Sport in London

In London, a diverse array of athletics stretching from football to tennis have further granted its city the spotlight throughout the world. London has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, 1948, and most recently in 2012, making it the most frequently chosen city in modern Olympic history. Other popular sports in London include cricket, rowing, rugby, basketball, and most recently American Football.

Olympics and Paralympics

London has hosted the

London hosted the Paralympic Games in 2012, for the first time.

The 2012 games saw massive development in the

Commonwealth Games

London hosted the second British Empire Games (now known as the Commonwealth Games) at White City Stadium in 1934.

Football

London has a special place in the history of

London clubs are able to charge higher ticket prices than clubs in other parts of the country (particularly for corporate facilities), and this has swung English football's balance of power towards London. Before Chelsea's recent rise in fortunes the two highest profile London clubs were Arsenal and their long-standing North London rivals Tottenham, both of whom were considered to be members of English football's "big five" for most of the post-war period. The 2020–21 Premier League features six London clubs: Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham and West Ham United.

As of the 2020–21 season, there are eight London clubs in the fully professional

Wembley Stadium

• In 2006, Arsenal moved half a kilometre to Emirates Stadium in Lower Holloway. Since 1913 the club had played at Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. Prior to 1913, Arsenal played near the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
• Football League Two for the 2015–16 season, play at The Hive Stadium in Canons Park
  .
• Brentford play at the Brentford Community Stadium in Brentford.
• The Valley in Charlton
  .
• Chelsea play at Stamford Bridge in Fulham, west of Chelsea.
• Crystal Palace play at Selhurst Park in Selhurst, south of Crystal Palace.
• Victoria Road in Dagenham
  .
• Fulham play at Craven Cottage in Fulham.
• Leyton Orient play at Brisbane Road in Leyton.
• The Den
  , in 1993.
• Queens Park
  . The stadium was also used by Fulham F.C. between 2002 and 2004.
• Prior to 2017, Tottenham Hotspur played at White Hart Lane in Tottenham. In 2017, Tottenham Hotspur moved to Wembley Stadium in north-west London until March 2019, when they finally moved to their new home ground Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Tottenham.
• In 2016,
  Olympic Stadium in Stratford. Prior to 2016, West Ham United played at the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, near West Ham
  .
• Plough Lane in Wimbledon until 1991 and then were tenants of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park until 2003.^{[clarification needed}
  ]
• Hayes & Yeading United, who play in National League South, currently groundshare with Maidenhead United in Maidenhead, Berkshire whilst awaiting the completion of renovations to their own ground in the borough of Hillingdon.
• Sutton United, also playing in the National League, play at Gander Green Lane, in Sutton.
• Bromley, who play in the National League, play at Hayes Lane in Bromley, which is in Greater London.
• Carshalton Athletic
  , playing in the Isthmian League Division One South, play at the War Memorial Sports Ground, in Carshalton, South London.
• Dulwich Hamlet, currently in the Isthmian League Premier Division, play at Champion Hill in East Dulwich. Fisher, successor to the defunct Fisher Athletic, are their tenants.
• Beveree Stadium in Hampton
  .
• Tooting & Mitcham United play at Imperial Fields in Morden.

Cricket

London has two

Cricket is very well organised and established within London, and is the second most popular sport after football.

London will have two franchises in the upcoming The Hundred cricket tournament, namely the London Spirit and the Oval Invincibles.

In 2021, mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his desire to bring IPL matches to London.^[5]

Rugby union

The two clubs that play in London are

Apart from the traditional elite clubs, London Welsh, currently in the RFU Championship, have bounced between the Premiership and Championship in recent years, having either been promoted to or relegated from the Premiership in each season since 2011–12. From their first Premiership season in 2012–13 to their most recent in 2014–15, they shared a football ground outside the commuter belt, Kassam Stadium in Oxford, but they have now returned to Greater London at Old Deer Park in Richmond. Two London-based clubs compete in the Championship—Ealing Trailfinders, from the North London borough of Ealing, and London Scottish, also based in Richmond. Another club from the immediate London area has recently played in the Championship before being relegated to National League 1—Esher, located just outside Greater London in Hersham, last played in the Championship in 2011–12. In addition to the professional clubs, many amateur sides exist and include teams such as London Nigerian who draw their players from the supporters of fallen corrupt Nigerian regimes as well as numerous accountants, doctors and lawyers from Nigeria's Igbo and Yoruba communities.

The

The

Facilities for rowing are excellent throughout the city, including the state-of-the-art London Regatta Centre, at Royal Albert Dock in the Docklands.

Tennis

The

After Towers withdrew from the BBL in 2006, lower-league team London United were elected to the top-tier to ensure the capital continued its presence in Britain's only professional league. Yet after just a year they too found themselves falling at financial hurdles and were replaced by another lower-league outfit, London Capital, who eventually folded in 2013.

In similar fashion, following the demise of the Leopards in 2003, fans set up a new club to replace and carry on the Leopards name. The reincarnated

The O₂ arena hosted the

The current only London professional basketball team is the London Lions. The London Lions originated from Milton Keynes but moved to London in 2013. Playing out of Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in year one, the team qualified for the end of season Playoffs with an all English squad. The following year the club moved into the Copper Box Olympic facility and duly sold out 7,000 seats for their first ever game against US College side, Iowa University. In the spirit of legacy, the club has forged partnerships whilst building a truly community club in London, in association with GLL (the largest leisure provider in the city), and now the Youngblood Lions, Hackney Community College, Epping Forest College, Raines School, Right Development Foundation and many more. This season (2017–18), the Club finished second in the premiership league and won the British Basketball All-Stars Championship.

Athletics

The

The 2016 season will be the first in which International Series games will be played at two London venues. One 2016 game is set for Twickenham, which will host at least three and as many as five games from 2016 to 2018. From 2019 to 2028, and possibly longer, at least two International Series games will also be held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Ice Hockey

London once had two top-level ice hockey teams, the London Knights (who played at London Arena) and London Racers (who played at both Alexandra Palace and the Lee Valley Ice Centre). Both teams have disbanded, and as of the 2023-24 season there are no London-based teams in the top-level professional Elite Ice Hockey League.

London does however boast several teams across the three tiers of the semi-professional

The first games of the 2007–08 NHL season were played in London.

Other sports

Recent years have seen

London also hosts three women's roller derby leagues: the London Rockin' Rollers, London Roller Derby, and Croydon Roller Derby. All are widely regarded as top teams in Europe, with the London Rollergirls' A and B teams (London Brawling and Brawl Saints) both unbeaten in Europe.

London also hosts an International Swimming League (ISL) team called the London Roar.

References