Betamax video players were better than the VHS system, but VHS won the battle. Apple’s operating system was better than Microsoft’s, but Microsoft won that battle. Well, they won the first round and Apple nearly disappeared. So the best products are not always the winners in the long run.
Rugby is a far superior sport than soccer, or any other sport out there, but those of us who love rugby have to suffer the injustice of our great game being overshadowed by over-hyped inferior games peopled by over-paid and over-indulged players. There’s no accounting for taste.
Soccer players at the top level are so far removed from their fans they may as well be an alien species. The game is riddled with corruption, from Fifa to Uefa to the smallest game in China. The players behave like thugs, abusing each other on and off the field, and they’re allowed to abuse and intimidate the referee, which I’ll never understand.
Basketball, massive in the US, is a strange game, lots of tall people passing a ball to each other. First one team scores, then the other team, ad infinitum, until around the last 10 minutes and it gets exciting, if your definition of exciting is watching basketball.
Strangely, basketball is also the number one sport in the Philippines. Average height in the Philippines: Small! I often wonder if they lower the height of the basket or have special rules allowing shoulder carrying and leg-ups.
And then there are the Aussies and their passionate adoration of rugby league. Leave it out mate! I do watch league, it’s not a bad game, not a great game either. Were I to draw a comparison I’d say rugby league is checkers/draughts to rugby union’s chess, so not really a thinking man’s game then. Perhaps that explains rugby league’s popularity Down Under.