Declining sports

[Hot Pepsi]

It’s like ultimate frisbee but with a ball and on a smaller playing area with less running and jumping.

There’s a reason it’s popularity hasn’t taken off.

[Felicity, I guess so]

When I was at Wolverhampton Poly in the 80s they used to boast that their handball team was the only sports society that got its results in the national papers. Must’ve been in the national league.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I've been trying for two days to link some historical data showing how active participation in cricket is declining rapidly in the UK - falling from over 400,000 in 2007 to about 270,000 in 2017. There are obviously many reasons for this decline, but not having the sport on free-to-view television must surely be a contributory factor.

[Levin]

When I was at Wolverhampton Poly in the 80s they used to boast that their handball team was the only sports society that got its results in the national papers. Must’ve been in the national league.

Yeah the Universities were traditionally very strong in the English league for handball. Which makes sense when you consider they'd have people studying abroad to play for them. Both Oxford and Manchester Unis played European games in the 90s. It's changed a bit in the past 20 years, a combination of, I think, more people moving here from Europe and the EHA requiring international transfer certificates which can cost £1500 if you've played for a club in another country in the past two years. It's ridiculous for an amateur sport.

[NHH]

VT - absolutely; there's a swathe of CEOs of sports who'll boast about how PayTV money will enable them to develop the sport, which is a fundamentally flawed model. You'll lose salience in the wider public which kicks off a series of ever-decreasing circles. Of course, the CEOs who sell these packages are always fantastically interested, with their pay and bonuses linked to commercial revenues secured, not viewers or attendees at matches.

[Etienne]

I think most sports are declining at the moment in the uk. Combination of lack of terrestrial coverage, the domination of football of talent and media, venues going due to council cutbacks and housing costs, sports funding going to a handful of niche sports with medal potentials over mass participation ones. Other than football the only sport I can think of off the top of my head that is booming is cycling. Loads of people are running, but I don't think athletics is benefiting.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I think most sports are declining at the moment in the uk. Combination of lack of terrestrial coverage, the domination of football of talent and media, venues going due to council cutbacks and housing costs, sports funding going to a handful of niche sports with medal potentials over mass participation ones. Other than football the only sport I can think of off the top of my head that is booming is cycling. Loads of people are running, but I don't think athletics is benefiting.

This, very much. Football is a complete juggernaut in this country and as a parent it's been clear to see how much it dominates junior sport. As well as both of them playing (and later refereeing) football my kids gave several sports a go - son did cricket and RL and a bit of basketball, daughter did netball, hockey, cricket, tennis and RL - and in terms of participation numbers football trounces everything.

My son played cricket for Carlisle CC, which had the city (population c. 100,000) to itself (the rest of the teams in the league came from rural areas, mainly along the Eden valley) and they still only had 30 or so regulars in the peak age groups of 11-13. Similarly my daughter played for Carlisle hockey club - again the only club in the city - and ended up, along with some of her peers, playing for higher age groups and (at 14) the adults' 2nds, because of a lack of players.

[Ray de Galles]

Anecdotally, rugby and cricket are still very healthy in terms of junior sports near me (Surrey/SW London) but I think that is probably bucking the national trend and due to local demographics.

Rowing seems to be another sport with very much increased participation in recent years, like Etienne's example of cycling it is largely down to Lottery funded success at the Olympics but started from a much lower base.

[Satchmo Distel]

Heavyweight boxing should be in decline but keeps being given these kisses of life.

[Ray de Galles]

Those "kisses of life" are an almost exclusively British phenomenon though.

[Toby Gymshorts]

All this talk of Korfball has given me an earworm.

[Lang Spoon]

Rugby is unfortunately massive in Ireland. And at least as a spectator sport is getting crowds in Glasgow that would have once been unimaginable.

[Flynnie]

Rugby union in England seems to be down by a little less than 10% since 2007. So cricket's decline seems precipitous and probably related to factors outside of "everybody's getting fattier and lazier".

[Aitch]

Someone here (or used to be here) was big into Korfball. Like, they were involved in the executive level of it and everything. No memory of who it was, though.

[Etienne...but not confirmed.]

My father-in-law was a Dutch international.

[WOM]

I used to enjoy doing knock-about sports like indoor soccer and whatnot. But then some guys would start taking it too seriously and someone would invite their cousin, who was a ringer and hyper competitive, and eventually the joy would get sucked out of it. Which is pretty much what seems to happen all the time. I'd like to join a loser's league where nobody is particularly good at whatever we're doing. Bowling or whatever.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

You could become a member of the British cabinet

[nmrfox]

Speedway has declined due to the stadiums being built on. The same is true for banger racing and greyhound racing. You can make maybe £80,000 a year profit running a greyhound stadium or sell it for £5m for housing. Guess what happens?

Think you might be getting your banger racing mixed up with Stock Car Racing there Paul. Banger racing remains, in the north at least, very popular with drivers and specatators because it's cheap to build and run a car (in relative terms that is) and a cheap spectator sport due to the basic facilities it employs. Stock car racing is in serious decline from its 70's heyday with both driver and fan numbers much reduced. Thanks to a complete lack of advertising, the spectators are mostly, though not exclusively, blokes in their 60's reminiscing about the past, but the bigger issues has been drivers. With some now willing to pay £40k for an engine alone, shoestring drivers have now been virtually excluded and with a severely resticted number of venues to race, as per your post but also due to promoters greed and self interest, its the same 40 or so drivers racing at each and every meeting. It would only take for a couple of those who produce a number of hire cars to move away and the death knell won't be far away. TV exposure is also limited to the truly dreadful Premier Sports chanel, with broadcasts often cancelled or shown at different times from those advertised (and the commentators are beyond description). With Coventry now a memory and Belle Vue (not the speedway venue note) and Birmingham Wheels Raceway to probable shut in the next couple of years, the future doesn't look good for what was for me, compulsive viewing in the 70's and 80's.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Without coming over all nostalgic “tanner ba’...playing in the streets, we were” it’s worth saying that in my childhood it was quite common to play cricket now and then, with a tennis ball.

Kids do, still, though only occasionally, kick a ball in my street but I haven’t seen street cricket since 1980s Wolverhampton

[Janik]

I think most sports are declining at the moment in the uk.

Some numbers - https://activepeople.sportengland.or...0&OutputType=1

[WOM]

There's a busy place in Toronto that specializes in it. I'd venture that I know 100 people who've done it, and all 100 went as part of some kind of office / team building / morale night. I don't think it's a date-night event.

And right on cue, I'm getting digital ads for Axe Throwing Nights 'for your next corporate party or group event'. Yay.