is india the least 'sporting' nation in the world??

[benchmark00]

No you don't have to be wealthy to play sport but its hard to focus on anything else when you are wondering where the next meal is going to come from and when your shanty on the road side is going to be removed by the authorities.

Nah look that's all emotive and powerful and all that, but it's not the case.

I'm sure there's at least 20% of the population at least who live as comfortable as I do, for example.

I'm pretty confident that it's primarily cultural and infrastructure issues which results in limited success over a broad range of sports.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Nah look that's all emotive and powerful and all that, but it's not the case.

I'm sure there's at least 20% of the population at least who live as comfortable as I do, for example.

I'm pretty confident that it's primarily cultural and infrastructure issues which results in limited success over a broad range of sports.

You're not understanding the issue..the question is not about whether you live comfortably or not. The issue is that the priority is to have a stable career with a decent income.. a career in sports is too risky for most middle class Asian parents to support. I was not even talking about the people who live in poverty initially. I personally do not support their thinking because I feel that any career is equally stable or unstable because there are no guarantees in life. You could be the IT hot shot and get laid off due to a recession. But who is going to explain that to them.

 

[benchmark00]

You're not understanding the issue..the question is not about whether you live comfortably or not. The issue is that the priority is to have a stable career with a decent income.. a career in sports is too risky for most middle class Asian parents to support. I was not even talking about the people who live in poverty initially. I personally do not support their thinking because I feel that any career is equally stable or unstable because there are no guarantees in life. You could be the IT hot shot and get laid off due to a recession. But who is going to explain that to them.

So this has nothing to do with living in a shanty and actually to do with cultural influences?

k.

 

[G.I.Joe]

The majority of sportspersons don't make enough to make ends meet. The richest cricketers are not representative of 99.99% of sportspersons in the country. And the richest cricketers are rich now, they weren't rich during the all-important developmental stages in their youth. There aren't enough quality sporting facilities even if one were inclined towards sport. And those inclined towards sport have families that see sport as a huge gamble not worth engaging in.
We'll remain a nation of sports watchers until things improve, because it doesn't require a lot of investment to watch. The nation is far too young and underdeveloped and the people have simply have too many more important things to worry about to become elite sportspersons ourselves.

 

[uvelocity]

Lasith Malinga was a gun from playing on the beach iirc, no private schools etc

 

[Black_Warrior]

So this has nothing to do with living in a shanty and actually to do with cultural influences?

k.

But they are not isolated factors..they are connected..Standards of living effects culture..its effects your thinking, your beliefs, your aspirations and goals.

 

[Burgey]

They've been far more sporting on this tour than they were last time.

 

[smash84]

have been terrible at the game itself this time around though

 

[chicane]

Agree that interest in a career in sports is relatively low, facilities are poor and generalizing, we produce sportsmen who are physically below world average. In my experience, kids play a wide range of sports but aren't really encouraged to make a career out of it by family, at school, anywhere. Infrastructure and equipment is cumbersome. A huge population won't mitigate all that.

But general interest in sports is not an issue (football, tennis and F1 off-late have a massive following).

 

[DingDong]

lol at you thinking you have to be wealthy to play sport.

to make it into a career yeah i think u need another stable income or make money as a professional sportsman. lots of kids probably end up getting a job instead of worrying about sport because u can never be sure of making it and most pro sportsmen in india probably make nothing even if they make it.

i actually know a sri lankan at uni who played for the u17 sl side and gave up cricket to study because he was worried about what would happen if he didn't make it and he is fairly well off too i reckon it's even a bigger risk for a poorer kid because he can't rely on his parents or whoever to look after his family if he doesn;t make it to the top level

 

[smash84]

to make it into a career yeah i think u need another stable income or make money as a professional sportsman. lots of kids probably end up getting a job instead of worrying about sport because u can never be sure of making it and most pro sportsmen in india probably make nothing even if they make it.

i actually know a sri lankan at uni who played for the u17 sl side and gave up cricket to study because he was worried about what would happen if he didn't make it and he is fairly well off too i reckon it's even a bigger risk for a poorer kid because he can't rely on his parents or whoever to look after his family if he doesn;t make it to the top level

yeah.....that happens a lot in Pakistan as well

 

[BoyBrumby]

They've been far more sporting on this tour than they were last time.

Don't agree with the posh/rich=successful sportsman at all either. Used to be a saying in England that if you want a fast bowler you whistle down a coal mine.

Sport one of the traditional working-class escape routes.

 

[DingDong]

Don't agree with the posh/rich=successful sportsman at all either. Used to be a saying in England that if you want a fast bowler you whistle down a coal mine.

Sport one of the traditional working-class escape routes.

when i said wealthy i didn't mean posh and rich people but people who had means to live if they didn't make it in sport

 

[morgieb]

That's probably part of it, but I doubt it's the full story. One could equally say the same thing of any number of developing nations (like Brazil and Kenya, for instance) and they seem to at least punch their weight in their favoured sports.

I don't know the exact figures, but if even 10% of the Indian population live in conditions broadly similar to developed nations they have a larger potential talent base to chose from than any other test country.

Soccer is much cheaper to play than cricket is though.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

It doesn't help when most people only care about cricket.

 

[TumTum]

First page

 

[benchmark00]

Soccer is much cheaper to play than cricket is though.

Yes but then you have to factor in the medical costs associated with the bashings you get when you tell people you play soccer.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah, can imagine one getting a bashing for playing the world's most popular ball game, hilarious post.

 

[silentstriker]

That's probably part of it, but I doubt it's the full story. One could equally say the same thing of any number of developing nations (like Brazil and Kenya, for instance) and they seem to at least punch their weight in their favoured sports.

I don't know the exact figures, but if even 10% of the Indian population live in conditions broadly similar to developed nations they have a larger potential talent base to chose from than any other test country.

True in theory only though -- you need facilities and a sensible method to progress. I'll give you a personal example. I lived in Baroda when I was young, and we have our own Ranji team. We had school teams and neighrbood teams but it was tennis balls (no place to play with a real cricket ball). So 99% of schools had no facility to play real cricket - and these are schools frequented by middle class people. If you asked the best player in our team how he'd try out for a Ranji side, or even get involved, I'd bet you he would have no idea. Nobody I knew played with real cricket balls, and maybe three people out of hundreds had even stood on a real cricket pitch. Basically, you had to be lucky or know a way to even get into the 'structure'. There is no natural school -> club -> FC progression.

I think that 10% really doesn't mean anything. Even 1% would be on the high end in terms of actual access.

Up until recently, the Indian test team pretty much came from Mumbai - and not even close to all of the socioeconomic classes of Mumbai.

Everybody watches cricket, and most kids play cricket but there is no way to identify talent and, you know, give them an actual cricket ball and a pitch, let alone give them coaching.

 

[slowfinger]

They should take up 'Trolling'