Sports that shouldn't be called sports

gutenberg · 22-09-2015 04:20PM #1

There is a piece in the Guardian today (link) about which sports should and shouldn't be called sports - with arguments against judo, triple jump, lifesaving, Formula 1 & football (

). What do people think?

Personally I would say darts & snooker are not sports; I would probably also agree with Formula 1 actually. Anything that requires a subjective score from judges also ventures more into artistic territory, though some kinds of gymnastics, diving etc. are clearly very physically demanding and should be sports.

Thoughts?

One More Toy · 22-09-2015 04:22PM

Twerking

Dial Hard · 22-09-2015 04:24PM

Yup, darts and snooker.

Any "sport" you can play while drinking and having a fag is not worthy of the title.

osarusan · 22-09-2015 04:25PM

First person to post the Hemingway quote is a loser!

WWE isn't a sport as the results are determined in advance.

That article isn't meant to be taken all that seriously anyway I'm sure.

Ant695 · 22-09-2015 04:26PM

I tend to think things that can be put off by a bit of rain and I don't mean torrential 2 foot of water on the ground kind of rain but its starting to drizzle everyone inside get the covers out are very loosely sports. Half the fun when I was younger anyways was getting destroyed sliding about the place playing football, rugby etc... and the rain just made it even better.

kirving · 22-09-2015 04:29PM

Formula 1 drivers can lose up to 3kg in bodyweight through sweat during a race, so have to be in incredibly good shape. Definitely as physically demanding as soccer, plenty of other sports too.

Brian from Bray · 22-09-2015 04:31PM

Definitely Darts

SeanF · 22-09-2015 04:31PM

Horse Racing is not a sport. It's horses running around a big field, and you have to guess which one does it the quickest. In fact, without gambling, horse racing doesn't exist.

uch · 22-09-2015 04:32PM

Dial Hard wrote: »

Yup, darts and snooker.

Any "sport" you can play while drinking and having a fag is not worthy of the title.

Thats every sport except swimming

Pherekydes · 22-09-2015 04:32PM

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Formula 1 drivers can lose up to 3kg in bodyweight through sweat during a race, so have to be in incredibly good shape. Definitely as physically demanding as soccer, plenty of other sports too.

Serving tables is demanding.

Driving doesn't require any athleticism. It's not a sport. Golf doesn't, either.

Notes that the Triple Jump has become the 'hop, skip and jump'. /twitches

jamesbere · 22-09-2015 04:33PM

Curling, no way in hell can firing a few stones while brushing ice be called a sport

ancapailldorcha · 22-09-2015 04:33PM

Golf. In my experience it's just an excuse for posh twats to peacock themselves around each other.

Hammer89 · 22-09-2015 04:33PM

Darts is a sport; the same way archery is a sport. It gets a bad rep but, actually, there's an enormous amount of skill involved. Imagine throwing a dart at a target similar to a cigarette filter, from eight feet away.

obriendj · 22-09-2015 04:33PM

I think the columnist argument against Judo is quite weak. granted she won and got to beat up the school bully but all sports played by kids should be classified as games.

I would think the counter arguement for Formula 1 is that they drivers have to be physically very fit and need alot of skill, and know how of tactics etc. Seems quite sporty to me.

Has golf been mentioned?

Mantis Toboggan · 22-09-2015 04:34PM

Dial Hard wrote: »

Yup, darts and snooker.

Any "sport" you can play while drinking and having a fag is not worthy of the title.

So golf isn't a sport?

Pat Mustard · 22-09-2015 04:35PM

This is what yer wan wrote about Judo:

Any sport that can be enacted by a spherical 11-year-old girl purely as an act of revenge is, clearly, not a sport. There is nothing sporting about whaling into a person’s body fat like a spade. There was absolutely no technical aspect to my grabbing, heaving and, ultimately, crunching into poor, delinquent Michael. I didn’t even break a sweat – surely the base measure of any codified form of exercise.

So... Judo is not a sport because the journalist was not very good at it as a child. Makes no sense whatsoever but then again, this sort of delusion is nothing new from the Guardian.

mahoganygas · 22-09-2015 04:36PM

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Formula 1 drivers can lose up to 3kg in bodyweight through sweat during a race, so have to be in incredibly good shape. Definitely as physically demanding as soccer, plenty of other sports too.

The G forces they undergo are incredible. A lot of a F1 drivers develop weird triangle shaped muscles which jut out from the side of their elbow.
Savage reflexes are required to be successful.

They said that at his peak, Michael Schumacher was one of the fittest athletes in the world. This gave him the edge over his rivals.
I've never seen a fat F1 driver. Plenty of fat darts players though.

I get that team orders took away from the 'sport' but it's still an incredibly competitive profession. I'd definitely consider it a sport.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 22-09-2015 04:36PM

osarusan wrote: »

First person to post the Hemingway quote is a loser!

WWE isn't a sport as the results are determined in advance.

in fairness, it doesn't claim to be.

for me, horse racing.

jimgoose · 22-09-2015 04:40PM

Weird-beard Guardian hack types who are still smarting over never being picked for anything in school running down various activities they know nothing about is definitely more of a game than a sport. :pac:

MightyMandarin · 22-09-2015 04:40PM

That's honestly one of the dumbest articles I've ever read.

If the triple jump is just 'a hop, skip and jump' then it should be easy to reach >18m. The same goes for football and F1; sure anyone could dribble past half a dozen players and score a goal like Messi, or drive a car at ~300km/h.

It's also easy to point at Darts or Snooker, or even Chess and say 'that's not a sport' but I guarantee you the person saying that has never hit a 180 in their life and would get demolished by any reasonable Snooker or Chess player.

All of these activities are sports and should be seen as such, and anyone who tries to talk them down like that is just jealous of the fact they could never do the things darts players or footballers could do.

danganabu · 22-09-2015 04:43PM

I think both the author, I use the term lightly, and a number of the posters here need to look at the definition of a sport before commenting.

gutenberg · 22-09-2015 04:43PM

Interesting though that collectively, sports like judo etc. are called 'martial arts', rather than sports

I don't disagree with people arguing that snooker, darts etc. requires a huge amount of skill, I've no doubt it does. I just wonder if it's a sport as opposed to a game.

mahoganygas · 22-09-2015 04:44PM

Where does a sport start and a hobby end?

GavRedKing · 22-09-2015 04:45PM

I think if you're not being active in what your doing it isnt a sport.

Things like snooker/pool, darts, chess, cards, yes you can be a professional at them but they're not, IMO sports, they're games.

To suggest F1 isnt a sport is absurd.

Th0mas Shelby · 22-09-2015 04:46PM

My psychic powers see a lot of arguments coming between the "rugby is the only real sport" type and the golf/badminton/formula 1/judo/darts/snooker/horse racing supporters who will back their sports to the hilt.

Is it reasonable to suggest that sports are competitive physical activities? And yes, I would include the likes of Golf, Snooker, Formula 1 as being physical. I really can't understand an argument that proposes otherwise.

osarusan · 22-09-2015 04:47PM

Pat Mustard wrote: »

This is what yer wan wrote about Judo:

So... Judo is not a sport because the journalist was not very good at it as a child. Makes no sense whatsoever but then again, this sort of delusion is nothing new from the Guardian.

I'm pretty sure it's just an attempt at humour.

mahoganygas · 22-09-2015 04:48PM

Th0mas Shelby wrote: »

Is it reasonable to suggest that sports are competitive physical activities? And yes, I would include the likes of Golf, Snooker, Formula 1 as being physical. I really can't understand an argument that proposes otherwise.

Does that include pillow fighting?

Cee-Jay-Cee · 22-09-2015 04:51PM

The article is a load of ****e written by someone who very clearly is inactive and was simply rubbish at whatever sports they tried as a kid.

In saying that soccer isn't a sport, it's just a bunch of pansies running around a bit field after a ball. How can anyone class that as a sport...ffs!!

Th0mas Shelby · 22-09-2015 04:54PM

mahoganygas wrote: »

Does that include pillow fighting?

If somebody brought rules, referees etc into this activity, then yes, I don't think I could argue with that! Pretty similar to boxing, save for the use of a pillow instead of a pair of gloves!!

jamesbere · 22-09-2015 04:54PM

We should all be thankful that beach volleyball is a sport and gives much entertainment during the Olympics

GLaDOS · 22-09-2015 04:55PM

If it involves some sort of physical skill to excel at I consider it a sport. The likes of darts, snooker and golf, while not very active, still require hand-eye co-ordination and judgement of power to play effectively.

Chess is considered a sport in some circles (I believe the Olympic committee recognise it?) but I can't consider it a sport myself.

Sports that shouldn't be called sports

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