British Empire (1783-1997) - Atrocities of British Empire

[Philip Latinowitz]

BS.

[Longbowman]

English became lingua franca after WWII and thanks to Hollywood becoming a global thing. So it's really the americans who are responsible for that. As for sports, the english did invent modern football but i can't think of any other example. Cricket is only played by indians and brits and Rugby is far from being global too.

America is a product of the empire. English was well on its way to being a lingua franca in the 19th century.

Cricket, rugby, tennis, football, even baseball, handegg. How do you rate 'global?' Nothing compares to football but pretending cricket, rugby etc aren't worldwide games is retarded. What else even is there, apart from basketball? Water polo? Don't make me sneeze.

[Longbowman]

I mean cricket is THE sport of the entire Indian subcontinent (1.5 billion people) plus it's very popular in most dominion realms. It's obviously global.

Anyhow, here's a list of the 25 most popular sports:

http://www.totalsportek.com/most-popular-sports/

1) Football: British
2) Basketball: Canadian (in 1891, Empire)
3) Cricket: British
4) Tennis: British
5) Athletics: a lot of athletics events originated in the UK but obviously 'running' is a bit older than we are
6) Rugby: British
7) Formula One: French
8) Boxing: British
9) Ice Hockey: Canada (1800s, Empire)
10) Volleyball: USA (Empire)

And it goes on. So we have 5 out of the top 10 most popular sports being British, two being British Empire, one being former British Empire, and one being French. In fact if you discount athletics, which is really many sports, not just one, all of the top 6 sports in the ENTIRE WORLD are either British or Empire.

BTW, the 11th is golf, also British, so it would be 6 out of 10 British, 2 out of 10 Empire, 1 out of 10 former Empire, and one French. 12 and 13 are, respectively, Handegg (derived from Rugby and also ex-Empire) and baseball (invented in the UK). 14 is MMA which I'm guessing is American too. Then MotoGP, and field hockey, and badminton, and guess what, more British inventions, even at such low-level, poxy sports.

You're just buttblasted that we're so relevant, historically.

[Robocop]

I never wanted that this thread becomes a place for mocking and teasing British people, and I said in OP that this has nothing to do with British people.

Also I have to note that UK has given to this world a lot, means a lot of good things and one cannot forget that. About USA and UK, well, I don't like to generalize any people but if I have to choose between Americans and British, means if there isn't any third choice but between those two, I choose British.

If nothing, then because of this guys, I grew up watching this series, Americans will never understand it in right way .



(their disgraceful remake has shown that, you cannot make "a remake" of Mona Lisa).

[Damião de Góis]

America is a product of the empire. English was well on its way to being a lingua franca in the 19th century.

That would be like me taking credit for anything Brazil has done, it's a different entity now. And i think french was the lingua franca in the 19th century.

Cricket, rugby, tennis, football, even baseball, handegg. How do you rate 'global?' Nothing compares to football but pretending cricket, rugby etc aren't worldwide games is retarded. What else even is there, apart from basketball? Water polo? Don't make me sneeze.

Cricket is only worldwide in terms of followers because there are billions of Indians.
I rate global as being a dominant sport across various countries, football certainly is.

For example a british sport i like, snooker, is certainly not global.

[Longbowman]

That would be like me taking credit for anything Brazil has done, it's a different entity now. And i think french was the lingua franca in the 19th century.



Cricket is only worldwide in terms of followers because there are billions of Indians.
I rate global as being a dominant sport across various countries, football certainly is.

For example a british sport i like, snooker, is certainly not global.

Yeah OK, post above you has a link to 25 sports, easily 15 are British. Name one non-Empire sport that has achieved even modest global presence. Oh, wait, you can't, you're just criticising without realising we're speaking relatively. The fact cricket isn't played in your corner of Europe doesn't mean it isn't far, far more relevant than grabbing a live chicken and ripping its head off whilst riding a horse (I believe you have a specific word for that, but I don't know what it is). Obviously the only truly global sport is football (which is British), but other sports are very widely played, including of course rugby, basketball, cricket, tennis, all of which are also British, and if you don't know anyone who plays at least one of those, you're either lying or a total NEET.

Besides, population matters. Mongolia and India aren't equal, and therefore, polo is not as popular as cricket, in the same way tengrism isn't a global religion in the same way Buddhism is, despite being present in about the same amount of countries. Probably about 2 billion people play/have played/watch/follow cricket. Even if most of them are in southern Asia (hundreds of millions are not) it's still a global sport. Trivia: first international sporting fixture was in cricket, America vs Canada, 1838. Canada won.

[Damião de Góis]

Yeah OK, post above you has a link to 25 sports, easily 15 are British. Name one non-Empire sport that has achieved even modest global presence. Oh, wait, you can't, you're just criticising without realising we're speaking relatively. The fact cricket isn't played in your corner of Europe doesn't mean it isn't far, far more relevant than grabbing a live chicken and ripping its head off whilst riding a horse (I believe you have a specific word for that, but I don't know what it is). Obviously the only truly global sport is football (which is British), but other sports are very widely played, including of course rugby, basketball, cricket, tennis, all of which are also British, and if you don't know anyone who plays at least one of those, you're either lying or a total NEET.

I think cricket is inexistent outside of India and the UK, and probably Sri Lanka (don't know abot Ireland). Comparing it to handball, which is relatively popular all over Europe, i think you'll agree that it's a more popular sport than cricket. I don't think cricket is an olympic sport, if it was only 3 or 4 nations would participate.

[Laberia]

That would be like me taking credit for anything Brazil has done, it's a different entity now.

But the discussion is about the legacy.

And i think french was the lingua franca in the 19th century.

At my knowledge, at the beggining of XX century, only around 50 % of the population in France spoke French, the rest spoke their local languages.

[Longbowman]

I think cricket is inexistent outside of India and the UK, and probably Sri Lanka (don't know abot Ireland). Comparing it to handball, which is relatively popular all over Europe, i think you'll agree that it's a more popular sport than cricket. I don't think cricket is an olympic sport, if it was only 3 or 4 nations would participate.

You're wrong, it's widely popular in many countries. God, you're ignorant. This is beyond eurocentrism, I imagine more people play cricket in England alone than play handball in all of Europe. I provided you a source, now you're just making stuff up and it's obvious you don't know shit.

Countries in which cricket is *very* popular:

UK, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, a bunch of other who-cares Austronesian countries, a bunch of other African and South Asian countries. Some countries like the Netherlands and Canada have enough interest to have a decent international side but I wouldn't call it very popular there. It is wildly popular throughout the Caribbean (except Cuba, Hispaniola) and coastal caribbean nations like Belize, Guyana, Suriname. Also some Gulf states, etc.

Handball is only mildly popular in a handful of European countries.

Rugby is enormously popular in every Polynesian country, the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, even the Caucasian countries, many African countries especially Southern African countries but also Eastern African ones, and also South American countries like Argentina. Even the US has a decent rugby squad.

But go on, keep pretending like you're being objective just because Portugal never got around to picking up either of these sports (or tennis, I guess). It doesn't mean you can compare them with bloody handball, and what you're writing makes it extremely obvious you're writing through severe ignorance.

If you don't know about something, don't talk about it.

[Longbowman]

'Handball is more popular than cricket.'