Your favourite lesser-known sports?

In the UK, sports coverage is pretty much dominated by football. Rugby, cricket, and tennis also get a lot of attention, as do certain motorsports, but are there any spots you really adore which barely anybody talks about?

I love table tennis, but it is never shown in the UK outside of the Olympics. I think ITV broadcast the national championships live for the first time ever last year, but it was on ITV4 and what even is ITV4, really. I don't even have that channel. I find this really disappointing, especially considering the UK invented the sport and there's some really great British talent at the moment. I always love the Olympics, because it means I can watch table tennis, along with other sports like badminton and judo, which otherwise get little to no coverage. All these broadcasters harp on about their all-encompassing sports channels which really just include football. With the recent success of the British in the last couple of Olympic Games, I think it has invigorated certain sports and inspired a lot of funding and involvement, but the results only seem to manifest every four years. So many sports featured during the Games have yearly national championships that would surely get a decent viewership. With all the channels and all the crap on TV these days, there really doesn't seem to be much diversity when it comes to sports broadcasting. At least these days sporting bodies are able to upload coverage onto YouTube.

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Originally Posted by Neversoft

With all the channels and all the crap on TV these days, there really doesn't seem to be much diversity when it comes to sports broadcasting.

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Yeah and, sometimes, some TV channels here tend to broadcast highlights of League of Legends's tournaments, for example, and I get, like, http://www.msgweb.nl/emoticons/77_77.gif

Definitely, some of my favorite not-so-usual sports are the hundreds of different Gymnastics-wise events (especially the FLOOR) which particularly gain attention in the meantime of the Games, just like some of the other sports.. which is good!, but, as a huge fan, I wish they could aim the spotlights to the Gymnastics just as they frequently do to the deplorable and unexciting soccer!

I love watching / playing snooker, al be it the UK does snow big tournament, but I think they can show / play. More.

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Originally Posted by LUCPIX

some of my favorite not-so-usual sports are the hundreds of different Gymnastics-wise events

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Oh, absolutely. I love watching gymnastics. The National and British Championships are, as far as I'm aware, shown on TV here in the UK. Speaking of floor events, I really love to watch figure skating, but like with synchronised swimming, it's something which is only sparingly remembered.

Love a bit of competitive tiddlywinks

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Originally Posted by Neversoft

Oh, absolutely. I love watching gymnastics. The National and British Championships are, as far as I'm aware, shown on TV here in the UK. Speaking of floor events, I really love to watch figure skating, but like with synchronised swimming, it's something which is only sparingly remembered.

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Yeah, skating isn't very popular among BR since we're not quite the Winter-type, but it' always beautiful - we kinda feel the anxiety of the gymnasts and it's never boring, considering that every single gymnast bring a different choreography

I love this one - one of our more loved athletes - Daiane - has kept doing her floor routine although something wrong happened to the music player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfFvZ8jB95c

EDIT: she's won the gold medal

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Originally Posted by understand2

I love watching / playing snooker, al be it the UK does snow big tournament, but I think they can show / play. More.

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Pretty much this for me. Fox Sports or Eurosports or Skysports or something here in Australia a few years ago used to show lots of pool and snooker, not anymore, which I find kind of annoying.

I want to see more of Spartan Triathlons, The One Mile Frozen Swim (People Will swim in -5'F waters), Marathons/Cross Country.

Love playing squash. I can understand why its not on tv much though as its quite hard to televise and watch particularly for people who have not played the game before

cant beat a bit of snooker like

Roller Derby

extreme ironing

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Originally Posted by Matthew

Love playing squash. I can understand why its not on tv much though as its quite hard to televise and watch particularly for people who have not played the game before

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Yeah when I volunteered for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 I was assigned to the squash and table tennis tribune. Squash looked like so much fun and I would like to try it, I have no excuse really, they built squash courts for the games in the sports centre near my house. Maybe this thread will give me motivation to try it. :)

crab football

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Originally Posted by Neversoft

In the UK, sports coverage is pretty much dominated by football. Rugby, cricket, and tennis also get a lot of attention, as do certain motorsports, but are there any spots you really adore which barely anybody talks about?

I love table tennis, but it is never shown in the UK outside of the Olympics. I think ITV broadcast the national championships live for the first time ever last year, but it was on ITV4 and what even is ITV4, really. I don't even have that channel. I find this really disappointing, especially considering the UK invented the sport and there's some really great British talent at the moment. I always love the Olympics, because it means I can watch table tennis, along with other sports like badminton and judo, which otherwise get little to no coverage. All these broadcasters harp on about their all-encompassing sports channels which really just include football. With the recent success of the British in the last couple of Olympic Games, I think it has invigorated certain sports and inspired a lot of funding and involvement, but the results only seem to manifest every four years. So many sports featured during the Games have yearly national championships that would surely get a decent viewership. With all the channels and all the crap on TV these days, there really doesn't seem to be much diversity when it comes to sports broadcasting. At least these days sporting bodies are able to upload coverage onto YouTube.

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whatever makes them the most money i guess.

i wish they put more field hockey on!

Lawn bowl is something I find very interesting. XD

I love roller derby, used to play it (badly)

http://www.arvis.co.uk/media/Leicester%20Lions.jpg

couldnt beat a bit of curby as a kid like