Popularity of Kickboxing with newer Aussies!

[paul c]

Hey guys,

Just looking at the fighters names on the Fightforce card. Of the names listed, there are only two Anglo looking names.

I wonder why Kickboxing is much more popular with first and second generation Aussies fighters and spectators in Vic. Most boxing cards aren't as obvious (I reckon about 50% or less in Vic, fighters that is) But I reckon the majority of Boxing Audiences there are anglo.

Muay Thai in Queensland seems the opposite, where the majority of fighter names are Pom, Scott or Irish.
I've not been to a show, so wouldn't know about spectators.

Pretty interesting.
Anyone got any theories to why?


Lets not turn this ugly guys.
I just honestly find it pretty interesting.

[Bushi]

Anglo's like it harder..they're tougher...<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Interesting point Paul, in the Melbourne scene, KB shows are heavily ethincally followed, Brute Force MT was more Anglo.

The X-plosion show I went to was mainly Anglo...

Interesting point you have made Paul, not sure of ther reasons why though but yes it is noticable..

"Yours in Bushido"

[paul c]

Of the stuff I mentioned, I think the point that does make me most curious is why the non Anglo fighters don't seem to be as much into Muay Thai.

I think most of us here would agree that Tradition is a big part of Muay Thai. I wonder then if Anglo fighters are more accepting of a full-on ring sport with so much tradition attached then what the non anglo fighters are.

Also, I think that Kickboxing as we see it now in Vic, is more into 'Glam' than it is into tradition.... with the hype and stuff that the big shows generate, so It leaves me wondering if non Anglo fighters enjoy this more than the Anglo fighters.



Edited by - paul c on 28 Jul 2005 14:16:23

[Kostet]

As a non Anglo (I'm Russian) I can answer that my love for the sport (and everyone else's around my age) comes from growing up watching Bruce Lee, Van Damme, Jacky Chan etc movies when we were younger. After the fall of the Iron Curtain there was a huge surge of overseas movies in our country and the action movies from both East and West were VERY popular. Every kid grew up wathcing them.

As for KB vs MT, I prefer MT, maybe slightly older guys from Eastern Europe might prefer KB (Van Damme influence). I still love KB though and I practice KB and Kyokushin at the moment but plan to move over into MT when the time is right.

My $0.05.

[johnny_619]

I think Stan the man kicked it off to a new level here for greeks. He bought a national pride and cards like greeks vs turks.

Then you had Gurkan for the turks who did the same thing with Tarik.

In Europe (not including the uk) they'd prefer kickboxing/muay thai over boxing.

When i was in athens alot of the gyms there offered kickboxing classes never saw boxing anywhere.

Here in Vic its a bit rare to see an anglo on a card.


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Greeks dont fight like heroes, heroes fight like Greeks!

[sam]

every greek i know acts like a hero but can't fight

except zambo

italian worriors is what u should b looking 4

Edited by - sam on 28 Jul 2005 16:38:13

[Jono]

Anglo's like to watch wogs beat each other up, simple.
Only joking <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

[SPADA]

I agree with Johhny_619.....

Stan was the one who got people interested in kickboxing.Alot of ethnics in melbourne,and with one of their own doing exceptional on a world scale.... the trend followed.
I also think Jamel Hassain and his Tae Kwon Do school with its massive turk enrolement have kept churning out "kickboxers".... but that seems to now have died abit.

cheers Spada

[johnny_619]

When you have names like longinidis, petridis, zambidis, kara and greco all over the cards you arent going to get much of an anglo following anyway.

I think a fight with a greek and a turk will always draw a good crowd.

I herd stan on greek radio the week before he fought gurkan asking all the greeks to watch him fight a turk.

Anglo's have been turned off in a way and therefore you dont see many of them dominate the Victorian cards.

If JWP fought in melbourne no doubt you'd have half the crowd asking " So who's this guy?"

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Greeks dont fight like heroes, heroes fight like Greeks!

[Matt J]

i think the good thing about stan was he rose above just appealing to a small fanatical group of over patriotic idiots the way someone like say gurkan does. yeah stan was wildly popular with the greeks but he had a mainsteam following. everyone from anglo to european knew him and his fights drew a large cross section of people.he is as close to a household name a kickboxer can be.
the greeks vs turks thing has to go.people who wet themselves with excitement because its greeks vs turks are neanderthals. if it happens to be a greek and a turk fighting as co-incidence then fine, for example zambides against baris was never matched simply on the basis of one being greek and the other being turkish. INTENTIONALLY pushing the greek vs turk angle was something we did in 1985 for laughs at the old school shows at the palace and fame, with those team events (not forgetting the aussies vs the turks and the aussies vs the lebanese. lol). the sport was so low profile that nobody cared. now with a level of mainstream notoriety in the sport it sounds plain dumb. it brings out the lowest members of the gene pool like allanf. mind you those old days were good fun.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

[Bushi]

Agree with Johnny too..

And MattJ.....love your work <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Yours in Bushido"

[dutts72]

Wouldnt it simply be a major factor that there are very large ethnic communities in Melbourne and Sydney in Comparison to Brisbane and or Perth?

"Muay Thai Never Dies"
"Life in Every Breath"
Ome Mane Padme Hum

[paul c]

I honestly don't think so Dutts. Sure you're right there are much bigger ethnic groups, but the majority of Australians are still Anglo.

The explanations you guys have given make sense for Melbourne, but then why is QLD so different?

[J A]

I agree with Dutts
Paul you ask why Queensland is different and that is purely because we dont have the ethnic base of melbourne and victoria. And I know you say that anglos are the biggest ethnicity I agree but if you combined the greeks turks lebs etc in melbourne I think you might find that they come close or even outnumber the traditional Australian.
Its like in the US regular white folk are actually in the minority when compared to the the other ethnic groups such as blacks and hispanics..
In Queensland we dont have the level of ethnic migration that the southern states enjoyed and there fore I would say we have a higher population of english decent anglo people also in part to us having so many damned Kiwis here!! haha
Well thats my thoughts
J.A.

[Voice]

find myself agreeing with Matt<img src=icon_smile_angry.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

This silly Team Greece vs Turkey etc etc has got to go. It stirs up racial ill will. The last Tarik show in Sydney was openly promoted as Serbs vs Greeks vs Croats vs Lebanese etc etc. How there wasn't a brawl I have no idea, and it is not going to engender an atmosphere suitable for all Australians to take their families.

I have no problem with Australia vs Thailand, something stirring national pride in our OWN country is a good thing. The old Boonchu Cup for example, was a great event teaming Australia's best vs Thailand...all good stuff.

I bet many of those competing in these 'foreign' teams were born here anyhow so go figure...I'd just rather appreciate watching Nezif vs Zambo as a war between great athletes rather than a Greek and Turk settling old scores.

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A man's gotta know his limitations...

Edited by - voice on 29 Jul 2005 16:01:26

[paul c]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Aus is still about 65% anglo, which still makes me wonder why we see so few pro figters in Vic with an Anglo background.

Queensland,

I honestly don't reckon I've seen more than Half a dozen non Anglo fighters on the Fox shows from QLD.

[SPADA]

PaulC.....

In Brisbane there is of course some ethnic groups,its just not on the same level as Sydney or Melbourne.

Another factor is that the people that started the kickboxing/muay thai in QLD are all anglo to my knowledge.

Dave Briggs :- Anglo
Mal Anderson :- Anglo
Nugget :- Anglo
Mark Pease :- Anglo
Joe Hilton :- Anglo
Jim Cass :- Anglo

and so on ...............

Melbourne is a different story

Jemal Hassain :- Turk
Tarik Solak :- Turk
Stan :- Greek
Vulkovic :- Yugo???
Democoli,Scida...ect ect

When you have these guys as major trainers in the Melbourne area.... then they will always be able to get fighters cause of the large ethnic base.

cheers Spada

[paul c]

Good one Spada.

I think that's got to be the most accurate yet.
It probably explains the course of growth of MT up there compared to Kickboxing as well.

[fuskas]

Jemal Hassan is lebanese. but then again, whats the difference?<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

[johnny_619]

In saying all this, the quality is still there and lets not forget its the fans that are bought into the whole team vs team stuff...i dont think a professional kickboxer is going to change his attitude in the ring because of the team vs team card.

I bet if we could manage to get a few k1 shows down here with high profile names in the ring it would change the demographics.

Also when mike zambidis comes out to the 'zembekiko' and gurkan comes out to the 'gaida' no doubt that pumps them and their ethnic base up.

As much as i like it, the whole hero angle from spectators has to change, im a fan that loves the sport but when i clapped mike after koing gurkan 10 turks where ready to punch the **** out of me.

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Greeks dont fight like heroes, heroes fight like Greeks!

[soldier]

I agree with spada, it's all to do with the ethnicity of the trainers and promotors in each state. How many non-anglo trainers and promotors are there in QLD(apart from Ray), pretty much none that i can think of. But as you know, much of promotion is done by word of mouth, so if you know many ethnic people and well connected, you're gonna get alot of ethnic people at your shows, whereas if you only know anglo people, you probably not gonna get the word around to the ethnic community.

As for team greece vs team turkey etc, it's all about the $$$$, from a promotors point of view its a great marketing strategy, but i also think that one day we're going to see a huge all-in-brawl at one of these events.

[Michael Vukovic]

Hi Spada.
My surname is yugo but I am really greek.
John Scida-Italian
Fuskas- Jemal is Turkish.

Guys don't forget it does not matter if the fighter or audiance are anglo or not its about the fight game. The more promoters can attract people the more fights and money the fighters can make. you always need new ways to advertise the shows.
If kickboxing promoters didn't do greek Vs Turks and so on. Shows would look like amateur boxing shows.

[nagas]

Just comes down to which State you live in which sport is most popular.
NSW Rugby League
QLD Rugby League
VIC Aerial ping pong (AFL)

NSW Kickboxing-Muay Thai
QLD Muay Thai
VIC Kickboxing
So to answer the M.T question, if there were more wogs in QLD you would have more fighters training M.T & fighting those rules cause thats the mainstream in QLD.

"Alex your drunk & he's you brother"
"yes im drunk, tommorrow i'll be sober, but he'll always be a fag*ot" Van Damme

[fuskas]

michael vukovic greek!?!?<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> no his not! might wanna be, but no way!<img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>

[paul c]

Michael is Greek.

[fuskas]

nah!!<img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>

[babyface]

as long as it brings in the crowds...... :P

[soldier]

quote:
michael vukovic greek!?!?<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> no his not! might wanna be, but no way!<img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>




I dont know him personally,but judging by his surname, i think he might be yugoslav, cos i know alot of yugoslav builders and their surname always ends in "...ic"
e.g jovanovic, jukic etc

[paul c]

The name is Yugoslav, but the bloke is Greek.

With the huge numbers of people migrating all over the world since the late 1800's, it's not as easy to pick someone's nationality by surname these days.

I think many people would guess that Sam Greco is probably Greek, yet he is from Italian background. Just like the famous Renaissance painter 'El Greco'.

[Matt J]

why would people guess sam greco is greek? they might as well guess grant barker is lebanese.


Edited by - Matt J on 31 Jul 2005 12:13:05

[Michael Vukovic]

Sorry to0 disapoint Fuskas.
my surname is serbian by origan. Long story. not for the internet.
:):)