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The Number One Global Sports

From the MGV Sports Desk

Rationale

Around the world, people play different kinds of sports. Some sports are peculiar to a particular region, country or culture. For instance, American football is a sport peculiar to the United States and Canada -- two English-speaking countries that occupy most of the North American continent and share close-knit histories and similar cultures. Similarly, the game of lacrosse was originated by Native North Americans 600 years ago. It is a field team sport played with a ball and catching stick. Today, it remains a sport peculiar to Canada and the United States. The game of rugby is a sport shared by Britain and a number of other countries with cultural and colonial ties to the United Kingdom.

Some sports events are not peculiar to any culture or region, but are played or participated in by people in every region culture and country. These we call universal sports. Such athletic activities like track and field, wrestling and swimming are universal sports.

Between the universal and peculiar sports, there are the global sports. These are sporting events which are not quite yet universal but have acquired wide popularity and mass participation. They are organized competitively on a global scale. Games like soccer, cricket, basket ball, ice hockey and boxing are global sports.

Other games such as polo, gulf and tennis can be regarded as elite sports. They are recognized in most parts of the world, but even in those places where they are well known, most people do not partake in them. These games, by the way they are organized, preclude popular participation. They are mostly indulged by a particular class. Others' ability to take part is limited by available means. For instance, polo is mostly a patrician game played by royals and other members of the upper class in societies where such exist.

Universal and global sports are distinguished by the fact that they are organized competitively on a world-wide scale with championships that culminate in the emergence of a single world champion. Other sports may have this element also, but their popular appeal is highly limited or non-existent.

MGV's Global Sports concentrates on reports about global and universal sports events with some information on other types of sports when necessary.