Are There Any Truely Global Sports

[GB72]

There were a few posts on Twitter laughing at the fact that the winners of the Superbowl are dubbed the World Champions despite only US teams taking part. Now I know that as an example this is a bit extreme but I was wondering whether there is any sport with enough global participation to rightly dub the winners world champions. I know sports like cricket and rugby have world cups but the amount of countries that participate at an elite level are so small that it could not really be classed a global championship.

So, with that in mind, I saw football as the only team sport with enough participation in enough countries to really crown the winner every 4 years the world champions and Olympic events probably can claim similar standing but that is about it.

Any other suggestions.

 

[rickg]

Any other suggestions.

Golf?

 

[Rooter]

chess

 

[fundy]

Athletics

 

[USER1999]

Boxing.

 

[Alex1975]

Formula 1

 

[Rooter]

wrestling in various forms. and martial arts and boxing too..

 

[USER1999]

Formula 1

Name an African formula one team then, or one from Iceland?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Golf, Football , Athletics, Cycling , Swimming, Rugby is global if you include Sevens

 

[Pathetic Shark]

There were a few posts on Twitter laughing at the fact that the winners of the Superbowl are dubbed the World Champions despite only US teams taking part.

The simple answer to that is "name another team in the world that could beat them".

 

[patricks148]

Football, Cycling and Athletics springs to mind all have world Championships in some form or another, the football is called the world cup

 

[Slime]

Angling?
Probably done in virtually every country in the world, but mostly out of need rather than for leisure or sport ........................... but it surely is truly global.

Slime.

 

[dufferman]

I think the OP's point is, what sport does a team from ALL countries in the world enter in? Football is a definite, I would say Golf too. Not many more if you put 'Athletics' as a sport in general?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Soccer.

 

[Wildrover]

The simple answer to that is "name another team in the world that could beat them".

They'd never be given the chance, the yanks are welcome to it, as a spectacle it's even worse than Rugby.

 

[londonlewis]

Baseball is the same as American Football.
They compete for the world series, but only American teams play in it.

Truly global sports? Football would have to be up there as the number 1.

 

[cookelad]

Football and running, surprisingly two of the cheapest sports to get started in!

 

[Fader]

Baseball is the same as American Football.
They compete for the world series, but only American teams play in it.

Truly global sports? Football would have to be up there as the number 1.

Common misconception they don't play for the title to be Global World Champion, the 7 game series was initiated by the New York Newspaper called "The World" they sponsored the season ending event (which was a little as a 3 game series at one point). Hence the term World Series and ever since even though it requires no real sponsor the name has stuck with it.

As for truly global sports Any form of Olympic event, most can be done with just a pair of running shoes and in some cases have been learnt without those

 

[londonlewis]

Common misconception they don't play for the title to be Global World Champion, the 7 game series was initiated by the New York Newspaper called "The World" they sponsored the season ending event (which was a little as a 3 game series at one point). Hence the term World Series and ever since even though it requires no real sponsor the name has stuck with it.

As for truly global sports Any form of Olympic event, most can be done with just a pair of running shoes and in some cases have been learnt without those

Excellent knowledge!
I doff my hat to you, sir.

 

[Slime]

Common misconception they don't play for the title to be Global World Champion, the 7 game series was initiated by the New York Newspaper called "The World" they sponsored the season ending event (which was a little as a 3 game series at one point). Hence the term World Series and ever since even though it requires no real sponsor the name has stuck with it.

As for truly global sports Any form of Olympic event, most can be done with just a pair of running shoes and in some cases have been learnt without those

Another common misconception I believe!
Let me explain.

One baseball myth that just won't die is that the "World Series" was named for the New York World newspaper, which supposedly sponsored the earliest contests. It didn't, and it wasn't.

In fact, the postseason series between the AL and NL champs was originally known as the "Championship of the World" or "World's Championship Series." That was shortened through usage to "World's Series" and finally to "World Series."

This usage can be traced through the annual baseball guides. Spalding's Base Ball Guide for 1887 reported the results of the 1886 postseason series between Chicago, champions of the National League, and St. Louis, champions of the American Association, under the heading "The World's Championship." As the editor noted, the two leagues "both entitle their championship contests each season as those for the base ball championship of the United States," so a more grandiose name was required to describe the postseason showdown between the two "champions of the United States."

But the Spalding Guide -- which, after all, was published by one of the world's largest sporting goods companies, with a vested interest in bringing baseball to other lands -- had grander ambitions. By 1890, the Spalding Guide was explaining that "the base ball championship of the United States necessarily includes that of the entire world, though the time will come when Australia will step in as a rival, and after that country will come Great Britain; but all that is for the future."

This didn't happen, but the name "World's Championship Series" stuck. Reporting on the first modern postseason series, the Red Sox-Pirates battle of 1903, the 1904 Reach Guide called it the "World's Championship Series." By 1912, Reach's headline spoke of the "World's Series," while editor Francis Richter's text still referred to the "World's Championship Series." The Reach Guide switched from "World's Series" to "World Series" in 1931, retaining the modern usage through its merger with the Spalding Guide and through its final issue in 1941. The separately-edited Spalding Guide used "World's Series" through 1916, switching to "World Series" in the 1917 edition.

The Spalding-Reach Guide was replaced as Major League Baseball's semi-official annual by the Sporting News Guide, first published in 1942. The Sporting News Guide used "World's Series" from 1942 through 1963, changing to "World Series" in the 1964 edition.

Moreover, the New York World never claimed any connection with postseason baseball. The World was a tabloid much given to flamboyant self-promotion. If it had been involved in any way with sponsoring a championship series, the fact would have been emblazoned across its sports pages for months. Experts have reviewed every issue of the World for the months leading up to the 1903 and 1905 World's Championship Series -- there's not a word suggesting any link between the paper and the series.


Slime.