Where is cricket the national game??

[Zinzan]

I got told by someone that cricket is considered to be the "national game" of England. The person did acknowledge that football is obviously bigger, but said historically.........cricket is considered England's national game....perhaps English fans can clarify this.. Seems kind of strange though because one would naturally think the most popular game is the national sport....but not according to this guy.

It got me thinking about the main cricketing nations and what is their national sport ....and without knowing I'd think.....

AUSTRALIA - Cricket (aussie rules massive in some parts but cricket everywhere, swimmings pretty big to.)

ENGLAND - Cricket/football?? not sure

SOUTH AFRICA - Rugby (tradionally, some may argue soccer)

NEW ZEALAND - Rugby (no doubt)

PAKISTAN - I'd think cricket, but apparently Hockey???

SRI LANKA - Surely crickets no.1

INDIA - someone tried to tell me weightlifting but surely cricket??

WEST INDIES - seperate countries ...but some say Basketball ..again not sure

ZIMBABWE - cricket/soccer??

BANGLADESH - cricket ?? do they play other sports??


Firstly I wonder if countries do always actually acknowledge they have one "national sport", and if so I'd appreciate any comments on the above countries..

[Barney Rubble]

Both cricket and football can lay reasonable claim to being our "national game" - however, they both make the claim for very different reasons.

Football makes the claim because it is a subject of almost universal interest, and although the numbers of fans going to Premeirship matches of a weekend is dwindling, interest in the game remains extremely high, and the England side always get huge audiences (despite awful performances) when they're on TV.

Cricket makes the claim because it is an almost inescapable part of British summer time - for the casual observer, it frequently seems like every time you turn the TV on during summer there's cricket on (although that won't be the case any more, sadly). The interest may not be as high, but cricket remains in the public consciousness, and cricket attendances are skyrocketing with the success of the England team and the emergence of Twenty20 cricket.

The simple fact is that both are the English national game - sport is a huge part of our culture and as such, there is a need for both a winter game and a summer game to keep the country interested. Long may it continue.

[Zinzan]

Originally Posted by Barney Rubble

Both cricket and football can lay reasonable claim to being our "national game" - however, they both make the claim for very different reasons.

Football makes the claim because it is a subject of almost universal interest, and although the numbers of fans going to Premeirship matches of a weekend is dwindling, interest in the game remains extremely high, and the England side always get huge audiences (despite awful performances) when they're on TV.

Cricket makes the claim because it is an almost inescapable part of British summer time - for the casual observer, it frequently seems like every time you turn the TV on during summer there's cricket on (although that won't be the case any more, sadly). The interest may not be as high, but cricket remains in the public consciousness, and cricket attendances are skyrocketing with the success of the England team and the emergence of Twenty20 cricket.

The simple fact is that both are the English national game - sport is a huge part of our culture and as such, there is a need for both a winter game and a summer game to keep the country interested. Long may it continue.

Cheers for that....Do you buy into the idea of countries having "1 national game"?? or is it just more obvious for some countries, like NZ with rugby or Canada with Ice Hockey

[Pedro Delgado]

Cricket is the summer game, footy the winter one. Is "swimming" really one of the National sports in Aus??

[Retox]

Rugby = Winter
Cricket = Summer

this is for NZ

[greg]

Originally Posted by zinzan12

Cheers for that....Do you buy into the idea of countries having "1 national game"?? or is it just more obvious for some countries, like NZ with rugby or Canada with Ice Hockey

I think the situation is complicated by the fact that we invented most things ;-)

Really Football, Cricket and Rugby can all make claims to being national (team) sports. However due to its universality (rugby is generally VERY regional and class based, and complicated by the union/league split, and cricket just never seemed to develop as much for historical reasons in certain areas.(so no county teams in, say for example, Liverpool) football is undoubtedly THE national sport.

Cricket is the national summer sport, but this has obviously suffered for the encroachment of the football season into its time.

[James90]

Bangladesh won the South Asian soccer title a couple of years ago and their number 1 cricket ground, Bangabandhu National Stadium is now used only for soccer.

Even so I'd still say cricket is the national game

[sledger]

Originally Posted by Retox

Rugby = Winter
Cricket = Summer

this is for NZ

same in england really.

[Zinzan]

Originally Posted by Retox

Rugby = Winter
Cricket = Summer

this is for NZ

true cricket is our summer game ...but overall you'd have to say Rugby by a long way

[Pedro Delgado]

Originally Posted by sledger

same in england really.

Not really, footy is the big one.

[Deja moo]

Hockey for India. Far richer history and better results than cricket has ever produced for us.

[Slow Love™]

In terms of sports we play internationally, cricket is definitely the national game in Australia.

I know there's a cult of personality around Thorpey, but for the most part I don't think most people here actually follow swimming in any great detail.

Aussie rules is very big here too - rugby league people would probably disagree, but it's played on a more participatory level from state to state across the country.

I dunno whether hockey is the national game in Pakistan, but I think I remember that Australia and Pakistan dominated the sport for quite some time around the 80's - I don't follow it that closely though.

[archie mac]

In most of the old Cricket books, they often refer to Cricket as the national game (England)

In Australia Cricket would be No1 but tennis is also very popular in the summer. And Horse racing attracts big crowds in the spring.

The three footy games Aussie Rules, League and Union are the big games in the winter in that order. Soccer is played by a lot of people but does not rate that well on the box.

The No1 sport for women would be Netball with Softball, Hockey and Soccer also popular.

[Shoaib]

Pakistan's national sport is Hockey but not many people like it lol.Cricket in Pakistan/India is not a sport rather its a passion,religion & .................................................s o on.And this is evident when u see both the teams in the ground.Both of these teams r very emotional & senseless when competing against each.U dont see this kind of spirit even in The Ashes.By the way,hockey is the national sport of India also.According to a survey in Pakistan, here r the percentages of different sports that people like

Cricket 84%
Hockey 9%
Soccer 5 %
Others 2%

[Langeveldt]

Wouldn't say Rugby is South Africa's national sport.. It would probably have to be soccer.. Cricket or Soccer for Zimbabwe and probably Cricket or Rugby in Namibia (seeing as they've got further than soccer in terms of performance)