The second point is a fair statement to make but look at Australia. We have less than half population of England and everything is further apart (this makes a huge difference trust me, it's harder for teams to travel etc,). We have AFL, Rugby League, football, Rugby Union, cricket and individual sports like tennis and swimming. Yet we Aussies have done very well in all those catergories over the years. Two Ruby Union World Cups, Nine Rugby league world cups, dominating world cricket for over two decades (more Ashes victories and four World cups), several very successful swimmers (Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Geoff Huegill) and tennis players (Rod Laver, Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt). Our football team has been averaged (highest ranking about 16th) but on the whole Australia does incredibly well given it's disadvantages. And now I'm not turning this into a Australia v England debate. It just so happen to be Aussie and I'm using my home country as a comparison against England.