1865 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Association football

Events * Nottingham Forest, then called Forest FC, is founded in December by its parent hockey club. It is the third oldest club in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

after Notts County and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. Forest and Notts County play each other twice in the 1865–66 season so the Nottingham derby is the oldest fixture among teams playing in major association football leagues worldwide.

Baseball

National championship * National Association of Base Ball Players 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 champion Atlantic club of Brooklyn, New York wins all 18 matches, a two-season run with one tie. * In double contrast to the first war year 1861, National Association membership remains low but baseball-season travel and competition increase.

Boxing

Events * With Tom King having retired, the English Championship remains vacant. * American Champion Joe Coburn refuses to fight his challengers and the title is claimed by Bill Davis, Mike McCoole and

Jimmy Elliott Jimmy Elliot (1838, Athlone, Ireland – March 1, 1883) was an Irish-American boxer who was Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1865 to 1868. On December 12, 1870 Elliott was arrested and convicted of highway robbery and assault with in ...

.Cyber Boxing Zone – Joe Coburn
Retrieved on 8 November 2009. * 2 November —

is about to fight Bill Davis at Point Pelee Island in Canada when police intervene and the event is cancelled; the title remains vacant with the same three claimants.Cyber Boxing Zone – Jimmy Elliott
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 * 15–16 February — earliest inter-colonial match in the West Indies is Barbados v. Demerara (now Guyana) at Bridgetown; recognised as the start of West Indian first-class cricket. * 3 March — formation of Worcestershire County Cricket Club. * 22 June — W. G. Grace, still only 16, makes his first-class debut playing for Gentlemen of the South v. Players of the South. * Thomas Humphrey is the first batsman to score 1,000 runs in an English first-class season. England * Most runs – Thomas Humphrey 1,223 @ 29.82 (HS 106) * Most wickets –

James Lillywhite James Lillywhite (23 February 1842 – 25 October 1929) was an English Test cricketer and an umpire. He was the first ever captain of the English cricket team in a Test match, captaining two Tests against Australia in 1876–77, losing the fir ...

87 @ 13.18 (BB 7–30)

Golf

Major tournaments * British Open – Andrew Strath

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 ...

England * Grand National – Alcibiade *

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 ...

– Siberia *

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 ...

–

Gladiateur Gladiateur (1862–1876) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse who won the English Triple Crown in 1865. Gladiateur is called a legend by France Galop and "One of the best horses ever to grace the turf in any century" by the National Sporting Li ...

* The Derby –

* The Oaks – Regalia * St. Leger Stakes –

Australia * Melbourne Cup – Toryboy Canada * Queen's Plate – Lady Norfolk

Rowing

The Boat Race * 8 April — Oxford wins the 22nd Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

Rugby football

Events * Foundation of

Bath RFC Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the ...

and

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

References

{{Sports by year 1851 – 1900 Sports by year