Both football and hockey fans are ready to prove with foam at the mouth that they cheer for the best game, bringing with it a lot of arguments. But it is difficult to impartially and unequivocally answer the question: football or hockey, which is better? First, you need to compare two sports in terms of benefits and dangers for a person, accessibility, costs, popularity and other criteria. And only then can we draw more or less thorough conclusions.
Benefit
Which is better: hockey or football for a child, which is more useful? There are no special differences, these team and very mobile sports bring positive emotions, make the body and spirit strong, develop intelligence and social skills. But it is better to list the benefits obtained from hockey and football in more detail.
• Health. Physical strength, coordination, endurance, reaction, immunity increase, the ability to tolerate large loads is developed.
• Character. There is a belief in oneself, a fighting spirit, tenacity, determination, a sense of responsibility and self-discipline.
• Social skills. Playing in a team helps to develop a sense of elbow and mutual assistance, a child from young nails learns to adequately accept defeat and victory, respect his opponent and rejoice for his comrades.
• Intelligence. Complex interactions on the field develop strategic thinking, the ability to plan and predict situations. Such skills will come in handy in many areas of life.
• Implementation and prosperity. Often sport becomes the main calling and meaning of its Being. And for professionals who have made sport work, it brings wealth and even wealth.
• Emotions. It’s even incorrect to find out which is better: football or hockey? For an athlete, his favorite game is a source of diverse strong emotions that make life fuller and more colorful.
Harm
One cannot ignore the harm that these sports are capable of causing. Here again, equality. There are two main disadvantages of these games. Firstly, the child is often fond of sports to the detriment of learning. He is ready to spend days chasing a puck or ball, avoiding lessons and doing homework somehow. As a result, he can doubly lose: not to become a professional athlete and leave school with a three-member, poorly prepared for adulthood.
Secondly, these contact games are very traumatic. Even at an amateur level, when children play in a wasteland or an ice box near a house, they cannot do without bruises, dislocations and fractures. In big sport, damage becomes almost the norm. In football, the most common injuries: a variety of bruises, injuries and inflammation of the ligaments on the legs, concussion, fractures and dislocations.
Hockey looks more dangerous from the side of football, hockey players play harder, there are fights on the ice, the puck is harder and faster than the ball, in addition, the players have sharp skates on their feet and clubs in their hands. But at the same time, there are no more injuries in hockey than in football, because players are reliably protected by equipment. In addition, hockey players follow the unspoken code and rarely deliberately inflict damage on an opponent. The most common hockey injuries: bruises, sprain, dissections, broken teeth, tremors and fractures.
Availability
If we compare these sports in terms of accessibility, then the answer to the question “Football or hockey: which is better?” will be in favor of football. After all, you can play it almost all year round: in winter and summer, in rain and clear weather, on land, grass, asphalt, sand and even on snow. Enough company, ball and goal, which can be made of stones, backpacks or sticks.
Hockey is harder: it needs ice, ice skates, a stick. It's minimum. To avoid bruises and cuts, even at the amateur level, at least a helmet is desirable, especially for goalkeepers. It is very uncomfortable to play in severe frost or rain, which is no longer a rarity for Russian winters. With the onset of heat, you have to hide the skates and club in the pantry. Of course, in large cities, indoor ice rinks work in the summer, but there are few of them, and for the residents of small towns or villages, such luxury is not available.
There are more football sections and societies than hockey ones. Another caveat: football is gaining popularity among girls. They can deal with it both with boys and in separate sections for girls. You can’t say the same about hockey, which continues to be considered purely male sports.
Expenses
From this perspective, the answer to the question “Football or hockey: which is better?” it sounds quite obvious: football looks preferable. The main expenses for sports are made up of three main articles: payment for training; spending on sports camps and trips to competitions; purchase of equipment. For the first two articles, approximate equality. You can find free hockey and football sections. For adult sports enthusiasts, an hourly fee for a court or soccer hall will cost about the same. The same is true for the costs of sports camps and competitions, they are comparable in both forms.
But hockey equipment can be tens of thousands more expensive than football equipment. For full training, a football player needs: boots (with and without spikes); sport suit; two shorts and two T-shirts; gaiters and shields. Hockey minimum: hockey stick; helmet; shields; skates; bib; shell; elbow pads gloves special underpants; the form; jumpsuit that is worn under the uniform; bag to wear it all.
Moreover, saving and buying cheap equipment can result in injuries or discomfort. Cheap skates poorly protect or do not protect the hockey player’s shin, in a simple helmet it is practically not adjustable, uncomfortable gloves or a poor stick will not allow the young player to reveal his talent.
Popularity
Popularity can be estimated mathematically, considering the approximate number of fans and sports enthusiasts it is easier to answer which is better - hockey or football. Voting by fans and research by experts calculated an approximate number of football fans on the planet - almost three billion people.
No sport has so many fans. Almost half of the world's population is not indifferent to football, it is shown on central and satellite channels, the ratings of the finals of large tournaments are breaking records, they are watched by a multi-million audience, football is loved on all continents, without exception.
Hockey is widespread and developed in Russia, North America and the Scandinavian countries. This geography of real hockey popularity is limited. Even in Russia, which is rightfully a hockey power, football has more fans; more airtime is devoted to it. Only during the Winter Olympics, hockey takes over the country's attention.
Football attendance is better in absolute terms, because football stadiums are more spacious. But in terms of occupancy, Russian hockey is ahead of domestic sports number one. Hockey stadiums are often pleasing to the eye due to the lack of free places, especially in the northern and eastern regions of the country, where hockey is traditionally loved.
Entertainment
A very subjective category, too much in it depends on the taste of the fan. Someone loves football wholeheartedly at first sight, someone is gradually imbued with the beauty and spirit of hockey, and someone is completely indifferent to sports in general. Therefore, it is very difficult to say without reservation: football or hockey - which is better?
Football attracts with a wealth of tactical schemes, technique and dribbling of players, many situations on the field, passions and martial arts of two teams, the beauty of the performance of passes and penalties, the globality of thousands of stadiums.
Hockey captivates its fans with high speeds, skillful skate and club skills, power tricks and fights, an abundance of goals, almost complete absence of simulations, incredible emotionality of elimination games, and unpredictability of the result.
National achievements and role models
But there is no doubt the answer to the question: "Football or hockey - which is better for the sport and prestige of the country?" Hockey gave incomparably more reasons for national pride than football. Hockey teams gave fans 8 Olympic victories and 25 gold medals of world championships. Our country has always been able to educate world-class hockey players.
In the era of the USSR, these were: Maltsev, Tretyak, Kharlamov, Makarov. After the collapse of the Union, the best players on the planet included Mogilny, Zhamnov, Fetisov, Bure. Today, over the ocean, a new scattering of Russian talents is taking the lead: veterans Ovechkin and Malkin, as well as young Panarin, Bobrovsky, Tarasenko. All these athletes were and remain idols and inspirers of millions of boys who chose hockey, looking at their game.
Football achievements are much more modest and belong mainly to the USSR national team, which took gold at the Olympics twice, won once and reached the final of the European championship twice. The maximum of the Russian team is the semifinal at the European Championships in 2008.
In our football it is difficult to find players even of an average level by world standards. They are not in demand in strong championships, and they themselves are not eager to go somewhere, because at home they are paid huge salaries by Russian standards . Football players are more often noted in secular chronicles and scandals than on the field. Only a few of them can serve as an example for young people in sports terms.
Summary
Summing up and answering the question “Football or hockey: which is better?”, One can quite confidently say that football has an advantage. With relative equality in entertainment, the benefits and harm that they bring to the athlete, football is ahead of hockey in accessibility and popularity, and it also costs less. Only in terms of achievements, national heritage and the number of stars, hockey is certainly better.