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Tell that to the paid NRL players they know where they brownose. No one ain't sacrificing their paycheck for their love of the game.
Given that the baseball game did well in Australia, in addition to basketball being seen as a mainstream sport in Australia, it would appear that Australia is very different to the UK when it comes to embracing US sports. Different perceptions.
It's very poor when it comes to sports. It's a wasteland in comparison to films, tv, music etc.
Would you not put British music up there as a soft power credential? British music is still as influential and listened to worldwide as it ever was. Sheeran and Adele are probably the two best selling artists in the world right now.
Football isn't the same as cricket or Rugby Union, the latter two which were exported from England to private schools via the British Empire (take a look at Australia, New Zealand, South Africa). Football spread organically...one group of English/Scottish/Welsh miners/ship builders/steel workers set up a team in an area, and this would then spread via the locals. Cricket and Rugby Union was part of the private school curriculum, implemented by school governors from England. Not to sound derogatory but they are toffs games (at their foundation), and wouldn't be played outside England but for colonialism. A map of the British commonwealth is basically where both are played, bar (in the case of rugby Union) south west France and a smattering of the middle class in Argentina.
It does little to sell itself because it's a conformist society, not innovative. The Chinese wait for collective approval before doing anything, that's communism for you. They are fully aware of the vital importance of soft power diplomacy though to the extent they have been trying to get tips from the UK. And therein lies their problem, they cannot do it themselves, it's not in their national psyche.
Was actually thinking about this quite recently. Pound for pound I would rank Germany number one when it comes to their cultural contribution to the world.
No invention is ever just one person, with the odd exception (Tim Berners Lee), Zuse was a massive figure in the conception of the modern computer. Babbage, Lovelace, Turing and many others played their role too. Whittle was at the heart of the conception of the jet engine (Germans were advanced too, the Messerschmitt was the best jet fighter in the war).
So in the history of these major sports you can come up with two tennis players, two golfers and one boxer! GB numerous boxing world champions, numerous golf major winners, several Wimbledon winners as well as other Grand Slam events. I’ll give you football that’s a no brainer. Germany has proper mountains and winter sports facilities. Hardly a fair comparison to GB but have you ever heard of Torvill and Dean, John Curry or Robin Cousins? Nash and Dixon won bobsleigh gold. Lizzie Yarnold double skeleton gold. We’ve also produced many swimming gold medalists and world champions.
Not globally it isn't. Just over a half dozen countries (England, that's it in Europe), Australia, NZ, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and its on its knees in the latter.
