What sports are we good at and what not and why?

[swansonj]

A British (men's) winner at Wimbledon is wonderful - but actually, 77 years without one must be a serious underperformance for a country of our size and resources.

A British winner of the TdF last year was wonderful - but actually, never having had one before must class as a serious underperformance.

Britain has ten Formula One world champions out of 32, and even allowing for the skewing of Motorsport to affluent countries and the insularity of the USA, I'm going to guess that must be a statistical over-performance.

There aren't many other sports I know enough about, but I'll guess that in athletics we're closer to average allowing for population and affluence, and I'll guess that not having won a four- yearly event since 1966 is not yet particularly aberrant?

 

[EltonFrog]

Pretty shoot at football as far as I can tell. I think its because the players at the top get paid too much and are not hungry enough.

 

[Stringy Bob]

Darts of course

 

[Davidc]

Tiddlywinks?

 

[swee'pea99]

As a vast over-generalisation, I'd say that we are in sport as we are in pretty much everything else, really quite good, but not very good.

 

[Over The Hill]

Many sports, and the best example is Tennis, are individuals or pairs playing. There was no flag on Murray's shirt and his name not UK went on the cup. Others are very blurred, is a British driver driving a Mercedes still a British win? Then in most competitive cycling I am actually put off as they just seem to be in random teams and I have no preference who wins.

On the OP, the Olympics is a good test over a range of sports and we did seem to come off fairly well out of it. But then it seems to be the medal haul is just based on the money thrown at it and we threw some extra at is as we were hosting and did not want to look stupid if we won nothing on home turf.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Snooker! A sizable proportion of the World Champions have been Brits! ....... That said, a sizable proportion of the players ARE Brits!

Other sports? Well, we are quite good at Rowing, and Scotland is quite good at a much maligned sport (maligned by people who either don't play it or fully understand what is involved).... Curling! (The Canadians are the best by far at that though).

 

[mark st1]

Pretty s*** at football as far as I can tell. I think its because the players at the top get paid too much and are not hungry enough.

Disagree there slightly money has nothing to do with it. They are just not good enough that's all if they want change grass roots is where its at not the top of the game.

 

[swee'pea99]

we are quite good at Rowing....

Was it the Ockers or the Yanks said we only win sports that you do sitting down?

 

[Fnaar]

We're pretty damn good (probably) at dwile-flonking, shove-ha'penny, bar billiards, bar skittles, tiddlywinks and other essential British sports.

 

[Beebo]

The UK is over represented at golf, which is odd, because like tennis it is essentially a middle class sport that requires fees to be paid.

 

[Boris Bajic]

We're pretty good at a lot of things, whilst rarely being world-beaters at any. I quite like that.

I've lived in countries where (for example) one might hear "We're handball champions of Europe, we usually make the final" or similar. Then one looks and reads and asks and notices that they are almost invisible internationally in almost all sports bar three or four.

I like the catholic approach. (In sport, not in terms of contraception).

We tend not to be good at winter sports (apart from that tiddlywinks-on-ice one, where you sweep the floor and you have to be a bored housewife from Kirkaldy to play it - but that's no more a sport than reading Agatha Christie mysteries).

We do excel (occasionally) at those middle-class, pushy-parent sports (tennis, motor sport and similar) and that is wonderful.

I think we get it about right as a nation.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

We tend not to be good at winter sports (apart from that tiddlywinks-on-ice one, where you sweep the floor and you have to be a bored housewife from Kirkaldy to play it - but that's no more a sport than reading Agatha Christie mysteries).

If you mean this:

and Scotland is quite good at that much maligned sport (maligned by people who either don't play it or understand what is involved).... Curling! (The Canadians are the best by far at that though).

.... Then stop right there buddy!

 

[TVC]

Equestrieni
Equesteria
Equistrya

Horse jumping

Why? Because daddy bought me a pony for when I'm down from boarding school

 

[MontyVeda]

<patriotic garbage>
we invented sport... so we don't have to be good at any of them!
</patriotic garbage>