Study: 92% of Europeans think cricket involves horses
More than nine out of 10 Europeans think cricket is played on horseback, a recent study has found.
In an effort to gauge cricket’s popularity on the continent, researchers from Oxford University asked 3000 Europeans whether they were familiar with the sport. Around 92% of respondents mistook cricket for polo, an upper-class British game involving long sticks and horses.
“It’s clear from our research that Europeans have no idea what the fuck cricket is,” lead researcher Gareth Ponsonby Jr told The Tragic Traveller. “Almost everyone we asked said ‘That’s the one with the horses, yes?'”
I can understand them confusing cricket with croquet. But polo? Come on!
According to Ponsonby Jr, most Europeans made the mistake after seeing a video of Prince Harry playing polo.
“They knew cricket was an English sport,” Ponsonby Jr said. “So when they saw Prince Harry hitting a ball from atop a horse, they just assumed they were watching cricket. Idiots.”
The study found that, after watching a five-minute clip of cricket highlights, 99.7% of participants said they’d stick to watching football, thank you very much.
