Ice Hockey in Poland

Soccer in the US is pretty much on the same level as Ice Hockey in the UK.

let's hope it does grow over there, the only thing i hate is that you call it soccer, lol, man i can't believe that and what you do call football you don't even use your feet, but thats another topic all together :)

I have though been getting into baseball lately, its on really late over here on Channel 5 so i usually set the digi box to record and watch the games that way, i suppose being a big cricket fan its the closest game to that so i like it

i wish they'd show more rugby. i havn't even seen many hockey games on that much in the past few years. i know they had a big strike a while back, but i didn't really keep up with that. the thing with soccer and rugby and all those sports is lack of commercial time. it blows watching rugby on the one or two channels they do show it (whenever they do, which is rare) because you lose 2 or 3 minutes every commercial break.

yeah rubgy is a great game too, the world cup is on at the moment, is there no coverage over there??? That is a game that beats your american football, all those pads and stuff, those guys should all have a game of rugby to show them what rough is :)

What rugby have you seen??

An entire season and still there is no real reason why. The biggest thing that happened was that people saved money... ;)

there's very little coverage, i've found one channel that shows it. but not as much as soccer (football :D) i caught the Argentina/France game the other day, and was really excited about that. tonight i caught the last 20 minutes or so of a replay from the England/USA game.

soccer is a british word but seems to be the one americans chose to use as the main word for the sport... soon enough it's going to be "futbo"l anyway. ;) :D :D

I don't know if Soccer is a British word but I know it's generally only the USA and Australia who use it as a word for Football and mostly cos they have their own versions of the game...

As i said in another thread. It's the corruption of Associaton Football. Not sure why so many Bees congregate around this part of the 'hood.
What do you British call a hood anyway? :)

Edit: link: http://www.polishforums.com/soccer_football-16_11930_0.html#msg197047

Something that protects us from the rain ;)

Attached to an anorak perhaps :)

thats what i've heard too. with the association thing. i honestly don't think soccer will ever be bigger than american football in the states. i personally don't like american football, too many pauses. i'll stick with rugby and lacrosse...and of course beach volleyball! :D

Me neither and I really wouldn't expect it to either...



The only thing that bugs me about Hockey :)

soccer is big in high schools (at least where i'm at) but after that level its pretty much not a big deal. women soccer is probably the biggest form of soccer here.

someone else posted something about this too.. just like rugby wasrugby football at one point in time too.. then it became rugby to defrenciate it from the real foot and ball game,

soccer WILL be huge eventrually... the commercials issue has been solved rather nicely.. non issue now.


btw. la crosse is an american game.. given to us by the indians with a feather. :)

it won't be bigger than american football. and you can quote me on that.



btw. i didn't say it wasn't.

i know.. i just thought i'd throw that little fact in there..


let me repeat this though: soccer WILL be bigger then am. football.. i can see it in my lifetime.. hehe.. our friends south of the border don't care one bit about pitch and run. :D

and it was a good bit of factual information. so thanks :D



i can see soccer being big, but not bigger than football, not in my lifetime anyways...but remember i'll probably be dead within 10 years :D

Thats puzzled me a lot, cos it is popular in neighboring Czech Republic and Slovakia

the czechs kick butt though.

Thread attached on merging:
Polish Hockey?

Why is it that Russia and the Czech Republic are so historically good at hockey and Poland seems to have missed the boat? Is it not popular there? Is there no money or training in it? What's the deal?

Poland had its golden years of hockey in the 60's and 70's, and if you look at the history books, they got fourth I believe, a few times in the early 30's and then 50's in European Championships. In the 70's, they would beat even the Soviets once in a while, and be in the top 8 in Europe throughout those years... but it seems that as communism came to a close in Poland, then hockey became less popular, not funded etc..
Poles today prefer football or volleyball and even basketball over hockey. The leagues in Poland are poorly sponsored because of that, and not kids decide to go with hockey because they believe they won't be able to make a living off of it, unless they attract Swedish/Finnish/Czech/Swiss or German elite leagues or NHL scouts.
I'm sure if the govermenet pushed the program well enough, i.e began hockey programs for the kids, then the hockey program would take off. Polands population is almost 4 times the amount of the Czech Republic. If they wanted it enough, they would be one of the top 6 in the entire world. A question of popularity, poor advertising, and poor funding.

That's what I thought, but always wondered. Thank you that answers my question beautifully.

No problem friend.

Ha, this thread just made me realize why I didn't give Poland a second thought other than bein a spot on the map for 20 years - no high profile hockey! Most of the countries around Poland have very competitive teams on the international scale, and I got a lot of my knowledge about Europe from the bit pieces during intermission on TV. I'd like to see Poland make a comeback on the hockey scene!

Hello

There have been a few very good Polish born players in the NHL.

I know the spelling is wrong.

Mariaus Czerkawski
Krystof Oliwa

Wojtek Wolski was also born in Poland (Zabrze) - Colorado Avalanche

I should be going to a Red Wings.

Because after WWII Czechoslovak communists invested a lot in hockey, built many rings while in Poland nothing like this took place.

Some notable Polish NHLers
Mariusz Czerkawski NYI
Krystoff Oliwa NJD
Wojtek Wolski COL
Petr Sidorkeiwicz HAR