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#41
(Original post by Mess.)
The comparison you’re missing is the number of people that play football overall, compared to the number of people who play cricket overall.
The best 4,000 football players in the UK will be a smaller percentage of the overall than the best 400 cricketers against the overall number of players.
Football is far more widely played both in the UK and across the world as a whole than any other sport, so is then far more competitive to get to the top level.
The comparison you’re missing is the number of people that play football overall, compared to the number of people who play cricket overall.
The best 4,000 football players in the UK will be a smaller percentage of the overall than the best 400 cricketers against the overall number of players.
Football is far more widely played both in the UK and across the world as a whole than any other sport, so is then far more competitive to get to the top level.
It's also much easier to go out to a park and play football and less equipment is required than for cricket. To me, that indicates that there are lots of people who play football though they have no interest in getting anywhere with it whereas, with cricket, there is a greater investment which results in people reaching a higher level.
Brief research by me indicates that Alistair Cook (highest paid england cricketer before retirement) earnt £1,500,000 per year. The average pay for a premier league player is £3,000,000 per year (as of late 2019) which is twice that of the highest cricketer salary. That, to me, indicates a disparity not simply based on becoming a footballer being more competitive.
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#42
(Original post by Rufus the red)
It may be more competitive to get to the top but there are more places at the top.
It's also much easier to go out to a park and play football and less equipment is required than for cricket. To me, that indicates that there are lots of people who play football though they have no interest in getting anywhere with it whereas, with cricket, there is a greater investment which results in people reaching a higher level.
Brief research by me indicates that Alistair Cook (highest paid england cricketer before retirement) earnt £1,500,000 per year. The average pay for a premier league player is £3,000,000 per year (as of late 2019) which is twice that of the highest cricketer salary. That, to me, indicates a disparity not simply based on becoming a footballer being more competitive.
It may be more competitive to get to the top but there are more places at the top.
It's also much easier to go out to a park and play football and less equipment is required than for cricket. To me, that indicates that there are lots of people who play football though they have no interest in getting anywhere with it whereas, with cricket, there is a greater investment which results in people reaching a higher level.
Brief research by me indicates that Alistair Cook (highest paid england cricketer before retirement) earnt £1,500,000 per year. The average pay for a premier league player is £3,000,000 per year (as of late 2019) which is twice that of the highest cricketer salary. That, to me, indicates a disparity not simply based on becoming a footballer being more competitive.
As you have a greater number of people playing, you are far more likely to pick up the absolute best of the best. So even the worst of those 4,000 will be playing to such a level it’s almost another game to the people further down the chain.
Cricket by comparison has around 364k players, so the sample size is around 80% lower than football. That means your chance of picking up the absolute best possible cricketers reduces by 80%, as you don’t have exceptional athletes even trying cricket.
This can be empathised by some professional footballers who were touted as potentially the best cricketers of their generation e.g. Phil Neville but ended up moving to football and only sitting within probably the top 300 in the UK at the time.
This is a similar reason why the US believes their men’s soccer team struggles. The top athletes go into NFL and Basketball, so they end up with what’s left playing soccer.
TLDR: the larger the pool to draw from, the more likely you are to pick up the best athletes/sports people.
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