Why Don’t Other Countries Play American Football?
February 3, 2013 in Daily Bulletin
The team that wins the Super Bowl tonight will be able to call itself the world champion of American Football. Yet this title is only slightly less misleading than the title of Miss Universe – a competition which we only invite our own solar system to – since no other country really plays American Football. Joshua E. Keating looked at why this was:
- It can’t be because the sport is American. Baseball is American and that has a global fan base. Nor can it be because of how rough it is. Rugby is rougher.
- The biggest reason why other countries don’t play American football is because of cost. With basketball you just need a ball and a hoop. Baseball requires a ball and a bat. American football requires all of the gear and equipment for all the players.
- People might also be put off by the complexity of the rules.
- Efforts to promote American Football across the oceans have mostly failed. This is because players who do well go to the United States, robbing the fan base of other countries of their favourite star – the very same fan base that could make the game popular.
Read more about the various efforts to export American Football over here.
Source: Foreign Policy
How much is the cost of American Football
The rest of the world is enjoy to watch the sports! Not the commercial!!!
Football has one goalkeeper and ten players, while gridiron has one player and fourteen goalkeepers..
ops ten goalkeepers*
actually, gridiron football is 11 on 11 and there aren’t any goalkeepers. but close enough I guess lol
i think soccer is gay
stop calling football soccer and start calling your idiot sport gridiron
soccer is gay
nothing is more gay than soccer
Soccer is an art. Soccer is fun as hell. If soccer was gay it wouldn’t be played in every part of the world. This is coming from an American who loves football basketball and baseball. Go dodgers!
I was born in the US, raised with an American mentality but I do realize american football is boring as compared to Football
We in the US are conditioned from youth to love football(not to be confused with world football=soccer). It is not popular in the rest of the world because for one: it is one of the most expensive sports to outfit a childrens or teen team. Remember the US is the richest country in the world, although has the highest wealth disparity of all developed countries. Secondly it is a sport that causes the most limb injuries, thus a career ender for young athletes for other sports. Third: American Football is considered a fairly boring game internationally. Now at middle age, I think it is too. 4: Although you only need a ball like soccer to play pick up games, children and older in the poorest places in the world will tie up some rags into a ball and kick that around. 5: imho: Baseball was more popular until the past 40 or so years. I think the American mentality has grown more aggressive along with our US government foreign policies and unnecessary wars, directly or by proxy. I was a sports spectator tv addict since youth. I am proud to say I have been sports free for 15 years. Yet, in 2010 i went into relapse when i started watching some world cup games. international football(soccer) was new to me, and i concluded it was one of the greatest team sports, and the players pound for pound the most versatile athletes in the world. I don’t really care for pro sports period. but if there is a college or amateur game nearby i like going out to watch them. So while i am not a soccer addict, i am an enthusiast and i believe again, it is one of the greatest team sports.
dahszil
male
american(i hope and pray for the dismantling of the US empire, restore the US republic as an equal, peaceful, giving member of the world’s family of nations)
soccer(football) is the world’ s best sport it spreads all over the continents but American football is called football and you don’t even use your legs and feet that much I would prefer like handball or armball something like that.
Handball is it’s own sport. Football is any sport played on foot with a ball including Handball. It has absolutely nothing to do with the foot making contact with the ball. The distinction is there due to sports also being played on horseback with balls such as Polo.
Soccer is a more appropriate term since it is derived from the name Association Football while Football should be called Football and not by nicknames (American and Gridiron) imposed on it by those who didn’t create the sport.
i want to masturbate on a cow
Fun fact! Football (not soccer) originated in England, based off of rugby, in 1863. In that time, almost all of their sports were played on horseback. So when people began to play it, they called it football because it was played on foot, instead of on horseback. But yes, handball would be a much better name.
wrong rugby came from soccer/football
Nope. Rugby is the oldest football code. Association is the younger brother. Both came from different forms of games which were called football
If you go to Brazil, you will see a lot of kids playing soccer on the streets and no other sports.
Because its crap.
Geoff, you’re absolutely right. If other countries don’t play American football, it is not because of the cost of the equipment, it is because it is plain boring to follow. The article above is ridiculous “the US is the richest country in the world”, has the author of the article been to Sweden, Norway, Germany, Australia, etc.??? Those are only a few countries which are as rich as the US, and where nobody cares about that crappy sport.
Soccer is boring! I have a hard time not falling asleep if I watch soccer. If you find American football boring, it is likely because you don’t understand its complexity. Because there is a break between plays, each play is scripted, which means each play has specific strategy involved in addition to using particular skill sets unique and honed to the particular positions. If you didn’t play chess, you’d find that boring to watch as well.
American football they stop the game every time the ball is dropped. There is no excitement or flow of play. Its dull and boring and will never catch on.
SOCCER IS GAY. PEROID.
Swedish American Football Federation
Norway American Football Federation
German Football League
Gridiron Australia
What were you saying about nobody caring? These are just 4 of over 50 Non American National Leagues.
its only your a ugly pussy its fine if ur not a big fan thats ok but comeing out and saying the sport is crap is diffrent i mean i dont like the sport today becuse of the penatlys as much but if i dont like it i dont go out say its crap i just keep it to my self
as an outsider, in my perspective is not because the money issue and rules. The writer clearly mix his opinion as facts. First of all the main problem of the game is how the game is played, in World Football/Soccer and Basketball all the player actively play the game (having the ball, trying to get the ball, passing to teammates, etc), in Football however, some players even hardly touch the ball; the linemen/guard in particular spend most of the game guarding/brawling/pushing whatever you guys call it. Only the receiver and running back actively playing the game and even those position most of the time limited to their designed job. It was like playing Strategy Video Game; while in that sense it’s have its own charm. Also, due the required good/buff physic the game limited to certain people, like Asian who generally have less buff/athletic than American, and not to mention the game enforce violence as part of its gameplay (while it not causing great injury most of the time).
hockey is a global sport and it’s more expensive than (american) football. So saying cost is not the reason and just shows a lack of research.
I think you’re wrong in saying American football isn’t played around the world because of the cost. Hockey costs way more than American football to play and has largely become an elitist sport because of it. Yet hockey is played by all major first world countries, and even some lesser ones. This includes, to name a few; Canada, US, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, well basically all of Europe but even Japan had a team in the ’98 Winter Olympics. It’s usually safe to say that unless a sport makes it into he olympics, it’s not really a sport and at best is fringe.
USA is not the richest country in the world. From 2015 when you posted this, the USA was ranked 7th in the world, right now in 2017, 13th. There are many reasons, one being who wants to sit around for 3 hours and have 11 minutes of action. It is not a sport of being supremely fit, only WR, RB/HB and most defensive players are fit. Everyone else is overweight. Nearly every sport outside of the USA you will find players, at a professional level, fitter than half the ones in America. If you want a physical sport, most turn to Rudby, a sport of great skill Soccer amd Field Hockey. It is just not entertaining to people who do not have the time for it. Sure it is on a Sunday in America but most other places in the world it is on a Monday or during the early hours of the morning. Unless foreigners take the time to learm the sport we have no interest in it what so ever.
Lmfao the USA is most certainly NOT the most richest. It’s not even too 5..
Football is the world’s most popular sports. American football is not.
no soccer is not the most popular sport, American football is!!!!!!!!
May I suggest that you read this:
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/bcoffsurv/emaga_9384_10704.pdf
Delusional as well as thick!
IMO the reason American Football isn’t very popular outside the states is cos of the professional game, it’s entertaining while it’s being played but that’s only about a quarter the length of the match. Nothing except advertising happens for much of the time, it’s very technical, set play, stop, set play, stop with no flow and very little innovation.
All in all this makes the sport quite boring to many like me who like proper football and rugby. A sto other American sports baseball is limited to North, Central and South America and Japan, in Europe we have absolutely no interest in the sport, while basketball is another minority sport, there is a European League but it’s not really popular and is more a vanity project for football teams to have a basketball team too.
I like trdls.
rugby has no pads witch results in a slam witch is freaking awesome
rugby has no pads witch results in a slam witch is freaking awesome
footbal is gay as shit….. play a real sport hockey
Learn to spell
If American Football was taking serious around the world like soccer is.United States football team wil be challenge by an African team.United States will hardly won a world cup.I believe an African team wil be the Brazil of American football.
If. If. If. If I had wings, I could fly home from work every day.
i know wright if i scratched my balls they wouldnt itch so i do…:/.. dont judge
Canada has been playing it’s own form of ‘football’ since the time the USA has… and actually the Grey Cup is by far the oldest football related trophy and championship played in North America, it has at least 75+ years history on the superbowl. Just like hurling or australian rules, etc., some games just aren’t picked up internationally, reasons being who knows why.
Rugby is not TOUGHER than American football. I played rugby as a prop forward, which would be like a guard in American football. Rugby is much more difficult in that you need both strength and great physical conditioning to play the sport. Although, the violence of American football is much more pronounced. Because of the difference of the games the violence of both they cannot and should not be compared. Just because you were too small to play American football does not mean you have to think it is tougher. I love both sports, but the complexity and flow of the sport is too American for other parts of the world. It is the structure and rules of the game, NOT the physicality or toughness being any less that is the reason it will never work overseas. It is fairly boring, and much less free flowing, to those who do not understand it or are fans of Association and both codes of Rugby football.
Fuck that! Rugby is waaaay tougher
so true football is just pussoes i mean look at the qb boom penalty fart penalty
then why do football players wear pads, dude you probably played one game and pussyd out
they used not to they just had leather caps now they fuking pussssies even lookin a the quater back is a penalty
American football IS played all over the world. There are leagues throughout Europe and in Japan. There is even a World Championship… which Team Japan has won twice, tied equally with Team USA. So by assuming that American football isn’t played any where else, just shows how limited some people may be.
There are very minor leagues and teams in some countries. Not even close to being a national sport anywhere other than the US. No, it is not played outside the US with any real level of competition or interest.
It is played in Canada
Only American college player play for the international team, not professionals.
Really? I was born and raised in Europe and the only football I saw was in American movies. we have american football leagues in Europe? Probably more like a backyard game than a league
I think it could catch on and grow but probably won’t. Europeans and other countries tend to put all of their rooting effort into soccer. Football is American and soccer isn’t. They’ve tried to make soccer bigger here in the states but it hasn’t worked. We like rough tuff football because we grew up watching it on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas when we were kids. It has a nostalgic value and a sense of togetherness because it tends to bring families together on Sunday.
Soccer is bigger in the states than american football in the rest of the world combined
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Thanks
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IT IS BORING! I LIVED IN US, I TRIED TO LOVE IT, WATCH IT,.. BUT THERE IS NO GAME TO IT,.. NO PASSING, NO ACTION, NO SKILLS,.. ALL THEY DO IS RUN CRASH OVER,.. AND THIS IS SOO BORING. BUT OTHER US SPORTS AS BASKETBALL,.. ARE GREAT…
I’m going to conclude that you’re an idiot. There is WAY more passing than running in American Football..
there is nether,.. one pass and that is it,.. they cant put together at least 5-6 passes in one action,.. watch real football, hockey, basketball,.. this is call passing,. which makes you not an idiot,.. but just a bit slow 😉 you know hoe to count?
You seem to think that Football plays like Rugby in that the tackle isn’t the end of the play.
seeing as rugby is about as old as american culture i have to go with rugby…
Seems like you know as much about history as you do about sports
Yet American football makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, the only other framchises that do that are the soccer teams FC Barcelona and Real Madrid
thats plain bulocks
http://www.businessinsider.com/richest-soccer-clubs-american-football-teams-2014-1?op=1&IR=T
American football is very american! i have seen australian football, and it seems more like rugby- just more fun
BSN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues_by_revenue
Obviously you don’t live in the U.S., because if told anybody in the U.S. what you said nobody would agree with you
too afraid to state your name. you don’t know what your talking about, people like you are jealous for some reason American football is good and I’ve watch soccer with my
Spanish boyfriend and it’s good too!!!!!!!! Advice: Grow Up!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s really goddam simple. THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND AMERICA. Why don’t America play native Thai sports? What doesn’t America play native Nigerian sports? The one-eyed perspective of Americans amazes me. For the richest country in the world it’s certainly not the smartest.
Rugby is played by most countries and has been for longer than AMERICAN FOOTBALL. Ignorant people don’t understand the world and that’s just been proven.
I think you’re right.
You are absolutely right .If the world take it seriously like soccer is its most likely an African country will dominated in the world cup stage.Because the game is dominated by black just like Hockey is dominated by white.
But every american football game draws 65,000+ fans so clearly it is popular while ur native thai and native nigerian sports aren’t doin that. You cannot compare american football to those. I could ask u the same question about you’re countries world football or cricket or w/e the fuck u play!
You have 1-2 teams per state. This is like the EU having 1-2 teams per country.
Seasonal attendance for NFL 17 million
Seasonal attendance for Premiership + Championship(England) 23 million
No idea what the average attendance would be if England only had 1-2 teams but not the point far more people turn up to watch Soccer than the NFL. Now I should make it fairer and include the whole of the EU, that way the populations and land area would be equal to that of the USA. But why bother? Just half of the pro teams in the UK beats the whole of the NFL for attendance.
Your own argument shows that the NFL isn’t even popular in the USA so why would it be popular elsewhere?
Thats just England not even the whole of the UK, ok so England has 80+ teams most not very good. Lets take the top 20 the premier league average attendence 36,000.
Lets pretend it was done USA style with 1-2 teams per state competing in top tier.
20 * 36,000 = 720,000 that would be 7 teams in one state getting an attendance of over 100,000
If it was just one team like many US States Soccer would need a drop of over 90% attendance to get the 65,000 you mentioned
How can you say NFL is popular with these really really low attendance figures?
USA population 400 million + NFL attendence 17 million
England population 50 million + premier league attendance almost 14 million(this does not include the other 60 pro teams)
Maybe England is a bad example and sure NFL would beat some EU states but France Germany, Spain and probably others would all give you similar figures Italy and even Englands next 20 teams for attendance.
I think Americans are curious why people in other countries do not play football because it is so popular in America. I do not think it is because Americans are full of themselves or arrogant. I think this question is purely for the sake of curiosity. You are awfully riled up about a simple question. People in American play all kinds of sports from other countries, and maybe not all of them but a bunch. I think Americans are just curious people. I understand if you hate certain American concepts but you cannot hate the whole country, or make a judgment about the whole country when you do not know all the different people who live there. Those who have no sin throw the first stone.
Taylor, I love your answer.. Sometimes people have anger because someone from the Untied States hurt them. (((shaking my head))) To me it’s great that people have their own opinion, but don’t judge everyone. And this message is for “offers says.” Again thanks Taylor, great answer.. =))
opinions are like having orgasms with your mother — everyone has one.
Having orgasm with your mother ,everyone has an orgasm with their mother ? What the fuck ???
That is the best point made here
How can something played with your hands be called football? The players are so scared of getteng hurt, they have wear more protection than ANY other kind of sport.
That’s the most ignorant comment if seen in a while, I’m British and I play both sports, and saying that American football is inferior due to the padding is ridiculous, the injuries are often the same degree. Nearly all tackles go in AF, unlike in rugby were high tackling is penalised. Rugby is a simple game, due to it being easier to understand. Maybe if your brain wasn’t stuck on your own little world, you’d be able to read up on football and understand it. You use your feet in American Football, just the same as you do in rugby, which used to be called rugby football, hence the why a lot of teams are called something rfc.
American Football was named in homage to it’s origins in rugby and soccer. Originally American Football was VERY similar to Rugby. As for Joe’s comment. He’s quite wrong. I no way are nearly all tackles allowed. In the NFL (most popular league) you have to tackle pretty much ONLY from shoulders down to above the knees. A tackle above the shoulders is illegal and a tackle at or below the knees is illegal. So much so that they are heavily fined now.
You are wrong below the knees are allowed
Check out http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/218330-growth-of-american-football
I wrote the article a few years ago. Since then the sports popularity has increased despite the “NFL influence.” For years, the NFL has claimed they are leading the growth of American Football. To that I say “Bull-hockey!”
I think it’s combination of factors. First off, don’t underestimate the power of the pick-up game: Soccer is popular all over the world in part because all you need to play is something you can kick (not necessarily a ball, though it helps). Basketball, which has perhaps been the most successful of American sports to internationalize (with the possible exception of billiards/pool, though for entirely different reasons), is similarly easy to start a pick-up game (a basket and a ball is all you need). Hockey has been successful in internationalizing only in cold weather, where pick-up games only require skates (things that tend to be widely owned in northern climates anyway), a stick/broom and something small that’ll slide on ice (read: anything). In southern climates, hockey remains nearly non-existent because you need to invest in a ice rink first.
To be sure, American football is relatively easy to have a pick-up game as well, all you need is something to carry and a willingness to knock-out the occasional tooth. Except that a pick-up game of American football is really not that different than rugby, at that point. The true game of American football requires the investment in all the equipment, plus a lot of practice and organization to correctly pull off all the plays.
In other words, American Football requires a lot of investment, both capital investment in the equipment and a time investment to get a large group of people to coordinate themselves to such a high degree. Compare that to soccer. If you want to teach a culture to play soccer, you drop a ball on the ground, point at either goal and say get the ball in the goal, and you can’t use your hands unless you’re the goalkeeper. Sure there are other rules, but that simple explanation is 90% of the game. Any similar such simple explanation of American football and you end up just sounding like rugby.
You know you make a good point about billiards/pool. Any thoughts on what special circumstances made that popular across the world? As you point out its not particularly easy or intuitive to set up.
Maybe because billiards/pool is French and not american?
Yep. Australian Rules Football (AFL) benefits from this too, although we call it “kick-to-kick” rather than “a pickup game”.
Of course, AFL also benefits from being objectively a supremely event-intense spectator experience. You see an amazing number of different movement and skill types in a very short space of time.
Potentially one of the problems is the name – since a game also called Football is already the worlds most popular sport, both in terms of viewer numbers and people playing (jumpers for goalposts anyone?). Plus if you want to run up and down a field being stomped on by beefy dudes, Europe and the Antipodes already have Ruggers and Aussie rules footy – both of which are sans the poncy armour.
Also, it’s something of a misrepresentation to say American Football is common in Britain, since the game of Lacrosse is far more popular in the UK – and that’s hardly a well known game. I would rather say that given the relative ease with which football football can be played by anyone, anywhere, at any time, it’s much more likely that soccer will become increasingly popular in the States rather than American Football becoming popular elsewhere.
There is a american football league in Portugal.
And there’s a cricket league in China. That doesn’t mean that it’s actually really played there…
Been a great read and wish I got the popcorn. First of all I’m Australian so I’m very impartial to this debate. We have soccer hear but it ranks about 5 or 6th on our popular lists. Here it’s definitely Australian Rules Football first which is nothing like rugby (3rd most popular sport here) at all. Soccer is the world game and I get that. I personally don’t get the appeal but I appreciate the skill. American football is so boring and messy. Growing up with Aussie rules and being a free flowing game it’s so much easier on the eye and the intensity of a good game is awesome. American Football does not have that. I know Americans will disagree but that’s just a cultural answer just like me loving Aussie rules. I get it. Soccer is generally free flowing but I never grew up with it have it in my blood. Plus I can never get over the blatant flopping and faking. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world and I have watched and played all my life. it of course is more closely related to it’s poorer younger cousin called baseball. Baseball is much slower, way less popular and more boring. Cricket has introduced 20/20 about 10 years ago to speed it up and make it more watchable for novices. The only American sports that are free flowing and visually great are basketball and ice hockey. Sorry but it’s a great game and your American football and baseball don’t even compare. As now sports are set in the fact that they are ingrained culturally so it’s nearly impossible for the numbers to change. Soccer isn’t the best sport but it was introduced around the world in the 1800’s when there was nothing else. It’s just like religion. Most people are a certain religion not because it’s the right one, but because it’s where you were born and raised (for those who are religious). It’s all subjective but great to read peoples views anyway.
I’m not a sports enthusiast by any means, but I’d imagine that certain internationally popular sports such as hockey also require specialized gear and equipment for all the players. What’s so massively costly about American Football gear (vs. hockey gear) that it would be the primary reason why the sport hasn’t taken off one bit even in generally wealthy territories like China, East Asia, Canada or Europe?
I think one thing that has been left out is the effects of colonization. Games like cricket (which admittedly don’t require specialized equipment) spread to other countries because the British went and colonized and spread the game. So to your point about Hockey I think the Europeans help spread it.
America though hasn’t really had colonies beyond the Phillipines, and so it never really had an opportunity to spread the game. It’s probably a combination of the cost and that international context.
There are many reasons why American Football is not played very much outside of the USA. The first thing that springs to mind is the Name. It’s actually called American Football. So I join the German American Football Team, play through the season and then, for Example, Germany becomes the “Worlds American Football Champion”. No thanks.
Secondly, its a bitch so set up. I frequently see American Football players cart around their gear. It is much more Bulky than my Luggage for a two week trip. I can’t ride a bike with my gear, can’t get on the bus. But any playing field is so far outside any resident’s area, you need to be able to use public transportation to get there. Dont start with cars, we try to reduce car usage wherever possible!
There also is the point of the team. You need a team, as far as I understand it. Or is it possible to score a point with just one player actually playing? Why I think this is important? I Can’t imagine a American Football player training all by himself. With Ordinary Football, sans the american, all you need is a Ball and a Wall to train every aspect of the game except higher rules like the Offsite rule. Can you do that with american Football?
Its not just the gear, its the infrastructure. Not all countries are blessed with so much Space to drop American Football fields everywhere. Here in Germany we use ordinary football fields and time share them with AF players. Time-sharing here means “whenever there is no ordinary football game scheduled, you can use the field”. So there is time to get together once or twice a week to play for two hours.
Also, sports in schools is not as popular in most countries as it is in the Americas. Maybe that plays into it a bit.
Hockey only needs a stick and a ball. That’s not something I would call gear without laughing. We played hockey with almost everything, from tin cans and brooms to a tennis ball and 2×4’s. Ice hockey on the other hand is somewhat more complicated, which is why it is not half as popular as field hockey is.
Pool and billards is extremely popular because it can be played indoors while indulging in heavy drinking. Everything you can play while being an absolute drunkard is going to be more popular than American Football.
hockey is a lot more popular in North America than field hockey
Hockey is a lot more popular than field hockey in North America