Is Britain the Greatest sporting nation on Earth?
Discussion
I hope this stays in the lounge but here goes.
I think Britain IS THE GREATEST SPORTING NATION ON EARTH.
By nature, we are self deprecating and like to moan be it about the weather, our roads, the cost of living and the performance of our sports teams and individuals.
Yet, if you look at almost any sport, Britain has representation and success at the highest level. Bear in mind, there can only be one winner so to get to finals and the closing stages is a hell of an achievement.
Cricket, Rugby, Football, Athletics, Cycling,Horse racing, F1, Boxing, Golf, Tennis, Badmnton, Rowing, Swimming can any other country come close to the quality of Sport offered and level of achievement overall?
I think Britain IS THE GREATEST SPORTING NATION ON EARTH.
By nature, we are self deprecating and like to moan be it about the weather, our roads, the cost of living and the performance of our sports teams and individuals.
Yet, if you look at almost any sport, Britain has representation and success at the highest level. Bear in mind, there can only be one winner so to get to finals and the closing stages is a hell of an achievement.
Cricket, Rugby, Football, Athletics, Cycling,Horse racing, F1, Boxing, Golf, Tennis, Badmnton, Rowing, Swimming can any other country come close to the quality of Sport offered and level of achievement overall?
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Saturday 27th June 17:06
ecsrobin said:
Why have you put football on the list? We are not good at it.
I'll tell you why. Football is the most widely played game in the world, pretty much every country plays football, that's what 250 countries. Every four years they hold the World Cup for the top 32 teams in the World, England pretty much always qualify and generally get to the last 16 teams or better.
At the moment we are in the qualification process for the European championships, it'll be pretty much a World Cup save for a few teams.
England have won every single qualifying game, no other country has and all other British teams are in with a shout.
The Premier League is widely accepted to be one of the most competitive and highest quality leagues in the World.
So, with Football being such a widespread and popular sport and England being one of the highest ranked teams we do well and I say England rather than Britain for obvious reasons.
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Saturday 27th June 21:15
dazwalsh said:
I would agree with a lot of what OP says apart from the football, its our first choice national sport, we have the best league setup in the world and let's be honest we underachieve. Nearly 50 years since a cup was won. We should be up there no excuses.
I would barely put them in the top 10 in the world at the moment.
Winning all of your qualifying group games is nothing to shout home about if your piss poor at the finals, and I know it was a friendly but they should have thumped ireland , a country which football is easily their fourth sport and a population less than 1/10th.
With the Football I take all on board, I'm looking at all (most) significant sports and we do well, not the best at them all but always in contention, a nation that gives a good account of itself.I would barely put them in the top 10 in the world at the moment.
Winning all of your qualifying group games is nothing to shout home about if your piss poor at the finals, and I know it was a friendly but they should have thumped ireland , a country which football is easily their fourth sport and a population less than 1/10th.
People have said New Zealand and of course in Rugby and cricket they, overall and overtime are I'd say comparable to England in those sports, no better, but what else?
I'm trying not to cherry pick and look at the overall picture, the UK does a lot better than many would have us believe.
Wimbledon is around the corner and let's say Andy Murray goes out at the quarter finals, we know what the papers will say but that's an AMAZING achievement.
As well as our performances we also host what are widely considered to be many of the worlds greatest sporting events and that all comes under the same umbrella of making us the GREATEST SPORTING NATION ON EARTH!
pablo said:
The Premier League is irrelevent really, as is the top flight league in most European coutnries as they are simply about money and which teams can pay the best players in the world to play for them. The majority of the Championship however, are British players and the Championship is the most competitive and skillful "second tier" league in the world.
The National team is ok, those lamenting its lack of success have short memories. Spain, Italy, Russia and Portugal were all knocked out in the group stages of Brazil 2014.....
And Brazil, the home team didn't cover themselves in glory either.The National team is ok, those lamenting its lack of success have short memories. Spain, Italy, Russia and Portugal were all knocked out in the group stages of Brazil 2014.....
Football is often won or lost on the tiniest decision and only one team can win.
Our national teams are OK and will be very competitive at the Euros.
Wimbledon, the Open Golf, Henley all great British events are coming up, we've even won the Tour de France!
Women's footy, they're in the semis of the World Cup.
Dblue said:
So where's the long list of other nations who aren't absolute s
t that have won the world cup or euros?? More than 9 other nations or less? Italy, Brazil, Germany,Spain, Argentina and, bizarrely, Uruguay have won the WC, in addition Holland, Denmark, Russia, Greece and Czechoslovalkia have won the Euros. Each once only so I reckon that puts them behind England in achievement.
England are perennial quarter finalists, they fail to get further, usually on penalties but so do other "big" nations regularly.
But there's far far too much emphasis put on 1 sport here. Brazil are pretty poor in Olympics , play very few other world wide sports with any degree of success for example.
so just being one of the handful of nations more successful at football is not enough.
That's a good post.t that have won the world cup or euros?? More than 9 other nations or less? Italy, Brazil, Germany,Spain, Argentina and, bizarrely, Uruguay have won the WC, in addition Holland, Denmark, Russia, Greece and Czechoslovalkia have won the Euros. Each once only so I reckon that puts them behind England in achievement. England are perennial quarter finalists, they fail to get further, usually on penalties but so do other "big" nations regularly.
But there's far far too much emphasis put on 1 sport here. Brazil are pretty poor in Olympics , play very few other world wide sports with any degree of success for example.
so just being one of the handful of nations more successful at football is not enough.
I knew it'd be a controversial topic but I wanted people to look at all high level sport.
Of course you can say Pakistan are fantastic at Kabbadi or cite the Sherpas of Nepal as great climbers.
I am saying that the UK has representation at the highest level and is in contention in nearly every sport that is widely played.
Horse racing, fencing, curling, darts, football, boxing, cycling, bodybuilding, squash, badminton, bowls, archery, power boating, sailing, I could go on but the fact is we are an absolute top draw sporting nation whether participating or staging.
BJG1 said:
We don't under-perform - when you take it tiny nations or those that only won one or two medals, we got more golds per capita than anyone else at the Olympics. We have competitive teams in Rugby, Football and cricket. We are the best in the world at Darts, Snooker andMotorsports. We have one of the best tennis players in the world. We are really fking good at sport for a nation of our size, a good comparison would be Germany, who have more people, similar economy and are basically just a bit better at football and lifting weights.
Boxing, we have 10 world champs, more than the USA.king good at sport for a nation of our size, a good comparison would be Germany, who have more people, similar economy and are basically just a bit better at football and lifting weights. Horsey things we do well at.
Golf we are one of the leading nations.
People are quick to cite a loss or near miss but I'm looking at the bigger picture and as you say the UK is absolute top draw.
To say we are good at stuff where there's little competition and cite Rugby as an example us simply nonsense.
Rugby is an incredibly competitive sport at team and International level, it has high level representation around the world with established and emerging nations.
The Rugby World Cup is on our shores this year and England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales all have teams expected to go far, if that's not high performance I don't know what is.
Rugby is an incredibly competitive sport at team and International level, it has high level representation around the world with established and emerging nations.
The Rugby World Cup is on our shores this year and England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales all have teams expected to go far, if that's not high performance I don't know what is.
MarshPhantom said:
Yet there are only 20 teams in the so called World Cup.
Do you expect every team in the world to be at the World Cup? The tournament would take a year to complete.Think about what your saying mate, even the football World Cup only has 32 teams in it.
There are 4 UK teams in the upcoming Rugby World Cup, to me that makes us a top Rugby playing nation in a sport that plenty take part in.
Do you disagree ?
For me we should stop throwing in red herrings as to whether a person can or can't represent Britain due to their nationality.
You are opening up a minefield.
There are VERY STRICT rules regarding citizenship and passport holding, it's ridiculous and in my opinion racist to even suggest that someone can't represent the UK if they've passed all the criteria required but not been born here.
Every single nation has people who weren't born in their country but are proud and honoured to wear the flag and we should embrace that not look for people who don't belong because they weren't born here. It's not the dark ages so get used to it.
And as for the English footy team we've had plenty in it who weren't born on these shores and there's nothing wrong with that.
You are opening up a minefield.
There are VERY STRICT rules regarding citizenship and passport holding, it's ridiculous and in my opinion racist to even suggest that someone can't represent the UK if they've passed all the criteria required but not been born here.
Every single nation has people who weren't born in their country but are proud and honoured to wear the flag and we should embrace that not look for people who don't belong because they weren't born here. It's not the dark ages so get used to it.
And as for the English footy team we've had plenty in it who weren't born on these shores and there's nothing wrong with that.
A very quick google and 23 popped up who'd played test cricket for Australia but not been born there.
Can't be bothered to look any harder because we all know what it will show and that is "You don't have to be born in a country to represent it" those are the rules and every country has plenty of examples.
Can't be bothered to look any harder because we all know what it will show and that is "You don't have to be born in a country to represent it" those are the rules and every country has plenty of examples.
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