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Shefflad · 06-03-2003, 05:37 AM

Being an American who's lived in the UK for 18 years, I would love baseball to catch on. However, no 'new' sport has really caught on with the public here for more than a few years at a time ( American Football, for example) . A few have developed a minor following (ice hockey and basketball), and basketball has laid down roots in the community, to an extent. Baseball did have a period of growth in the late 19th century (Derby County FC's stadium was called the Baseball Ground, being built for that purpose.) America is similar: Soccer has laid down grass-roots, but has not developed into a major spectator sport. Maybe the culture of these 2 countries is unable to sustain any new sports, there is a limit.

Having travelled to the Netherlands and Italy recently, it is obvious that this is not a given in every country. Baseball is hardly a native Dutch sport, but they are more than capable: beating Cuba in the last olympics is indicative of this . Maybe their colonial heritage has something to do with this: Andruw Jones and the other 7 Netherlands-eligible players in MLB are from Curacao and Aruba. (BTW, Holland is also very competive in Cricket, so go figure) Italy and Australia are just sports-mad: I am certain they could pickup any sport and become competitive (Becoming a rugby league fan has made that obvious, bl+++y Kangaroos!)

So what's the answer? The answer might be better answered by a sociologist than a sports-fan I guess.

06-03-2003, 05:37 AM	#18
Shefflad Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: UK Posts: 14	Being an American who's lived in the UK for 18 years, I would love baseball to catch on. However, no 'new' sport has really caught on with the public here for more than a few years at a time ( American Football, for example) . A few have developed a minor following (ice hockey and basketball), and basketball has laid down roots in the community, to an extent. Baseball did have a period of growth in the late 19th century (Derby County FC's stadium was called the Baseball Ground, being built for that purpose.) America is similar: Soccer has laid down grass-roots, but has not developed into a major spectator sport. Maybe the culture of these 2 countries is unable to sustain any new sports, there is a limit. Having travelled to the Netherlands and Italy recently, it is obvious that this is not a given in every country. Baseball is hardly a native Dutch sport, but they are more than capable: beating Cuba in the last olympics is indicative of this . Maybe their colonial heritage has something to do with this: Andruw Jones and the other 7 Netherlands-eligible players in MLB are from Curacao and Aruba. (BTW, Holland is also very competive in Cricket, so go figure) Italy and Australia are just sports-mad: I am certain they could pickup any sport and become competitive (Becoming a rugby league fan has made that obvious, bl+++y Kangaroos!) So what's the answer? The answer might be better answered by a sociologist than a sports-fan I guess.