RE: Big win for the U.S.A. in cricket :)
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:57 pm
The Olympics indicates that the U.S. is quite good at many sports [;)]
Cricket's global popularity is, to a large extent, all about the rise of India. It's an absolute obsession there and hundreds of millions of people have joined the middle class and have disposable income. Then there's the huge Indian diaspora. It's always been popular with Indians but money really talks. To a lesser extent this is also true of other very populous South Asian nations.
For that reason, I think it will eventually be quite popular in places it currently isn't. I'll give you an example. In Australia, the largest Winter sport is Australian Football, followed by Rugby League. Rugby Union is popular but is mainly played in private schools and by old-boys of those schools. Soccer was initially a migrant's sport. We kept being told, "It's the global game" but for a long time it didn't cut through because of the lack of scoring and some other aspects of the sport such as crazy ethnic crowd behaviour and simulation, went against the grain here.
What eventually happened was that people couldn't ignore the vast amounts of money players were making internationally. Coupled with mothers who didn't want their boys playing "rough" sports [8|], an increasing proportion of kids started playing soccer. I have several friends who grew up playing Aussie Rules but who now follow global football closely. I think the same thing will happen with cricket. Also, these billions of people aren't fools. It's a subtle, skilful, athletic and exciting sport.
Additionally, in places like Africa, cricket was the sport of the hated coloniser. Those days are long gone and the indigenous populations can play it without stigma and potentially make a pile of cash doing so. Take South Africa, for example. The black population was basically excluded from the sport under Apartheid but now the black kids love it and their team features several excellent black players, with heaps more to come.
I have a young German friend who was staying with me during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Unsurprisingly, he knew nothing about the sport. When Australia played India in a semi final we sat down with several drinks and watched it. I answered his questions and (after a stirring Aussie win) he said, "Wow. This is a great sport. Great athletes and cool physics". He now follows Australia. Good lad [;)]
Cricket's global popularity is, to a large extent, all about the rise of India. It's an absolute obsession there and hundreds of millions of people have joined the middle class and have disposable income. Then there's the huge Indian diaspora. It's always been popular with Indians but money really talks. To a lesser extent this is also true of other very populous South Asian nations.
For that reason, I think it will eventually be quite popular in places it currently isn't. I'll give you an example. In Australia, the largest Winter sport is Australian Football, followed by Rugby League. Rugby Union is popular but is mainly played in private schools and by old-boys of those schools. Soccer was initially a migrant's sport. We kept being told, "It's the global game" but for a long time it didn't cut through because of the lack of scoring and some other aspects of the sport such as crazy ethnic crowd behaviour and simulation, went against the grain here.
What eventually happened was that people couldn't ignore the vast amounts of money players were making internationally. Coupled with mothers who didn't want their boys playing "rough" sports [8|], an increasing proportion of kids started playing soccer. I have several friends who grew up playing Aussie Rules but who now follow global football closely. I think the same thing will happen with cricket. Also, these billions of people aren't fools. It's a subtle, skilful, athletic and exciting sport.
Additionally, in places like Africa, cricket was the sport of the hated coloniser. Those days are long gone and the indigenous populations can play it without stigma and potentially make a pile of cash doing so. Take South Africa, for example. The black population was basically excluded from the sport under Apartheid but now the black kids love it and their team features several excellent black players, with heaps more to come.
I have a young German friend who was staying with me during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Unsurprisingly, he knew nothing about the sport. When Australia played India in a semi final we sat down with several drinks and watched it. I answered his questions and (after a stirring Aussie win) he said, "Wow. This is a great sport. Great athletes and cool physics". He now follows Australia. Good lad [;)]
