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Awful game

BrokenWing said:
Can't remember now

Would have been on a rugby podcast.
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According to a quick google the super bowl got less than 200 million viewers compared to 1.5 billion to see Messi lift the last World Cup. Not even in the same universe. Makes sense seeing as the Super Bowl is only properly watched in 1 country. Also makes sense as it's one of the worst sports in the world.
 
I'm fairly convinced the most important thing is cultural connection to the sport. American football is boring as **** but I'll always support the eagles cause **** everyone else. Biggest issue with MLR's marketability is that it's in cities that aren't Philadelphia.

It's not about the on field product with soccer it's about the parasocial relationship those people have with the club.
 
die_mole said:
I'm fairly convinced the most important thing is cultural connection to the sport. American football is boring as **** but I'll always support the eagles cause **** everyone else. Biggest issue with MLR's marketability is that it's in cities that aren't Philadelphia.

It's not about the on field product with soccer it's about the parasocial relationship those people have with the club.
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I agree in general that cultural connection is probably the most important thing but when your product is a 3 hour long game and ball in play time averages 11 minutes that is one god awful product to flog globally and cultural connection or not people don't generally want to watch that ****. Probably the main reason why basketball has had way more success globally.
 
What gridiron and soccer have in common is that they are always on the same day at pretty much the same time. If basketball (ice hockey in cold regions) had a consistent schedule it would probably be just as popular.

They have replaced church in large parts of the world and in the northern US your nfl team is essentially your religion.
 
Welsh Exile said:
It's all subjective isnt it but I think, generally, people want to see fast moving sports played with high levels of skill. Rugby doesn't really offer anything in that department. It's a slow game, with loads of rules, a bit of skill but still ultimately a game of big men smashing other big men. Football is the polar opposite. Ball is always in play, it's fast moving, high level of skill and you'll generally see a few goals a game as well as not having a million rules to get used to. As I say, though, it's all subjective and rugby will always have my heart but looking at it from someone who isn't that into sport but looking to get into a team game and you show them a game of rugby and a game of football and ask them what looks like more fun they'll go football 9 times out of 10.
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If this is the case then ice hockey would be even more popular. Watching footy after getting into ice hockey makes it seems really slow.
 
IT157 said:
If this is the case then ice hockey would be even more popular. Watching footy after getting into ice hockey makes it seems really slow.
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Yeah, look, it's fast but as a rule of thumb, all American sports are ****. I mean, hockey? Really? It has some comedy value being on ice but I'd rather watch croquet or some ****. Plus you need a **** load of ice and the planet is going another way at the moment. Maybe if we enter another ice age it might be more popular.
 
Welsh Exile said:
Yeah, look, it's fast but as a rule of thumb, all American sports are ****. I mean, hockey? Really? It has some comedy value being on ice but I'd rather watch croquet or some ****. Plus you need a **** load of ice and the planet is going another way at the moment. Maybe if we enter another ice age it might be more popular.
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Ice hockey is NOT an American sport 😂
 
Ice hockey isn't even (close to being) the most popular form of hockey!
Unfortunately, both these sources treat both forms of hockey as being one sport, which is... something...
I personally suspect that there's (at least) as many field hockey fans in India alone as there are ice hockey fans globally, but I can't find that stat.




As of 2023: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles...n-the-world.html#h_99621067233771694693773798
1698952147078.png
 
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TRF_Ezequiel said:
That's what they did in Super Rugby. Sacrifice safety and regulation for the sake of entertainment and look how it negatively affected especially New Zealand in this tournament.
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sorry....we still made the final so i'm not sure its had that huge an impact

and i think "sacrificed" might be a little harsh, plenty of cards and penalties for high tackles etc, we're talking abot slight differences but at the same end of the scale when it comes to interpreting the laws
 
Kiwiwomble said:
sorry....we still made the final so i'm not sure its had that huge an impact

and i think "sacrificed" might be a little harsh, plenty of cards and penalties for high tackles etc, we're talking abot slight differences but at the same end of the scale when it comes to interpreting the laws
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I was talking about discipline specifically.

New Zealand led all countries in both red and yellow cards.
 
TRF_Ezequiel said:
I was talking about discipline specifically.

New Zealand led all countries in both red and yellow cards.
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ok fair but we're also not a huge outlier, same number of yellows as five other countries, and almost all NZ fans will agree its something we need to tighten up on

I could also point aussie had no Red and less yellows than South africa so it might not be the reffing or Super Rugby being poor but just the AB's team was playing too fast a loose, more to do with how we were coached than the competition we play in

the constant bagging of Super Rugby and NZ is a little tiresome, its the kind of thing we see from people that have bought into the myth NZ kicked SA out of super rugby
 
ncurd said:
I don't think it is. Its actually pretty dull sport to watch with incredibly low scoring games.

What it has is being the most accessible sport in the world to an extreme degree, therefore with such insanely high participation levels it translates to the level of support it has.
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I think the laws and inconsistent implementation also plays a part, I've watched games of rugby with footy fans and been asked questions like why is that a penalty at the breakdown, example sealing off, then 5 minutes later a similar incident is ignored, things like this and just the overall penalty offences become a real turn off for those not already familiar with the sport.
 
Jimbo said:
I think the laws and inconsistent implementation also plays a part, I've watched games of rugby with footy fans and been asked questions like why is that a penalty at the breakdown, example sealing off, then 5 minutes later a similar incident is ignored, things like this and just the overall penalty offences become a real turn off for those not already familiar with the sport.
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They can't even get basic video reffing right. I've never worked out why something that's a free kick outside the box isn't a penalty onside.

Football has its own problems in that regard and has a far longer history of being foul tempered at the ref.
 
(We've gone waaay off-topic, but I'm just following the thread of the conversation)

In cricket, it used to be that the batsman walked if he knew he was out. The batter is in the best place to know if he's nicked an edge etc. It made it easy for the umpire to make the right call. But now the stakes are too high, and (international) batsmen will wait for the umpire's finger. And then quite likely use a review if they're given out to get a 2nd opinion, just in case it's a no-ball etc.
The same is true in any (top-level) sport. I've completely given up watching football, because the aim of the game is no longer to score goals. The ultimate aim is now to fall over in the penalty box and appeal to the ref for a penalty. People used to boo Jurgen Klinsmann 20 years ago for doing this, but now it's universal. The players "cheating" has ruined the game.
In a game of rugby, it's the players themselves that are in the best position to know where they have touched the ball down, where they've deliberately knocked on, passed forwards or whatever. If we want all decisions to be accurate, then we'd need to have the players on board in the decision process. But in a tight game with so much at stake, who's going to be honest that they dropped the ball over the line? And if players try to cheat the ref, then video replays is a reasonable fallback. I don't think that players have any right to complain about bad decisions - if they wanted all decisions to be correct, then we'd need to wind the clock back to the amateur game and agree to play with some honesty.
 
Half Pint said:
(We've gone waaay off-topic, but I'm just following the thread of the conversation)

In cricket, it used to be that the batsman walked if he knew he was out.
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This is an extremely romantic view of Cricket it didn't happen. Loads of players haven't walked in its history and not be given out. Technology has proven in sometimes a batsman doesn't know he's knicked it and it was always assumed they did. Players havealways tried to gain some advantage in fact Cricket used to have as massive problem with biased officiating especially in the sub continent. I think many people like to view history with rose tinted glasses rather than accepting what use to happen because the technology wasn't there to show it was going on.
 

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