Volume 4　国民が夢中になるスポーツ


Our National Sports

Ann Slater: Hello everyone and welcome to the July edition of Cultural Crossroads. This is Ann.

Michael Rhys: And I'm Mike. Hi.

Ann: And we're very glad to be with you again. This month, we're going to talk about sports, uh, starting with cricket.

Michael: Oh, really, cricket. Ann: The quintessential English sport.

Michael: It is. The quintessential English sport. And when we say English sport, you have to remember, of course, that it's not a British sport as such, because the UK, it's very confusing, Britain, the United Kingdom, is made up of several countries: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and a couple of little islands. But yes, cricket itself is very much an English sport.

Ann: Yeah, it's interesting 'cause in the, the States, of course, it's not popular at all. People think that Americans don't play cricket, which isn't true. Today it's played throughout the States. And interestingly also, of course, America being a nation of immigrants, you know, many people who have come from India and Pakistan and so on, play cricket in the States as well. So it's certainly alive and well but not at all to the extent . . .

Michael: Right, of course.

Ann: Of course, yeah, that it is in England and some other countries. Now I think a lot of people, who aren't that familiar with cricket find it quite mysterious in terms of, "How is it played?"

Michael: When you come to cricket for the first time you think well it's not much of a spectator sport. It's a long slow game. You have two teams of 11 players, uh, on a pitch, which is basically rectangular - is the main playing area. At each end of the rectangles you have the bales . . . the wicket rather. The essential idea is the bowler, the guy who chucks the ball has to, he's trying to hit that wicket, trying to knock it down and by doing so the batter will essentially be out. OK, this is getting very confusing here. There are two batters unlike baseball, of course, which is another stick and ball game. Are you lost yet? 'Cause I am, 'cause this is . . .

Ann: Well, ha-ha, it sounds, I, as I said, complicated. As I, and I'm sure it's not. And one thing that's interesting as, I suppose if you, if you think of what's the equivalent in the States, of the national sport that everyone's mad about, would be football. That's the sport that, uh, brings people together maybe in the way that cricket does in England, but I, I wonder, yeah . . .

Michael: Yeah, to be honest with you though, I mean the equivalent of American football in the UK would actually be soccer. That is, I would say, the number one sport. Cricket is still very popular and it's a popular game for people to play on Sundays. Uh, it's a Sunday sport, it's a relaxed summer sort of sport, whereas soccer people are passionate about throughout pretty much the whole year.

Ann: Yeah, and, and actually I think it's the most popular sport in the world.

Michael: Yes, I, I could well imagine that now, yes.

Ann: Yeah, yeah.