Cricket named the third most boring sport in England, golf ranks first

In a recent YouGov poll, published in Thursday’s edition of The Times, Golf has emerged as the dullest sport in England. Despite the nation boasting 2 million regular golfers, 70 percent of people in the UK who had watched the sport reported that it was “boring”, while 52 percent described it as “very boring.”

The next surprise was when American Football was adjudged the second dullest by 59 percent of those who polled. Despite attracting sell-out crowds at Wembley for NFL games, American Football ranks second on the list. NFL was closely followed by cricket with 58 percent – although it is traditionally seen as a national favourite.

The survey, though, represents quite a shot in the arm for athletics, especially after the hugely successful World Championships in London last year. English golfer Matthew Southgate concurred with the findings and was not surprised with athletics topping the poll in terms of being considered the least dull (28%) as 47% found it exciting.

Golf officials hit back

However, golf officials hit back at the survey. Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, told The Times, the sport is a unique one as it lets any golfer can play against the best players in the world by virtue of the handicap system.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “Totally disagree and our fan engagement in 2017 would also suggest otherwise.  Last year, the European Tour saw large TV rating increases, while our social engagement increased by 35 percent.

He added, “All sports need to modernize, and we are leading the transformation of global golf with our players being some of the world’s largest sports personalities. If the poll was accurate, we would not be as successful and able to grow our business as we are doing today.”

Concluding, the YouGov survey seems to suggest that Brits do not enjoy watching sport in general, as out of the 17 sports included in the poll, only five were classed as ‘exciting’ rather than ‘boring’.