Talking Point: The Hardest Sport?

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Golf club addressing a golf ball.

So the Sun's finally, finally shown its face again after what seems like a two-year absence. It means many of us have lost that repeated excuse for failing to head outdoors and take a little exercise: 'It's just too damn cold and miserable.' And the omens aren't good for sports-phobic individuals. The footie season will soon be over, and bang goes sitting indoors on a Saturday afternoon watching the results service, lager in hand. And England didn't even qualify for Euro 2008, so forget that TV/pub fest.

Before you head out, though, spare a little thought for those sportsmen and women tearing around tennis courts, heading off-piste or pounding the tarmac ahead of Beijing. It can be tough out there! Nevertheless, some sports are obviously harder to excel at than others, aren't they? Surely, battling your way around a huge 18-hole golf course is one of the toughest tests known to man (or woman)? Or what about getting to grips with the complexities - let alone physical demands (pain) - of rugby?

So, for this week's talking point, we want to know:

  • Which is the hardest sport to participate in?

  • Is it more difficult to be a team player in the greatest football league in the world or a solo around-the-world yachtsman?

  • Do complex rules hinder or enhance individual talent?

  • Is sport harder when you're up against the elements like a rally driver in a Lancastrian quagmire? Playing seasonal sports such as cricket just has to be easier than a year of squash in your lunch hour, though. No?

  • Do you prefer being a big fish in a small pond - or is sport more rewarding if those around are fitter and more talented?

  • Is life harder as a professional or an amateur? It maybe your livelihood, but surely you've got all that coaching, equipment and medical support?

  • And which is the toughest sport to referee? Would you rather have Mike Riley's job of deciding whether Michael Owen was offside under the watchful eye of 50,000 geordies, or judge whether an Olympic walker should be disqualified for becoming a runner?

  • Also, is it trickier to oversee a game of fun between seven-year-old kids on the beach in Blackpool or world championship finalists who should know better?

  • Finally, do we really need to venture outdoors at all? Would we get even greater physical benefit if Wii simply stayed at home?


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