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Amazingly, American Football is not in Europe... why?
Posted on 5/5/20 at 7:58 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 7:58 am
American football is not in Europe, Asia, South America, etc, etc. Of all the sports out there, the fact that American football has not taken off around the world is amazing to me. It’s the ultimate game of war. I suspect the biggest reason is money needed just to get started. I’ve always been baffled that it hasn’t been adopted around the world the same as baseball and basketball. Hell, I also can’t believe baseball isn’t huge all over the planet. They removed the sport from the Olympics. That’s crazy !
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Posted on 5/5/20 at 7:59 am to HuckFinn
I guess because they haven’t all witnessed Joseph Burrow
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:00 am to HuckFinn
NFL Europe was a failure. They'd prefer to watch rugby over there. It's not hard to understand.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:02 am to Jester
I always get a good laugh when people say professional rugby is rougher than the NFL.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:12 am to HuckFinn
Several reasons:
#1 American Football is essentially another code of Rugby. They already have their own rugby (in some places more than one code as it is), why do they need another?
#2 The rules and strategy are very complicated. Most people don't want to sit down and learn a sport with a lot of nuance to it. Explaining basketball or soccer to a layperson is much much much simpler.
#3 It's American. We have a reputation around the world as being boorish idiots, this doesn't make people want to go out of their way to learn our culture. England is the one exception to this (as they are boorish idiots as well), and not surprisingly American Football is most popular there of all places outside of North America. Even there a lot of people complain that it's too complicated, too much stop start, and don't see why the players need "all that armor"
#1 American Football is essentially another code of Rugby. They already have their own rugby (in some places more than one code as it is), why do they need another?
#2 The rules and strategy are very complicated. Most people don't want to sit down and learn a sport with a lot of nuance to it. Explaining basketball or soccer to a layperson is much much much simpler.
#3 It's American. We have a reputation around the world as being boorish idiots, this doesn't make people want to go out of their way to learn our culture. England is the one exception to this (as they are boorish idiots as well), and not surprisingly American Football is most popular there of all places outside of North America. Even there a lot of people complain that it's too complicated, too much stop start, and don't see why the players need "all that armor"
This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 8:18 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:17 am to Draconian Sanctions
Don’t forget that it takes a lot of expensive equipment to play.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:18 am to HuckFinn
They can have soccer
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:24 am to madddoggydawg
Funny you bring up soccer, it's as big as it is largely because of imperial England exporting their culture during the time organized team sports were really first starting to develop around the world (late 19th century). Why do you think cricket is such a big deal in India?
If American football were going to catch on in Europe it would have in the late 40's/early 50's after the war, but European sports culture was entrenched by then. Japan was just liberalizing and thus had more room to be influenced, which is why baseball caught on there at that time. Basketball caught lightening in a bottle with the Dream Team coinciding with the Olympics in Barcelona, and it's a much simpler sport to learn/follow/play.
If American football were going to catch on in Europe it would have in the late 40's/early 50's after the war, but European sports culture was entrenched by then. Japan was just liberalizing and thus had more room to be influenced, which is why baseball caught on there at that time. Basketball caught lightening in a bottle with the Dream Team coinciding with the Olympics in Barcelona, and it's a much simpler sport to learn/follow/play.
This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 8:33 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:38 am to Brazos
quote:
always get a good laugh when people say professional rugby is rougher than the NFL.
That’s interesting. Pro rugby players call us pussies for wearing pads and helmets.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:40 am to Draconian Sanctions
Soccer is orders of magnitude more tactically complex than football is.
More angles, much longer games, no real playbook except maybe on free kicks, formations change on the fly with no pause, and all 11 players have to be on the same page through all of it.
The field is larger than a football field, so the 10 field players have more space they have to defend and cover individually.
All of that going on, plus the crowd noise screwing with communication abilities for visiting teams (home and away match vs each team for fairness) means that both in a single match as well as over the course of a season soccer is way more complicated than football.
Football is WAY more brutal obviously, but not anywhere near as tactically complicated. Football relies a lot more on individual skill.
More angles, much longer games, no real playbook except maybe on free kicks, formations change on the fly with no pause, and all 11 players have to be on the same page through all of it.
The field is larger than a football field, so the 10 field players have more space they have to defend and cover individually.
All of that going on, plus the crowd noise screwing with communication abilities for visiting teams (home and away match vs each team for fairness) means that both in a single match as well as over the course of a season soccer is way more complicated than football.
Football is WAY more brutal obviously, but not anywhere near as tactically complicated. Football relies a lot more on individual skill.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:44 am to DByrd2
quote:
Soccer is orders of magnitude more tactically complex than football is.
I don’t really agree with this but even if I did it doesn’t matter as it’s still much easier to follow as a casual viewer than football.
This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 8:47 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:47 am to HuckFinn
american football is a good sport for americans but the rest of the world prefers the much more cerebral sport of football (soccer). American football can be a bit of a bore with its endless and sometimes long breaks in play. American football will never be more than a niche oddball sport for the rest of the world.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 8:52 am to Elleshoe
Soccer, Rugby
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:06 am to Draconian Sanctions
I agree with two of your reasons. The third sounds like some SJW crapola. If boorishness and bad behavior was a detriment, the hooliganism of soccer, especially British soccer would have doomed it. Not to lay all the blame on the Brits as there have been incidents all over Europe of such behavior. Out of control fans aren't an American monopoly; there are riots at cricket matches (!) in India for example and Aussie rules fans can be very outrageous.
The principal reason is cost. It's much cheaper to train kids in sports like soccer, basketball and even baseball than to start with peweee football then move on up.
And finally the stop and go nature doesn't appeal to people that like the continuous action of soccer, rugby, basketball, hockey, etc.
The principal reason is cost. It's much cheaper to train kids in sports like soccer, basketball and even baseball than to start with peweee football then move on up.
And finally the stop and go nature doesn't appeal to people that like the continuous action of soccer, rugby, basketball, hockey, etc.
This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 9:08 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:08 am to Draconian Sanctions
quote:
England is the one exception to this (as they are boorish idiots as well), and not surprisingly American Football is most popular there of all places outside of North America
According to the internet, it's more popular in Germany as far as Europe goes. The Independent ABC News
Plus the attendance for the German NFL Europa teams was always the best but I cant find a link.
This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 9:10 am
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:09 am to HuckFinn
It's not all that amazing or surprising, honestly. The rest of the world already has competing football codes.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:11 am to boxcar willie
quote:Kick the ball to the guy behind you. Defender moves towards him. He kicks it back. Repeat.
the much more cerebral sport of football (soccer).
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:12 am to DByrd2
quote:what? don’t tackle the other team, don’t touch the ball with your hand, stay in bounds, and go kick it in the goal. How is this more complicated?
Soccer is orders of magnitude more tactically complex than football is.
Posted on 5/5/20 at 9:28 am to DByrd2
Rugby is ok, but soccer is for girls and those who fall down and play hurt.
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