Watching International Sports/Sports Leagues

[Nidan Melbourne]

I was having a chat with an American Friend of mine the other day, about different sports around the world and then shared sports that various countries play and their respective leagues. and how some sports barely exist in others. 

What Sports do you follow, that are outside of your own country? 

He had to get reminded that the "national" sports in each country might not exist in another country or has a small % of participation. 

When he asked about the Major Sports in Australia; where we have 

- Australian Rules Football (AFL) [Mens League is well over 100 Years Old, Womens League was created in the last 10 years].

Our primary national sport

- Rugby Union + Rugby League 

- National Basketball League (NBL)

- Soccer (European Football) - A-League (Mens League) and W-League

- Cricket 

 

We have small participation amounts in sports like Ice Hockey and American Football. 

Before you ask why we don't have larger amounts of Ice Hockey participation. It is because Australia as a whole is a very hot country, even with our seasons; it can vary from 2-3c (~37.5F) to 50c (~122F). SO it would cost significantly more to keep Ice Hockey Centres at a low enough temperature to prevent the ice from melting and to keep it as a playable surface. 

Then American Football - is already similar to Rugby Union, Rugby League and our own AFL. So there is a smaller following of the sport in relation to being a player, however there does seem to be a decent following in terms of viewership. 

 

Although what was funny, is that he had no idea about what AFL was (understandably) so I told him to watch the attached video to get an idea of what it is. And btw Handballing you "punch" the ball from your hand, similar to the first couple steps of Saifa. 

Restarts after scoring, take less than a minute to do. 

 

International Sports I watch (when I can); 

- NBA (America) 

- Euroleague (Europe) 

- Rugby Union 

- Rugby 7's