Is Soccer a "Dying Sport" In England?

England defeated Slovenia 3-1 over the weekend in a Euro 2016 qualifier. For the Three Lions it was their fifth straight win following a disappointing World Cup campaign. Wayne Rooney picked up his 100th cap. 82,000 people came out to watch a NFL football soccer game at Wembley Stadium.

Everything is great and wonderful, right?

Not exactly. It appears the England National Team is getting a little bit of the baseball treatment in the media because of, yep you guessed it, television ratingz ratings. Numerous UK outlets, including The Daily Mail, wrote that the England match drew fewer viewers than a quiz show called Pointless Celebrities. The England match on ITV peaked with 6.3 million viewers while the quiz show on BBC peaked with 7.26 viewers. Do note that when the two programs went head-to-head, England averaged 5.6 million viewers to Pointless Celebrities 5 million.

Anyways the only conclusion one could draw is that because of lower television ratings soccer in England is indeed a … #dyingsport(*).

Here’s a clip of Pointless Celebrities for a reference point.

RELATED: England Manager Roy Hodgson Doesn’t Sound Too Thrilled About the NFL Games in London, Either

(*) Soccer is not actually a dying sport in England. The Premier League is the most-watched league in the world, raking in money, granted that financial doesn’t necessarily translate to the National Team. Anyways, if you’re unfamiliar, this is a reference to baseball being continually referred to as a “dying sport” because of decreasing television ratings. Felt that it was important to explain the crux of the joke/point. Oh well.