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Old 10-17-2012, 02:37 PM   #1
polak
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Default Is Canada A "Sports" Country?

This argument broke out in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying thread and it led to some pretty good discussion.

So... Is Canada a "sports" country? Why or why not? What does being a "Sports Country" entail?

Go.

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Old 10-17-2012, 02:39 PM   #2
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As long as by sports you mean hockey, then yes.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:39 PM   #3
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No, it's a Hockey country. Even the CFL is pretty much just TSN manufactured enthusiasm for the most part.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:45 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by polak View Post
This argument broke out in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying thread and it led to some pretty good discussion.

So... Is Canada a "sports" country? Why or why not? What does being a "Sports Country" entitle?

Go.
entail?


I think Canada is a "sports country" however, our sports are a reflection of the various regional differences. Some sports are popular in some areas and some in others.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:46 PM   #5
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Canada has three national TV sports networks. Most cities have at least one all-sports radio station. I don't think there are many countries that are more passionate about sports than Canada. Participation in sports is very high. Interest in professional sports is enormous.


http://sportsofficials.ca/UserFiles/...MIE2008060.pdf

In 1992, the results of the General Social Survey showed that 45% of Canadians
aged 15 and older or 9.6 million people participated in sport. In 1998, the figure
dropped to 34% of the population. By 2005, the number of participants had decreased
further to 7.3 million Canadians, representing 28% of the population.


According to the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, 13.8 million
people, representing 51% of Canadians aged 12 and older, were involved in leisuretime
physical activity of some sort.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:46 PM   #6
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as long as the sport is played on ice or snow, yes.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:52 PM   #7
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Hockey so dominates that alot of the top male athletes go that route and forgo other sports. We are constantly top 3 in a top 5 team sport, not many countries of 35mil can say that.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:54 PM   #8
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Hockey so dominates that alot of the top male athletes go that route and forgo other sports. We are constantly top 3 in a top 5 team sport, not many countries of 35mil can say that.

eh?
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:55 PM   #9
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Seeing as how this was spurred by the World Cup Qualifying Thread, it should be said for the people who were originally participating in that thread - Canada is a "sports" country, just not a soccer country, relatively speaking compared with the rest of the world. Some soccer enthusiasts (some, not all, not trying to start a war here) have trouble differentiating the two, I've noticed.

Winter sports dominate here, and it's not all about hockey, although hockey is undeniably huge in this country. Skiiing, snowboarding, skating, ice/rock climbing, etc.

As someone else noted, it is also regionally dependent. Individual winter sports (as mentioned above) are really popular here in Alberta and interior BC. There's a good pocket on the west coast where baseball is popular. Football is relativley big in Quebec and on the east coast, rowing is popular in some areas, etc.

I don't think sporting (participation or spectator) is as big in Canada as in some places. Australia comes immediately to mind. It isn't all that far behind though.
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Old 10-17-2012, 02:57 PM   #10
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eh?
I believe what he's saying Canada consistently is top 3 in hockey which is one of the top 5 (most popular? most competitive?) team sports in the world.
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:01 PM   #11
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I believe what he's saying Canada consistently is top 3 in hockey which is one of the top 5 (most popular? most competitive?) team sports in the world.
Ah I see.

I don't think hockey is up there.

I would suggest that depending on the list it could struggle to break the top ten.
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:07 PM   #12
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I don't think sporting (participation or spectator) is as big in Canada as in some places. Australia comes immediately to mind. It isn't all that far behind though.
Australia is a good country to mention. I think if you took out winter and replaced it with summer, you could very well drescribe Australia.

I know that some of their sports are localized in the country, Aussie Rules, Rugby, League.
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:12 PM   #13
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Well I guess I was at the front of the previous discussion so I should weigh in.

My point was largely based around comments that knock Canada for a variety of reasons, most of which were ridiculous (lack of women's professional sports leagues, the need to travel to get top level training in niche sports etc.) and comparisons that were doing a rather incredible job of discounting Canadian things while massively over inflating foreign offerings (Scotland having a second/third tier soccer league gets them points, but the CFL doesn't count).

I don't really want to go through the effort of summarizing everything I said, but I'm getting a little sick of seeing people unfairly slam Canadian sports and Canada in general on topics like this. We are a massive country with a small population that is frozeen for half the year and yet we are right up there in Olympic medals, we consistently produce elite athletes and we support numerous sports at a variety of levels. Having people discount that because there's no domestic women's basketball league is stupid.
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:14 PM   #14
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I don't really want to go through the effort of summarizing everything I said, but I'm getting a little sick of seeing people unfairly slam Canadian sports and Canada in general on topics like this. We are a massive country with a small population that is frozeen for half the year and yet we are right up there in Olympic medals, we consistently produce elite athletes and we support numerous sports at a variety of levels. Having people discount that because there's no domestic women's basketball league is stupid.
Oh crap.....I agree with every word you said in this post......
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:20 PM   #15
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In the three international major sports (NHL, MLB, NBA), Canada ranks 1st, 4th, and 4th in players.

Outside of the US, this is by far the best of any of the participating countries.

Cherry-picked info perhaps, but still indicative that Canada does pretty well in major sports, soccer notwithstanding.
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:25 PM   #16
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NHL, MLB, and NBA international sports?

Just because they call it the "World Series"...
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:28 PM   #17
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NHL, MLB, and NBA international sports?

Just because they call it the "World Series"...
How many true international sports leagues are there? True stand alone leagues?
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:29 PM   #18
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NHL, MLB, and NBA international sports?

Just because they call it the "World Series"...
Outside of soccer find me a more global sport than basketball
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:31 PM   #19
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Cricket and Rugby.
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Last edited by arsenal; 10-17-2012 at 03:32 PM. Reason: added cricket to the list
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Old 10-17-2012, 03:32 PM   #20
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Outside of soccer find me a more global sport than basketball
Rugby Union.
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