until middle school but when I did, I liked it almost immediately and became a big fan for awhile.

Likewise, when the big push for Soccer started in the US, I turned my attention in that direction. That would have been one of the World Cups, the one with the Vuvuzela. We had it playing all the time at work so I got to see plenty of matches. Unfortunately, in a first for major sports, it failed to capture my attention at all. I found myself hoping for another ridiculous flop or that the cameras would continue to pick out pretty girls in the audience.

When you stack it up against the other prominent sports in the United States and Canada, I think it's simply not as entertaining. All things being equal, I believe that the reason it hasn't caught on here is that the competition offers better options in different ways.



It's not really football who failed. The countries failed their citizens.



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