28
votes
Accepted
Why Great Britain or England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland in different sport?
There's often a bit of confusion about this.
First of all, this might help:
One of the main reasons for confusion is because there's muddling between political names (names of countries) and ...
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22
votes
Accepted
How can a journalist know so much information on athletes?
This is going to depend a lot on the sport. In general, a reporter does have access to several resources, many of which are accessible to a dedicated fan, but when putting together commentary on the ...
- 2,778
16
votes
Why Great Britain or England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland in different sport?
The accepted answer, while doing a good job of presenting the background from a British point of view, doesn't really get at the actual reason for the unusual status of British teams in some sports.
...
- 301
15
votes
Are there any sports that started as a women's sport?
Synchronised swimming was exclusively a women's sport from its first appearance at the World Aquatics Championships in 1973 until 2015 when mixed duet categories were introducted. The earlier (pre-...
- 22.1k
12
votes
Accepted
What other sports have an offside rule other than football?
There is an offside rule in (ice) hockey, which essentially means a player cannot just hang out the attacking 1/3 of the rink and wait for the puck to be passed to him.
There is also an offside rule ...
- 7,245
12
votes
Accepted
Why are the same national football teams always the strongest?
There are many reasons why a select group of countries have dominated international football for so long, and there have been countless articles written about this subject but what it all comes down ...
- 136
11
votes
Does Vatican participate in any International sports?
Vatican City has both a national football and cricket team. However, as neither are members of the appropriate international governing body (FIFA and the ICC respectively) they don't compete in any ...
- 22.1k
9
votes
Accepted
How much does a referee/umpire earn in a year?
Referees and umpires get paid much differently depending on the sport.
For the first example, let's take the most watched sport in the world: football (known to Americans as soccer). European soccer ...
- 488
8
votes
What other sports have an offside rule other than football?
Gridiron Football (American and Canadian) has an offside foul too. If a player is on the wrong side of the line of the scrimmage when the ball is snapped then they are offside. It is even a strategy ...
- 1,024
8
votes
Accepted
Are there any sports that started as a women's sport?
Netball as a sport was developed exclusively for women (who couldn't be expected to run in long skirts, and therefore couldn't play basketball; this is the origin of the no-running-with-ball rule).
Nij♦
- 7,440
8
votes
Accepted
Are there any sports other than American football that have a coach's challenge?
As of 2014, Major League Baseball adopted its current replay system, in which each manager can challenge a call one time per game, and gets a second one if the first call that they challenged is ...
- 316
7
votes
Accepted
League-wide retired numbers
Jackie Robinson's number 42 was retired by the MLB. Those wearing 42 were allowed to continue, but players couldn't switch to it and new players couldn't have it. Mariano Rivera was the last player to ...
- 3,160
7
votes
Accepted
The call "nets" in tennis, details
The rule you're looking for is: ITF Rule 23 – “The Let”
In all cases when a let is called, except when a service let is called on a second service, the whole point shall be replayed.
The situation ...
- 186
7
votes
Accepted
"Atypical" nations recognized in sports
Perhaps the most famous example of all is the West Indies cricket team who have won many international series and tournaments. Other than that, the Māori people of New Zealand have had various "...
7
votes
Why no uniform testing for doping at major sporting events?
The answer is simple, although you won't hear it in the media: it's financial.
Imagine a league like the MLB suddenly decides to test every one of its players on a given day. Immediately they end up ...
- 450
6
votes
Accepted
How many times have major league teams won a championship after winning 4 Game 7s?
This has never happened. The closest any time has come in Hockey since the NHL moved to four 7 game series has been the Bruins in 2011 and the Kings in 2014. They each won three game 7s. The Bruins in ...
- 9,096
6
votes
Which player had the longest professional career?
There are a significant number of athletes who have professional careers longer than 24 years. Going for the longest by sport:
Basketball: Robert Parish, 21 years
American Football: George Blanda, 26 ...
6
votes
Is English the official language for international sport events?
It depends of the event. For the Olympics, there are two official languages : English and French (which is by its reglementation the most important language of the Olympics). For FIFA, these languages ...
- 602
6
votes
Are there any sports other than American football that have a coach's challenge?
The National Hockey League also has a coach's challenge, as of the 2015-2016 season (official announcement). Coaches have a single challenge, which can be used to review a scoring play. If the ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
Is there an objective reason for Scandinavian ice hockey ranking?
Based upon the IIHF's records of registered hockey players by country, Finland and Sweden have nearing 10 times as many people participating in organized hockey leagues compared to Norway.
...
- 1,948
5
votes
Why do female footballers play a higher number of international matches compared to a male footballer?
There are more international competitions for female national teams.
For example the Algarve-Cup, the 4-nations-tournament and the Cyprus Cup.
Most male national teams just playing the World Cup, the ...
- 1,019
5
votes
Are there sports in which being smaller than your adversary can be a distinct advantage?
I can think of a couple instances where it is an advantage for the athlete to be small. They are both "racing" situations, and the athlete in question is a "controller."
The first is the "coxswain" (...
- 3,704
5
votes
A single qualification framework for all sporting codes (coaching/refferee/administrator)? Is this possible & worthwhile?
It's also broadly true in the UK, where the various sports have coaching schemes which all attempt to adhere to the same definition of level, to describe how advanced a coach you are.
From Level 1 ...
- 211
5
votes
What other sports have an offside rule other than football?
Lacrosse has rules for offsides as well. The rules forces at least three players of the team to be on the attack half of the field (usually the attackers) and at least four players to be on its ...
- 151
5
votes
Accepted
Why has the MLS begun to draw more high caliber European players?
Some change of scenery is also nice at some times. But like the previous answer already said, I don't think players at age +30 are still considered really that high caliber players in Europe. (Except ...
- 1,226
5
votes
Accepted
What is the first "Hall of Fame"?
The concept of the Hall of Fame has its roots in ancient Norse mythology. Valhalla was an enormous hall in Asgard where warriors who were slain in battle would go upon their death.
King Ludwig I of ...
5
votes
Are there any sports other than American football that have a coach's challenge?
It's not a coach's challenge per se, but cricket has the concept of player reviews, where either the batsman or the captain of the fielding side can request a review of an umpires decision.
- 22.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Cooperative sports throughout history
Certainly depends on your definition of sports, but...
Are there sports that are uniquely cooperative? YES
I can think of several examples where a team accomplished a goal of sport that was not ...
- 770
4
votes
What other sports have an offside rule other than football?
Field hockey used to have an offside rule as well. It was very similar to the offside rule in football. However, field hockey removed the offside rule in the mid-1990s. The rule changed over time and ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible