Underrated sports

[NZTailender]

Archery. Watching it on TV yesterday made me want to take it up. Cycling can be pretty gun to watch as well, especially the track stuff.

A lot of sports, though, depends on who is playing. Watching the Comm games I found that two good ping-pong players battling it out is pretty entertaining but much less if it's good vs clearly-not-as-good.

 

[nightprowler10]

It's just (correctly) ignored in most Anglophone countries except the US & Canada.

All in your opinion of course.

 

[Ausage]

Haha did someone say rugby league was underrated?? If more than one person rates it then it means it's overrated. **** sport.

Don't worry benchy. I'd hate league too if Matt Cooper was my favorite player.

 

[Smudge]

Rowing. Takes 6-9 minutes but if there are a few mid-race moves, it's riveting, and it's clear how much they put into it by the exhaustion at the end of the race.

 

[benchmark00]

Don't worry benchy. I'd hate league too if Matt Cooper was my favorite player.

c00ps transcends sport.

 

[Burgey]

A lot of continental & in particular former communist Yurp goes divvy for it, so definitely woudn't say it's underrated. It's just (correctly) ignored in most Anglophone countries except the US & Canada.

I'd actually say basketball and football are the most overrated sports, actually.

AWTA.z

 

[_Ed_]

Rowing. Takes 6-9 minutes but if there are a few mid-race moves, it's riveting, and it's clear how much they put into it by the exhaustion at the end of the race.

And we're ****ing awesome at it.

But yeah, always find it really fascinating to watch. The eights are spectacular.

 

[Somerset]

Rowing. Takes 6-9 minutes but if there are a few mid-race moves, it's riveting, and it's clear how much they put into it by the exhaustion at the end of the race.

AWTA - actually was just thinking a couple of days ago that given how successful we've been in the sport its a shame its not at Commonwealth Games!

 

[thierry henry]

Nah, lot of factors mitigate against it, but two main ones are the lack of depth to international game & the fact it's still the poor relation to union. As union is (still) the posh code (in UK certainly) there's a lot of power and money behind it still.

yeah and that's precisely why it pretty much defines "underrated sport". The actual sport itself is fantastic and external factors (cultural factors, money etc) hold it back while sports that are downright silly by comparison are more popular.

 

[thierry henry]

Contest a scrum rather than having a big group hug and then we'll talk

The emphasis on something as time consuming and uninteresting and un-spectator friendly as a scrum is one of the biggest weak points about rugby.

I don't see how anyone could argue that it's better to watch a scrum than to watch free-flowing running/passing/tackling etc.

Of course a Union fan will argue this point all day, but the "contest for the ball" areas in Union are what make the game pretty much diabolically unwatchable imo. Just a shambles, and a time-consuming shambles at that.

Don't get me wrong, I understand there is skill involved, but it's simply not skill that is as watchable as the distilled essence of the game, i.e. passing/running/tackling. League for me is the distillation of the enjoyable parts of "rugby", the bits that people actually want to watch.

But as someone who is happy enough to watch a game of league if it's on TV, I don't think you can say it's underrated, given its popularity in NSW and QLD. You're always going to get people who don't like it, just like there would be (maybe) Victorians that don't like AFL and Indians who don't like cricket, but it's rated pretty highly by a lot of people around that eastern coast.

Yes but union is much bigger internationally (although still not nearly as big as it thinks it is).

 

[Uppercut]

Tbf the scrum is pretty spectator friendly because it creates a lot of space to play good rugby in. Rugby league can get very congested imo. And stop/start. The concept of fast ball can't really exist.

I actually think union is the best sport out there (although it's not my favourite). There's much fewer periods of nothing happening than in most other sports and you tend to get a lot more exciting matches than in something like football. I guess a big problem with it in terms of popularity is that it doesn't give lesser sides a chance. Massive upsets are barely conceivable.

 

[Somerset]

The emphasis on something as time consuming and uninteresting and un-spectator friendly as a scrum is one of the biggest weak points about rugby.

I don't see how anyone could argue that it's better to watch a scrum than to watch free-flowing running/passing/tackling etc.

As a union fan I'm not going to argue that scrum resets are still a blight on the game, even with constant attempts to reduce the number of collapses. I still think they're a crucial element to the sport though and I certainly wouldn't be advocating to remove or de-emphasise scrums from the game - could you imagine the fatigue of the players if, say, quick taps were permitted for knock-ons? That'd reduce the quality rather than enhance it with players completely knackered early into games and it'd almost turn the game into a 7's match with 15 backs.

 

[GotSpin]

League is so repetitive and mindless - Here, we'll run it up 5 times. Oh, we couldn't score? Here's a kick. Your turn now.

 

[andyc]

League is so repetitive and mindless - Here, we'll run it up 5 times. Oh, we couldn't score? Here's a kick. Your turn now.

Basketball so much more mindless in that aspect IMO.

 

[Uppercut]

And cricket is even more formulaic than either, if we're honest.

The more I think about it the less it seems that there's any decent logic behind which sports I like and which I don't.

 

[Jono]

I actually think union is the best sport out there

Nah

YouTube - Brendon Goddard - Grand Final Mark of the Century!!

 

[Uppercut]

International rules matches start next week Jono.

 

[Spikey]

And with that post I'll have to say Hurling + Garlic football. I mean I've only seen youtube videos of them, but **** they're great to watch.

 

[Uppercut]

And with that post I'll have to say Hurling + Garlic football. I mean I've only seen youtube videos of them, but **** they're great to watch.

 

[Spikey]

i wasn't sure about the spelling so I googled it. they didn't tell me I was wrong. their fault imo.