Clash of the Titans

Well the seasons for ice hockey and football are well underway and this reminds me of my time inhabiting Vancouver, during which I had many ‘discussions’ about sport. They would always start playfully, with mocking and subtle digs, but they would always end with crockery being tossed and handbags being swung. Today though ladies and gentlemen I attempt to link the two, and then rip them apart, only to link them once more so we can all live happily ever after. Smiley face.

So it’s figure skating with big sticks vs. a bunch of grown men acting like 7-year-old girls, falling over and crying for their mummies! Yup you guessed it, this is… Football vs. Ice Hockey, and just so we’re clear that’s the football which is played with your feet…rather than your hands.

OK, I am going to try and do this with no stats at all, because stats just complicate things and I want this to be like it has been all the other times I’ve had this debate…I mean discussion. Except this one won’t involve booze.

Ice hockey, the true Canadian past-time, and a great game too. When I was living in Vancouver the atmosphere on game day was electric, sort of like England in the World Cup except it was practically every other day for a year, and that’s not even mentioning if a team makes the playoffs. I think this is because Vancouver has a very successful hockey team, and not much else as far as sports teams go. Compare that to football and a city such as London, where you have so many teams all within a spitting distance of each other, and one seems to greatly outweigh the other. However, this is not a bad thing, in fact I have pros and cons for each. 

           

Vancouver itself is a city united on game day, everyone comes together for one purpose and one purpose only, to support their team, and during the playoffs I can’t begin to describe the atmosphere. Hockey jerseys lined the streets, Harleys doing burnouts, policemen sharing stories with jubilant fans. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, no aggression, no anger and no violence. It was another story when they lost in the final however, but I won’t get into that now. The con though is there’s no rivalry between towns, no banter between fans which I believe is important for the passion of your team.

The main point for hockey is its physicality, at least it was for all those hockey loyalists when they wanted a dig at football, and it makes it one of the most interesting sports I’ve witnessed. These guys go out to hurt each other, they want the guy with the puck to be thinking more about the guy that’s going to hit into him rather than the puck itself. If you’re tough in hockey, you are notorious, and that is something worth a lot in this sport. As a Brit I would obviously compare this level of physicality to rugby, except they don’t wear helmets, torso pads, knee pads, elbow pads and back braces to protect themselves… OK, OK, cheap shot, because as we know rugby doesn’t exactly have the same popularity as hockey does in Canada or indeed football in Europe, so to do this would be unfair. Furthermore fighting, actual bare fist fighting is still, and will hopefully remain, a big part of ice hockey.

To football then, the so-called man’s game, even though the reality of the modern game is far from that description. The common ground I had with people I “discussed” this topic with, was the level of athleticism in the game. Most centre midfielders in the Premier League run more than 12 kilometres in a single game, whereas you’re lucky if you get over 15 minutes of ice time in a hockey match. Moreover, having played football I am very aware that it is more physical than it looks when you’re out there on the pitch, but compared to hockey, its physicality doesn’t hold much water. I will say that I think there is more skill involved in a game of football, more natural talent is involved to do the things they do in a match, whereas hockey is more about reaction, the flick of a wrist at the precise time in order to achieve a goal.

Hmm, it seems then I have come up short, I could go on for days about the good and bad points to each sport, but I fear I must draw a conclusion, but how can I? With hockey you’re talking about a sport that immortalises goalkeepers, and although great ones are very sort after in football, they share nothing of the glory. The Vancouver Cunucks goal tender is paid $11million a year, the most on the team! Can you honestly imagine Joe Hart getting paid more than his multibazzillionaire teammates? So I think it is fair to finally put this clash of titans to rest with my mighty sword, (and no that is not a euphemism). I will simply agree to disagree, both sports hold amazing attributes unique to only them. I only hope that you all draw the same conclusion!

Remembering this stuff makes me miss the alcohol fuelled arguments that my Canadian friends and I used to indulge in on a regular basis. So this rant is dedicated to them.

Hopes were high during the World Cup in 2010... Not that it made a difference!

My adopted Hockey team, The Vancouver Cunucks