Sports

As in every other European country, in England exist so many sports and plays. I am going to talk about the most polular of them, about football, tenis, cricket, golf and rugby, horse racing.

Rugby

History - Mob football, a descendant of the modern game, stormed into England around the 12th Century and caught on to such an extent it was banned by Royal decree by many kings and queens. It was a violent game in which “murder and manslaughter” were allegedly the only barriers to transporting the ball to village ends. King Henry VIII, however, is believed to have been a keen player.

The Object of the Game is that two teams of fifteen players each, should by carrying, passing, kicking and grounding the ball score as many points as possible, the team scoring the greater number of points to be the winner of the match.

The game is an amateur game.

Football

It was very much an upper class sport in England during its infancy. The rules of the game were largely drafted by students belonging to public schools and universities. The working class adopted the sport during the late 19th Century. Balls were not exactly round when the first club and country matches took place. The ball was in an egg shape. Early football tactics resembled those of today’s rugby.

Cricket

It is a team sport for two teams of eleven players each. A formal game of cricket can last anything from an afternoon to several days. Although the game play and rules are very different, the basic concept of cricket is similar to that of baseball. Teams bat in successive innings and attempt to score runs, while the opposing team fields and attempts to bring an end to the batting team's innings. After each team has batted an equal number of innings (either one or two, depending on conditions chosen before the game), the team with the most runs wins.

Football FIFA - The world soccer governing body. They publish the official rules, which are called the "Laws of the Game" and are revised annually.

History - in 1985 the English game was at possibly its lowest ebb. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters were faced with poor facilities, hooliganism was rife and English football was exiled from European competition. The old First Division became a selling League as many top players were lured by the financial attractions of the Continent. Following Hillsborough, Lord Justice Taylor recommended a huge programme of investment in order to make football grounds safe and comfortable environments for supporters and to help eliminate crowd disorder problems of the past. One of the key elements of the Report was the introduction of an all-seater policy at designated football grounds.

The FA (Football Association) Premier League was formed on 20 February 1992 and took over as the top professional league from season 1992-93. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions. Undoubtedly the most successful team in the history of the F.A. Premier League has been Manchester United with eight titles out of the 12 – a magnificent achievement and testament to the managerial skills of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The 2001/02 season saw the F.A. Premier League end its nine-year association with Carling to start a new partnership with Barclaycard. The 2004/05 season saw Barclays take over as the title sponsor and the emergence of a new force in the top division, with Chelsea becoming the fourth club to lift the title with a record haul of 95 points from their 38 games - 12 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.

Golf

Golf as we know it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club.

During the mid-15th century, Scotland was preparing to defend itself against an English invasion. The population's enthusiastic pursuit of golf and soccer to the neglect of military training (archery primarily) caused the Scottish parliament of King James II to ban both sports in 1457. The ban was reaffirmed in 1470 and 1491 although people largely ignored it. Only in 1502 with the Treaty of Glasgow was the ban lifted with King James IV (James 1 of England) himself taking up the sport.

Golf's status and popularity quickly spread throughout the 16th century due to it's royal endorsement. King Charles I popularised the game in England and Mary Queen of Scots, who was French, introduced the game to France while she studied there.

Tennis

The 16th and 17th centuries were a golden age for Real Tennis, it was played by the nobility throughout England and France. In England in the Tudor and Stuart periods tennis flourished, Henry VII loved the game and his successor Henry VIII was an accomplished player and had the original court at Hampton Court Palace built. James I lost his life due to Real Tennis, as he tried to evade his assassins by hiding down the drains his path was blocked by Real Tennis balls!

Charles I and Charles II both enjoyed the game and tennis thrived during this period, apart from some awkwardness between their reigns. Like France, the 18th century saw a decline in the game of Real Tennis,
although some courts were built in this period. In the mid 19th century there was a revival of the game and a flurry of court construction, primarily as additions to estates, most of the courts in use today are products of this period.

Wimbledon - Since the first Championships in 1877, Wimbledon has grown from its roots as a garden-party tournament to a Grand Slam tournament with a following of millions around the world. The first Wimbledon There was a temporary three-plank stand offering seats to 30 people, the total attendance for the final was 200.

In fact in 1877 tennis was very much an afterthought at the All England Club, which had been founded nine years earlier to promote the game of croquet. But as the new game of tennis began to overtake the more sedate croquet in the minds of a growing middle class population, it was decided to incorporate tennis courts into the club.

The rules for the first Wimbledon draw up Dr. Jones. As the game had spread in popularity, following its introduction in Britain by the cavalry major, Walter Clopton Wingfield, the Marylebone Cricket Club, the
controlling body not only of cricket but also real tennis, devised a set of rules for tennis. Dr. Jones and his committee revised those rules into the form in which the sport is played to this day, though players changed ends only at the conclusion of each set.