- Soccer comprehensively outvoted surfing as hardest to play in poll sent out to Pubity Sport’s 2.3 million followers
- Result has proved controversial with many people disagreeing – including a high-profile surfer – but not in the way you might think
- Cricket and MMA were also among the hardest sports to play in the tournament format polling
Many people love to play sports, but which is the hardest in the world to play? Soccer is the most difficult, just ahead of surfing, according to a poll of followers on Pubity Sport.
Soccer polled 70% of the votes in the poll when put up against surfing, which went out to Pubity Sport’s more than 2.3 million followers across the world on Instagram.
The Pubity Sport poll took the format of knockout rounds, with two sports pitched against each other for followers to vote on, with the winner progressing to the next round.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) and cricket were the beaten semi-finalists in the tournament. Beaten quarter-final sports included free climbing, gymnastics, ice hockey and boxing.
The results sparked some controversy. In the comments on the post, one user said: ‘those who voted football. Can I honestly ask WHY’.
Others defended the vote, noting that soccer is (arguably) the most competitive sport in the world to become a professional in.
Similarly, it was also a popular result with Kelly Slater – regarded as one of surfing’s greats, having been crowned World Surf League champion 11 times – who disagreed with both finalists, saying: “I wouldn’t rate soccer, but I don’t play. I would say skating, free soloing, f1, MMA, gymnastics etc are all at the cutting edge of abilities for humans.”
Of course, Pubity Sport’s poll is unscientific and just reflects the opinions of those who voted – but if soccer was easy, wouldn’t we all play like Lionel Messi?
