WI Soccer Does Not Become the World Game?

[SlickWilly]

I have been wondering about this one, particularily as a keen sports fan, I cannot make up my mind as to what is the second most significant sport worldwide with everything incl. socio-political impotance, popularity etc put into the mix. In our world, despite what some Americans may believe soccer, aka in most of the English speaking world as football, is the most significant by a huge margin! Presumably the current 2nd on the list would become the number 1, but what's that cricket, basketball, athletics, rugby,volleyball, swimming, formula1, baseball or another one?
Also how could that come about ie that soccer is displaced? Maybe no British empire? Even within the empire they were variations field hockey and cricket were huge in Asia, cricket in the Carribean and Austrailia ( and Aussie rules ), rugby in Wales and New Zealand! BTW before the development of gaelic games in Ireland and baseball in USA, cricket was the major sport in both!!!!!!
I have put this thread here rather than pre 1900, because FIFA the governing body for soccer worldwide was formed in 1904 and the first world cup was not until 1930. Looking forward to hearing your replies!

[Constantinople]

We would be living in some sort of dream world. I'd pinch myself to wake up.

[Swan Station]

I have put this thread here rather than pre 1900, because FIFA the governing body for soccer worldwide was formed in 1904 and the first world cup was not until 1930. Looking forward to hearing your replies!

Still seems to be cutting a little close to get a POD. I think it's still before 1900, as although I know nothing about the history of Soccer, I'd bet that it would have had to have been quite popular already in order for an international association to be formed.

[archaeogeek]

It's pre 1900, even without FIFA, the sport was merely a codification of something that was already popular in some form or other throughout Europe and its colonies, and likely in some form throughout the world, period.

Additionally, the british football association was formed in 1848, and it took only a few years to see more associations spring up in Europe, the Americas.

For other options
- Cricket would also depend on the british empire.
- Basketball, invented in Canada, could have some mass appeal but it lacks some of the ease of set up you get with football
- Rugby, though, would work and is somewhat popular abroad
- Baseball, like Basketball, is a modern sport
- Field Hockey and Ice Hockey both require lots of equipment (ditto for Lacrosse and obviously polo) making them unlikely as world sports

[Lusitania]

You should be hanged by your toe nails and whiped until you resemble a soccer ball for even suggesting such a thing. :D

We would be entertained by watching wonderful and exiting cricket matches that would go on for hours, I mean days no I mean.... never mind. See what you have done.

SHAME ON YOU:)

[archaeogeek]

You should be hanged by your toe nails and whiped until you resemble a soccer ball for even suggesting such a thing. :D

We would be entertained by watching wonderful and exiting cricket matches that would go on for hours, I mean days no I mean.... never mind. See what you have done.

SHAME ON YOU:)

To be honest Canada doesn't exactly have a cricket tradition; it's more like pre-retirement for other commonwealth teams.

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Americans would be in a much better world.

[Lusitania]

To be honest Canada doesn't exactly have a cricket tradition; it's more like pre-retirement for other commonwealth teams.

Yes but do I look like I really enjoy cricket look at my username look at my TLs. What does that imply. ;)

That I would be subjected to another English invention, Oh that though just sends chills down my back. I think I will go watch Canada's official game Lacrosse.

[Lusitania]

Americans would be in a much better world.

Yes we could allwatch aligator wrestling and mud wrestling on Prime Time:p

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Yes we could allwatch aligator wrestling and mud wrestling on Prime Time:p

Or the world can finally play a real sport, a man's sport. Futbol Americano. :p

[Lusitania]

Or the world can finally play a real sport, a man's sport. Futbol Americano. :p

On the risk of offending every Americano on this board you mean the game my Portuguese friend called "Cheira o Cu" (Ass smellers):D

[LordVetinari]

On the risk of offending every Americano on this board you mean the game my Portuguese friend called "Cheira o Cu" (Ass smellers):D
Or to counter, (World) Football, the only sport where a leaf hitting a players kneecap is considered a national disaster....

[Lusitania]

Or to counter, (World) Football, the only sport where a leaf hitting a players kneecap is considered a national disaster....

No not a national disaster just an act of war, Kill those trees. While they may once in a blue moon some drama I would rather watch 20 Futebal games than the Super Bowl. Well maybe not I cannot get any of those cool commercials during the game. Oh I forgot I live in Canada and we were not allowed to watch those commercials we were entertained by standard good old Canadian Commercials instead. :eek:

That does it I would rather watch 30 futebal games than the Superbowl.;)

[the_lyniezian]

- Basketball, invented in Canada...


I think it was invented by a Canadian living in the States...


- Baseball, like Basketball, is a modern sport


But based on something much older, which I believe still survives today over here as the children's game, rounders. (The term 'baseball' does come up in the opening chapter of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, I think...)

[Lusitania]

I think it was invented by a Canadian living in the States...



But based on something much older, which I believe still survives today over here as the children's game, rounders. (The term 'baseball' does come up in the opening chapter of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, I think...)

Yes basketball just like SUPERMAN was invented by a Canadian living in the USA. As for where sports derive from, I remember a news cast about a baseball game that had gone into the 40 or 50th inning and had captured allot of media attention including a BBC reporter who commented that it similar to cricket to which the american replied no cricket was a bug and this was a sport.:)

[Philadelphus]

It's pre 1900, even without FIFA, the sport was merely a codification of something that was already popular in some form or other throughout Europe and its colonies, and likely in some form throughout the world, period.

Additionally, the british football association was formed in 1848, and it took only a few years to see more associations spring up in Europe, the Americas.

For other options
- Cricket would also depend on the british empire.
- Basketball, invented in Canada, could have some mass appeal but it lacks some of the ease of set up you get with football
- Rugby, though, would work and is somewhat popular abroad
- Baseball, like Basketball, is a modern sport
- Field Hockey and Ice Hockey both require lots of equipment (ditto for Lacrosse and obviously polo) making them unlikely as world sports

Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts.

[Sior]

Or the world can finally play a real sport, a man's sport. Futbol Americano. :p

Without Football or Rugby there would be no "American football" and no campy padding!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_football

[Sior]

Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Although the roots of baseball are English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England), similar games have also been played in other parts of the world. Oina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oina) is a Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania) ball sport, similar in some ways to baseball. Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) had a bat and ball game called Lapta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapta_(game)) since the 14th century. Germans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany) played a game called Schlagball, which was similar to rounders. A "bowler" threw a ball to a "striker," who hit it with a club and then tried to run around a circuit of bases without getting hit with the ball by a defender.
In an 1801 book entitled The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Strutt_(engraver_and_antiquary)) claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, and that baseball is a descendant of a United Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) game called stoolball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoolball). The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Pagula), who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_baseball

Americans don't invent things they copy and claim!

[Philadelphus]

Yes but do I look like I really enjoy cricket look at my username look at my TLs. What does that imply. ;)

That I would be subjected to another English invention, Oh that though just sends chills down my back. I think I will go watch Canada's official game Lacrosse.

I thought Canada's official game was curling.

[flashes back to the time, during the 2010 Winter Olympics, he was amused to overhear - while waiting for a seat at a busy restaurant in New Jersey on a Sunday afternoon, where the Olympics were on TV - another customer remark "curling is the silliest-looking sport I've ever seen."]

[Philadelphus]

Although the roots of baseball are English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England), similar games have also been played in other parts of the world. Oina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oina) is a Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania) ball sport, similar in some ways to baseball. Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) had a bat and ball game called Lapta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapta_(game)) since the 14th century. Germans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany) played a game called Schlagball, which was similar to rounders. A "bowler" threw a ball to a "striker," who hit it with a club and then tried to run around a circuit of bases without getting hit with the ball by a defender.
In an 1801 book entitled The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Strutt_(engraver_and_antiquary)) claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, and that baseball is a descendant of a United Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) game called stoolball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoolball). The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Pagula), who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_baseball

Americans don't invent things they copy and claim!

Basketball, I said.

But baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, who later had a pivotal role in the (unsuccessful) defense of Fort Sumter. Everyone knows that.

[Philadelphus]

Or to counter, (World) Football, the only sport where a leaf hitting a players kneecap is considered a national disaster....

Or rugby, with its short shorts and tackles that happen, um, in the waist region. That's more a man's game than American football.

[The literal-minded should please note that there are multiple levels, well at least two, of sarcasm and subtext in that remark.]

[Philadelphus]

Okay, a serious question:

Is soccer any more followed domestically in Australia and New Zealand than it is in the U.S.? With Aussie Rules, rugby and cricket - yes, New Zealanders, I am aware you're a separate country and have regrettably no idea whether you play Aussie - does soccer get any attention? For that matter, do you call it soccer or football?

By "followed domestically," I mean are there intra-national leagues with a large following like you have in Europe or South America. Even Americans, mostly, pay attention to the U.S. team in the World Cup.

[Reylance]

Yes basketball just like SUPERMAN was invented by a Canadian living in the USA. As for where sports derive from, I remember a news cast about a baseball game that had gone into the 40 or 50th inning and had captured allot of media attention including a BBC reporter who commented that it similar to cricket to which the american replied no cricket was a bug and this was a sport.:)

The longest professional baseball game was a AAA (top minor league) matchup that went 33 innings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_professional_baseball_game

[Constantinople]

- Baseball, like Basketball, is a modern sport

It's been organized as long as football, so I dont know man.

[abc123]

soccer, aka in most of the English speaking world as football,


In WHOLE World.
;)

[archaeogeek]

Or the world can finally play a real sport, a man's sport. Futbol Americano. :p

Dude, american football is just rugby for people who can't handle rugby :p

Also I made basketball the top of my list for one reason: note the amount of equipment both require? Yes, a ball.
That's it.

Handball could fall in this category.

[the_lyniezian]

Although the roots of baseball are English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England), similar games have also been played in other parts of the world. Oina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oina) is a Romanian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania) ball sport, similar in some ways to baseball. Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) had a bat and ball game called Lapta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapta_%28game%29) since the 14th century. Germans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany) played a game called Schlagball, which was similar to rounders. A "bowler" threw a ball to a "striker," who hit it with a club and then tried to run around a circuit of bases without getting hit with the ball by a defender.
In an 1801 book entitled The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Strutt_%28engraver_and_antiquary%29) claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, and that baseball is a descendant of a United Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) game called stoolball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoolball). The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Pagula), who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_baseball

Americans don't invent things they copy and claim!

Or rather, all games are adapted and evolve. I'd imagine that association football, rugby, American football, Australian rules football &c. are all modern variants of a game which has been played for centuries too. Even basketball, otherwise thought to be a modern invention, is thought to have its precursors.

[the_lyniezian]

Dude, american football is just rugby for people who can't handle rugby :p

Also I made basketball the top of my list for one reason: note the amount of equipment both require? Yes, a ball.
That's it.

Handball could fall in this category.

Basketball also requires a basket or hoop. Football (the real one) requires less, though- a ball and something to mark the goalposts. (At least school playground football, anyway).

[Devvy]

It's pre 1900, even without FIFA, the sport was merely a codification of something that was already popular in some form or other throughout Europe and its colonies, and likely in some form throughout the world, period.

Additionally, the british football association was formed in 1848, and it took only a few years to see more associations spring up in Europe, the Americas.

Firstly as a pedant, there is no "British Football Association". The English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish all set up their own independant football associations, which is in part why the home nations all play football independantly of each other (and is thus why we don't enter in the football tournaments at the Olympics because the home nations play football seperately, but enter the Olympics collectively). The English FA was the first one in the world which is why it is simply known as *The* FA.

FIFA also did not, and still does not codify the rules of football - that is something is done by IFAB (International Football Association Board), which was established in 1880's if memory serves. It also consists of a representative from the 4 home nation FA's (RoI FA excluded due to RoI seccession). FIFA was established to better organise international fixtures, and eventually earnt some seats at the IFAB as well. FIFA control the interpretation of the rules, but IFAB control the written rules of the game. The game had spread to most of Europe before FIFA was founded.

For other options
- Cricket would also depend on the british empire.
- Basketball, invented in Canada, could have some mass appeal but it lacks some of the ease of set up you get with football
- Rugby, though, would work and is somewhat popular abroad
- Baseball, like Basketball, is a modern sport
- Field Hockey and Ice Hockey both require lots of equipment (ditto for Lacrosse and obviously polo) making them unlikely as world sports

Cricket is already played by a lot of countries in the Commonwealth, but it isn't exactly an easy game to play so wouldn't really spread that much.

As you say Rugby is probably the most likely, as if it had spread further afield in it's early days, it's similarity to American/Canadian Football & Aussie Rules could well of led to a convergance of rules, or at least the cross over of players from one discipline to another to allow for worldwide rugby.

Baseball isn't *that* modern; it's a divergance from the English sport of Rounders which is very similar (although amusingly to many English, Rounders these days is primarily a girl's school sport - boys play Cricket, which leads to Baseball being the butt of a few jokes!). However, Rounders never really took off as a fully professional sport which stintered it's worldwide growth and has limited Baseball's takeup around the world.

[KingByng]

I thought Canada's official game was curling.

Nope, our two official sports are ice hockey and lacrosse.

[flashes back to the time, during the 2010 Winter Olympics, he was amused to overhear - while waiting for a seat at a busy restaurant in New Jersey on a Sunday afternoon, where the Olympics were on TV - another customer remark "curling is the silliest-looking sport I've ever seen."]Were the Norwegians playing? :D

http://media.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/02/18/norwaypants_wide.jpg?t=1266503544

[Reylance]

In WHOLE World.
;)

I don't know, all the anime I watch has the Japanese using soccer (a Japanese pronunciation of the English world).

[Xgentis]

I don't know, all the anime I watch has the Japanese using soccer (a Japanese pronunciation of the English world).

Most of the world call soccer football.

[fortyseven]

It's called football!

[Bakelite Punk]

Okay, a serious question:

Is soccer any more followed domestically in Australia and New Zealand than it is in the U.S.? With Aussie Rules, rugby and cricket - yes, New Zealanders, I am aware you're a separate country and have regrettably no idea whether you play Aussie - does soccer get any attention? For that matter, do you call it soccer or football?

By "followed domestically," I mean are there intra-national leagues with a large following like you have in Europe or South America. Even Americans, mostly, pay attention to the U.S. team in the World Cup.

No, in a word. Despite my best efforts everyone still calls it soccer. There isn't much of a league, but most of the big cities have clubs that play in sort of semi-formal leagues. It is getting more popular than it was since the the national team did reasonably well in the last world cup, but it's still a bit of a niche sport. The sports here are basically rugby union, that they call rugby, and rugby league, that they call league, although that is a pretty distant second.

As an aside my wife once made an astute observation. All countries call their national game "football"; Aussie rules in Australia is called football, gridiron in America, rugby here, soccer everywhere else.

As another aside, and I mean no offence to native New Zealanders, as the S word is not the national game, even the big teams are not very good. I'm no fan at all, but when it's on the telly in the pub I watch with half an eye. It's sort of like watching a local sunday afternoon pub team from home.

As yet another aside and massive generalisation, football back home is the working class game, with rugby being the preferrence of public school boys. Over here the laddos play rugby, and the posh kids play football.

Oh, and well done for knowing Australia and New Zealand are different countries. A great many people don't seem to realise.

[RMcD94]

I don't know, all the anime I watch has the Japanese using soccer (a Japanese pronunciation of the English world).


Of the 45 national FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, 43 use football in their organisations' official names (only Canada and United States use soccer). Soccer has been the prevailing term for association football in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where other codes of football are dominant. The term used for association football is going through a period of transition in recent times. In 2005, Australia's association football governing body changed its name from soccer to football to align with the general international usage of the term.[1] In 2006, New Zealand decided to follow suit citing "the international game is called football".[2]

I have to assume in the manga you read the translator was from the USA, Canada or South Africa.

[archaeogeek]

FIFA also did not, and still does not codify the rules of football - that is something is done by IFAB (International Football Association Board), which was established in 1880's if memory serves. It also consists of a representative from the 4 home nation FA's (RoI FA excluded due to RoI seccession). FIFA was established to better organise international fixtures, and eventually earnt some seats at the IFAB as well. FIFA control the interpretation of the rules, but IFAB control the written rules of the game. The game had spread to most of Europe before FIFA was founded.


Pedantic point 1 taken, but where did I ever imply that FIFA had anything to do with the rules code? The codification was done in the mid 19th century, half a century before FIFA even existed. IFAB simply regulates them in a more official fashion.

[ajlaw9]

The sports here are basically rugby union, that they call rugby, and rugby league, that they call league, although that is a pretty distant second.

I think you mean the other way around BP. Rugby League is more popular than Rugby Union in Australia, although in most (perhaps all) other Rugby playing countries Union is more popular.

Basically for those wondering, Australia is roughly split in footballs. Half the country (NSW and QLD) is mad for Rugby (either code), the other half (The rest) is mad for Aussie Rules - with Aussie Rules having the overall edge. Soccer is a long way behind. Teams in the national league only get a few thousand fans to each game. However soccer IS very popular at junior level.

[ajlaw9]

In terms of the topic I think rugby union would end up the world sport. It already has a large presence in many commonwealth countries + Italy, France, Ireland and Argentina. remove soccer and all of a sudden there is a big chance of rugby taking off more in South America and Europe and going from there.
Like soccer, rugby requires little equipment and can be played easily enough with simplified rules.

[Devvy]

Pedantic point 1 taken, but where did I ever imply that FIFA had anything to do with the rules code? The codification was done in the mid 19th century, half a century before FIFA even existed. IFAB simply regulates them in a more official fashion.

Sorry - I was just making the one pedantic point :)

The rest were just other general points to explain that international matches were happening often back then, so even without FIFA, football would still rise to a significant level.

No idea if it would of reached the current world dominating level it is at in OTL though!

[Marius]

In terms of the topic I think rugby union would end up the world sport. It already has a large presence in many commonwealth countries + Italy, France, Ireland and Argentina. remove soccer and all of a sudden there is a big chance of rugby taking off more in South America and Europe and going from there.
Like soccer, rugby requires little equipment and can be played easily enough with simplified rules.

Rugby's popularity is growing in Argentina I believe, especially since the Pumas got to the semis of the last World Cup (being beaten by the eventual champions :D)

I also heard that the time of a derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate was changed so people could watch the rugby semi final, apparently the first time that rugby had superceded soccer in Argentina.

[Bakelite Punk]

I think you mean the other way around BP. Rugby League is more popular than Rugby Union in Australia, although in most (perhaps all) other Rugby playing countries Union is more popular.

Basically for those wondering, Australia is roughly split in footballs. Half the country (NSW and QLD) is mad for Rugby (either code), the other half (The rest) is mad for Aussie Rules - with Aussie Rules having the overall edge. Soccer is a long way behind. Teams in the national league only get a few thousand fans to each game. However soccer IS very popular at junior level.

No, I was talking about New Zealand, although I didn't make that clear.

And soccerball is getting much more popular with juniors here too. The, shall we say, "less tolerant" of parents prefer their kids to play football over rugby on account of the big brown kids that play rugby.

[Petete123123]

Rugby it would be!

It's as easy as football to play. One ball, some players, and you can play it almost anywhere.

And it's a true men sport, not like that weird thing the Americans play wearing protection:p

[ajlaw9]

Rugby's popularity is growing in Argentina I believe, especially since the Pumas got to the semis of the last World Cup (being beaten by the eventual champions :D)

I also heard that the time of a derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate was changed so people could watch the rugby semi final, apparently the first time that rugby had superceded soccer in Argentina.

Didn't know that, very interesting.

On a side note, anyone know why so many popular world sports have their origins in the UK? Tennis, golf, soccer, rugby, cricket jump out just off the top of my head although I'm sure there's more. Sure they colonised plenty but were there not games played in France, Spain, Portugal etc that could have been spread to their colonies?

[Unconsensual]

Rugby it would be!

It's as easy as football to play. One ball, some players, and you can play it almost anywhere.

And it's a true men sport, not like that weird thing the Americans play wearing protection:p

Contact sport favoring heavyweights, more risk and the problem of an adequate ball.

The fact is football is the simplest sport you can get, all you need is a round object and the ability to kick. Just by economics alone a good deal of the world would have nothing to play but football .

[SlickWilly]

Soccer is by far my favourite game, though I could never sustain an argument saying that it was the most beautiful, which in my opinion is hurling, an ancient Gaelic game, a kind of hockey with more liberal stick movements, give yourself a visual treat by youtubing it, in particular if your'e a sports fan who has never seen it before!
I suppose 2 life lessons are reinforced by most sports
1 it teaches us that you don't always get what you deserve and vica versa, as a fan of the Republic Of Ireland soccer team, I can relate to that, having being cheated out of a world cup place on several occassions, including Thierry Henry's double blatant handball in our playoff qualifying game for 2010.
2 Any pleasure you get from sport is temporary, great while it lasts though, but the pain you get from it lasts for ever! Again as a Republic and Liverpool fan, I can relate to this big time!
We are conducting a Celtic cup tournament here at the moment under the sponsorship of Carlsberg and I was at the Scotland v Northern Ireland game in Dublin which is loaded with social and political undercurrents - Northen Ireland a side vastly suppoted by the protestant community and despite having had some great catholic players in the past, shunned by the minority (ie 45%) as a sectarian symbol, they travel under a union Jack( well their supporters )
- Scotland a nation where the great unspoken evil is sectarianism 80% Protestant, 20% catholic and in all fairness when at the extremes each side as bad as the other ( like Northern Ireland, where both groups were actually made for each other - pathetic tribal redneckism reinforced by sectarianism). Also in Scotland the major club sides have sectarian roots , though in a sense today it helps dissapate sectarianism to an extent by channeling those energies into hatred of a football club rather than at innocent people. However the Scottish national team travels under The Flag Of Saint Andrew and the anthem of Oh flower of Scotland and that's with majority probably 60% protestant support. Their fans, ok can get very drunk but certainly are not obnoxiously agressive relative to some of the Nordies ( Northern Ireland ) fans, who are intent on making fools out of themselves!
I was placed in the wrong area initially at the game with the Nordie fans and their symbollism directly to my back, this is a very cold place for a Southern Irish catholic to be, within 30 seconds having experienced no direct threat, I left to find the area which was the correctly allocated one, which to my surprise was among the Scottish fans. Here I found warmth, shelter and kinship and Scotland stuffed the Nordies 3-0.
Also in terms of football history, The Scots sometimes claim to have invented the game (golf as well), Glasgow was probalby the first great soccer city in the world and given that they had the outstanding national team in Britain in the 20s had the world cup started in 1920 rather than 1930, Scotland would probably have 3 world cups under their belts now. In fact the sad general demise of the Scottish football team has probably mirrored the sad decline of Scotland in general.

[Devvy]

Alas, Scotland with a population of 5 million ish won't be able to compete with the larger nations of Europe when everyone is playing football.

As you say sport is a cruel game, good times following bad times as Hodgson would probably agree with you!

[Dr. Strangelove]

It would be very difficult to butterfly away football's popularity because it is just so simple. You only need a ball and a flat surface; and it can be played over pretty much any surface except ice. The rules are also very simple, and most of them such as the infamous offside can easily be ignored in an informal match between friends. Just go ahead, kick the ball and score one goal. You don't use your hands and you don't foul. That's it.


Last summer during the World Cup I went to a party at a friend's house. We ended completely drunk in the beach at 430 am, playing a match with ball that we had found and using four trash cans as goalposts, and it was a match as intense and satisfying to us as the World Cup final could be to a pro player. Better, actually, since half of the players were drunk college girls, but I digress. I can't think of any other game that would have let us do the same, except maybe rugby.

[Sior]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12382224

LA cricket: Club helps tame Compton's mean streets

[SlickWilly]

It's amazing that apart from gaelic football, which is a game that actually cannot be played according to its own rules and a hybrid game developed to facilitate Gaelic football v Aussie rules internationals, there is no pure catch and kick sport , well that I know of, played with a round ball.
I think that its unlikely rugby could become the world game because it's such a technical game, very difficult to coach and there would be problems finding oval balls.

[SlickWilly]

To the poster who doubts the Scots could ever have won the world cup ( if played earlier than ITOTL) I say look at Uruguay, population less than the Republic Of Ireland, yet undefeated in its first 2 world cups, winning both, and a top 4 finish last time out and several qf appearances, maybe even another top 4.
Also re perceptions of the game in NZ, AKA the all-whites, they were the only undefeated team in S.A. 2010. I heard an interview on Irish radio with the only amateur player from the last world cup - a Kiwi, about the game in his country and he said we are considered by the rugby fraternity to be all gay ( actually elsewhere there seems to be more homophobia in soccer than any other sports, very unfortunately ) and he found that odd because rugby was just about the most homoerotic sport known to man, well actually man to man wrestling using oil is probably more so!

[RobinCarmody]

As yet another aside and massive generalisation, football back home is the working class game, with rugby being the preferrence of public school boys. Over here the laddos play rugby, and the posh kids play football.

Interesting. There are more layers to the football/rugby thing in England than some would recognise - the extreme anti-football thing was historically more the territory of grammar schools, which were socially insecure and unsure of themselves and thus more desperate to distinguish themselves from the secondary moderns (and elementary schools pre-WW2). Quite a number of public schools - Winchester, Westminster, Shrewsbury, Charterhouse - have always had football as their main winter sport and haven't played rugby (probably a coincidence, but all the above schools except Winchester have produced a disproportionate number of people who made a name for themselves in popular culture, well before British pop became as posh as it often is now). Football has obviously become more popular with the middle class from 1990 onwards, and the presentation of rugby has become much more proletarianised/Americanised under Sky's influence (the same razzamatazz has, weirdly, gentrified football but proletarianised rugby *at the same time*). For all that there is still a distinction in that very few footballers come from public school backgrounds, certainly compared to the number of rugby players or cricketers who did.

There are of course isolated pockets within the UK where rugby union has been a more working-class game, such as South Wales, though a lot of the full-on lumpenproletariat in that area seem to prefer football (specifically Cardiff City, who have always had, shall we say, a "reputation"). Rugby league has been mainly a working-class game in the North of England - attempts to spread the sport since Sky got hold of it have been only partially successful. Such were the class divisions between league and union historically that many Northern English grammar schools, desperate social climbers that they were, once played union as their main sport in areas where it barely existed, and banned both football *and* rugby league. Oddly, though, I think cricket has been more classless in the North than in the South.

This is probably a terrible thread diversion, but sport and class is a big interest of mine, particularly because Sky have reconstructed a lot of the *details* but some of the *essence* is surprisingly unchanged.

[RobinCarmody]

Also re perceptions of the game in NZ, AKA the all-whites, they were the only undefeated team in S.A. 2010. I heard an interview on Irish radio with the only amateur player from the last world cup - a Kiwi, about the game in his country and he said we are considered by the rugby fraternity to be all gay ( actually elsewhere there seems to be more homophobia in soccer than any other sports, very unfortunately ) and he found that odd because rugby was just about the most homoerotic sport known to man, well actually man to man wrestling using oil is probably more so!

Interesting because a lot of working-class people in England would tend to think of rugby players as being gay (and often, with a sort of "Old Labour" homophobia, dismiss the possibility that footballers could be), because of the association with all-boys' boarding schools - the term "rugger bugger" has long been commonplace here. As stated in other posts, some of the class associations seem to be the other way round in Australia/NZ from the UK.

There *must*, considering the percentages of the population, be footballers who are gay and have never come out for fear of the consequences, especially considering the tragic fate of Justin Fashanu (undoubtedly one of the saddest lives of any sportsman in history - probably racially abused in the playground because he was brought up by adoptive parents in a part of England where black people stand out very conspicuously even now, began his career in the late 70s and thus ran the gauntlet of terrace racism at its worst, always judged on the basis of one freakish goal as a teenager for Norwich against Liverpool which he could never live up to, exiled at Forest when Brian Clough, very much a Daily Mail Socialist on these matters, sensed his sexuality, and then ...).

[Durindal]

Or rather, all games are adapted and evolve. I'd imagine that association football, rugby, American football, Australian rules football &c. are all modern variants of a game which has been played for centuries too. Even basketball, otherwise thought to be a modern invention, is thought to have its precursors.

All going back to some kind of game where you cross a line with a ball. Baseball's the only ballgame that I can think of as unique and even that isn't totally.

[Durindal]

Rugby it would be!


And it's a true men sport...:p

You might have a point except that every soccer or rugby player that comes over here ends up as a kicker or punter because the girls are scared to get hit...or maybe they're just not smart enough to figure out the rest of the rules. :D

[duncansa]

[QUOTE=RMcD94;4152110]I have to assume in the manga you read the t
Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(word)
Of the 45 national FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, 43 use football in their organisations' official names (only Canada and United States use soccer). Soccer has been the prevailing term for association football in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where other codes of football are dominant. The term used for association football is going through a period of transition in recent times. In 2005, Australia's association football governing body changed its name from soccer to football to align with the general international usage of the term.[1] In 2006, New Zealand decided to follow suit citing "the international game is called football".[2]

A good example of Wikipedia getting it wrong. The official name of the sport's governing body in South Africa is the 'South African Football Association'. Football would only be called soccer by South Africans who follow other codes, typically rugby. In terms of number of people who follow sport, football is the most popular sport in South Africa.

[Devvy]

All going back to some kind of game where you cross a line with a ball. Baseball's the only ballgame that I can think of as unique and even that isn't totally.

You realise baseball is almost identical to if not a derivative (depending on your viewpoint) of rounders?

The only difference are the players (rounders is a largely private school girls sport) and the intracies of rules. Both revolve round a central thrower, a player hitting the ball with a bat and then attempting to run round 4 bases.

[Thanos6]

I've always had a soft spot for wallball, myself. You just need a small ball and a wall.

[Will Ritson]

Rugby league is more popular than rugby union in Australia, Papua New Guinea (where it is the national sport) and Lebanon, all of which are major playing nations with domestic competition. To give a comparison, it has been suggested that there are more RL players in PNG than RU players in NZ and South Africa combined. The only issue with this is that most play for village teams out in the wilds of PNG, and are therefore not registered players in the normal sense.

Lebanon competed in the 2000 RLWC with a team almost exclusively made up of Australian-based players. However, sustained investment since that world cup has seen the game grow, not just in schools and universities, but across the Middle East, where rugby league is increasingly popular in the fee-paying school sector.

There are numerous smaller nations where rugby league is arguably more popular, but where either sport is insignificant. Norway springs to mind. Stories such as those surrounding Jason Robinson and Sonny Bill Williams suggest that players are leaving league for union, but the grassroots picture is the other way around. Worth bearing in mind that rugby league was banned from the British armed forces, often the main mechanism by which sport has been spread, until the mid-1990s.

[Mysterion]

Maybe Pinplot or Association Puntlemich might have caught on.


(http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=100285&highlight=puntlemich)

[SlickWilly]

I'd say after much thought Cricket would probably be the most popular world sport, eg Afghanistan thanks to its refugees in Pakistan has recently developed into a decent side! Mind you its governing body, the ICB, would want to cop on and allow a qualifying tournament for the next world cup 2015, rather than the apartheidal rule reversing its recent openess and restricting the tournament only to the top 8 test playing nations who will play each other in a round robin format to a sickening point! Ireland need a chance to qualify!

[baldipaul]

More people play cricket in New York than in the UK.

[fero]

I have a lot of fun every time I read yours old comment, every time somebody bump this thread.

aniway, now seriously, a map from wikipedia about 2006 most popular sport by country, a little unbase... but look realist.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Popularsports.PNG

now make your guess of a world without (Association) Football (/soccer), have fun.

I do never remember the diferency between Rugby League and Rugby Union...is there a real diferency? or is like american and canadian football, same sport but too much pride people to agree in the rules.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I do never remember the diferency between Rugby League and Rugby Union...is there a real diferency? or is like american and canadian football, same sport but too much pride people to agree in the rules.

League has fewer players, different scoring and very different rules for changing ball possession after a tackle. In Union a tackled player must drop the ball and hope someone from his team picks it up before the opponent does; in League the system is similar to American Football, with the possession team being allowed six tackles before handing the ball over.

[flippikat]

League has fewer players, different scoring and very different rules for changing ball possession after a tackle. In Union a tackled player must drop the ball and hope someone from his team picks it up before the opponent does; in League the system is similar to American Football, with the possession team being allowed six tackles before handing the ball over.

For anyone new to the game (potential player or watcher), league is far easier to understand than Rugby, precisely because there's no contest for the ball every time a tackled player hits the ground.

The attacking team has six tackles. Each tackle is clearly defined (The referee actually will call "HELD!" when a tackle is completed), and both sides retreat 10 metres before the ball is back in play.

Think of it as like a non-stop game of NFL with only lateral passing allowed.

[Marius]

I'd say after much thought Cricket would probably be the most popular world sport, eg Afghanistan thanks to its refugees in Pakistan has recently developed into a decent side! Mind you its governing body, the ICB, would want to cop on and allow a qualifying tournament for the next world cup 2015, rather than the apartheidal rule reversing its recent openess and restricting the tournament only to the top 8 test playing nations who will play each other in a round robin format to a sickening point! Ireland need a chance to qualify!

Agreed, but it's the ICC, not ICB, and there are ten Test playing nations not 8.

This last World Cup was a good un, they should keep that format, in my opinion.

It could be argued that Ireland is better than Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, they should be in the WC on merit before either of those two countries.

[Will Ritson]

Interesting news that Rugby League was recognised as a development sport by the Commonwealth Games this week. It might not sound significant, but for a sport that was banned in the British armed forces and actively discouraged in British universities until very recently (and in some cases, still), that is a major breakthrough.

League and Union have been distinct sports in terms of governance since 1895 (1907/8 Aus/NZ; 1934 France), and with distinct rules from soon afterwards. Many, wrongly, assumed rugby league to be a professional version of rugby union, and that after the Union game became open in 1995 that League would become irrelevant. These people failed to understand that it is a distinct game , the vast bulk of which was (and remains) and amateur, community, sport. It is still often assumed by many in England (at least in non-rugby areas) that Rugby League is the domestic game and Rugby Union the international competition, and that reflects the fact that RL Super League has a higher profile than the RU Premiership, whereas the England RU team has a higher profile than the England RL team.

Apologies if I have missed it, but has anyone mentioned (team) handball? Internationally it is perhaps the only sport that competes with cricket for participation figures - it is second amongst males to soccer in Europe, and leading in participation numbers for females in Europe. However, it is almost unheard of in English speaking nations - despite being an Olympic sport it failed to make a long term impact at Atlanta and Sydney; London we shall see.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Apologies if I have missed it, but has anyone mentioned (team) handball? Internationally it is perhaps the only sport that competes with cricket for participation figures - it is second amongst males to soccer in Europe, and leading in participation numbers for females in Europe. However, it is almost unheard of in English speaking nations - despite being an Olympic sport it failed to make a long term impact at Atlanta and Sydney; London we shall see.

Handball would be interesting, since it uses the same materials as football and rules could be described as a combination of football and basketball. It is very popular in Spain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Central Europe and Northern Africa for that reason. In Spain I'd say it is the third most popular sport after football and basketball.

However it has the same problems other sports have: the rules are slightly more complicated than football's and you just cannot play it anywhere you want. (due to the need to dribbling the ball to allow interceptions, you can't play it on grass or sand)

Simply put, football allows the better ratio of gameplay vs rules and the bigger versatility in number of players, playing surfaces or physical abilities needed to enjoy the game all with a minimal equipment. No other game goes close.

[SlickWilly]

Actually iIlove a comment made by Bobby Charlton - 'Football is God's game!' well the only other one I can come up with deserving of that status is chasing women, (in a consensual sense of course)!

[fero]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport


Contact sport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many sports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport) involve a degree of player-to-player and/or player-to-object contact. The term "contact sport" is used in both team sports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_sport) and combat sports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_sport), medical terminology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_terminology) and television game shows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_shows), such as the Gladiators (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiators_(television_franchise)) and Wipeout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(2008_U.S._game_show)), to certain degrees. Contact between players is often classed by different grades ranging from non-contact, where there is no contact between players, to full-contact or collision sports, where the rules allow for significant physical contact.
Current medical terminology in the United States uses the term collision sport rather than contact sport to refer to Rugby football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football), American football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football), Ice hockey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey), and Lacrosse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacrosse). The term contact sport is used to refer to sports, such as association football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] that allow limited contact. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Pediatrics) issued a policy statement in 2001 entitled "Medical Conditions Affecting Sports Participation" that included the following definitions:
In "collision" sports (eg, boxing, football, and rodeo), athletes purposely hit or collide with each other or inanimate objects, including the ground, with great force. In "contact" sports (eg, basketball), athletes routinely make contact with each other or inanimate objects but usually with less force than in collision sports.
—Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness, American Academy of Pediatrics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Pediatrics), [1] (http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;107/5/1205)
This terminology may have evolved from a quote attributed to both Vince Lombardi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Lombardi)[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_note-0) and Duffy Daugherty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duffy_Daugherty):[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_note-1) "Football isn't a contact sport; it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport."[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
Contact sports have a higher risk of transmission of blood-borne disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-borne_disease) between players.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_note-2)

Injuries and legal issues

Many sports will penalise contact sport with the rules for certain situations or instances to help reduce the incidence of physical trauma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_trauma) or litigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litigation) for assault (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault) or grievous bodily harm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievous_bodily_harm)[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]. Many sports involve a degree of player-to-player and/or player-to-object contact. The term "contact sport" is used in both team sports and combat sports, medical terminology and television game shows, such as American Gladiators and Wipeout, to certain degrees. Contact between players is often classed by different grades ranging from non-contact, where there is no contact between players, to full-contact or collision sports, where the rules allow for significant physical contact.

Equipment
As a result of the risk of injury, some sports require the use of protective equipment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protective_equipment), for example American football protective equipment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_protective_equipment). Some sports are also played on soft ground and have padding on physical obstacles, such as goal posts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal_posts).
The cost of equipment can be an obstacle to participating in many sports.

Social
There is a perception among some sections of western society[who? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words)] that full-contact sports are barbaric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbaric), prone to sporting violence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_in_sports), thuggery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal), and tend to cause injuries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injury). In the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_states_of_America), this has led to the phenomenon of the soccer mom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_mom) and a general increase in sports with less contact. There is a predicted trend away from participation in non-contact sports.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_note-3) Full contact however is seen as a major component of rugby union in the guise of rucks and mauls and is unlikely to be ever removed.
In some societies, contact in sports can have an influence on the attitudes of sex roles[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)].

Trends
Because of the issues raised above, many sports are reducing their levels of contact. In recent years, very few sports governing bodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_governing_bodies) have encouraged aggression and rough play.
Grades

Full-contact

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png
This section does not cite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources) any references or sources (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability).
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources). Unsourced material may be challenged (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation_needed) and removed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence). (January 2010)A (full) contact sport is any sport in which significant physical impact force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_force) on players, either deliberate or incidental, is allowed for within the rules of the game.
Contact actions include tackling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tackle_(football_move)), blocking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_(American_football)) and a whole range of other moves which can differ substantially in their rules and degree of application.
Examples of contact sports are: Australian rules football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football), rugby (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football), American football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football), lacrosse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacrosse), water polo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_polo), wrestling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling), sumo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo), European team handball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_handball), and ice hockey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey). Full-contact martial arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts) include boxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing), MMA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts), taekwondo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo) (under WTF rules), puroresu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_in_Japan), jujutsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujutsu), Muay Thai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai), judo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo), Unifight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unifight), and various forms of full contact karate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_contact_karate). Also, kickboxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickboxing) in the early seventies in the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) was born which introduced a controlled version of full contact to martial arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts).

A semi-contact sport is typically a combat sport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_sport) involving striking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_(attack)) and which contains physical contact between the combatants simulating full-power techniques. The techniques are restricted to limited power, and rendering the opponent unconscious (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconsciousness) is forbidden.
Some semi-contact sports use a point system to determine the winner and use extensive protective gear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protective_gear) to protect the athletes from injury. Examples of semi-contact sports include karate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate), kick-boxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick-boxing), and various styles of Kung Fu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu) that incorporate semi-contact rules sparring or Kendo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo). Professional Wrestling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Wrestling) is also semi-contact sport (although it could become a full contact sport due to stiffness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiffness)).
Another indicator of a semi-contact martial arts competition system is that after a point is rewarded the adversaries will be separated and resume the match from safe distance, but often it is possible to argue if some martial arts sports belong in one contact group or another.

Limited-contact sports are sports in which the rules are specifically designed to prevent contact between players either intentionally or unintentionally. Although contact can still happen, strong penalties are often used to disallow substantial contact between players. These penalties, including physically removing players from the field of play, mean that contact is moderate or rare. Examples include baseball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball), basketball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball), association football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football), field hockey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_hockey), netball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netball), squash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_(sport)), running (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running#Running_as_a_sport).[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_note-4)

Non-contact sports are sports where participants compete alternately, in lanes, or are physically separated such as to make nearly impossible for them to make contact during the course of a game without committing an out-of-bounds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-bounds) offense, or more likely, disqualification. Examples include precision sports such as golf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf) or curling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling), tennis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis), cricket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket), volleyball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball), swimming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_(sport)), sprinting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_(running)), and gymnastics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnastics).
However, there is still opportunity for indirect contact, such as being hit with a ball, whether deliberately or not. Most notably, in cricket, players can intentionally hit another player with the ball (bodyline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline) or bouncers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncer_(cricket))).
References


<LI id=cite_note-0>^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_ref-0) "My Thoughts on Sports" (http://www.mythoughtsonsports.com/). mythoughtsonsports. http://www.mythoughtsonsports.com/ (http://www.mythoughtsonsports.com/). Retrieved 2009-04-25. <LI id=cite_note-1>^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_ref-1) "Duffy Daugherty quotes" (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/duffy_daugherty/). thinkexist. http://thinkexist.com/quotes/duffy_daugherty/ (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/duffy_daugherty/). Retrieved 2009-04-25. <LI id=cite_note-2>^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_ref-2) Blood Borne Diseases and Contact Sports (http://www.dci-au.org/html/hivsport.html) <LI id=cite_note-3>^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_ref-3) http://www.sportdevelopment.org.uk/dupfuture2004.pdf (http://www.sportdevelopment.org.uk/dupfuture2004.pdf)
^ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport#cite_ref-4) http://pediatrics.about.com/od/exerciseandfitness/a/0806_restrictns.htm (http://pediatrics.about.com/od/exerciseandfitness/a/0806_restrictns.htm)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_sport)"
Categories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Categories): Sports terminology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sports_terminology)



"Low" contact sport win as world sport in a civilized world; in a barbaric world, War is the most played.

"0 contact sports" are in some way not-human, is like play with a cold computer.

[fero]

I have invented a sport that kick soccer ass

a good one, I guess

What If American Football, Canadian Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union take away the diferencies between it?
(they already use the same weird ball)

The question is when, 1890 and 2000 is not the same; but aniway, I can see a great "World Cup of Rugby Football" that kick FIFA ass.

name of that great sport? handfootball? real football? speak english football? Ovalball! circle is for pussies

with or without helmet?

also the every year Franchise/Club World Cup.

best teams in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_World_Cup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_World_Cup) Rugby Union (at leat 1 time in semifinals) :Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, France, Wales, Argentina and Scotland.

best teams in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Cup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Cup) Rugby League (at least 5 aparitions) Australia, Great Bretain, New Zealand, France and Papua New Guinea.

best teams in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFAF_World_Cup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFAF_World_Cup) American Football (at least 1 time in semifinals) : Japan, USA, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, France and Italy.

best teams in Canadian Football.... Canada.....

after 15 minutes of pain(t)

[stateless_englishman]

The advantage association football has over the contact codes (rugby league and union, American, Canadian, Gaelic and Australian rules) is that you can play it anywhere, particularly in the street. If you try and play the full contact sports in the street (and I'm aware there are street versions with less contact) you're more likely to break a bone going over on the tarmac.

[SlickWilly]

I have been watching the rugby world cup with great interest and its my second favourite sport after soccer, but a distant second! I have come to the conclusion though that as its such a technical game and is quite a difficult game to coach and I can't imagine to many oval balls making their way out to the Bush or the deserts, that it could never have become the world's most significant sport, everything considered.

[St. Andrew]

You guys are focusing on 15 a side rugby and forgetting that there are also 10 a side, 7 a side and Touch versions of the game.

In a world without soccer the dominant sport would probably be a combination of 7 a side and touch for the same reasons stated earlier regarding soccer - simplicity, minimal equipment and can be played anywhere.

For those of you worried about oval balls reaching the deserts and the jungles - I am reliably informed that impromtu 7 a side games in Fiji are played using a coconut as the ball, so the shape of the ball and even if it is a ball isn't a big deal.

15's is quite technical, particularly as each position on the field has specific responsibilities during play. It also requires a range of body types for a team to be successful.

We should also keep in mind that rugby as it exists now and rugby as it was back in the late 1800's are two very different animals....

[Screvier20]

What about Stickball the street version of Baseball all you need broom handle and some type of rubber ball.

[SlickWilly]

I just saw some of the shinty/hurling combined rules international between Scotland and Ireland and that's one hell of a mad game, but interesting at the same time. As per usual, Ireland won over the 2 legs!

[Wastelander37]

This applies to all those who have decided to bicker about Rugby and Grid Iron(the bad ass name of American Football). Its like comparing Apples to Oranges. For all the things they have in common these two sports have just as many glaring differences. As far as toughness goes you Rugby players might lose more teeth and get more sweet looking cuts and bruises, but the potential for big hits and big injuries is multiplied when you add that many pound of solid plastic polymers and metal to ripped out humans.

[Enigmajones]

We would be living in some sort of dream world. I'd pinch myself to wake up.
SECONDED! Although I wouldn't be able to mock soccer anymore.

[historyfool]

On a side note, anyone know why so many popular world sports have their origins in the UK? Tennis, golf, soccer, rugby, cricket jump out just off the top of my head although I'm sure there's more. Sure they colonised plenty but were there not games played in France, Spain, Portugal etc that could have been spread to their colonies?
It´s not that they invented all this games. Soccer/Rugby ancestors with next to no rules (except no weapons) were played all over Europe since medieval times and regulary ended in huge brawls. Cricket/Baseball and the like have also ancestors in the middleages and in different places. The ancestor of tennis is actually a French court game. But when the rules of all this games were codified in the 19th century the British Empire was by far the most influential state in the world. Thus it is not surprising that their ideas for the right rules were the most succesful.


However it has the same problems other sports have: the rules are slightly more complicated than football's and you just cannot play it anywhere you want. (due to the need to dribbling the ball to allow interceptions, you can't play it on grass or sand)

Not to argue with the rest but originally Handball was played on fields of grass (or if not available cinder fields). Dribbling rules were a bit different in this case. Indoor Handball got really popular only in the second half of the 20th century.

[SlickWilly]

Despite the fact that my beloved Liverpool, even as I type are 2-0 down to their biggest C U Next Tuesday rivals, I am convinced if football had never been 'invented', somebody at some stage in the future would have to 'discover' it and it would sweep the world!

[amphibulous]

Or the world can finally play a real sport, a man's sport. Futbol Americano. :p

..Sort of like Rugby for people scared to play without body armour, dumbed and slowed down to meet the needs of US TV stations for commercial breaks every ten minutes, I believe.

Realistically, if Merkan Futbol stood a chance as a soccer replacement then *someone* other than Americans would play it as more than a novelty.

[TyranicusMaximus]

..Sort of like Rugby for people scared to play without body armour, dumbed and slowed down to meet the needs of US TV stations for commercial breaks every ten minutes, I believe.

Realistically, if Merkan Futbol stood a chance as a soccer replacement then *someone* other than Americans would play it as more than a novelty.

Nah, I've played both, and wearing of pads just makes you want to hit someone that much harder.

[amphibulous]

As far as toughness goes you Rugby players might lose more teeth and get more sweet looking cuts and bruises, but the potential for big hits and big injuries is multiplied when you add that many pound of solid plastic polymers and metal to ripped out humans.

I don't think you quite understand how protective gear works...

Modern US football's safety problem probably has a lot to do with the short bursts of play that allow TV ads. These allow be-muscled giants who wouldn't have the endurance to play Rugby to hurl themselves at each while watchers who are almost equally as heavy (but not at all be-muscled) view the spectacle on television and eat fructose infused snack food.

[SlickWilly]

From watching the 6 nations rugby recently and the superbowl, Rugby is a million times a better game than American football. BTW it was nice to see Ireland come away from Paris without a defeat for once!:o

[zoomar]

Gridiron (both US and Canadian) and Rugby are my personal favorites, and I would love a world in which either one supplanted soccer as the main international sport.

Rugby and American football are similar, in that anyone who is familar with the basic concepts of one can fairly quickly figure out the basic concepts of the other. I've watched American football since I was a kid and occasionally played pickup rugby games while in college.

They are both excellent models of organized warfare, which makes them especially cool. But there are some instructive differences:

Rugby is more human (you can actually tell those are human beings out there). It is also much more fast paced without play stopages. But like gridiron, the team on offense must obtain intermediate objectives or have to go on defense. It's like an individual battle. Fast, violent, and great fun to both play and watch. Thank of it as a "Braveheart" battle.

Gridiron is less a war-like game as a war metaphor. Players are armored and their roles extremely specialized. Players are less people than they are specialized units. The play stoppages between downs allow each subsequent play to be planned - usually by coaches on the sideline wired to other coaches in the pressbox. There are countless intermediate goals that must be obtained as a team drives to score. I'm sure some will argue, but I consider Gridion by far the most cerebral of the team sports that stemmed from round-ball kicking football. Its rules are extremely complex, the roles of individual players are extremely specialized, and its slow place allows the spectator who wants to to revel in the decision making processes of the coaching staffs.

[Evil Doctor]

Well as much as I like to bash soccer, I find it excessively boring, and the culture that surrounds it causes me to just roll my eyes, I don't think this WI could be pulled off. The utter simplicity of the game means it was inevitable that it would become the 'world game'. At it's most basic, you're running around chasing a ball, a fun little game that kids naturally play anyway.

Now a more interesting WI would be to replace soccer now. We live in a world that is more prosperous, a world that has access to and influenced by many different cultures. What sport could conceivably replace soccer now?

My top three: hockey, Canadian football, and curling are out. Hockey is my favourite, but it is the most equipment intensive and building intensive sport, especially for those that live in warm climates. The same for curling which requires less equipment but still needs a specialized enviroment to able to play. Canadian football would need the Americans to suddenly adopt Canadian rules and field size. That's not going to happen.

Realistically baseball and basketball are the only two that have a shot at it. Both are fairly simple at it's heart, doesn't require special enviroments. Can be played year round in warm climates. I like baseball, not a fan of basketball, so I know which one I rather root for...

[SlickWilly]

Zoomar,
Sport is warfare by another means! Look at the soccer war - Honduras v El Salvador and the Hungary V Soviet Union waterpolo final 1956.

[Screvier20]

Found this article about Baseball in China I think with a few butterflies Baseball could have become an major sport there. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/11388-the-emergence-of-baseball-in-china-part-i

[SlickWilly]

With the Euro 2012 competition ( European international soccer championships ) on the way, I find it impossible to imagine that a European championship in any other sport eg Basketball, handball or volleyball could generate anything like the level of pre tournament excitement that this is doing. Similarily for the continental soccer championships in South America and Africa v the other sports!

[SlickWilly]

More people play cricket in New York than in the UK.
I would be interested in hearing a source for this!
That sounds very odd given that the USA are not a top cricket playing nation by any manner or means, that the population of the UK is substantially bigger than New York and that while there was a lot of talk about rugby overtaking soccer as the main sport in England post RWC 2003 victory, cricket would always have been a more likely prospect however remote to do that. Though, as an aside comment, Rugby has a possibility of usurping soccer as the most played sport in Ireland!
I think before the emergence of baseball, cricket could have possibly been the major sport played in the USA as it was in Ireland before the formation of the GAA. Cricket is certainly a growing sport in Ireland today! Afghanistan are also emerging as a decent cricket playing side, a lot of their players got familiar with the game while in Pakistan. They would probably beat the USA in an international cricket match!

[Kishan]

Football, also called soccer, is the most popular game on the planet. It is played in almost every country on earth. It is difficult to point out another game that can be termed as second in popularity. Games like Field Hockey, Basketball, Handball, Volleyball etc. are simple like Football, but whether they can ever get the popularity of Football is doubtful. Tennis, though popular, is not a team game. I think Cricket is a popular game, though far behind Football in popularity, can become more popular in the absence of Football.