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Howcome you never hear about sports at the british universities?

Is it pretty much non existent? I understand how American universities have leagues and and even a mediocre (somewhat) university like penn state will have MASSIVE stadiums so it's much talked about, but I've never even heard of british universities playing against each other (maybe just the likes of UCL vs. LSE, but seriously I don't think anyone cares about these games), let alone have their own world class stadiums. Why is that? I'm not talking about funding, it just seems no one cares about getting involved with sports at the british universities :s-smilie:

. Or am I being blatantly ignorant here?

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Reply 1

ReddDraggon

Well college sport in the US is only secondary to the national leagues like the NFL/NBA etc, and the players tend to get drafted from university. In the UK, we have loads of football leagues, and most towns have their own teams, with their own grounds, in the UK we have a rather oversaturated "sporting market" for spectators.

Reply 2

asdfg0987

ReddDraggon

In the UK, we have loads of football leagues, and most towns have their own teams, with their own grounds, in the UK we have a rather oversaturated "sporting market" for spectators.

Yes, but I was talking about sports at the universities. You never even hear much about people taking part in intramurals to be honest.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

PasserBy9

Oxbridge Boat Race?
BUCS?

I can also think of loads of Varsity matches ... but then I think I have an advantage with the Uni I went to. I'll admit that it may not be as prominent around the rest of the country.

It's pretty evident though that at American Universities and Colleges there is a much great emphasis on advertising the sporting fixtures - in turn raising the standards expected of the team, which leads to better results/games (and the circle continues). Also, the community spirit or 'sense of belonging' always seems much greater whenever I've been over there, therefore just about everyone rallies behind their team; in the UK, you can watch some Uni 1st teams play without more than a handful of spectators.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4

Shuv11

Our main Uni teams (rugby/football/hockey etc) compete on an almost weekly bases against other Uni's and then we have the big one dayers where we compete against the other big local Uni, in all sports, and then again against the Navy. We do have a big emphasis on sports teams and societies, but that just be in my area although from being at other open days last year they did talk a lot about sports.

Reply 5

nulli tertius

asdfg0987

. Or am I being blatantly ignorant here?

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the largest event in US varsity sport attracts a live audience of about 100,000 and a TV audience of about 24 million in the US. The largest event in varsity sport in the UK is the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. It has a live audience of about 250,000 and a TV audience in the UK of about 5.4 million but is screened in about 200 countries worldwide.

The main difference between the UK and the US is the virtual absence of professional sport from many US cities. There are 32 NFL teams in the USA. There are 93 professional league football (soccer) teams in England and Wales with more in Scotland. In many US cities college or high school sport is the best sport on offer.

Reply 6

iliveinacake

I was going to write something, but everything said above answers your question. All I'll ay is that whilst the US has its own set of 1st tier sports (American football, Basketball, Baseball) people seem to love the college game, even if they have no real affiliation with their chosen institution. I put this down to the fact that College athletes aren't paid and play the game for the game's sake - it's raw competition at the end of the day.

Reply 7

S-man10

The emphasis on sport in America is because of the NCAA system I think. Many athletes from high school who have average grades attend top US university, purely based on sporting merit. These are individuals who have a future in professional sports. Others who attend on sporting merit do so due to financial reasons as they are usually offered full scholarships, and just want to get their degree and get jobs.

Since the professional sports industry is US is obviously much more diverse, and the usual steps to reaching there are standing out in high school, getting picked by a good university, and then getting drafted. This way the US stands out. Plus most die hard fans follow all levels of sports, from high school to march madness, to the NBA.

The most dominant professional sport in Europe is probably football. And many many clubs have their own academies where the players are trained, before they reach full potential, and then are played given a chance with their first teams. The most potent example of an academy is Barcelona's youth system, where about 9 players from Spain's world cup squad graduated from. There is no 'drafting' system in Europe, seeing as football is played in various league world wide. Thus its the buy and sell system.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 8

john87

the top sportsmen in the uk are already in youth teams which is completely seperate from the university teams, whereas in the usa people get scouted from university teams.

no one in the uk really gives a **** about university sports.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 9

cowsgoquack

because we study at university not play 'football' and do 'cheering'

Reply 10

jacketpotato

University teams in the States are professional full-time teams, not sports that people do for fun in their spare time like at British universities. They are used as training grounds for professional teams in the NFL.

Imagine if, for example, Manchester University's football team was really the Under-21 Manchester United Team; and most of the players in that team could expect to play for premiership clubs. That's the kind of system we are talking about.

Reply 11

Blueflare

University students in this country do play each other, we play each other all the time, but it's not played in a stadium and broadcast on TV with million pound sponsorship deals.
Students who participate care, but the general public do not. That's the difference.

Reply 12

asdfg0987

cowsgoquack

because we study at university not play 'football' and do 'cheering'

And the people at US universities don't

Reply 13

FormerlyFrisbeeFan

There is a lot of sport at British universities. Pick any sport, however obscure, and there will be universities with clubs for it. There are plenty of Varsity matches, for example, and there's a university league for most sports. The difference is that because all university sport is amateur, and there are so many professional sports teams in Britain, it would seem a bit perverse to support a university team in preference to a professional one when the professional team would be far more highly skilled and therefore better to watch.

Reply 14

Racheya

We're more concerned with actually learning stuff at University, rather than cheering on sports players. Sure, sports is a part of University everywhere and may sometimes be a 'big thing' like the Cambridge/Oxford boat race, but otherwise we generally don't give a crap. People who play sports at Secondary/Sixth Form/University aren't exalted to amazing heights like in the US.

Reply 15

leesworld

mabe cos in this contry we value acadmics and not talent, its the same with the arts in this countrey its not valued like in the states thats why we struggle to produce great sporting teams.

Reply 16

S-man10

innerhollow

Erg I really hate that. I don't understand why you would have a university system designed to teach people then double up as some kind of sports league.

Honestly speaking, cause you probably suck at kicking a football. :wink2:

Reply 17

James Carter

What about all the rowing that goes on between Cambridge and Oxford etc? I don't actually know anything about rowing really, just that there seems to be rowing between some universities on the TV sometimes, usually it's Cambridge. Other than that I have no idea.