Is the FIFA Women’s World Cup upstaging the Cricket World Cup in England?

[Slog]

Read this:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ch-breaks-tv-audience-record?CMP=share_btn_tw

Sorry stuff

 

[Ronaldo7]

Yes it is.

It's always on trending on Twitter.

 

[blackanhyellow]

That is interesting.

Maybe its linked to England's performances, but that is a huge difference in viewership.

 

[Ronaldo7]

But it's due to women football being free to watch while for you to watch cricket you have to pay.

 

[Ronaldo7]

That is interesting.

Maybe its linked to England's performances, but that is a huge difference in viewership.

Women football is telecasted on free to air channels hence people are more likely to watch it. While the cwc is only being telecasted on paid channels.

 

[Pakistanian]

Nope, The USA womens team is the most successful in the world and they've been playing really well so far yet nobody cares over here.

 

[GLORY OF '92]

Don't care. Women's sport is completely mediocre and a waste of resources.

 

[Slog]

Nope, The USA womens team is the most successful in the world and they've been playing really well so far yet nobody cares over here.

What do you mean nobody cares?

In US there is interest

 

[Pakistanian]

What do you mean nobody cares?

In US there is interest

Bruh nobody cares over here, womens soccerball is a niche sport.

 

[James]

The Guardian with their usual drivelling standard of non-news.

Women’s football is on free-to-air TV whereas cricket is on pay TV. Massive difference in potential viewership there straight away.

Article even acknowledges that the peak audience for the cricket this summer has been 1.3 million, which is very strong for Sky Sports.

 

[sweep_shot]

I am not following women's World Cup at all! It is irrelevant to me.

 

[JaDed]

Live English cricket largely vanished from free-to-fair television screens in the mid-2000s, when high-profile test matches could attract peak audiences of more than 8 million viewers.

Its a big thing, a white lady colleague of mine actually went to France to watch the matches.

 

[JaDed]

Nope, The USA womens team is the most successful in the world and they've been playing really well so far yet nobody cares over here.

**, a colleague of mine went all the way she is Project manager above that to watch matches!
Its the guys that don't care much about it but even they are watching it here and there, women are into it.

 

[Slog]

Bruh nobody cares over here, womens soccerball is a niche sport.

I’m in the US. It’s obv no nfl but people generally know what’s going on. Maybe you just hang out with desi communities.

In the men’s WC it’s usually the immigrants driving the interest with some locals, in women’s it’s the locals mostly

 

[Pakistanian]

I’m in the US. It’s obv no nfl but people generally know what’s going on. Maybe you just hang out with desi communities.

In the men’s WC it’s usually the immigrants driving the interest with some locals, in women’s it’s the locals mostly

lmaoo most of my friends and roommates are white, black and latinos. I don't hang around too many desis, especially FOBs.

Most people here are into really into soccer let alone women's soccer, the US team has won 3 world cups yet most wouldn't even know if you asked them. People are more interested in NBA free agency than women's soccer, sorry if that hurt your feels.

 

[Pakistanian]

ABCDs are more into soccer than white or black people here so lol @ the FOB claiming that Desis wouldn't know about the soccer world cup

 

[Markhor]

One's on free-to-air BBC and the other is on pay TV Sky.

That's the answer.

 

[Slog]

lmaoo most of my friends and roommates are white, black and latinos. I don't hang around too many desis, especially FOBs.

Most people here are into really into soccer let alone women's soccer, the US team has won 3 world cups yet most wouldn't even know if you asked them. People are more interested in NBA free agency than women's soccer, sorry if that hurt your feels.

Lol what’s there to be hurt about.

Obv where did I even say people are interested in women’s soccer as much as nba. Learn to read lol. You typify the confused desi.

No ones invested into it but people have an idea it’s going on is all that I’m saying. The women’s team will get on nighy talk shows and morning shows if they win

 

[Pakistanian]

Lol what’s there to be hurt about.

Obv where did I even say people are interested in women’s soccer as much as nba. Learn to read lol. You typify the confused desi.

No ones invested into it but people have an idea it’s going on is all that I’m saying. The women’s team will get on nighy talk shows and morning shows if they win

All i'm saying is that even nba free agency draws more attention than women's soccer in this country.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

I’m in the US. It’s obv no nfl but people generally know what’s going on. Maybe you just hang out with desi communities.

In the men’s WC it’s usually the immigrants driving the interest with some locals, in women’s it’s the locals mostly

Agree with this. Everyone I work with knows about the Women's World Cup.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

lmaoo most of my friends and roommates are white, black and latinos. I don't hang around too many desis, especially FOBs.

Most people here are into really into soccer let alone women's soccer, the US team has won 3 world cups yet most wouldn't even know if you asked them. People are more interested in NBA free agency than women's soccer, sorry if that hurt your feels.

Your views are outdated. Maybe in the city you live in people dont care, but soccer is getting more popular here in the US. Its already more popular than Hockey, and will overtake Baseball soon enough. MLS has been growing rapidly, in Atlanta they have 50k fans per game.

 

[Captain caveman]

I made a similar thread a few weeks ago on the cricket forum, for whatever reason, the title was changed and merged with another thread!

The free to view argument is just a fallacy, even if the crickt was free to view, the footie would get more viewers!
Cricket doesn't have a big following in the uk!
Even the sport news puts the cricket wc stories at the end of the bulletin!

 

[Ronaldo7]

I made a similar thread a few weeks ago on the cricket forum, for whatever reason, the title was changed and merged with another thread!

The free to view argument is just a fallacy, even if the crickt was free to view, the footie would get more viewers!
Cricket doesn't have a big following in the uk!
Even the sport news puts the cricket wc stories at the end of the bulletin!

The argument is why is women football getting more views than cricket. The answer is due to women's football being free to view. How is men's football related to any of this?

 

[PakLFC]

Cricket will always be second to all form of Football. Outside Cricket playing countries no one cares about the WC. America, China and Russia three of the world's most important countries will think it's baseball!

 

[Robert]

Yes it is, and rightly so given the sheer will to win of our Lionesses.

 

[Khan12]

Waste of time watching women's games. The quality is as good as Sunday league.

 

[zn426]

Cricket will always be second to all form of Football. Outside Cricket playing countries no one cares about the WC. America, China and Russia three of the world's most important countries will think it's baseball!

And China is open to any form of sport, if the ICC would just wake up. They're so busy relying on India they don't realize there's a huge market that they refuse to work on developing. Besides, you can argue the nationalist perspective because Japan and South Korea are major baseball playing nations.

 

[WC-Passion]

Yes it is, and rightly so given the sheer will to win of our Lionesses.

What rubbish. If the Cricket WC was on Channel 4, BBC or ITV live with an England v Australia/India/Pakistan game it would smash any viewership number that Women's Football has produced at this WC.

 

[PakLFC]

And China is open to any form of sport, if the ICC would just wake up. They're so busy relying on India they don't realize there's a huge market that they refuse to work on developing. Besides, you can argue the nationalist perspective because Japan and South Korea are major baseball playing nations.

Cricket is just too time consuming a game which is why many countries are not interested. Never mind China when the ones who tried it like Netherlands are not getting anywhere. The many interruptions like rain make it even more unattractive. Just imagine the crucial point Pak will lose now due to the match versus Sri Lanka rained off. It doesn't happen in any other Sport other then Cricket that a match is not played.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

It is unfortunately. All blame goes to the big 3 for surpressing the growth of the game and running away from the olympics.

 

[Finisher]

Didnt know the womens world cups was being played

 

[FreakCricket]

lmaoo most of my friends and roommates are white, black and latinos. I don't hang around too many desis, especially FOBs.

Most people here are into really into soccer let alone women's soccer, the US team has won 3 world cups yet most wouldn't even know if you asked them. People are more interested in NBA free agency than women's soccer, sorry if that hurt your feels.

I dont know any American Born Pakistani who watches cricket!

 

[Pakistanian]

I dont know any American Born Pakistani who watches cricket!

Lol do you want to see my birth certificate? There are quite few of us that watch cricket, it's more common if your dad watches cricket at home or plays for an amateur cricket club.

 

[Tiger96]

Didnt know the womens world cups was being played

Didn't know that Women had a FIFA World Cup too, must be awful in terms of quality.

 

[KingKhanWC]

About to watch my first full match of womens football. I thought Id give it a go with England getting to the semis.

England v USA

Come on English ladies, you can do this!

 

[Slog]

About to watch my first full match of womens football. I thought Id give it a go with England getting to the semis.

England v USA

Come on English ladies, you can do this!

Thoughts?

 

[Junaids]

26 times more English viewers watched the Women’s Football than the Cricket

The final death of One Day cricket as a mainstream sport in England has finally occurred.

Selling cricket to Pay-TV only has slowly decimated its viewer base.

And now today the chickens have finally come home to roost.

Until the mid-1960’s, Cricket was followed by more of the English public than football: the back page of the newspaper was cricket first, football second.

Now we discover that whereas 11.7 million viewers watched the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, an average of 450,000 have watched the Men’s ICC World Cup matches in which England or anyone else participated.

One Day cricket in England is basically dead.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

They need to make cricket free to watch in England or cheaper at least

 

[UP]

Cricket is dying a slow death in Non-Asian countries. Passion or interest is not there and I fear for the future of cricket. I don’t know if cricket will survive next 20 years.

 

[UP]

I think ODI cricket needs a major revamp to catch up with times - 40 overs per innings, 70/30 balance of pitch in favour of batting, one bowler can bowl 12 overs, one ball etc.

 

[aloo paratha]

ICC should have a quota for an amount of games that have to be televised on FTA for cricket boards.

 

[PCTPost2019]

Where's the context?

The women's WC was free to view. You have to pay to watch the cricket WC.
No one would watch the women's WC if it wasn't free.

 

[AdamM97]

Just to put things into perspective, most people in Europe don’t even watch women’s football and still they’re 26x times more viewers compared to cricket.
Imagine the difference between men’s football WC vs Cricket WC.

As i said in a previous thread, cricket is a dying sport in the Anglosphere countries which is why i want England to win a WC at home, that may make cricket more popular again.

 

[PCTPost2019]

Just to put things into perspective, most people in Europe don’t even watch women’s football and still they’re 26x times more viewers compared to cricket.
Imagine the difference between men’s football WC vs Cricket WC.

As i said in a previous thread, cricket is a dying sport in the Anglosphere countries which is why i want England to win a WC at home, that may make cricket more popular again.

One's free to view and the other is pay to watch how can you possibly compare the two?
I'm talking about women's football vs the CWC.

 

[AdamM97]

Cricket is dying a slow death in Non-Asian countries. Passion or interest is not there and I fear for the future of cricket. I don’t know if cricket will survive next 20 years.

Most Pakistani youth here in Sweden only watch cricket whenever Pakistan plays India or play in a big tournament like the World Cup.

Pakistan needs to invest in Football asap. Doesn’t help that our FIFA ranking is 205 (worst in Asia).

 

[PCTPost2019]

Most Pakistani youth here in Sweden only watch cricket whenever Pakistan plays India or play in a big tournament like the World Cup.

Pakistan needs to invest in Football asap. Doesn’t help that our FIFA ranking is 205 (worst in Asia).

Partly due to Pakistan being banned from Football for 2 years.

 

[AdamM97]

One's free to view and the other is pay to watch how can you possibly compare the two?
I'm talking about women's football vs the CWC.

The point is that most people in England don’t even care about cricket. I bet half of the people haven’t even watched a cricket match for ages. This is sad but i’m not surprised, cricket is confusing and boring to most people.

 

[PCTPost2019]

The point is that most people in England don’t even care about cricket. I bet half of the people haven’t even watched a cricket match for ages. This is sad but i’m not surprised, cricket is confusing and boring for most people.

True.
No one can be bothered to watch a match for 8 hours.
T20 is our only hope.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Football is number one sport in Europe.Attendances at football matches are massive.football tickets are not cheap esp in England but the stadiums are full when premier league clubs play.If England win WC then it may boost interest in cricket otherwise the decline of cricket will continue.

 

[KingKhanWC]

The point is that most people in England don’t even care about cricket. I bet half of the people haven’t even watched a cricket match for ages. This is sad but i’m not surprised, cricket is confusing and boring to most people.

Football is the no.1 sport in the UK and always will be. Its more than just a game here, its part of the culture.

Cricket has a decent following, it's the 3rd biggest sport in England after Football and Rugby but keep in mind most English cricket fans prefer test cricket, the Ashes are always sold out.

8.4 Million watched the 2005 Ashes Trent Bridge conclusion. If it was free to air, you will find many people watching this.

LOI cricket isn't dead but isnt popular. This is why England is the home of cricket, the real cricket fans here understand test cricket is the real deal, the others formats are imposters. [MENTION=1842]James[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] Do you chaps agree?

 

[AdamM97]

Football is the no.1 sport in the UK and always will be. Its more than just a game here, its part of the culture.

Cricket has a decent following, it's the 3rd biggest sport in England after Football and Rugby but keep in mind most English cricket fans prefer test cricket, the Ashes are always sold out.

8.4 Million watched the 2005 Ashes Trent Bridge conclusion. If it was free to air, you will find many people watching this.

LOI cricket isn't dead but isnt popular. This is why England is the home of cricket, the real cricket fans here understand test cricket is the real deal, the others formats are imposters. [MENTION=1842]James[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] Do you chaps agree?

Cricket in England is like Ice Hockey in Sweden. Both used to be very popular in the past and everyone still has an idea about how the sport works but most people have turned to football.

Ice Hockey is now limited to Swedes from a particular place in Sweden who are known to be hippies with long hair. Cricket is going down the same path.

For example: you still see ads and posters whenever there’s an ice hockey world cup and you hear about it in the news but most people don’t even bother watching it and probably can’t even name a single player from their national team.

India is the new home of cricket to be honest and it won’t be long until India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are going to be the only 3 nations competing for the world cup title.

 

[AdamM97]

Partly due to Pakistan being banned from Football for 2 years.

Also, a lot of players on the Pakistan national team are actually born and raised in Norway and Denmark which is just a cool fact.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Cricket in England is like Ice Hockey in Sweden. Both used to be very popular in the past and everyone still has an idea about how the sport works but most people have turned to football.

Ice Hockey is now limited to Swedes from a particular place in Sweden who are known to be hippies with long hair. Cricket is going down the same path.

For example: you still see ads and posters whenever there’s an ice hockey world cup and you hear about it in the news but most people don’t even bother watching it and probably can’t even name a single player from their national team.

India is the new home of cricket to be honest and it won’t be long until India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are going to be the only 3 nations competing for the world cup title.

India can never be the home of cricket. The game was invented in England, we have Lords which is the home of cricket and tbf we have the best pitches for cricket.

Cricket will never die in England because of the Ashes, it's tradition which has been standing for over a 100 years. Therefore all other formats will also be played by England.

Yes less people are playing cricket for various reasons but mostly imo due to not all schools having cricket in their physical education classes. However the ECB have been working hard over the last few years to address this with various measures including live cricket returning to free to air TV from next year! We will see live matches and highlights on the BBC which is a major step forward for increasing the interest in a great sport.

 

[ElRaja]

cricket has been dying in the uk since cricket went off free to air tv, but it doesnt die. cricket will never be a mainstream sport outside asia, and thats fine, i dont see why people care how many people are watching, economically the sport is doing much better than the 90s, or 00s, etc.

but odi cricket is a boring format, outside of the context of the world cup i cant remember the last full odi i saw.

 

[Bewal Express]

The WC has had no impact on the general population. The vast majority don't care about Cricket and never watch. Not a single white kid has asked me about the Cricket WC, whereas amongst​ the desi kids, it remains the main talking point.

 

[hiyuo]

Cricket is dying a slow death in Non-Asian countries. Passion or interest is not there and I fear for the future of cricket. I don’t know if cricket will survive next 20 years.

I don't think so about Australia.

 

[UP]

India can never be the home of cricket. The game was invented in England, we have Lords which is the home of cricket and tbf we have the best pitches for cricket.

Cricket will never die in England because of the Ashes, it's tradition which has been standing for over a 100 years. Therefore all other formats will also be played by England.

Yes less people are playing cricket for various reasons but mostly imo due to not all schools having cricket in their physical education classes. However the ECB have been working hard over the last few years to address this with various measures including live cricket returning to free to air TV from next year! We will see live matches and highlights on the BBC which is a major step forward for increasing the interest in a great sport.

Is ECB trying to revive cricket in school or grassroot level? What’s cricket like in U-15 level?

Every match (Test, ODI and T20) will be free to watch? Or selected few?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Is ECB trying to revive cricket in school or grassroot level? What’s cricket like in U-15 level?

Every match (Test, ODI and T20) will be free to watch? Or selected few?

Here bro

In 2020, live cricket will return to BBC TV for the first time since the 1999 World Cup final. The BBC are said to be paying just £13m a year for 100 hours of cricket coverage – including live coverage of two England men’s T20 internationals; one England women’s T20I; and 10 and eight matches from The Hundred respectively.

Highlights of all England men’s and women’s games also return to the BBC, plus digital clips of England and domestic games shown live on Sky, who have retained the bulk of the coverage from 2020–24.

In preparation, the BBC recently appointed Stephen Lyle, previously head of sport at Channel 4, as their lead executive for TV coverage and IPlayer commissioning. James Coyne met him at MediaCity in Salford a few weeks into his role.

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics...lyle_explains_the_bbcs_plans_for_cricket.html

Wasim Khan who is now the MD of the PCB was behind bringing cricket back to schools. When I was in school every summer for 3/4 months we used to play cricket with other schools. I was the vice captain of my team and although we had some decent players we would get creamed by the private schools. The reason is they have the money to afford the best equipment including nets at the school. Sadly the governments of recent decades reduced the budgets of schools which meant expensive sports such as cricket were left behind and only playing in some schools apart the posh private ones.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/new...batting-for-cricket-in-every-school-1-5936033

Asians are playing a lot of cricket in England and imo you will see many more playing for England in next 2/3 decades which will help the sport overall.

 

[Markhor]

You can thank David Morgan and Giles Clarke for that.

 

[rhony]

Welcome to 6 months of IPL a year. Will happen in a decade or so.

 

[Markhor]

Every match (Test, ODI and T20) will be free to watch? Or selected few?

It's a complete joke. Basically ECB have sold the rights to about ten matches of this new tournament that NOBODY in England wants called The Hundred (you should check out the embarassing team names - something a 4 year old could imagine up) to FTA BBC TV plus a few T20Is thrown in there.

It's totally inadequate.

 

[Mo Dipsy]

I went to school in the UK in the late 1980s when cricket was free to air. Despite that, we never played or spoke about cricket ever! Football was everything. And this was a school in Manchester with at least 20% kids of sub continent origin. I wonder what other UK posters experience was? (perhaps I'm an outlier)

While free-to-air certainly provides exposure to people, it doesn't necessarily make them cricket fans esp in the face of stiff competition from football and other sports.

 

[ads101]

Cricket's dead in England. Average viewing figures for the ashes in 2015 was around 400,000 in 2015. So if ODI cricket is dead, then test cricket is definitely dead in England.

If anything this shows that ODIs are gaining traction against tests even in England, as you assume that the latter knock out stages might have even more viewers.

But I'm in the opinion that in general cricket is pretty dead in England.

 

[AdamM97]

Here bro



https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics...lyle_explains_the_bbcs_plans_for_cricket.html

Wasim Khan who is now the MD of the PCB was behind bringing cricket back to schools. When I was in school every summer for 3/4 months we used to play cricket with other schools. I was the vice captain of my team and although we had some decent players we would get creamed by the private schools. The reason is they have the money to afford the best equipment including nets at the school. Sadly the governments of recent decades reduced the budgets of schools which meant expensive sports such as cricket were left behind and only playing in some schools apart the posh private ones.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/new...batting-for-cricket-in-every-school-1-5936033

Asians are playing a lot of cricket in England and imo you will see many more playing for England in next 2/3 decades which will help the sport overall.

Exactly, Asians are playing more cricket which means that’s the sport is mostly limited to South Asians in South Asia and those living overseas. T20 looks like the only solution to cricket’s problems but it’s also going to ruin the sport for me and others who love Test and ODI.

 

[hitthestump]

Here in the UK Women's football has been shoved into the mainstream sports news for a while now. It's not a coincidence, there has been a concerted effort from those who run the media to bring more prominence to women's sports.

England is a football crazy country. Right now there's no men's football on at the moment and England W had a relatively good team who were capable of winning the WC - something which is a real novelty given the men's team doesn't win anything!

I wouldn't read too much into it. Cricket certainly isn't dying here, not yet anyway.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Exactly, Asians are playing more cricket which means that’s the sport is mostly limited to South Asians in South Asia and those living overseas. T20 looks like the only solution to cricket’s problems but it’s also going to ruin the sport for me and others who love Test and ODI.

England are also planning a franchise T20 league but need to get over the hurdle of upsetting the counties.

We need to keep things in perspective. If we say cricket is dying in England but England are the no.1 ODI team which has transformed the game in recent years and not far from winning the world cup now? I;d take the England team with cricket dying over the current Pakistan team where cricket is like a religion.

You dont need milliions of people playing cricket to have a succesful international team. Just look at the populations of Australia, NZ and Sri Lanka. India has a over a billion people with millions playing cricket yet they dont dominate cricket and imo never will.

 

[AdamM97]

England are also planning a franchise T20 league but need to get over the hurdle of upsetting the counties.

We need to keep things in perspective. If we say cricket is dying in England but England are the no.1 ODI team which has transformed the game in recent years and not far from winning the world cup now? I;d take the England team with cricket dying over the current Pakistan team where cricket is like a religion.

You dont need milliions of people playing cricket to have a succesful international team. Just look at the populations of Australia, NZ and Sri Lanka. India has a over a billion people with millions playing cricket yet they dont dominate cricket and imo never will.

Can’t forget how England has imported players like Roy from SA, Stokes from NZ and Archer from WI. Rashid and Moeen are British born Asians.

As for domination, i agree with you that it’s shocking how Pakistan and India has never dominated cricket despite it being followed like a religion there. Compare that to football mad nations like Brazil and Argentina who have dominated football.

Either i’m wrong about cricket being a near dead sport in the UK or South Asians just suck at sports and can’t produce as many world class players. In a cricket mad nation like India with a population of 1.3B, it’s surprising how they aren’t producing players like Kohli frequently.

 

[gibsyhesperis]

A few points
1) Cricket is dying a slow death in England
2) Pay to view is exacerbating this
3) A recent poll amongst English cricket fans overwhelming showed they would rather win The Ashes than the cricket World Cup

The women’s football seems to have garnered more interest here in the UK than the cricket World Cup ...

 

[Hasan123]

OP is desperate to prove ODI cricket is dead and show test cricket is thriving. Even test cricket in England is not that popular. I don't know about these figures. But I know people who don't even watch cricket who have followed the WC.

 

[Hawkeye]

It's not dying.

The interest is less, yes, but that's mostly the symptom of not being free to watch.

Football's views were higher because everyone could watch it for free, without any subscription. And it's shorter duration too.

Promoted in the news as well.

Cricket won't become the #1 sport there, but can become #2 - it's already #3.

* Make some/most matches free to air.
* Promote in news.

 

[irfan]

I went to school in the UK in the late 1980s when cricket was free to air. Despite that, we never played or spoke about cricket ever! Football was everything. And this was a school in Manchester with at least 20% kids of sub continent origin. I wonder what other UK posters experience was? (perhaps I'm an outlier)

While free-to-air certainly provides exposure to people, it doesn't necessarily make them cricket fans esp in the face of stiff competition from football and other sports.

Interesting , I too went to school in Manchester roughly same period and we played cricket in the summer and it was popular with with white and asian kids as well as the teachers. The fact we were 2 mins walk to Old Trafford/LCCC might have had something to do with it,lol

At work most of the men are actually following the cricket even if they don't watch it as some don't have Sky, the ECB really sold their soul to the devil by depriving the country of free to air.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Can’t forget how England has imported players like Roy from SA, Stokes from NZ and Archer from WI. Rashid and Moeen are British born Asians.

As for domination, i agree with you that it’s shocking how Pakistan and India has never dominated cricket despite it being followed like a religion there. Compare that to football mad nations like Brazil and Argentina who have dominated football.

Either i’m wrong about cricket being a near dead sport in the UK or South Asians just suck at sports and can’t produce as many world class players. In a cricket mad nation like India with a population of 1.3B, it’s surprising how they aren’t producing players like Kohli frequently.

IF they are entitled to play for England this is enough for me but I get your point.

In the UK we play sports from a young age and all sorts of sports. I used to be involved in football, cricket, tennis, basketball, swimming, canoeing, boxing, martial arts, rugby, table tennis, some in school and others outside. Fitness and sport is normal for children growing up here but in Asian nations it's not as much. Having a large number playing a sport doesn't mean you have more chances to find serious talent. Quality of quantity is the key.

Australia for me is the Pound for Pound no1. cricket team in history. Only a fraction of Aussies play cricket compared to Indians yet have dominated the sport since the mid 90's.

 

[AdamM97]

The biggest proof of cricket being a South Asian sport is to watch any tweet on the CWC or go look at ICC’s facebook page and see who comments there. 99.9% are South Asians and it’s a rarity to find a none south asian there.

And yet, Pakistan struggle to beat England and Australia these days and India should actually be dominating cricket by a mile considering their large fanbase and population but it isn’t....

 

[DeadBall]

Yes it is, and rightly so given the sheer will to win of our Lionesses.

Lionesses went phoos sadly, back to supporting the boyses.

 

[Markhor]

Cricket's dead in England. Average viewing figures for the ashes in 2015 was around 400,000 in 2015. So if ODI cricket is dead, then test cricket is definitely dead in England.

If anything this shows that ODIs are gaining traction against tests even in England, as you assume that the latter knock out stages might have even more viewers.

But I'm in the opinion that in general cricket is pretty dead in England.

Any sport will die if nobody gets to see it ! Unless you have the ability to fork out £45/month on a Sky subscription plus £20 upfront for the box, then for most working class kids since it's not on the telly it doesn't exist.

It's true Sky can far outbid the FTA networks but this is the trade off any sporting body must consider. Either keep cricket available to the widest possible audience on a FTA network for less money or sacrifice audience numbers for a greater injection of cash. ECB opted for the latter in 2005 with disasterous consequences for grassroots participation.

Australia on the other hand have anti-siphoning laws that ensure free-to-air broadcasters have first opportunity to bid for Australia's home cricket series. Whilst LOIs have gone behind a paywall, home Tests remains on FTA TV there.

 

[DeadBall]

Didn't know that Women had a FIFA World Cup too, must be awful in terms of quality.

They even have a women's Ashes now.

I'm all for women equality but the PC brigade take it too far sometimes.

 

[AdamM97]

They even have a women's Ashes now.

I'm all for women equality but the PC brigade take it too far sometimes.

Back in 2014 or 2015, there was a match between Sweden’s women national team against a U16 men’s club called GAIS which ended in a 1-0 victory for the U16 boyz.

Just to put things into perspective, Sweden WNT is ranked 9 in FIFA rankings and will play for Bronze in this world cup.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Thoughts?

I actually enjoyed it lol.

Pleasantly surprised with the speed the game was played and also the physical attritubes of both teams. The USA team looks a well organised team with some really gifted players. Some of the passing was very good too esp the long balls which from my experience women struggle with.

England girls were unlucky with the offside which would have made 2-2 but no excuse for missing the penalty with that terrible shot.

I also watched some of the second semi between Holland and Sweden but was a lot slower pace and some poor quality. So left me thinking USA and England are on another level to the rest. USA should easily beat the Dutch in the final and probably will continue to dominate the womens game for years to come. I can now understand why they asked for same pay as the mens because these girls have done so well compared to their male counterparts.

I think I will go and watch Liverpool ladies in the league next year to see up close how good they really are.

 

[Suleiman]

Bruh nobody cares over here, womens soccerball is a niche sport.

Nah man, there isn’t crazy interest but there is interest.

Seen quite a few people share snap stories with them watching the game or on FB.

 

[DeadBall]

Back in 2014 or 2015, there was a match between Sweden’s women national team against a U16 men’s club called GAIS which ended in a 1-0 victory for the U16 boyz.

Just to put things into perspective, Sweden WNT is ranked 9 in FIFA rankings and will play for Bronze in this world cup.

Read somewhere that it was 5-0 or something but that's not my point. They have every right to play and compete in tournaments, competitions, World Cups etc as is only natural. My problem is overdoing the political correctness.

The Ashes is one of the oldest rivalries in sports, something that has been going on for almost a century and a half, making it into a circus just for the sake of everyone feeling better and getting more female related sponsorships just detracts from the grand solemnity of the event.