What is the most Skillful Sport?

BrianJD

I put this thread here because the general sports thread is a ghosttown but apparently they were discussing on Ray Darcy what the most skilfull sport is?

I didn't catch it but it's a tough one to call. My initial reaction would be Golf or Snooker for the tiny margin of error.

Suggestions?

Johner

Ice Hockey.

BrianJD

Johner wrote: »

Ice Hockey.

Why?

Darkglasses

Good but difficult question. Depends a lot on what one's definition of skill is. The dictionary definition isn't really helpful, it's not really specific enough for what most of us mean. I'd take it as meaning dependent on fine motor skills, with a high degree of success.

I'd go with snooker too. Very very fine, and the pros get it right unbelievably often.

EuropeanSon

Depends on how you define skill. I'd have said that skill was nothing more than ability to perform to an exceptional standard. In that case, the sport with the most skilful players has got to be soccer, as, statistically, it has the most players by some margin, and so will have the most freakishly good players (extreme outliers).

Not really sure if that's what you mean though (I doubt it)

dr ro

Hurling immediately springs to mind anytime skilful games are mentioned. It's an awesome sport to watch when it's played well. I think speed combined with hand eye coordination sets it apart from the likes of golf or snooker. For me anyway.

syngindub

im going to have to go with

Most skilful : Hurling
Most difficult : Snooker
Most Frustrating : Golf

theoneeyedman

Darts.

That is all

Will I Amnt

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Darts.

That is all

In before "darts is not a sport"...

Paully D

Boxing.

getuponthis

Have to go with boxing!

djPSB

dr ro wrote: »

Hurling immediately springs to mind anytime skilful games are mentioned. It's an awesome sport to watch when it's played well. I think speed combined with hand eye coordination sets it apart from the likes of golf or snooker. For me anyway.

Agree hurling is up there.

I reckon the likes of Shefflin would give golf a good go, obviously not at the levels of the professionals but at a decent level.

But I reckon if you asked the likes of McIlroy to give hurling a go, he wouldn't be any use at all.

Gaelic football, on the other hand, has lost alot of its skill level imo. If your fit and strong, then you're bound to be half daycent.

osarusan

Pretty much any sports that has a significant international popularity. They all need a very high level of skill, otherwise anybody could play them and nobody would watch them.

Comparing them is essentially pointless in my opinion. what criteria can you use to objectively compare boxing to skiing, for example, or hurling to archery?

The_Kew_Tour

Football Hurling and Golf all require lot of skill.

in terms of both physical fitness and skill its boxing that wins.

you could have a case for many sports just my 2c

KombuchaMshroom

djPSB wrote: »

Agree hurling is up there.

I reckon the likes of Shefflin would give golf a good go, obviously not at the levels of the professionals but at a decent level.

But I reckon if you asked the likes of McIlroy to give hurling a go, he wouldn't be any use at all.

Gaelic football, on the other hand, has lost alot of its skill level imo. If your fit and strong, then you're bound to be half daycent.

I'm going to guess you don't play golf yourself?

Not having a go or anything, but hurling skills in no way translate over to golf.
If you take two people who have never played golf before, where one of them does play hurling and the other doesn't, the only advantage the hurler would have imo is making contact with the golf ball off the tee. Hurling skills would be of no benefit in any other area, certainly not when it comes to the precision and technique required in and around the greens.

Presuming McIlroy has never played hurling like you suggest, I would imagine if you gave him a couple of days of practice and a bit of guidance he would be able to score the odd point from 40 metres out or so (but obviously not be able to play in a match type sitaution)
Whereas, if you took one of the best hurlers around who has never played golf before, it would be quite possible then wouldn't even make a single par in their first 6 months to a year.

I've tried my hand a little at the majority of the most common sports, bar the more american ones, and for me golf is hands down the most difficult in terms of skill and technique required

Chucky the tree

Gymnastics has to be up there. Especially when it comes to the individual all around event at the Olympics where you'd need to be excellent at nearly all of the events. If I had to narrow it down even more then the balance beam I think is one of the hardest.

RobertKK

dr ro wrote: »

Hurling immediately springs to mind anytime skilful games are mentioned. It's an awesome sport to watch when it's played well. I think speed combined with hand eye coordination sets it apart from the likes of golf or snooker. For me anyway.

Tiger Woods tried hurling at Mount Juliet, he broke a window in the main building, good thing he stuck to golf.

yohan the great

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Darts.

That is all

I disagree. I was looking at the PDC world championships and they were doing a feature on the guy that beat Phil Taylor (Smith?) Anyway to cut a long story short, they asked him what age he picked up the sport at. He replied something like "I was 17 when I started playing and I got my first 180 within three weeks". Now not to be disrespectful as I greatly enjoy watching darts, but any sport where you can get the maximum score within three weeks of starting to play is not the most skilful

budgemook

I would go with boxing.

And never mind darts, snooker isn't a sport. On top of that, F1 racing is more skillful than both of them but isn't a sport either.

EuropeanSon

yohan the great wrote: »

I disagree. I was looking at the PDC world championships and they were doing a feature on the guy that beat Phil Taylor (Smith?) Anyway to cut a long story short, they asked him what age he picked up the sport at. He replied something like "I was 17 when I started playing and I got my first 180 within three weeks". Now not to be disrespectful as I greatly enjoy watching darts, but any sport where you can get the maximum score within three weeks of starting to play is not the most skilful

The maximum score isn't much of an achievement in Darts though. If a ten year old fires enough darts at a board they'll get a 180. I've gotten a few, by pure chance most likely, I'm fairly rubbish.

In darts, real skill is getting 12 or 13 dart finishes, or better.

The Davestator

I've always thought Tennis is because it combines nearly all facets;
Speed
Agility
Hand eye coordination
Skill
Stamina
Tactics
Strength

It's difficult to think of a sport which includes so many. I'm a massive hurling fan, but I still think tennis at a high level is more skilful

EuropeanSon

budgemook wrote: »

I would go with boxing.

And never mind darts, snooker isn't a sport. On top of that, F1 racing is more skillful than both of them but isn't a sport either.

Is archery a sport? If so, why is it a sport and not snooker?

And the physical fitness required for motorsports is nuts, I'd say.

budgemook

The Davestator wrote: »

I've always thought Tennis is because it combines nearly all facets;
Speed
Agility
Hand eye coordination
Skill
Stamina
Tactics
Strength

It's difficult to think of a sport which includes so many. I'm a massive hurling fan, but I still think tennis at a high level is more skilful

Boxing has all of those but you need more of nearly all of them to be the best.

EuropeanSon

Boxing these days isn't very skilful compared to 20, 30 years ago. The quality just isn't there.

adamski8

What would the opposite of skill be (that results in exceling at a sport)? That might help to determine what the most skillful is.

Id wager that rugby and hurling are very physical games with very big/strong people needed to play at a high level and thus are probably not as skillful sports.

In soccer we would generally say that the attacking small players are more skillful than the big center backs. If going by that logic maybe the most skilled sports are ones that rely less on physically and are individual rather than team sports. Generally in team sports also you have different roles usually a mix of skilled and physical athletes so its very hard to say that it is more skilled than another sport.

It probably is really never going to get a proper answer though as anyone that ever tries to properly learn a sport knows full well its a million times harder to perfect than you imagined.

dor83

budgemook wrote: »

I would go with boxing.

And never mind darts, snooker isn't a sport. On top of that, F1 racing is more skillful than both of them but isn't a sport either.

Just out of interest, why do you say they are not sports?

F1 is definitely a sport anyway, the drivers are extremely fit and it takes a huge toll on the body driving them(Jenson Button does triathlons in his spare time, and to a high standard). I would also say that given the speed, precision and quick reactions needed combined with the tiny margin for error it is one of the most skillful sports, that's just my opinion though.

budgemook

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Is archery a sport? If so, why is it a sport and not snooker?

And the physical fitness required for motorsports is nuts, I'd say.

Strength is a big part of archery. More strength equals further distance. Strength also required for holding the bow up all day. Then of course you need a fair bit of stamina. Neither really needed for snooker.

As for F1, the fitness is needed for withstanding g forces, not for driving the car. Astronauts need to be fit too, is driving a spaceship a sport?

kevpants

I remember Alan Hansen doing a segment on the BBC's coverage of the Masters a few years back saying of all sports the biggest step up from really good amateur to pro is golf.

The context he gave was that he and loads of other ex football pros had essentially become full time golfers after retirement, putting in years of several times a week rounds. He's been invited to a few pre-tournament rounds where celebs get to go around the course with the pros for a bit of craic etc. He said on a top course set up for a major the best amateurs will get absolutely destroyed just like he does every time. The margins are so small and it's set up to punish your every mistake.

A top amateur in most other sports could probably do a job, Ireland's footballers have come unstuck a few times against the stereotypical postmen (Liechtenstein) before and a decent amateur could drop into an EPL team for a match and put in a few tackles and play a few passes.

For me it has to be golf just because I think the jump between keen amateur and pro is so great.

kevpants

budgemook wrote: »

And never mind darts, snooker isn't a sport. On top of that, F1 racing is more skillful than both of them but isn't a sport either.

Ridiculous statement.

Ironman76

Ice Hockey then Hurling.

Schwiiing

budgemook wrote: »

Strength is a big part of archery. More strength equals further distance. Strength also required for holding the bow up all day. Then of course you need a fair bit of stamina. Neither really needed for snooker.

As for F1, the fitness is needed for withstanding g forces, not for driving the car. Astronauts need to be fit too, is driving a spaceship a sport?

Along with sitting in a box not much bigger than the driver, in an unnatural driving position for hours at a time in a fire proof suit and helmet in blazing heat or driving rain doing 200mph trying to avoid 23 other cars all fighting for the same piece of tarmac.


The dismissive attitude towards motorsport gets tedious after a while.

Will I Amnt

yohan the great wrote: »

I disagree. I was looking at the PDC world championships and they were doing a feature on the guy that beat Phil Taylor (Smith?) Anyway to cut a long story short, they asked him what age he picked up the sport at. He replied something like "I was 17 when I started playing and I got my first 180 within three weeks". Now not to be disrespectful as I greatly enjoy watching darts, but any sport where you can get the maximum score within three weeks of starting to play is not the most skilful

Throwing a 180 in your house in the first few weeks would be similar to getting a birdie on the local course in the first few weeks of playing golf.

I doubt very much he was hitting 180's consistently after a few weeks. It's not really a measure of anything.
Some people are naturally suited to throwing darts, others have to work a lot harder.

budgemook

kevpants wrote: »

Ridiculous statement.

Not really. In sport, the best wins. in F1, someone decent in the best car wins.

TheTownie

budgemook wrote: »

Strength is a big part of archery. More strength equals further distance. Strength also required for holding the bow up all day. Then of course you need a fair bit of stamina. Neither really needed for snooker.

As for F1, the fitness is needed for withstanding g forces, not for driving the car. Astronauts need to be fit too, is driving a spaceship a sport?[/QUOTE]

If they were racing said spaceships it would be.

EuropeanSon

budgemook wrote: »

Strength is a big part of archery. More strength equals further distance. Strength also required for holding the bow up all day. Then of course you need a fair bit of stamina. Neither really needed for snooker.

As for F1, the fitness is needed for withstanding g forces, not for driving the car. Astronauts need to be fit too, is driving a spaceship a sport?

Dumb comparison. Do they have spaceship races? Then it would be a sport. I didn't say driving a taxi was a sport, after all. And they need to withstand g forces to drive the car, ergo they need to be fit to drive the car.

Archers don't hold a bow up all day, at least not in competition. They take a few shots, and it doesn't require a huge amount of strength at all.

budgemook

TheTownie wrote: »

budgemook wrote: »

Strength is a big part of archery. More strength equals further distance. Strength also required for holding the bow up all day. Then of course you need a fair bit of stamina. Neither really needed for snooker.

As for F1, the fitness is needed for withstanding g forces, not for driving the car. Astronauts need to be fit too, is driving a spaceship a sport?[/QUOTE]

If they were racing said spaceships it would be.

The race to the moon was a sport?

EuropeanSon

kevpants wrote: »

I remember Alan Hansen doing a segment on the BBC's coverage of the Masters a few years back saying of all sports the biggest step up from really good amateur to pro is golf.

The context he gave was that he and loads of other ex football pros had essentially become full time golfers after retirement, putting in years of several times a week rounds. He's been invited to a few pre-tournament rounds where celebs get to go around the course with the pros for a bit of craic etc. He said on a top course set up for a major the best amateurs will get absolutely destroyed just like he does every time. The margins are so small and it's set up to punish your every mistake.

A top amateur in most other sports could probably do a job, Ireland's footballers have come unstuck a few times against the stereotypical postmen (Liechtenstein) before and a decent amateur could drop into an EPL team for a match and put in a few tackles and play a few passes.

For me it has to be golf just because I think the jump between keen amateur and pro is so great.

Ah now. Really? They wouldn't get a touch, and if a teammate was dumb enough to pass it to them they'd lose it in seconds. And if they tried a tackle they'd either find nothing but air or give away a free kick.

budgemook

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Dumb comparison. Do they have spaceship races? Then it would be a sport. I didn't say driving a taxi was a sport, after all. And they need to withstand g forces to drive the car, ergo they need to be fit to drive the car.

Archers don't hold a bow up all day, at least not in competition. They take a few shots, and it doesn't require a huge amount of strength at all.

Dumb question in the first place. No way is snooker a sport like archery is. Archery does take strength and it needs to be combined with hand eye coordination, stamina etc. Is pool a sport?

EuropeanSon

budgemook wrote: »

Dumb question in the first place. No way is snooker a sport like archery is. Archery does take strength and it needs to be combined with hand eye coordination, stamina etc. Is pool a sport?

Your posts are full of ****, you avoided half my post, didn't make any sort of argument, you're going on ignore.

budgemook

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Your posts are full of ****, you avoided half my post, didn't make any sort of argument, you're going on ignore.

Eh okay, which part would you like addressed? No need to cry about it.

Godge

Interesting question, what is the most skillful sport?

How do you define most skillful? At one level, you could say that a sport that allows for every body type is the most skillful as it is a sport which does not rely on physical prowess (heavyweight boxing or rugby) or lack thereof (some gymnastics).

Darts is the first obvious one. Anyone can play. If the most skillful is a 20st pint-drinker then he wins. Fitness has nothing to do with and skill wins out. However, there is only one skill involved and surely if it is a sport, it must require fitness and stamina even if it does not require physical strength (or lack thereof).

How about cricket as an example? You can have 6'6" fast bowlers, 5'5" batsmen and spinners. A Jacques Kallis who is both a top bowler and a top batsman must be one of the most skillful sportsmen in the world.

A batsman who can play all day and score hundreds of runs in a hostile environment facing different types of bowlers must use huge amounts of skill. A bowler who must bowl on different types of pitches that change from day to day against different batsmen with different skills and attributes must also use huge amounts of skill. As well as all this, they must be athletic in the field as well.

Take a look at some of the Big Bash from Australia or the IPL to see great skill.

dfx-

Not really the forum to compare other sports. And of course, football is the best sport in all regards which settles it.

Good topic to continue the discussion for the off-topic thread though. General sports forum too.