This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "National sport" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

A national sport is considered to be an intrinsic part of the culture of a nation. Some sports are de facto (not established by law) national sports, as Sumo is in Japan and Gaelic games are in Ireland, while others are de jure (established by law) national sports, as taekwondo is in South Korea.

De jure national sports

Sports declared as national sport by a law:

Country Sport Year defined as
national sport 		Basis Reference
 Argentina Pato 1953 Argentina Decree Nº 17468 [1]
 Bangladesh Kabaddi 1972 [2]
 Bhutan Archery 1971 [3]
 Brazil Capoeira 1972 [4]
 Canada Lacrosse (summer)
Ice hockey (winter) 		1994 National Sports of Canada Act [5]
 Chile Rodeo 1962 [6]
 Colombia Tejo 2000 Colombia Law 613 [7]
 Iran Varzesh-e Bastani, Wrestling, Polo 1976 [8]
 Mexico Charrería 1933 [9]
 Namibia Football, Netball, Rugby 2018 [10]
   Nepal Volleyball 2017 [11]
 Philippines Arnis 2009 Republic Act No. 9850 [12]
 Puerto Rico (United States) Paso Fino horse riding 1966 Puerto Rico Act 64 of 2000 [13]
 South Korea Taekwondo 2018 [14]
 Uruguay Destrezas Criollas
(Creole [i.e. gaucho] Skills[15]) 		2006 Uruguay Law 17958 [16]

De facto national sports

Country Sport
 Afghanistan Buzkashi[17]
 Anguilla Boat racing[18]
 Antigua and Barbuda Cricket [19]
 Austria Alpine skiing[20]
 Bermuda Cricket[21]
 Basque Country Basque pelota[22]
 Barbados Cricket[23]
 Cuba Baseball[24][25][26]
 Dominican Republic Baseball[27]
 England Cricket[28]
 Estonia Basketball (summer), Ice hockey (winter)[29]
 Fiji Rugby Union[30]
 Finland Pesäpallo[31]
 Georgia Rugby union[32]
 Grenada Cricket[33]
 Guyana Cricket[34][35]
 Haiti Association football[36]
 Indonesia Pencak Silat[37]
 Ireland Gaelic games[38][39][40]
 Jamaica Cricket[41]
 Japan Sumo[42]
 Latvia Ice hockey[43]
 Lithuania Basketball[44][45]
 Madagascar Rugby union[46][47]
 Malaysia Sepak takraw[48][49]
 Mauritius Association football[50]
 Mongolia Archery, Mongolian wrestling, Horse racing[51][52]
 Montenegro Water polo[53]
   Nepal Dandi Biyo[54]
 New Zealand Rugby union[55][56]
 Norway Cross-country skiing (winter)[57][58]
 Pakistan Field hockey[59][60]
 Papua New Guinea Rugby league[61][62]
 Peru Paleta Frontón[63]
 Philippines Sipa,[64] Basketball[65][66]
 Romania Oina[67]
 Russia Bandy[68]
 Scotland Golf[69]
 Serbia Basketball[70][71][72][73]
 Slovenia Alpine skiing,[74]
 Tajikistan Gushtigiri[75]
 Taiwan Baseball[76]
 Turkey Oil wrestling[77] & Cirit[78]
 Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket[79]
 United States Baseball[80][81][82]
 Venezuela Baseball[83]
 Wales Rugby union[84]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Argentina Decree Nº 17468 of 16 September 1953". Federación Argentina de Pato. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  2. ^ Faroqi, Gofran (2012). "Kabadi". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Ha-du-du was given the name kabadi and the status of National Game in 1972.
  3. ^ Bisht, Ramesh Chandra (January 2008). International Encyclopaedia of Himalayas. Mittal Publications. p. 134. ISBN 978-81-8324-265-3. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  4. ^ Lowell, John (1992). Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira. University of Chicago Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-226-47683-4.
  5. ^ National Sports of Canada Act S.C. 1994, c. 16, Justice Laws Website, National Government of Canada
  6. ^ Moreira Recchione, Alberto (December 2007). "La Medialuna: un edificio para Chile". Revista de Urbanismo (in Spanish) (17). ISSN 0717-5051. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2008. A reconocerse, en 1962, el rodeo como deporte nacional y oficial [10 de enero de 1962, oficio N°269 del Consejo Nacional de Deportes y Comité Olímpico de Chile]
  7. ^ "Colombia Law 613 of 4 September 2000". Global Legal Information Network. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  8. ^ "فدراسیون کشتی".
  9. ^ "La Charrería "Nuestro Deporte Nacional"" (in Spanish). Mexican Department of Tourism. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2008. El año de 1933 fue muy importante, ya que el general Abelardo L. Rodríguez, emite un decreto presidencial, dando a la Charrería el título de único Deporte Nacional.
  10. ^ Cabinet approves categorisation of sports codes. Namibia Press Agency, 2. August 2018.
  11. ^ "It's official: Volleyball is the national sport of Nepal". OnlineKhabar. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. The government on Monday decided to recognize volleyball as the national sport of Nepal.
  12. ^ "Republic Act No. 9850: An Act declaring Arnis as the national martial art and sport of the Philippines". Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  13. ^ "Puerto Rico Act 64 of 2000, S.B. 1856" (PDF). Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico. 11 April 2000. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2008. In 1966, the Public Parks and Recreation Administration and the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee awarded official recognition of the "paso fino" horse riding sport as the autochthonous sport of Puerto Rico.
  14. ^ "Taekwondo designated as South Korea's flagbearing national sport". insidethegames. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  15. ^ Aeberhard, Danny; Andrew Benson; Lucy Phillips; et al. (2001). The Rough Guide to Argentina. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-85828-569-6. displays of traditional gaucho skills (destrezas criollas)
  16. ^ "Uruguay Law 17958 of 21 April 2006". Global Legal Information Network. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  17. ^ "Buzkashi: The National Game of Afghanis". Embassy of Afghanistan, Canberra. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  18. ^ "Boat Racing Season Officially Opens". The Anguillian. 3 March 2007. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2008. Director of Sports, Alkins Rogers, […] reported that the Government recognizes boat racing as the national sport of Anguilla and was giving financial resources for its development.
  19. ^ "Antiguans and Barbudans". everyculture.com. Retrieved 10 July 2008. Cricket, a left-over from the British rule, is the national sport of Antigua and Barbuda.
  20. ^ "Teurer Pistenspaß: Das kostet unser Nationalsport".
  21. ^ Luke, Will (March 2007). "Cricket by association". The Wisden Cricketer. Retrieved 21 July 2008. Bermuda are one of the few sides who count cricket as a national sport.
  22. ^ Garai, José Ramón (2006). "Basque pelota: the sport of a nation shared with the world" (PDF). Euskal Etxeak. 74: 32.
  23. ^ "Barbados: Sports". Government of Barbados. Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2008. The national sport of Barbados is cricket
  24. ^ Gonzalez Echevarria, Roberto (1999). "A Cuban Belle Époque". The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball. Oxford University Press. pp. 76. ISBN 978-0-19-514605-9. Baseball is so ingrained in Cuba that it has thrived as the "national sport" through forty years of a bitterly anti-American revolution.
  25. ^ Mckinley, James C., Jr (26 March 1999). "Baseball; Clash of Cultures, Pride and Passion". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 July 2008. Most Cubans, after all, consider baseball to be their national sport, a game entwined in history with their struggle for independence from Spain and the birth of their nation.
  26. ^ Castro, Fidel (13 August 1999). "Speech at a meeting with Pan American Games delegation members". cuba.cu. Retrieved 24 July 2008. the game that […] is […] our national sport […] I am talking of baseball
  27. ^ "Some facts about the Dominican Republic". Embassy of the Dominican Republic, Washington. Retrieved 22 July 2008. Baseball is the Dominican Republic's national sport.
  28. ^ http://projectbritain.com/sport.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. ^ Lonely Planet Eastern Europe (9 ed.). Lonely Planet. 2007. p. 319. Basketball is the unofficial national sport
  30. ^ "Sport". rugby (or Rakavi) is the national sport
  31. ^ "About Finland: General information: Sports". Embassy of Finland, Washington. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2008. the national sport, "pesäpallo"[dead link]
  32. ^ There is far more to savour in European rugby union than just the Six Nations The Guardian
  33. ^ "Batting For Grenada". Grenada Life. Grenada Board of Tourism. March 2007. p. 38. Retrieved 21 July 2008. in the first Grenada Cricket Classics [, h]eroes such as Sir Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Curtley Ambrose came together to promote what is considered by many to be the national sport in Grenada.[permanent dead link]
  34. ^ "Games". Guyana Tourism Authority. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008. Cricket lovely Cricket! One cannot miss out on Guyana's national sport without participating in a game of cricket while in Guyana.
  35. ^ Wagg, Stephen; Andrews, David L., eds. (2007). East Plays West: Sport and the Cold War. London/New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35926-9. [E]ven though soccer football was and is considered the Hungarian national pastime
  36. ^ Graves, Kerry A. (August 2006). Haiti. Capstone. ISBN 978-0736869614.
  37. ^ "Pencak Silat: More Than Just A Fight". Indonesia Expat. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  38. ^ "RTÉ Secures Comprehensive GAA Championship Coverage Until 2010". RTÉ Online. 19 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2009. Today's announcement ensures that the public will enjoy quality coverage of our national games across all of RTÉ's media platforms.
  39. ^ "Adjournment Matters. - Eurathlon Programme". Seanad Éireann. 22 November 1995. pp. Volume 145. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  40. ^ Farrelly, Hugh (15 September 2009). "The most progressive team in Ireland". Scrum.com. Retrieved 17 September 2009. It's [the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final] a big deal in Ireland, where Gaelic games are the national sport, but the problem for the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is that no-one outside the country, save for committed expatriates, gives a fig.
  41. ^ "History of Jamaica". Jamaican Embassy, Washington. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008. The legacy of Britain also lives on in Jamaica in many ways […] the game of cricket is the national sport.
  42. ^ "What Is Sumo?". Kids Web Japan sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  43. ^ "Sports". [Latvia.eu]. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  44. ^ Adamkus, Valdas (28 July 2005). "Address at Charles University, Prague". President of Lithuania official website. Archived from the original on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2008. Lithuania is a country that loves basketball. It is our national sport and we are proud to be reigning European Champions.
  45. ^ Winn, Luke (15 August 2011). "Lithuania Calling". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Basketball is the only sport the 3.2 million Lithuanians truly care about—it's their second religion, after Catholicism—and their success is proportionately stunning.
  46. ^ "Madagascar take Sevens honours". Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  47. ^ "14-place jump for Madagascar". Archived from the original on 18 November 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  48. ^ "Official Sepaktakraw Website – Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association (PSM) pays official visit to ISTAF and Asia Sports Ventures". Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  49. ^ Editions Didier Millet (1 February 2010), Malaysia at Random, Editions Didier Millet, pp. 62–, ISBN 978-981-4217-95-8
  50. ^ Richards, Alexandra.Mauritius: Rodrigues, Réunion. Bradt Travel Guides, 2009, p.90
  51. ^ Metawise LLC. "A wrestling competition dedicated to the Wonder of Mongolian National Wrestling". infomongolia.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  52. ^ "Mongolian Embassy in the USA". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  53. ^ "Water Polo Is The Most Popular Sport in Montenegro". total-waterpolo.com. Total Waterpolo. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  54. ^ "Nepal's' 'national sport' we never had: Five things you didn't know about dandi-biyo". Online Khabar. Archived from the original on 5 June 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2020. If you went to school in the 90s in Nepal, chances are that you were taught that dandi-biyo is Nepal’s national sport.
  55. ^ Alves, Thalita. "How Rugby Became New Zealand's National Sport". Culture Trip. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  56. ^ Palenski, Ron (1 September 2016). "Rugby union". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 April 2020. Regarded as New Zealand’s national game from the early 20th century, when the All Blacks swept triumphantly across Britain, rugby remains hugely popular.
  57. ^ Mølster, Odd (1996). "Skiing and the Creation of a Norwegian Identity – part 2". News of Norway, issue 2. Norwegian Embassy, Washington. Retrieved 21 July 2008. the national sport could become a fine weapon in time of war. In 1943, Norway's resistance movement won an epochal victory – on skis, of course
  58. ^ Berglund, Nina (20 February 2006). "Few cheers for Norway". Aftenposten. Archived from the original on 21 February 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2008. The scoreboard shows how the Norwegians placed, a performance considered much too poor in a country where cross-country skiing is a national sport.
  59. ^ Khan, M. Ilyas (8 August 2012). "Pakistan's Olympic humiliation in national sport". BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  60. ^ Abbott, David (2015). Changing World: Pakistan. Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 21. ISBN 978-1625133212.
  61. ^ "PNG vow to upset World Cup odds". Rugby League. Federación Peruana de Frontón. 15 October 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2009. But it would still be one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history if Papua New Guinea – the only country to have rugby league as its national sport – were to qualify for the last four.
  62. ^ "PNG seal 2010 Four Nations place". BBC. 1 November 2009.
  63. ^ "Paleta-Frontón". Club Regatas Lima. Club Regatas Lima. 31 August 2009. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  64. ^ "Sipa and sepak takraw kicking in". Rappler. David Lozada. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  65. ^ "Philippines". Teen Life in Asia (illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. 2004. p. 182. ISBN 0313315329. Retrieved 5 May 2020. Basketball is the major national sport in the Philippines.
  66. ^ Gems, Gerald; Borish, Linda; Pfister, Gertrud (10 April 2017). "Sport as Symbol: Acculturation and Imperialism". American History: From Colonization to Globalization (2 ed.). Human Kinetics. p. 213. ISBN 978-1492586142. The Filipinos adpted basketball as their national sport, and Filipino boxers...
  67. ^ "Oina – sportul naţional uitat" (in Romanian). Adevărul Holding. 18 September 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2012. Dar nici deciziile luate de autorităţile comuniste nu au salvat sportul naţional românesc de la uitare.
  68. ^ "Russian bandy players blessed for victory at world championship in Kazan". Tatar-Inform. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  69. ^ "Alex Salmond quote". Sport Scotland. 31 August 2009. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  70. ^ "Košarka je nacionalni sport Srbije". Glas javnosti. Retrieved 16 July 2019. Basketball is the national sport of Serbia
  71. ^ "Nacionalno sport broj 1 – Košarka je u Srbiji religija". Blic. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2019. National sport No.1 – In Serbia, basketball is a religion
  72. ^ "Serbian coach Djordjevic knows what it takes to make a transition from "names" to "legends"". FIBA. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019. The Trophy Tour had Serbia on its schedule in mid-June. But the land of basketball wants to show it to an even bigger crowd, if they win it all in China in September
  73. ^ "Svečana akademija Košarkaškog saveza Srbije za pamćenje!". Basketball Federation of Serbia. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019. Today we celebrate 95 years since the first basketball match in Serbia and the 70th birthday of the national federation, which fans of the game all over Europe and the world, describe as "Land of basketball".
  74. ^ Kotnik, Vlado (2008). "Skiing Nation: Towards an Anthropology of Slovenia's National Sport". Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 7 (2): 56–78. doi:10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00118.x.
  75. ^ Ibbotson, Sophie; Lovell-Hoare, Max (2013). Tajikistan. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 978-1841624556. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  76. ^ "101 of Taiwan's Baseball".
  77. ^ "Ata Sporu – Güreş". Alaturka.info. Archived from the original on 23 December 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  78. ^ "Ata Sporu – Cirit". Kalem.biz. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  79. ^ "ICC Members: Turks and Caicos Islands". International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  80. ^ Duquette, Jerold J. (1999). Regulating the National Pastime: Baseball and Antitrust. Greenwood. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-275-96535-8. Retrieved 21 July 2008. Baseball justified its privileged legal status by citing the special nature and cultural significance of America's national pastime.
  81. ^ Schrag, Myles (2003). "Baseball as National Pastime Revisted: And a Little Town Shall Lead Them". In Peter Carino (ed.). Baseball/literature/culture: Essays, 1995–2001. McFarland. p. Chp.13 p.140. ISBN 978-0-7864-1643-1. Tradition – that quality so instrumental in elevating baseball to its century-old status as national pastime – has become less important
  82. ^ Gmelch, George (1 January 2006). Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime. p. 308. ISBN 9780803256064. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  83. ^ Gmelch, George (1 January 2006). Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime. p. 308. ISBN 9780803256064. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  84. ^ Harris, John (Summer 2006). "(Re)Presenting Wales: National Identity and Celebrity in the Postmodern Rugby World" (PDF). North American Journal of Welsh Studies. 6 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2008. rugby used to be the undisputed national sport of Wales […] Rugby Union's assumed position as "the national game" has often been questioned on the basis that it is predominantly a game played and followed in South Wales.
Categories