/sp/, have you wondered why in all of the major Anglo (English-speaking) countries besides Britain, association football (soccer) is not the most popular sport. Rather they have their own varieties of "football".
USA has American football (gridiron), Canada has Canadian football (gridiron), Australia has Australian rules football, Ireland has Gaelic football, and in New Zealand rugby union is much more popular than football.
On the other hand, in every other Western country, football (soccer) is the dominant sport.
What is the speciality about Anglo (English-speaking) countries that made this happen? Despite the great cultural similarities, they seem to have all developed their own country-specific sports rather than adopt the dominant sport in Europe, football. Moreover, in Ireland and Australia, rugby seems to co-exist with Gaelic and Australian-rules football, which I also find strange. Why would two very similar kind of games co-exist rather than merging into one?