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The same question can be asked of other small nations which dominate or excel in a particular sport. Why are the New Zealand All Blacks so dominant in rugby un

The same question can be asked of other small nations which dominate or excel in a particular sport. Why are the New Zealand All Blacks so dominant in rugby union? Why is Austria so good at winter sports? Why does Ireland produce so many top class race horses? In each case I think it has something to do with a unique cultural and natural environment, which then leads to the best in class supporting structures being built.

narag 8y ago
When a velodrome was built in my hometown, people were outraged. The cost was around $600k of 80's money. And there was absolutely no tradition in the area for this sport. Less than ten years later, olympic gold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Moreno_(cyclist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Moreno_(cycli...
- EwanToo 8y ago
  The same could be said for the Manchester Velodrome, high quality facilities built in an area without much history of cycling and now we churn out Olympic medalists https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Velodrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Velodrome
lordnacho 8y ago
The reason for those is local tradition. But football is the only real global sport. There's a country on every continent where football is the main sport. What other sport can claim that? So dominating football is hard, because there's loads of other countries where local tradition is to train football.
- phillc73 8y ago
  You make a good point about football being played in many countries globally. However, regarding the point about continents, football is not the main ball sport in Australia. It probably ranks third or fourth most popular (after Australian football, rugby league and possibly rugby union), although Australia will be at the upcoming football (soccer) World Cup.
  - itumel 8y ago
    Australia moved from the much weaker Oceania Football Confederation, apparently in 2006, to a better Asian Football Confederation, better in the sense that the competition was stronger but not by much (if you put aside Iran, Japan and South Korea). Qualifying from this region is not nearly as tough as qualifying from other more competitive regions. Australia as a country is known to spend real money on sports. They are able to produce top athletes, that's not a problem. Australia has been able to participate in the Confed Cup and World Cup tournaments which helps boost its ranking because more points are allocated for participating in those tournaments. Whether Australia poses a real threat to the dominant powers, that's a different story altogether. Moving to a Asia surely paid off dividends for them though.

narag 8y ago

When a velodrome was built in my hometown, people were outraged. The cost was around $600k of 80's money. And there was absolutely no tradition in the area for this sport. Less than ten years later, olympic gold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Moreno_(cyclist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Moreno_(cycli...

EwanToo 8y ago
The same could be said for the Manchester Velodrome, high quality facilities built in an area without much history of cycling and now we churn out Olympic medalists https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Velodrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Velodrome

lordnacho 8y ago

The reason for those is local tradition. But football is the only real global sport. There's a country on every continent where football is the main sport. What other sport can claim that? So dominating football is hard, because there's loads of other countries where local tradition is to train football.

phillc73 8y ago
You make a good point about football being played in many countries globally. However, regarding the point about continents, football is not the main ball sport in Australia. It probably ranks third or fourth most popular (after Australian football, rugby league and possibly rugby union), although Australia will be at the upcoming football (soccer) World Cup.
- itumel 8y ago
  Australia moved from the much weaker Oceania Football Confederation, apparently in 2006, to a better Asian Football Confederation, better in the sense that the competition was stronger but not by much (if you put aside Iran, Japan and South Korea). Qualifying from this region is not nearly as tough as qualifying from other more competitive regions. Australia as a country is known to spend real money on sports. They are able to produce top athletes, that's not a problem. Australia has been able to participate in the Confed Cup and World Cup tournaments which helps boost its ranking because more points are allocated for participating in those tournaments. Whether Australia poses a real threat to the dominant powers, that's a different story altogether. Moving to a Asia surely paid off dividends for them though.