The Sainsbury's International Match, formerly known as the Aviva International Match, was an annual indoor

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of ...

meeting which takes place in late January in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The televised competition is the first major indoor event in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's athletics calendar. It was held at the

Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena The Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena was located within the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. It hosted many athletics (sport), athletics competitions including the 1990 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the Glasgow International ...

from 1988 to 2012. It moved to the Commonwealth Sports Arena from 2013 onwards. The International Match was an international team competition, with representatives typically competing for five different squads:

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, a "World" or

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

select team, and three other countries. In each athletic event, athletes score points for their team depending on performance and the team with the greatest number of points at the end of all competitions is declared the winner.Aviva International Match
. ''

Spikes Magazine ''SPIKES'' is an athletics website and magazine published by Haymarket Network in conjunction with the IAAF. History and profile The magazine and website were launched in July 2008 at an event attended by then IAAF vice president Lord Coe, Ste ...

''. Retrieved on 2010-01-24.

History

The inaugural edition (primarily a contest between French and British athletes) was held in 1988 as the

Dairy Crest Saputo Dairy UK Limited is a holding company for Dairy Crest Limited, a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the Mi ...

International and it attracted participants such as

Linford Christie Linford Cicero Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World ...

and

Butch Reynolds Harry Lee Reynolds Jr. (born June 8, 1964), commonly known as Butch Reynolds, is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years with his personal best time of 4 ...

. The event was broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and was well received with around 2.75 million viewers in total. The Kelvin Hall became a prominent indoor venue, hosting the

1990 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1990 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, on 3 and 4 March 1990. It was the last time that the event had been held annually and not biennially as it is now, as well as the last time that it was held ov ...

, and the 1990 Dairy Crest Games pitted a British team against a select team from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. After a change of sponsor, the Pearl International Games featured a Great Britain vs Russia competition, as well as high calibre guest athletes including world champions Michael Johnson and Mike Powell. France returned as the rival team to the hosts in the 1995 and 1996 competitions. The competition was sponsored by

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...

from 2000 to 2009. During this time, the international competition developed from a two-team to a multi-team contest:

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

athletes competed against British athletes in 2002, and by 2004 it had become a five-way team contest (with athletes representing Great Britain, Russia, Sweden,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and a World select team). The indoor International Match became a testing ground for young and upcoming British athletes as the country's established international athletes often trained abroad or avoided indoor competition in favour of more prestigious outdoor competitions. In spite of this, the event continued to attract many of Britain's prominent athletes as well as significant foreign competition; in 2003 the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

featured the then-

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder

Tim Montgomery Timothy Montgomery (born January 28, 1975) is an American former track sprinter who specialized in the 100-meter dash. In 2005, he was stripped of his records—including a now-void men's 100-meter world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002—a ...

and

Dwain Chambers Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 me ...

, with world

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

champion

Dwight Phillips Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977) is an American former athlete and a four-time world champion in the long jump. He was the 2004 Olympic champion in the event. His personal best of 8.74 meters, set in 2009, makes him the joint fifth b ...

and Olympic medallist

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, FBA (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessity'' ...

also on the programme. Following the renaming of Norwich Union, the competition became known as the

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

International Match in 2010. Great Britain won the 2010 competition, highlighted by

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

' win in British record-time against reigning

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

world champion

Lolo Jones Lori Susan "Lolo" Jones (born August 5, 1982) is an American hurdler and bobsledder who specializes in the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles. She won three NCAA titles and garnered 11 All-American honors while at Louisiana State University. She wo ...

. The 2011 competition saw a five-team competition between Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Sweden and a Commonwealth Select team, which was won by the German team.

Helen Clitheroe Helen Teresa Clitheroe (née Pattinson) (born 2 January 1974 in Preston, England) is a female former British middle and long-distance runner. Athletics career She competed in the 1500 m at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and in the 3000 ...

produced a stadium record in the 3000 m, embarking on a solo run to victory. In the 2013 competition, the United States and Russia tied with 58 points each. The last edition was in 2015. In 2016 the

Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, formerly known as Aviva Indoor Grand Prix, is an annual indoor track and field competition which is held in mid-February at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. It is one of a handful of events to hold I ...

moved to the

Emirates Arena The Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, known for sponsorship reasons as the Emirates Arena, is an indoor arena and velodrome in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland. Built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, these venues hosted the badminto ...

in Glasgow for the very first time, as part of the inaugural

IAAF World Indoor Tour The World Athletics Indoor Tour, formerly the IAAF World Indoor Tour, is an annual series of indoor track and field meetings, held since 2016. It was designed to create a Diamond League-style circuit for indoor track and field events, to raise th ...

Events

Meeting Records

Men

Women

References

External links

Event information
from

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The orga ...

Event history in brief
from

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

{{European Athletics Indoor Permit Meetings Annual track and field meetings Recurring sporting events established in 1988 Athletics competitions in Scotland International sports competitions in Glasgow Track and field in the United Kingdom 1988 establishments in Scotland