Sport in England

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sport in England" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Culture of England
History
People
Languages
Traditions Country clothing Fête Morris Dancing Pub
Folklore
Cuisine
Festivals Saint George's Day Commonwealth Day Guy Fawkes Night Harvest Festival Lady Day May Day Plough Monday Plough Sunday Whitsun
Religion
Art
Literature
Music and Performing arts Abbots Bromley Horn Dance Country dance English folk music Garland dance Long Sword dance Morris dance Mummers play
Media Radio Television Cinema Newspapers Magazines
Sport Badminton Cricket Croquet Field hockey Football Lawn bowls Lawn tennis Netball Rugby Table tennis
Monuments World Heritage Sites
Symbols Flag Coat of arms National anthem English inventions and discoveries
England portal
v t e

Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include association football, field hockey, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by Cricket, Tennis and Rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.^[1][2]

Structure

England has its own national team in most team sports,^{[citation needed]} but the United Kingdom sends a combined team to the Olympics. Competition between the home nations was traditionally at the centre of British sporting life, but it has become less important in recent decades. In particular, football's British Home Championship no longer takes place. In some sports there are still national English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish teams.

The Club Competitions in most team sports are also English affairs rather than British ones.^{[citation needed]} There are various anomalies however, such as the participation of five Welsh football clubs in the English league system and an English club in the Scottish Football League.

The relative prominence of national team and club competition varies from sport to sport. In football, club competition is at the centre of the agenda most of the time because clubs plays more matches each year, but the four national teams are also followed avidly. In cricket the national team is much more widely followed than the county competitions, which have a limited profile, whereas in rugby league club competition generally overshadows international fixtures. Rugby union falls between these two with very high-profile international competitions and a strengthening club game.

is Sport England's physical activity campaign. There are 49 County Sport Partnerships in England with areas for responsibility separated by Local Authority County boundaries.

The

and Performance Lifestyle support. It is based at 8 regional hubs and other satellite centers.

The

have responsibility for sport in England.

The role of sport in the formation of an English identity

England, like the other nations of the United Kingdom, competes as a separate nation in some international sporting events, notably in certain team sports which originated from England. The English

The football tradition started in Norway 1860.

Elite level team sports

There are four sports in England which operate high-profile professional leagues. Association football is by far the most popular sport and is played from August to May. Rugby union is also a winter sport. Cricket is played in the Summer, from April to September. Rugby league is traditionally a winter sport, but since the late 1990s the elite competition has been played in the summer to appeal to the family market, and take advantage of the faster pitches.

Football

The most popular sport in the UK, association football was first codified in 1863 in London. It is known in the US and a few other countries as 'soccer.' The impetus for this was to unify English public school and university football games. There is evidence for refereed, team football games being played in English schools since at least 1581. An account of an exclusively kicking football game from Nottinghamshire in the fifteenth century bears striking similarity to football. The playing of football in England is documented since at least 1314. England is home to the oldest football clubs in the world (dating from at least 1857), the world's oldest competition (the FA Cup founded in 1871) and the first ever football league (1888). The modern passing game of football was developed in London in the early 1870s^[5] For these reasons England is considered the cradle of the game of football.

The governing body for football in England is The Football Association which is the oldest football organisation in the world. It is responsible for national teams, the recreational game and the main cup competitions. They have however lost a significant amount of power to the professional leagues in recent times.

English football has a league system which incorporates thousands of clubs, and is topped by four fully professional divisions. The elite Premier League has 20 teams and is the richest football league in the world. The other three fully professional divisions are the run by the English Football League, the oldest league in the world, and include another 72 clubs. Annual promotion and relegation operates between these four divisions and also between the lowest of them and lower level or "non-League" football. There are a small number of fully professional clubs outside the top four divisions, and many more semi-professional clubs. Thus England has over a hundred fully professional clubs in total, which is considerably more than any other country in Europe.

The two main cup competitions in England are the FA Cup, which is open to clubs down to Level 10 of the English football pyramid structure; and the League Cup (currently known as the Carabao Cup), which is for the 92 professional clubs in the four main professional divisions only.

Each season the most successful clubs from each of the home nations qualify for the three Europe-wide club competitions organised by UEFA: the UEFA Champions League (formerly the European Cup), the UEFA Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) and the UEFA Europa Conference League. England has produced winners in each of these competitions.

The England national football team won the World Cup in 1966 when it was hosted in England. however, they took 55 years to reach a final of a major international tournament being Euro 2020, though they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1990 and 2018, and the quarter-finals in 1986, 2002 and 2006. England reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship when they hosted it in 1996, and finished third in Euro 1968; they also made the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 and 2012. In the UEFA Nations League, launched in 2018–19, they were assigned to the top level of that competition, League A, and advanced to the semi-finals in that season.

The FA hopes that the completion of the National Football Centre will go some way to improving the national team's performance.

Rugby

Like association football, rugby union and rugby league both developed from traditional British football games in the 19th century. Rugby was codified by the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The Rugby Football League developed after a number of leading clubs, that wished to be allowed to compensate their players for missing work, formed their own governing body in 1895 and subsequently the two organisations developed somewhat different rules. For much of the 20th century there was considerable antagonism between rugby league, which was a mainly working class game based in the industrial regions of northern England, and rugby union, which is a predominantly middle class game in England, and is also popular in the other home nations. This antagonism has abated since 1995 when the governing body now known as World Rugby opened rugby union to professional players.

Rugby union

The four home nations compete separately at international level. They take part in the main European international rugby union competition, the Six Nations Championship. England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the first victory in the competition by a British team (or, for that matter, any Northern Hemisphere country).

The main rugby union club competition in England is a 13-team league called the

have had success in the predecessor to the Champions Cup, the Heineken Cup.

Rugby league

The governing body of rugby league in the United Kingdom is the Rugby Football League. Rugby league draws most of its support from its heartlands in Yorkshire, North West England, and Cumbria. Although playing numbers have recently topped 60,000 in London and the south east.

The top-level league is the 12-team

.

There is direct promotion and relegation between each of the three divisions in professional Rugby League. The bottom placed team from the Super League is directly relegated to the Championship, replaced by the winner of a five team play-off structure, contested by the top five placed teams in that seasons Championship. The bottom two placed teams of the Championship are directly relegated, replaced by the top placed team in League One, along with the winner of a five team play-off structure, contested by the teams that finish between second and sixth in League One.

Following a reorganisation in 2014, the seasons of Super League and the Championship were much more closely integrated than in the past. Following a 22-game home-and-away season in both leagues, the leagues split into three eight-team groups known as "Super 8's". The first, the Super League Super 8's, involved the top eight teams on the Super League table. After these teams played a round-robin mini-league, with table points carrying over from the league season, the top four entered a knockout play-off that culminated in the

, based on renewable three-year licences, but that system was scrapped following the 2014 season.

The main knock-out competition is the

, with the final played at Wembley Stadium on the same day as the Challenge Cup Final.

Rugby league is also played as an amateur sport, especially in the heartland areas, where the game is administered by BARLA. Since the rugby union authorities ended the discrimination against playing rugby league amateur numbers in the sport have increased, particularly outside the heartland areas. Through competitions such as the Rugby League Conference, consisting of one nationwide league of ten teams and twelve other regional leagues, including one Welsh and one Scottish league, the sport now has a national spread, at amateur level at least [1].

Internationally, England fields a competitive team in international rugby league. For many tournaments the home nations are combined to compete as Great Britain. The Great Britain team won the Rugby League World Cup in 1954, 1960 and 1972, but England and Wales now compete separately in this tournament and Australia held the title from 1975 until 2008 when they finally lost their grip on the title after being beaten by New Zealand in a thrilling final in Brisbane. England and Wales jointly hosted the World Cup in 2013, with matches also held in France and Ireland; Australia regained the crown, retaining it at the 2017 World Cup after beating England 6–0 in the final – the lowest scoring final in Rugby League World Cup history.

The England team competes in the annual Four Nations competition.

The England national rugby league team will compete more regularly as a full test nation, in lieu of the Great Britain national rugby league team, which, following the 2007 Centenary Test Series against New Zealand only reforms as an occasional southern hemisphere touring side. However, in 2018, the Great Britain national rugby league team was reformed after a 10-year hiatus in preparation of a tour of the Southern Hemisphere.

Cricket

W.G. Grace

Cricket is another popular team sport, regarded as one of the national sports of England and the second most popular and followed sport in the country.

Although there is some debate about the origins of the game, modern cricket is generally believed to have originated in England with the

format of cricket was innovated in England at the turn of the 21st century.

The

.

England's professional domestic system consists of eighteen teams from the

.

Cricket is a popular recreational and summer sport in England, with hundreds of clubs playing at various levels; village cricket in particular is regarded as a key aspect of English culture. The Lancashire League was formed in 1892 and is renowned for the extensive list of professional players who have participated in it, particularly during the middle of the twentieth century. It is also a popular school and university sport in the summer.

in 2004 and 2013.

England have won one ICC Cricket World Cup, in

.

England enjoys a hotly contested and storied rivalry with

, although the latter is no longer as fierce as it was during its peak in the 1980s.

England is also a pioneering nation in the sport of Indoor Cricket. The first organised indoor cricket league in the world took place in 1970 in North Shropshire,^[6] and the first national tournament was completed in 1976 with over 400 clubs taking part. By 1979 over 1000 clubs were taking part in indoor cricket in the UK, and it remains extremely popular today with many leagues around the country.^[7]

Basketball

Great Britain recorded their first Eurobasket win en route to a 2–3 record, finishing 13th out of 24 teams.

On 13 March 2011, Fiba voted 17–3 in favour of Great Britain receiving their host nation spot at the 2012 Olympic games with one condition, they have until 30 June 2012 to decide on whether to merge the three nations that make up the team or disband after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.^[8]

Field hockey

Hockey is a moderately popular recreational sport in England. The Great Britain women's hockey team won the 2016 Rio Olympics with over 10 million viewers on TV, the men's team won the hockey tournament at the 1988 Olympics. Women's hockey at International, Premier League and Conference League level is sponsored by Investec. The Men's England Hockey League and Women's England Hockey League contain very high levels of club hockey ability and usually at least two clubs from both the men's and women's leagues proceed to European Competitions. Each week highlights of that week's games get posted on YouTube.

Hockey's popularity is rising fast with the women winning the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the men winning the Azlan Shah Cup in 2017.

Ice Hockey

system.

Media support for ice hockey has improved on a national level, although the majority of news is still found on the internet. Sky Sports has been covering the Elite league for a few seasons, and starting in the 2010/2011 season they will be showing 8 live games and a highlight show every week; the reason this deal happened was due to the elite league attracting very large viewing figures and Sky seeing the Elite Ice Hockey League as a potentially big and popular league.

The

Other team sports

Lacrosse

] the England men's team are European champions and are ranked fifth in the world. The women's team are currently second in Europe (however have won the competition three out of the seven times it has been competed for); they are also ranked fourth in the World (having won silver in both the 1987 and 1991 World Championships).

England has sent national teams to the Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships.^[9]

As of June 2021, England's Alex Russell was one of two non-North American players on a NCAA Division I roster and the only one to see game action. The graduate midfielder served as a captain for Long Island University, where he appeared in 11 games (10 starts), and recorded 20 points off 15 goals and five assists. Russell also scooped up 12 ground balls.^[10]

Bandy

England is seen as one of the birthplaces of

.

Underwater Hockey

Underwater Hockey is a growing sport in England but is more established than other home nations as England was the sport's birthplace in Southsea. The nation has 56 clubs registered with the British Octopush Association and regular sees native born players compete for Great Britain.

American football

American football was introduced to England during the early part of the 20th century by American servicemen stationed in the country.^[14][15] During the Second World War, matches were played by American and Canadian servicemen stationed in the UK at venues throughout the country. This included the 'Tea Bowl' game played at the White City Stadium in 1944.^[16]

In England, Scotland and Wales, the domestic game is organised by the

.

Australian rules football

Australian rules football has a long but obscure history in England but has grown since 1989 to several amateur leagues. England regularly plays international matches against other countries and competes in the Australian Football International Cup as a part of the Great Britain men's national Australian rules football team.

Australian Football League exhibition matches have been held in London every few years since 1972.

Gaelic sports

The Irish sports of Gaelic football and hurling are also organised on a similar basis. Dating back to the 1880s London GAA teams compete in top-level competitions in Ireland. During the 1970s, and 1980s there were as many as 85 GAA clubs in the London area and hundreds around Britain, but due to the fall-off in Irish immigration in the 1990s the number has fallen considerably.

Elite level individual sports

Tennis

Tennis is the largest individual sport in England in terms of registered players and viewing audiences. Every year The Wimbledon Championships take place in London. They are the most prestigious tennis championships in the world and attract the largest global audience.

Athletics

England does not compete at the Olympic Games. Instead English athletes compete as part of Great British team,

three times.

Various athletics events which are individualistic are viewed as popular in England. In August 2014 Mo Farah became the most successful athlete in the European Athletics Championships history.^[17]

Squash

England has produced many squash world number ones, and has been known to dominate the world rankings.^[18]

Badminton

Badminton is England's most popular racket sport.^[19] It is an accessible sport where beginners can experience success early through basic rallying, but at the top level it requires high levels of power, agility and endurance. Badminton is an Olympic sport and Great Britain achieved medal success in both Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. The All-England Championships takes place in Birmingham every year and attracts all the top players from around the world.

Golf

Although originating in Scotland, England has played a major role in the development of

also originated in England, with the event being held on English courses numerous times.

Motorsport

The majority of the Formula One teams are based in England. Drivers from England have won fifteen Formula One World Championship drivers titles. Lewis Hamilton is the most notable current English driver, having won seven championships (most recently in 2020). The British Grand Prix takes place at Silverstone, most frequently in July. Major motor racing series based in the UK include the British Formula Three Championship and the British Touring Car Championship.

English drivers (most notably

.

England is commonly seen as the widely dominant country for building racing cars. In addition to Formula One successes, historic names such as

in the United States.

Boxing

England played a key role in the evolution of modern

Queensberry Rules

in the 19th century.

British professional boxing offers some of the largest purses outside the United States to a few elite professional boxers who become nationally known. British heavyweight contenders are especially popular, but most British world champions have fought in the middling weight brackets. The governing bodies of professional boxing are the British Boxing Board of Control and the British & Irish Boxing Authority. It is generally felt that British professional boxing is in decline in the early years of the 21st century. The reasons for this include: the fact that football now offers a relatively large number of sportsmen the chance to make the sort of income traditionally only available to world boxing champions, reducing the incentive for athletic youngsters to accept the greater risks of a boxing career; the acquisition of the rights to most major fights by Sky Sports, which means that fewer boxers become national figures than in the past; and the knock the sport's credibility has taken from the multiplicity of title sanctioning bodies.

Amateur boxing is governed by the

(ABA) and the equivalent bodies in the other home nations. British amateurs have only enjoyed a very modest amount of success in international competition in recent decades, partly due to the tendency for them to turn professional at an early stage. The amateur sport is in a very poor state, with dramatic declines in boxer numbers. National amateur boxing championships and international team matches, which were once highlights of the British sporting calendar, receive only limited national recognition.

Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed martial arts (MMA) has generally increased in popularity since being on the verge of oblivion in the early 1990s, but it has not seen anything like the popularity it has in the U.S.A duplicated in England. However, the rise of English MMA fighters have led to increased attention to the sport. In addition, Conor McGregor enjoys widespread name recognition in England, which has many residents of Irish heritage.

Things slowly started to change when Michael Bisping came onto the scene and won The Ultimate Fighter 3 and earned a six-figure contract to the UFC. Bisping built UK MMA a bit quicker alongside Ross Pearson and James Wilks, the two winners of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom. Bisping coached Team UK. After that TUF season, MMA in the UK began to build. UK MMA is being pushed further with the likes of Dan Hardy, Brad Pickett, John Hathaway, Jimi Manuwa, Rosi Sexton, and Luke Barnatt. MMA was also boosted in the UK on The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes. The show saw the UK vs Australia. It was an MMA spin-off of The Ashes.

At

on Hardy in rounds 1 and 4. Hardy refused to tap, however, despite the danger of his arm being broken.

After a huge win in London against

stopped the fight. Michael Bisping fulfilled his destiny and realised his dream. Bisping was crowned UFC World Middleweight Champion and became the first British World Champion in UFC history.

Other individual sports

Other sports with loyal followings include

is popular, particularly with the elderly. International competitions are often televised.

Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games England (CGE) is a sports governing body that leads and manages the participation of the England team at the Commonwealth Games.^[20]

Major sports facilities

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sport_in_England&oldid=1202330249"