1860 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

National championship *

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

champion –

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President And ...

Events * The

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

club from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, led by the fast pitcher

Jim Creighton James Creighton, Jr. (April 15, 1841 – October 18, 1862) was an American baseball player during the game's amateur era, and is considered by historians to be the sport's first superstar and one of its earliest paid competitors. In 186 ...

, tours as far as Buffalo, New York, to spread the game.

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

Events * 17 April — one of the most famous fights of the bareknuckle era takes place at

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is ...

, when English Champion

Tom Sayers Tom Sayers (15 or 25 May 18268 November 1865) was an English Bare-knuckle boxing, bare-knuckle prize fighter. There were no formal weight divisions at the time, and although Sayers was only five feet eight inches tall and never weighed much mo ...

meets American Champion

John C. Heenan John Camel Heenan, also known as the Benicia Boy (2 May 1834 – 28 October 1873) was an American Bare-knuckle boxing, bare-knuckle prize fighter. Though highly regarded, he had only three formal fights in his career, losing two and drawing one. ...

in what is effectively a World Championship bout. After 42 rounds, the crowd breaks into the ring and the fight is stopped, both boxers having taken heavy punishment, although Heenan seemingly had the advantage. The result is a draw.Cyber Boxing Zone – John C. Heenan
Retrieved on 8 November 2009. * 20 May — Sayers is awarded a special Silver Championship Belt to commemorate the fight and he now announces his retirement from boxing. Heenan is awarded a duplicate belt.
Retrieved on 8 November 2009. * But the brutality of the fight is widely publicised and gives rise to condemnation of the sport by a public that is increasingly influenced by Victorian ethics and morality. The legacy of the Heenan–Sayers fight is that it will bring about the demise of bareknuckle fighting in England. * 5 November —

Tom Paddock Tom Paddock, born Thomas Paddock (c. 1822, Redditch – 30 June 1863) also known as the Redditch Needlepointer was a champion English bare-knuckle boxer in the early Victorian era. Tom was baptised on 25 August 1822 in Redditch, Worcesters ...

fights

Sam Hurst Sam Hurst (13 March 1832 – 22 May 1882), nicknamed the Stalybridge Infant in ironic reference to his considerable physical size, was the English bare-knuckle boxing champion 1860–61. He was born in Marsden, in Yorkshire, England, but in ...

for the vacant Heavyweight Championship of England at a venue in Berkshire. Hurst wins in only five rounds and is awarded the championship belt by Tom Sayers. This is Paddock's final fight.Cyber Boxing Zone – Sam Hurst
Retrieved on 8 November 2009.

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Events *

John Jackson John or Johnny Jackson may refer to: Entertainment Art * John Baptist Jackson (1701–1780), British artist * John Jackson (painter) (1778–1831), British painter * John Jackson (engraver) (1801–1848), English wood engraver * John Richardson ...

is again credited with over 100 first-class wickets in the season, establishing a new record with 109 England * Most runs – Thomas Hayward 557 @ 26.52 (HS 132) * Most wickets –

109 @ 9.20 (BB 9–34)

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Events * Formation of

TSV 1860 München A tab-separated values (TSV) file is a simple text format for storing data in a tabular structure, e.g., a database table or spreadsheet data, and a way of exchanging information between databases. Each record in the table is one line of the text ...

as a physical fitness and gymnastics club. As a club, it is the world's oldest that is currently involved in senior professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, but in fact the club does not create a football department until 6 March 1899 or play its first matches until 1902. * The now defunct

Lausanne Football and Cricket Club The Lausanne Football and Cricket Club was a Swiss association football and cricket club. The club was founded in 1860 by English students, who had studied at private schools in the area of Lausanne. During the year of the foundation this club ...

is founded in Switzerland, the first football club to be formed outside England, although it is believed to have been primarily a cricket club. * 26 December — the earliest known inter-club

match (i.e., under

Sheffield Rules The Sheffield Rules was a code of football devised and played in the English city of Sheffield between 1858 and 1877. The rules were initially created and revised by Sheffield Football Club, with responsibility for the laws passing to the Shef ...

) is played and

Sheffield F.C. Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857,

defeats

Hallam F.C. Hallam Football Club is an English football club based in Crosspool, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Founded in 1860, Hallam is the second oldest association football club in the world. Hallam currently play in the Northern Counties East League Pr ...

2–0. * Formation of Manchester Football Club, now called

Manchester Rugby Club Manchester Rugby Club, founded in 1860 as Manchester Football Club, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in the world. Home matches are played at Grove Park in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport. The club has a Senior Men's section (1st XV, 2nd XV and ...

, which is one of the oldest

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

clubs

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Major tournaments * The inaugural

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

is won by Willie Park senior at

Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hin ...

. The tournament is initially limited to professional players but becomes "open" in 1861.

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

Events * Inaugural running of the

Queen's Plate The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of ...

in Canada is won by Don Juan England *

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

– Anatis *

1,000 Guineas Stakes The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

– Sagitta *

2,000 Guineas Stakes The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

– The Wizard * The Derby –

Thormanby Thormanby is a village and civil parish in Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the A19 approximately halfway between Easingwold and Thirsk and about south east of the county town of Northallerton. History Thormanby ...

* The Oaks – Butterfly *

St. Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...

– St Albans Canada *

– Don Juan

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

The Boat Race * 31 March —

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

wins the 17th

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men' ...

Other events * Foundation of both

Thames Rowing Club The Thames Rowing Club (TRC) is a rowing club based on the tidal Thames as it flows through the western suburbs of London. The TRC clubhouse stands on Putney Embankment. The club was founded in 1860. As at July 2022, Thames had won events at He ...

and

Twickenham Rowing Club Twickenham Rowing Club was founded on 26 July 1860 so is jointly with Thames Rowing Club the third oldest rowing club on the Thames. The club is on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, south-west London. Its boat code is TWK. Club colours The club col ...

in London * 24 July — Harvard wins the 4th

Harvard–Yale Regatta The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race (often abbreviated The Race) is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually s ...

(a single race).

References

{{Sports by year 1851 – 1900 Sports by year