It’s true than many popular sports and pastimes in the good old U.S. of A. have borrowed heavily from their overseas counterparts and none more than their transatlantic cousins over in the United Kingdom. So whilst our British chums have been enjoying their sporting action for decades why have us Americans opted to alter and create our own sports instead of openly embracing those games enjoyed by millions of players and spectators elsewhere in the world? We take a look at some of the biggest sports around that never truly took off in the USA.
CRICKET
The game of cricket can be traced all the way to the 15th Century and currently more than 125 countries participate in the sport competitively. Granted the majority of these nations were introduced to the game thanks to British colonists and were former members of the British Empire but here in the US it was the game of Baseball that truly captured the imagination of the nation and Cricket quite frankly had to settle on the back burner. The game of course is played in various states here however its growth and popularity was thwarted on numerous occasions leaving the game an outsider in the US.
RUGBY
Even though some Americans enjoy playing rugby-themed games like those found on sport themed slots at Royal Vegas the game of “egg chasing” itself is another example of another sport that hasn’t quite made it successfully across the pond. Another sporting creation we can thank the Brits for the game of rugby is played by hundreds of nations around the globe but once more the US has found solace in arguably a less brutal and more stop and start version of the game when it was developed into American Football.
HURLING
Sitting somewhere between hockey and cricket is the ancient Gaelic and Irish game of hurling. It’s considered to possibly be the oldest field game in history and even though it’s a game that most Americans are no at all familiar with it’s not exactly a big hitter in other countries outside of Ireland. In fact the Irish are the only nation who boasts a national team whereas other countries simply play at club level. The sports popularity is growing and now even cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco have their very own hurling clubs mostly thanks to their hordes of proud Irish immigrants.
