Many states have their own sport that is not well known in other world destinations. For instance, baseball is appreciated in the US. Also, American and Australian football is not quite widespread in other places. The same applies to snooker, wrestling or field hockey. What kind of activity is more common for English-speaking people? What is more appreciated in the UK? Let’s figure out.
The Motherland for Many Sports
The UK has established many major international sports, including soccer, cricket, golf, tennis, rugby, badminton, squash, water polo, boxing, billiards, and curling. The UK also played a key role in the development of sailing and Formula 1.
The Brits gave a place to such moral issues as rivalry and fair play. Cricket has become a symbol of imperial spirit throughout the empire. Football turned out to be very attractive to urban working classes, which are loved by noisy fans worldwide.
1) Cricket
This game was established in England in the 16th century, but today it has fans in European, Asian and African continents. Sports lovers in these countries always check cricket news and try to stay tuned. On the contrary, this activity is not widespread in America or Canada. The problem is that cricket is very similar to American baseball.
Just like in soccer, teams consist of 11 players. The serving team passes the ball one after the other, while the other team takes the ball. The player throwing the ball must fall into the gate, which is behind the batsman. The batsman has the task to hit the ball and run as much as possible. It brings the points. Depending on the format, the duration of the match can be from several hours to several days.
2) Football
The Brits call this game football, while in other English-speaking countries it is called — soccer. No matter how you call it, this game has been and remains the most popular in the world to this day.
Each country has its own team and also many local teams competing with each other. The World Championship is held every four years, where the best teams from around the world gather and compete for the title.
What is More in Demand in England?
In England and Wales, pro football is combined into four joint leagues. At the top of the football pyramid is the English Premier League (PL). Four of its twenty clubs (so-called Big Four) — Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United — are global brands. Their players earn more than 150 thousand pounds a week.
The matches of the PL are watched by almost 14 million, or 30% of the inhabitants of England over 10 years old, forming segments of active and moderate fans.
Besides, about 10 million English make up the segment of passive fans of the PL, which at best are limited to watching reviews or finding out the results of the games of the next round and only occasionally observe individual matches.
Fairly, cricket seems to be less in demand in England than football. Even the most interesting cricket matches attract relatively few spectators in the stands, but this is not an indicator of Brits’ attitude towards this sport. The purpose is that a game usually lasts 6-7 hours, and therefore many British people prefer to watch it on TV or just listen to radio reports.
Answering the question of what is more popular in England we will say soccer. However, cricket is part of the heritage, which Brits are proud of.