Could cycling become the UK's second-favourite sport?

MaxwellBygraves

prawny wrote:

I don't think cycling is popular because it's too complicated and subtle to watch. :

I would tend to agree, it takes some time and patience to fully 'get' what goes on in races. for example this summer I got asked so many times by non cycling friends why Cav wasn't going to win the TdF and never will, even though he won all the time etc.

Bobbinogs

BigG67 wrote:

Here's a link to the most recent stats. http://www.sportengland.org/research/ac ... r_two.aspx

What is sad about those figures is the low % of the lower Social/Economic groups who regularly participate in sport. Huge numbers of folks unemployed who don't seem to want to do anything. It just shows the debilitating affect the dole can have on some folks (and that others can't be asred whatever the case).

squired

If cycling continues to do well in the Olympics its popularity will increase. Having professional races in Britain will also capture the imagination of youngsters as well.

The key difference between cycling and other sports is that cycling is also a mode of transport. Many people who take up cycling to get to work will probably never actually be interested in the sport either in terms of watching the professionals, or competing. So, one has to ask, how does cycling (via the UCI, British Cycling, or whoever) convert people who ride bikes into fans of the sport?

In terms of other factors, I think one of the biggest risks to the development of the sport in England is the roads. I've cycled to school, college, uni and now work. In that time the roads have changed dramatically. I'm really not sure if I'd derive the same pleasure and long-term interest in the sport if I was a teenager taking to the roads now.

DavidBelcher

gilesjuk wrote:

The news media has a huge bias in favour of sports which rake in the cash for them.

Personally I would rather cycling didn't became a hugely popular sport on TV, it would end up moving to Sky on a subscription channel.

Good point; for those of us that follow it, cycling on terrestrial TV is in good shape at present compared to a few years ago. The TdF and Vuelta live on ITV4 plus highlights packages of umpteen other races on both ITV4 and BBC all for free has made for a great year's viewing. On the other hand, cycling isn't quite such a majority sport yet that the money men and their subscription channels have come to take it away from said stations. Last thing I'd want to see is for it to go the way of England cricket matches and end up with sporadic highlights coverage for non-satellite viewers.

David

DavidBelcher

RichN95 wrote:

lifeform wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

re Boardman: the last thing you need is cycling to become 'trendy', look what the middle classes did to football.

I'm not a follower of Football at all - what did the middle classes do to it?

Stopped the hooliganism, made the stadiums safe, got pitches that weren't mudbaths by November and replaced the likes of Brian Talbot and Peter Davenport with Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona.

The first two points were inevitable post-Heysel and Hillsborough; I don't think glory-hunting Fever Pitch readers changing their allegiances more often than their socks had quite so much to do with it. Oh, and this is the sort of thing we also have to thank posh [1] muppets for inflicting on footy;

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/chelsea/ ... iches.html

Sadly, it's not a spoof.

David

[1] In the sense of class, rather than having a dig at any Peterborough Utd fans.

CyclingBantam

RichN95 wrote:

lifeform wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

re Boardman: the last thing you need is cycling to become 'trendy', look what the middle classes did to football.

I'm not a follower of Football at all - what did the middle classes do to it?

Stopped the hooliganism, made the stadiums safe, got pitches that weren't mudbaths by November and replaced the likes of Brian Talbot and Peter Davenport with Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona.

I'm guessing from your comments Rich that you either A) - Don't regularily go to watch football or - Are very well off.

"Top players" have certainly got benefits but certainly have not made the experiance any better.

I am fortunate enough to have seen my team play in each of the 4 divisions (Bradford City) and I can safely say I enjoy it more now in the bottom division, than I did in the premiership.

bagpusscp

Ben6899 wrote:

bagpusscp wrote:

Football a sport :?: a game yes.

*yawn*

Come training with me and the boys (I don't play due to injury, but still train) and we'll see how much of a game it is when you're throwing your ring up outside the clubhouse (where a good few new young lads end up).

Rugby when I was a lot younger. RAF Aldergrove 1St team.{They only had the 1} As for throwing up...I could always hold my ale 8) .

Now I go fishing....

DavidBelcher

CyclingBantam wrote:

"Top players" have certainly got benefits but certainly have not made the experiance any better.

And indeed have made matters worse in some respects, with a good few clubs being ruined by ever-spiralling wage demands, whether justified or not. There's genuine talent out there but at the same time plenty of greedy yet mediocre prima donnas on silly, undeserved wages.

David

shm_uk

Tennis is always a mysterious one, I suspect if it wasn't for the annual two weeks of hype over Wimbledon it would disappear from the nation's consciousness quite rapidly.

We can live in hope...

shm_uk

I don't suppose the increase in the "popularity" of cycling could possibly have anything to do with people being priced off public transport & out of their cars?

I.e. a necessity not a choice.

This makes cycling more common. But it's not the same as 'more popular'.