From: etxjdry@caddie.ericsson.se (John Dryselius TG/HB)
Subject: The most popular team sports
Reply-To: etxjdry@caddie.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Telecom
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 10:53:53 GMT


So here it is - the list of the most popular team sports in the
world. I would like to thank the contributors (250) to this poll. 
I am sure that many people think I should have treated the material
in a different world. If you think you have a better way for how to
treat the stats you can use this material or I can post the original
material to you. Take this for what is worth and I hope you find it 
interesting.

John

WORLD LIST
---------
1.Football		3.38
2.Basketball           	2.05
3.Rugby			1.43
4.Cricket		1.32
5.Volleyball		1.14
----------------------------
6.Baseball		1.02	
7.Ice Hockey		0.73
8.Am. Football		0.71	
9.Handball		0.61
10.Field Hockey		0.53

Comments: That Football and Basketball are the most popular and 
worldspread team sports are no surprise. We can see that football 
is the absolute no 1. Volleyball is among the top five
due to that it is found on the lists all over the world, mostly on a 3rd 
or 4th place. Rugby is today popular in quite many countries, but it gained
too many points from the African list. Cricket is spread and popular in the 
old English colonies. Baseball found its way into this list by its popularity
in North America and Central Asia. Ice Hockey can you find in Europe, North
America and Asia. Handball is like volleyball but is less spread over the world.
Am. Football is actually found in lists all over the world, maybe it is becoming
more popular outside North America. Field Hockey is mostly popular in the old
English colonies, but also popular in other countries as opposed to Cricket.

EUROPE (69)
------
1.Football		4.79
2.Basketball		2.27
3.Handball		1.65		
4.Volleyball		1.56		
5.Ice Hockey		1.28			
6.Rugby			0.74
7.Cricket		0.53		
8.Water Polo		0.30	
9.Field Hockey		0.29
10.Roller Hockey	0.18	

Comments: The top five are the expected. Roller Hockey might be a coming 
sport, but I personally believe that the tenth place should have been Am. 
football.

SOUTH AMERICA (8)
-------------
1.Football		5.00
2.Basketball		2.44			
3.Volleyball		1.81	
4.Baseball		1.25
5.Am. Football		1.00
6.Rugby			0.88
7.Horse Polo		0.38
8.Handball		0.25
9.Field Hockey		0.19	

Comments: The two first are unquestionable the most popular. 

NORTH AMERICA (96)
-------------
1.Baseball		3.94		
2.Am. Football		3.93		
3.Ice Hockey		3.38		
4.Basketball		2.19		
5.Football		0.65
6.Curling		0.21
7.Volleyball		0.10
8.Lacrosse		0.09		

Comments: The first four are in their own league. Ice Hockey on 3rd place
due to its popularity in Canada.

OCEANIA (31)
-------
1.Cricket		3.79		
2.Rugby League		3.67
3.Rugby Union		3.04                
4.Aus. Football		1.95		               
5.Netball		1.33 		
6.Basketball		1.16
7.Football		0.39	
8.Field Hockey		0.04
9.Am. Football		0.02

OCEANIA Rugby List
------------------
1.Cricket		3.79
2.Rugby			3.36
3.Aus. Football		1.95
4.Netball		1.33
5.Basketball		1.16
6.Football		0.39
7.Field Hockey		0.04
8.Am. Football		0.02

Comments: Cricket, Rugby and Aus. Football the most popular spectator
sports. Netball the most played (mostly by girls).

AFRICA (3)
------
1.Football		4.33
2.Rugby			4.00
3.Cricket		3.67
4.Field Hockey		2.00
5.Baseball		0.33
5.Netball		0.33
(This list is based on three votes only - from South Africa)

This list biases Rugby and Cricket. I doubt that they are so popular in
other african countries. Since I haven't received any votes from other 
countries I have to accept this list.

CENTRAL ASIA (35)
------------
1.Football		3.48	
2.Basketball		2.54			
3.Baseball		1.63	
4.Volleyball 		1.53	
5.Cricket		1.24
6.Field Hockey		1.19
7.Rugby			1.00
8.Handball		0.59
9.Ice Hockey		0.44
10.Kabbadi		0.11

Comments: Baseball popular in Japan and Korea. Cricket and Field Hockey
outstanding in India and Pakistan. 

MIDDLE EAST (5)
-----------
1.Football		5.00
2.Basketball		3.75
3.Volleyball		3.00
4.Handball		1.75
5.Water Polo		0.63	

Comments: The votes from this region were very consequent.

Sports included
---------------
Football = soccer, indoor soccer, court soccer
Volleyball = beach volley, Ecuadorian volleyball
Am. Football = gridiron, Canadian Football League, US pro & College FBL.
Baseball = Major league, pro and college baseball.
Basketball = Pro and college basket.
Pes{pallo = pesaepallo (in Swedish boboll). Sometimes also referred to as 
Finnish baseball.	
Aus. Football = Australian Football or Aussie rules Football.
Khabbadi, Kho Kho = Local Indian games.
Handball = Team Handball
Ice, Field, Roller Hockey
Rugby = Union, League
Water, Horse Polo, 
Lacrosse = box L and Field L.
Softball, Hurling, Shinty, Bandy, Gaelic Football, Rowing, Korfball, Cricket
Netball, Curling

Sports not included
-------------------
Sumo, Equestrian, Pelota, Golf, Auto racing, Tennis, Badminton, Table tennis,
Formula 1, Boxing, Raquetball, Skiing
Track & Field, Athletics 

This is how the votes are presented:
------------------------------------
Since most of the votes are from the same places (US, India etc.) I've
divided them into 7 geographical groups: North America, South America,
Central Asia, Middle East, Africa, Oceania and Europe. In each group I 
present the total number of votes and the distribution of their placing 
(i.e. 3,2,0,0,0 means 3 votes on first place, 2 on second, 0 on third etc.).

Then I give 5 pts for every 1st place vote, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd,2 for 4th 
and 1 pt for 5th place vote. For Ice H in the Canada list this means 16x5 +
1x4 = 84. I divide 84 with the number of votes for Canada and gets 4.94.
To have the North America list I add 4.94 and 1.91 (US) and divide with two
(number of countries in that group) and I have 3.43 for Ice H in N America.

The same procedure is done for the World list.

Rugby Union and Rugby League. Claimed to be different in UK, Australia and 
New Zealand. In all other countries it's called rugby. Thus in the 
combined lists I consider Rugby U and L as rugby. In those countries 
one differ between Union and League I below present a "rugby list" I'm using 
in the group and world lists. 

Everyone who wants to do another presentation are free to use these 
lists - all the information I've got is presented in the country lists.

VOTES
-----
North America
-------------
Since I've got some answers there they wrote from what part of US they 
they were I have divided NA into: US, Canada, US west, US mid and US east. 
The three latter are also included in the US list but they give some hints 
of where the sports are most popular.

CANADA (17)
1.Ice Hockey		16,1,0,0,0	4.94
2.Baseball		1,11,5,0,0	3.76
3.Am. Football		0,5,12,0,0	3.29
4.Basketball		0,0,0,9,2	1.18
5.Football		0,0,0,4,7	0.88
6.Curling		0,0,0,3,1	0.41
7.Lacrosse		0,0,0,1,0	0.12
8.Rugby, Aus. football, Rowing 	0,0,0,0,1 0.06

US (79)
1.Am. Football		49,26,4,0,0	4.57
2.Baseball		29,33,16,0,1	4.11
3.Basketball		1,18,57,2,1	3.20
4.Ice Hockey		0,0,2,68,1	1.81
5.Football		0,0,0,0,33	0.42
6.Volleyball		0,0,0,2,12	0.20
7.Lacrosse 		0,0,0,0,4	0.05
8.Field Hockey		0,0,1,0,0	0.04
9.Softball		0,0,0,0,2	0.03

US WEST (6)
1.Am. Football		3,3,0,0,0	
2.Baseball		1,2,2,0,0	
3.Basketball		1,1,3,0,1	
4.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,4,1	
5.Volleyball		0,0,0,2,2	
6.Cricket		1,0,0,0,0
7.Field Hockey		0,0,1,0,0	
8.Lacrosse		0,0,0,0,1	

US MID (5)
1.Am. Football		4,0,1,0,0
2.Baseball		1,3,1,0,0
3.Basketball		0,2,3,0,0
4.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,4,0

US EAST (4)
1.Am. Football		3,1,0,0,0
2.Baseball		1,2,1,0,0
3.Basketball		0,1,3,1,0
4.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,4,0
5.Football, Lacrosse	0,0,0,0,2

South America
-------------
ARGENTINA (4)
1.Football		4,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Rugby			0,2,2,0,0	3.50
3.Basketball		0,1,1,2,0	2.75
4.Horse Polo		0,0,1,1,1	1.50
5.Field Hockey		0,0,0,1,1	0.75
6.Volleyball		0,0,0,0,1	0.25

BRAZIL (2)
1.Football		2,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Volleyball		0,2,0,0,0	4.00
3.Basketball		0,0,2,0,0	3.00
4.Handball		0,0,0,1,0	1.00

ECUADOR (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball 				3.00
4.Baseball				2.00

MEXICO (1)
1.Football 				5.00
2.Am. Football				4.00
3.Baseball				3.00

Africa
------
SOUTH AFRICA (3)
1.Football		2,0,1,0,0	4.33		
2.Rugby			1,1,1,0,0	4.00
3.Cricket		0,2,1,0,0	3.67					
4.Field Hockey		0,0,0,3,0	2.00
5.Baseball, Netball	0,0,0,0,1	0.33


Middle East
-----------
ISRAEL (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Handball				2.00
5.Waterpolo				1.00	

IRAN (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Volleyball				4.00
3.Basketball				3.00
			
JORDAN (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Volleyball				2.00	
5.Water? Polo				1.00

TURKEY (2)
1.Football		2,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Basketball		0,2,0,0,0	4.00
3.Volleyball		0,0,2,0,0	3.00	
4.Handball		0,0,0,2,0	2.00
5.Waterpolo		0,0,0,0,1	0.50

Central Asia
------------
CHINA (4)
1.Football		3,0,1,0,0	4.50
2.Volleyball		1,3,0,0,0	4.25
3.Basketball		0,2,2,0,0	3.50
4.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,3,0	1.50
5.Handball		0,0,1,0,0	0.75
6.Softball		0,0,0,0,1	0.25

HONG KONG (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Rugby					2.00
5.Field Hockey				1.00

INDIA (15)
1.Cricket		14,1,0,0,0	4.93
2.Field Hockey		1,6,8,0,0	3.53
3.Football		0,8,7,0,0	3.53
4.Volleyball		0,0,0,4,4	0.80
5.Basketball		0,0,0,4,2	0.67
6.Kabbadi		0,0,0,2,2	0.40
7.Kho Kho		0,0,0,1,1	0.20
8.Water Polo, Rowing	0,0,0,0,1	0.07

JAPAN (1)
1.Baseball				5.00
2.Rugby					4.00	

KOREA (N?,S?) (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Baseball				4.00
3.Basketball				3.00
4.Ice Hockey				2.00
5.Handball				1.00

PAKISTAN (11)
1.Cricket		11,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Field Hockey		0,11,0,0,0	4.00
3.Football		0,0,9,2,0	2.82	
4.Volleyball		0,0,2,2,3	1.18
5.Kabbadi		0,0,0,1,3	0.45
6.Horse Polo		0,0,0,2,0	0.36
7.Basketball		0,0,0,1,0	0.18

SINGAPORE (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Rugby					2.00
5.Field Hockey				1.00		

TAIWAN (1)
1.Basketball				5.00
2.Baseball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Football				2.00	

Oceania
-------
AUSTRALIA (27)
1.Cricket		13,7,3,4,0	4.07
2.Aus. Football		8,12,5,1,0	3.89
3.Rugby League		6,5,15,1,0	3.59
4.Basketball		0,1,3,12,5	1.56
5.Rugby Union		0,2,4,6,4	1.33
6.Football		0,1,0,0,10	0.52
7.Netball		1,0,0,2,2	0.41
8.Field Hockey		0,0,0,0,2	0.07
9.Am. Football		0,0,0,0,1	0.04

NEW ZEALAND (4)
1.Rugby Union		3,1,0,0,0	4.75
2.Rugby League		1,1,2,0,0	3.75
3.Cricket		0,2,2,0,0	3.50
4.Netball		0,0,0,2,5	2.25
5.Basketball		0,0,0,1,1	0.75
6.Football		0,0,0,0,1	0.25

Europe
------
BULGARIA (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Handball				2.00	
5.Water Polo				1.00	

CROATIA (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Water Polo				2.00	
5.Volleyball				1.00	

DENMARK (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Handball				4.00
3.Ice Hockey				3.00
4.Volleyball				2.00
5.Basketball				1.00

ENGLAND (6)
1.Football		6,0,0,0,0	5.00	
2.Cricket		0,6,0,0,0	4.00	
3.Rugby Union		0,0,4,0,1 	2.17
4.Field Hockey		0,2,0,0,2	1.67	
4.Rugby League		0,0,0,5,0	1.67	
6.Volleyball		0,0,1,0,0	0.33
7.Am. Football		0,0,0,0,2	0.20
7.Rowing		0,0,0,1,0	0.20
9.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,0,1	0.17

ENGLAND Rugby List
1.Football				5.00
2.Cricket				4.00
3.Rugby					1.92	
4.Field Hockey				1.67
5.Volleyball				0.33
7.Rowing				0.20
7.Am. Football				0.20
8.Ice Hockey				0.17

ESTONIA (1)
1.Basketball				5.00
2.Football				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00	
4.Handball				2.00	
5.Ice Hockey				1.00

FINLAND (7)
1.Ice Hockey		6,0,0,0,0	4.29
2.Football		2,3,2,0,0	4.00
3.Pes{pallo		0,0,4,1,0	2.00
4.Basketball		0,0,0,6,0	1.71
5.Handball		0,0,0,0,2	0.29
6.Volleyball,Bandy	0,0,0,0,1	0.14

FRANCE (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Handball				2.00

GERMANY (9)
1.Football		9,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Ice Hockey		0,5,4,0,0	3.56
3.Handball		0,3,4,1,1	3.00
4.Basketball		0,0,1,4,2	1.44
5.Volleyball		0,0,0,4,5	1.44
6.Field Hockey		0,0,0,0,2	0.22
7.Water Polo		0,0,0,0,1	0.11

GREECE (1)
1.Football				5.00		
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Volleyball				3.00
4.Water Polo				2.00
5.Handball				1.00	

ICELAND (1)
1.Handball				5.00
2.Football				4.00
3.Basketball				3.00
4.Volleyball				2.00

IRELAND (3)
1.Football		2,0,0,0,0	3.33
2.Gaelic Football	1,2,0,0,0	3.00
3.Rugby			0,1,1,1,0	3.00
4.Hurling		0,0,1,2,0	2.33
5.Field Hockey/Basketball 0,0,0,0,1	0.33

ITALY (2)
1.Football		2,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Basketball		0,2,0,0,0	4.00
3.Volleyball		0,0,2,0,0	3.00
4.Rugby			0,0,0,2,0	2.00
5.Water Polo/Baseball	0,0,0,0,1	0.50

the NETHERLANDS (10)
1.Football		10,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Volleyball		0,6,2,2,0	3.40
3.Field Hockey		0,3,5,1,0	2.90
4.Basketball		0,0,2,3,2	1.40
5.Handball		0,0,1,2,4	1.10
6.Korfball		0,0,0,1,1	0.30
7.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,1,0	0.20

NORWAY (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Ice Hockey				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Basketball				2.00
5.Volleyball				1.00	

POLAND (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Volleyball				4.00
3.Basketball				3.00
4.Handball				2.00	
5.Ice Hockey				1.00	

PORTUGAL (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Roller Hockey				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Basketball				2.00

RUSSIA (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Ice Hockey				4.00
3.Basketball				3.00	
4.Volleyball				2.00	
5.Handball				1.00
6.Bandy					0.00	

SCOTLAND (7)
1.Football		7,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Rugby (Union?)	0,6,1,0,0 	3.86
(sometimes called rugby, sometimes rugby union)
3.Shinty		0,0,2,2,1	1.57
4.Cricket		0,0,1,1,2	1.00
5.Field Hockey		0,0,1,1,1	0.87	
6.Ice Hockey		0,0,1,0,2	0.71
7.Basketball		0,0,0,2,0	0.57
8.Am. Football		0,0,1,0,0	0.43

SPAIN (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Basketball				4.00
3.Handball				3.00
4.Volleyball				2.00
5.Water Polo				1.00

SWEDEN (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Ice Hockey				4.00
3.Bandy					3.00
4.Handball				2.00
5.Basketball				1.00

WALES (1)
1.Football				5.00
2.Rugby Union				4.00
3.Cricket				3.00
4.Ice Hockey				2.00
	
UK (6)
(i.e. the votes that says UK, probably most of them should have been England)
1.Football		6,0,0,0,0	5.00
2.Cricket		0,4,2,0,0	3.67	
3.Rugby Union		0,1,2,1,0	2.00
4.Rugby League		0,0,1,3,0	1.50
5.Rugby			0,1,0,0,1	0.83
6.Basketball		0,0,0,1,1	0.50
6.Am. Football		0,0,1,0,0	0.50	
8.Field Hockey		0,0,0,0,2	0.33	
9.Ice Hockey		0,0,0,0,1	0.17

UK Rugby list
1.Football				5.00
2.Cricket				3.67
3.Rugby					1.44				
4.Basketball				0.50		
4.Am. Football				0.50
6.Field Hockey				0.33		
7.Ice Hockey				0.17

Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer