HOCKEY IS CANADA

There is a reason why I chose this topic for my next blog, but I will get to that later. There are two ways to look at the popularity of sports, by the numbers played, and by the number of people watching it on T.V. or the internet. The biggest sport in the world is Association Football commonly known as soccer in Canada  and the U.S. The world cup is watched by an estimated 600 million people. More than 200 countries take part in the world cup final draws and soccer has 5 of the 10 world`s highest attended leagues. There is a good reason for its popularity. The sport can be played anywhere, you do not need a stadium, and the ball can be  anything from  tightly packed straw or muddy earth to a fine professional ball filled with air to a specific inflation. The sport is routinely played all year round.

The sports that people participate in can be divided into two classes. The ones played in a stadium with hundreds of million spectators  because of T.V.and the one played in the local community on the streets and in a community hall. The major spectator sports are in order of ranking 1. Association Football (soccer) popular throughout the world 2.Basketball popular in the U.S., China, Europe and South America 3 .Tennis, the world`s most universal sport popular in the top 7 of every country measured 4. Cricket, hard to believe but because of its popularity in the Indian sub-continent, and Ice Hockey which is only 10th because of the U.S. Canada and Russia. Throughout the world there are many activities with many followers but no, or very little T.V. coverage. I refer to table tennis, badminton, field hockey, gymnastics, athletics like racing, volleyball and others too numerous to mention.

For the first time in the 98 year history of the N.H.L. Canadian players do not make up a majority of the league`s players. We are only 49.7% of the 680 players to appear in the first two weeks of the 2015-16 season. In 1999-2000 season Canadians were 54.8% but in 1990-91 they were 75% and even more in earlier years. The answer of course  is that the sport is gaining popularity and there is money to be earned as a professional. Canada, of course ranks ahead of all the other countries followed by the U.S. in the 2015-16 season at 24.5% half the numbers of Canada . Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic ,and Finland make up a substantial portion of the lesser countries. Ice Hockey is the most popular sport in Canada by far but the rest of the world wants to play as well.

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