Fanatical Fans

[Traitorfish]

So why are rugby and Australian Rules Football, far more violent sports, not prone to such fan violence?

Well, as the saying goes, "Football is a gentleman's game played by thugs, rugby is a thug's game played by gentlemen."

 

[Dachs]

Sure, the Yaknees might have world-wide recognition, you'd be hard pressed to find people who know who the packers, lakers, or patriots are, if you travelled through africa and asia, maybe even south america and europe.

Lakers are actually ridiculously popular in China

 

[warpus]

Lakers are actually ridiculously popular in China

I'm not surprised - they have a Chinese player, right?

But I mean, overall, if you listed the top 10 sports clubs by popularity world-wide, it'd be dominated by football clubs.

Either way, it's getting a bit off-topic

 

[Dachs]

I'm not surprised - they have a Chinese player, right?

The reason they're so popular is cos of Kobe. Sun Yue ain't nearly as popular as he is.

But I mean, overall, if you listed the top 10 sports clubs by popularity world-wide, it'd be dominated by football clubs.

Possibly? Has anybody ever tried?

 

[Arwon]

On a purely voted site (who knows the true accuracy), the top voted teams are

1) New York Yankees - Baseball
2) Manchester United - Football
3) Dallas Cowboys - American Football
4) Los Angeles Lakers - Basketball
5) Montreal Canadiens - Hockey
6) New England Patriots - American Football
7) Green Bay Packers - American Football
8) Boston Red Sox - Baseball
9) Boston Celtics - Basketball
10) Real Madrid - Football

I would have guessed 9/10 of these teams... New England wouldn't be in my 10, Chelsea would.

Ah yes, an English language website. Very scientific! A website that uses the term "franchises" no less!

The fact that Real Madrid still gets in there is quite telling, actually.

Of American clubs, probably only the Yankees and Lakers have any serious international renown and global branding, equivalent to the top world soccer clubs. Maybe the Cowboys. It's a big handicap that these sports aren't widely played or followed internationally.

I mean otherwise the Collingwood Football Club would be in the list. They draw bigger crowds than a lot of these teams, but the crowds are all Australians so it doesn't count.

 

[warpus]

Possibly? Has anybody ever tried?

Not quite, but I did find this

The most popular regular-broadcast sports event and TV program is the English Premier League. It is broadcast to 600 million households in 202 countries and reportedly watched by more than 1.2 billion people per week.[36] Even this figure may be an underestimate as the number of people watching are said to watch on pirated set top boxes and illegal Internet streams.

The Premiership is by far the most popular sports league in the world - so it follows that the top teams in that league would top the popularity contest as well. I'm not sure about the Spanish and Italian leagues - they are huge but likely not as huge.

How many people tune in to watch American Football each week? I'd be surprised if it was higher than 5% of the weekly average for the Prem. Heck, even 1% (12 million) seems high.

 

[sourboy]

it is starting to appear like you started this thread for a purely "omg look at the crazy soccer fans" and "american sports are better" reasons.

No, I posted the notoriety of major teams across the globe to refute the attempt of correlating a teams popularity to it's fans 'so-passionate-would-kill-for' theory. The purpose of the thread is to find why soccer fans choose to take their loyalty beyond a sport-loving role. No need to troll.

 

[REDY]

About half of clubs in list I have never heard. Seriously.

 

[Shekwan]

No, I posted the notoriety of major teams across the globe to refute the attempt of correlating a teams popularity to it's fans 'so-passionate-would-kill-for' theory. The purpose of the thread is to find why soccer fans choose to take their loyalty beyond a sport-loving role. No need to troll.

I think its pretty obvious why theres no culture of hooliganism in NA sports. The only fans that are ''die-hard'' enough to actually cause trouble are college students - hardly likely to cause that much trouble when compared to working class unemployed people with nothing to lose.

 

[classical_hero]

Lakers are actually ridiculously popular in China

I would have thought that the Rockets would be up there, due to Yao Ming.

@Warpus. I was part of the potential largest TV crowd watching that match.

 

[Dachs]

I would have thought that the Rockets would be up there, due to Yao Ming.

@Warpus. I was part of the potential largest TV crowd watching that match.

Yes, them too. Chinese public opinion likes Yao and Kobe and then there's a looooong way until everybody else.

 

[sourboy]

I think its pretty obvious why theres no culture of hooliganism in NA sports. The only fans that are ''die-hard'' enough to actually cause trouble are college students - hardly likely to cause that much trouble when compared to working class unemployed people with nothing to lose.

So you're trying to justify the actions of killing someone over a sport, and we - North Americans, just don't understand that?

Well, we have the foolish bible belt folk, you have the foolish soccer hooligans. *shrugs* case closed to me.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Okay, so I can understand how winning a championship can lead fans to excessive celebration, especially when drunk, and often some serious or stupid crimes. Why does it seem so common though that soccer/football matches in Europe involve deliberate violence, and on too many occasions -- death?

In my 30+ years, I can maybe recall once or twice where a brutal attack was made here in America, due to enraged fans -- however it seems every few years this happens in Europe. What's so special about this sport? What's so important that cities or countries become so upset over a game? You don't hear this happening in the Olympics (a grander stage).

Any insight would be appreciated.

Atleast it isn't as bad as the liverpool fan who hanged himself at half time in Istanbul

 

[TheLastOne36]

That's a great top 10 list - too bad it's unscientific and meaningless.

Sure, the Yaknees might have world-wide recognition, you'd be hard pressed to find people who know who the packers, lakers, or patriots are, if you travelled through africa and asia, maybe even south america and europe.

Either way, it is starting to appear like you started this thread for a purely "omg look at the crazy soccer fans" and "american sports are better" reasons.

Heck, i was born and raised in Canada and the only teams i know are Yankee's, Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senaters, and vaguely, Red Socks (or white socks whatever it is called)

 

[Bamspeedy]

Red Socks (or white socks whatever it is called)

There is the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.

 

[downtown]

There is the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.

Oddly enough, there are *five* major league baseball teams that can trace their names to the color of socks they wear. Can anybody guess the other three?

(One is easy. The other two are not)

 

[cardgame]

This may have already been addressed, but;

(CNN) -- A man "angered" by Manchester United's defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Champions League killed four people when he drove a minibus into a crowd celebrating the Spanish side's victory, police in Nigeria have told CNN. Ten people were also injured in the incident in the town of Ogbo, where the driver was subsequently arrested, a Port Harcourt Police spokesperson said.

"He was displaying his anger at his team losing the match. The driver had passed the crowd then made a U-turn and ran into them," spokesperson Rita Inomey-Abbey said.

DOES. NOT. COMPUTE.

 

[GinandTonic]

The global extent of the EPL is abserd. There was a doc on tv a while back with a guy going across the gobi on a camel. The camera is bouncing as it is lashed to the side of the beast. The explorer has lost his second camel and just about lost his sanity, wittering to the camera through broken lips about his hatred of camels and the impossible hostility and remoteness of the local when a kid on a dirt bike comes out of the sand to save the stupid lost white-boy. He takes him back to his yert where the kid's dad is kicking back watching Man U Arsenal on satallite. Dad points at himself and says "Man U", guy points at himself and says "Everton" (or whatever) and they settle down to the game.

1 - Thats a nomad in possibly the most remote place on earth.

2 - Even a nomad understands what makes football different from other sports. He points at himself and says "Man U". A question of identity. People often describe a football fan simply as their team "He's Arsenal but his best mate is Spurs" or whatever. In my experience this does not often happen with other sports.

 

[sourboy]

Oddly enough, there are *five* major league baseball teams that can trace their names to the color of socks they wear. Can anybody guess the other three?

(One is easy. The other two are not)

Side note: I had a recent discussion as to why Boston is the Red Sox, thinking "Green Sox" would better reflect their proud Irish connections.

Trivia guess: Let's see... I'm going to say the easy one is the Reds (probably changed when the AL & NL merged, due to the Red Sox simultaneously existing). The hard ones may include the Royals or Cardinals, since both are also color shades, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Blue Jays were originally the Blue Sox (or stockings) and the Phillies, purely on a hunch.

Excellent trivia question, btw.

 

[amadeus]

So why are rugby and Australian Rules Football, far more violent sports, not prone to such fan violence?

Duh, you're south of the equator...