Name sports you cannot bear to watch

[cpr]

I really struggle with Rugby League. It just feels like Union took out tactics and had a ******** son with NFL.

Basketball is just dull to me too.

Can pretty much watch most other sports though

 

[GIMH]

I don’t think there’s any I can’t bear to watch these days, but I’d only go out my way to watch footy or cricket

Would sit and watch F1 and Athletics.

Everything else I can take or leave.

 

[Flem274*]

f1 has definitely been left in indycars dust as a sport to watch. f1 is more about the off track dramas and spats than the 'racing' now. indycar is where it's at, though sadly i haven't caught much this season.

last season was so good. helps that dixon won.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Motorsport, AFL, basketball, synchronised swimming, race walking, rhythmic gymnastics, MMA, professional wrestling, roller derby, greyhound racing

 

[Burgey]

I really struggle with Rugby League. It just feels like Union took out tactics and had a ******** son with NFL.

Basketball is just dull to me too.

Can pretty much watch most other sports though

This is interesting, because I don't think there's a sport I have greater antipathy towards than Rugby. probably because it's nothing more than private school ponces' sport here, but I think there's also a lrge degree of annoyance that he rules of the game seem to actually be set up to encourage shots at penalty goal over running the ball. If I wanted to watch that, i'd just go to goal kicking practice. I think the idea of tactical nous and subtlety in rugby is massively overstated tbh. At the end of the day, its 99% biff and barge just like league.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

f1 has definitely been left in indycars dust as a sport to watch. f1 is more about the off track dramas and spats than the 'racing' now. indycar is where it's at, though sadly i haven't caught much this season.

last season was so good. helps that dixon won.

Phlegm gets it, IndyCar has been sensational over the last few years, streets ahead of F1 for racing quality.

Dixon the finest Kiwi sportsman Brisbane has ever produced, eat your heart out Scotty Styris

 

[Fuller Pilch]

This is interesting, because I don't think there's a sport I have greater antipathy towards than Rugby. probably because it's nothing more than private school ponces' sport here, but I think there's also a lrge degree of annoyance that he rules of the game seem to actually be set up to encourage shots at penalty goal over running the ball. If I wanted to watch that, i'd just go to goal kicking practice. I think the idea of tactical nous and subtlety in rugby is massively overstated tbh. At the end of the day, its 99% biff and barge just like league.

It is sad Aussies aren’t more into union, but then they might beat us more often if they were (we’ve had the Bledisloe since 2003 so it sadly doesn’t feel like a contest anymore). Rugby really is the game for all NZers but I must admit I get a bit sick of Super Rugby. I preferred it when All Blacks played regularly for their provincial unions and test caps were earned, not given away. Sad reality of commercialism I s’pose. Grassroots rugby at club or school level is still good though.

 

[Flem274*]

my only real issue with league is the heavy structure. you know what's going to happen on tackle 5 based on where you are on the field. gets to tackle 5, high crossfield kick or grubber through, everyone chases it. or if you suck and you're stuck on halfway, hoof it.

then there's the pats on the bum attempts at tackling in between the big hits, and the participation passing in between actual passing.

i enjoy league despite supporting the warriors, but the way the sport is built does frustrate me sometimes.

union meanwhile almost has the opposite problem, where wanker refs like angus gardner or romain 'we make a deal' poite can blow their stupid whistles until the game dies because there's a lot of scope for interpretation and referee influence.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah agree leagues problem is the structure. Used to love watching the Auckland Nines (RIP) where you had these blokes who you’d come to think HD no skill at all throwing miracle passes and taking the game on.

No football code is a patch on AFL for the speed of play combined with toughness of the players. Best form of football by a mile

 

[cpr]

Watching League over here just feels too predictable (having said that, I'm watching Salford, so a defeat is very predictable). What people cite as the strengths over union are to me the weaknesses. People claim the game is quicker because of tackling/restarts, and is more end to end because of the 6 tackles. However I feel the former limits turnovers in tackle (not a huge issue admittedly) and the latter makes plays more linear - its 5 runs and a kick depending where you are. It limits the attempts to do something different - a slow build-up of pressure from a many phase drive, working a lineout in the corner, a change of tack and a kick early etc. Because theres too much focus on not giving the opposition 6 tackles, a team would rather run 5 short runs and punt long, rather than punt early and try and win the ball back deep in opposition territory (again, the standoffish nature of the tackles contributes to that too).

Obviously its all subjective, I know I'm in the minority around here for preferring the slower game of union. My old man absolutely despairs at it (shouldn't have sent me to a private school then the common oaf). It's all entrenched in the fact its what I grew up playing over league.
If I started going to league games I'd probably appreciate it more - I've basically got free tickets to any Salford Reds games I want should I want to torture myself.

I'll grant one of the best games of rugby I've ever seen was Wigan/Warrington Challenge Cup Final a few years back. One of the worst was England/SA World Cup Final.

 

[Prince EWS]

Auckland Nines (RIP)

They're having a Nines World Cup at the end of the year at Parra Stadium. Sponsored by the same company and the NRL have got on board so you'd assume we'd get some fair talent at it.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah should be good.

There is talk that the next rules review might have a free play brought into NRL like they used to have at the Nines. Really hope they do it.

 

[Burgey]

Watching League over here just feels too predictable (having said that, I'm watching Salford, so a defeat is very predictable). What people cite as the strengths over union are to me the weaknesses. People claim the game is quicker because of tackling/restarts, and is more end to end because of the 6 tackles. However I feel the former limits turnovers in tackle (not a huge issue admittedly) and the latter makes plays more linear - its 5 runs and a kick depending where you are. It limits the attempts to do something different - a slow build-up of pressure from a many phase drive, working a lineout in the corner, a change of tack and a kick early etc. Because theres too much focus on not giving the opposition 6 tackles, a team would rather run 5 short runs and punt long, rather than punt early and try and win the ball back deep in opposition territory (again, the standoffish nature of the tackles contributes to that too).

Obviously its all subjective, I know I'm in the minority around here for preferring the slower game of union. My old man absolutely despairs at it (shouldn't have sent me to a private school then the common oaf). It's all entrenched in the fact its what I grew up playing over league.
If I started going to league games I'd probably appreciate it more - I've basically got free tickets to any Salford Reds games I want should I want to torture myself.

I'll grant one of the best games of rugby I've ever seen was Wigan/Warrington Challenge Cup Final a few years back. One of the worst was England/SA World Cup Final.

I actually think lack of contest for the ball is a real issue in league. It basically means if you get back-to-back possession, you really have to stuff something up not to get points. I'd be happy with going back to striking for the ball in the ruck and allow stripping the ball in any tackle. I know it slows the game down, but i don't actualyl think that's a bad thing. Back when I was growing up, if you kicked into touch inside your own half, you got the scrum feed and the other side the loose head. Now it's only worth even trying to kick for touch to wind the clock down or to try for a 40-20, which don't come off that often anyway.

 

[cpr]

A lot of league fans will argue turnovers in tackles don't happen that often in union either, so its a moot point - Admittedly in the middle of the park yeah, theres a lot of consecutive plays where its constant drive/tackle/drive etc with no change. But the ability to put pressure on the backs by isolating them with the ball and getting the turnover (when the odds are higher) is what league lacks. The back line in league know all they need to do is catch it clean and there's a set of 6 available.

 

[Uppercut]

This is interesting, because I don't think there's a sport I have greater antipathy towards than Rugby. probably because it's nothing more than private school ponces' sport here, but I think there's also a lrge degree of annoyance that he rules of the game seem to actually be set up to encourage shots at penalty goal over running the ball. If I wanted to watch that, i'd just go to goal kicking practice. I think the idea of tactical nous and subtlety in rugby is massively overstated tbh. At the end of the day, its 99% biff and barge just like league.

Objectively I'd have to say Union is a pretty great spectator sport. The action is basically non-stop and really intense, lots of close finishes and plenty of tactics going on if that's what you're into.

Unfortunately in the UK and Ireland (and judging by your posts also Australia) it has by far the worst culture of any sport. Think Tory plus macho plus misogyny. Or as one of the Irish journalists said "I loved it until I grew up and realised it was played exclusively by people who look down on people like me." At this point when I watch it I mostly just want all of the players to get hurt.

 

[cpr]

Yeah, even in the few northern places it reaches it's similar. Sale are almost as toff as the rest given they are basically serving Cheshire. They do pull heavily from my old school for the junior teams, which mixes it up a bit - in my day it was a toff school that took in a fair amount of state students under the 11+, so you'd get the odd brute from Old Trafford taught the eloquence of the sport (actually many of the kids from my area who went on to play rugby had grown up playing Gaelic football in Stretford or Sale, they tended to be convertible to a brutish front line)

 

[Flem274*]

it's so weird its ended up being a snob sport almost everywhere when here all i've known growing up is it's for anyone who wants to play

 

[cpr]

It happens with many sports, at least over here where we are a bunch of *****s. Cricket, tennis, Rugby. All should be easily accessible games blocked by snobbery.

 

[Anil]

american football, baseball, professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, curling, ice hockey, cricket 20/20..."can't bear to watch" is probably too strong a phrase...but i would consider watching them a waste of my time...

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pro wrestling at its best is probably better than anything test cricket can muster. You're all missing out and deserve to be pitied.