What's the most popular sport in each country? (middle school, places)

[danielsa1775]

For Australia I would Say

1) Australian Rules Football
2) Rugby League
3) Cricket
4) Soccer
5) Rugby Union

No Doubt about the order of the the top two, the rest are debatable. Australia is like the USA in that at school level the most played sport is actually soccer, however elite athletes mostly end up perusing other sports.

[easthome]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

I need to add something about American sports, here in Texas anyway.

I see a big increase in the interest in soccer. A lot of that has to do with the prevalence of Hispanic culture around here, and that culture has brought a lot of soccer teams into the area. But I see a lot more school soccer teams and just teams in general as well, and more interest in the World Cup.

"Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole!"

I know that in the US football was initially a sport for women, funnily enough in the UK the women's game was non existent until recently, now its a little more popular as a woman's sport. American football plays a game every now and again here too I think - perhaps its a result of the ever shrinking world which is starting to make sports more easily available to watch/follow accross the globe which in turn is making them crossover countries and continents more successfully more recently.

[Acajack]

In Canada it is ice hockey by a long shot.

Second place goes to Canadian/American gridiron football.

After that it is a toss-up between baseball, basketball and soccer.

Curling (a Scottish origin sport that some describe as shuffleboard/lawn bowling/bocce/pétanque on ice) is also quite popular in much of Canada.

[Chava61]

In Israel the most popular sports are soccer and basketball.

In Ecuador the most popular sport is soccer.

In Japan softball is a popular sport for women.

[BigSwede]

Hockey and football in Sweden.

[Catbelle]

Football in Spain

After this it depends on the colective, some people like basketball, other people swimming, jogging... etc.

[Ruth4Truth]

Mongolia: wrestling
Bhutan: archery

[cholo57]

Originally Posted by Chava61

In Israel the most popular sports are soccer and basketball.

In Ecuador the most popular sport is soccer.

In Japan softball is a popular sport for women.

Football, Fútbol, Balompié. The real Football .

[Fabio SBA]

Brazil: football association (soccer) by far. Not only the national sport but also part of the daily culture. Automobilism is the second most popular followed by basketball and volleyball. A notable thing is that the F1 driver Ayrton Senna is more commonly regarded by brazilians as the national idol of the sports than Pelé or other famous football player. There is an effort of the brazilian rugby federation for increasing the popularity of rugby in Brazil, but it's still a completely ignored sport by most of the people.

[Razor217]

Originally Posted by danielsa1775

For Australia I would Say

1) Australian Rules Football
2) Rugby League
3) Cricket
4) Soccer
5) Rugby Union

No Doubt about the order of the the top two, the rest are debatable. Australia is like the USA in that at school level the most played sport is actually soccer, however elite athletes mostly end up perusing other sports.

Cricket is the traditional national sport, nationwide its probably the most popular overall, the Australian test captain is arguably the most important athlete in the country, of course afl has the biggest crowds but doesnt get that much interest in the northern states, whilst rugby league not so popular down South, depending on how you look at it you could rank cricket anywhere from 1-3.

Rugby Union and Soccer is an interesting one, Soccer has perhaps just gone past it but its close, amazing when you think Australia hosted the rugby world cup 10 yrs ago which was a golden period for rugby, ever since Australia qualified for the 2006 soccer world cup that gap has closed big time...if you had said soccer would go past rugby union in popularity a decade ago you would have been laughed at.