HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in
British culture British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the impact of the British Empire. ...
and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the
Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
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 ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports, and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
, some sports formed separate bodies for
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, though many continued to be organised on an
all-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...
basis. for this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland (or Northern Ireland) are recognised as national entities. In a small number of sports, these teams are supplemented by high-profile events, featuring a combined team representing one or more Home nations. The most notable examples of such arrangements are the
British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
in rugby union (and formerly the British Lions in rugby league), the
Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...
golf team and
Great Britain at the Olympics Athletes from the United Kingdom, all but three of its Overseas Territories, and the three Crown Dependencies, can compete in the Olympic Games as part of Team GB. Athletes from Northern Ireland (part of the UK) can also choose to compete as pa ...
in relation to Olympic sports ordinarily organised on a Home Nations basis. In other sports, especially individual Olympic sports such as athletics, swimming, cycling and triathlon, or those team sports invented outside the United Kingdom, e.g. basketball, baseball, ice hockey and volleyball, the United Kingdom generally participates as one nation, usually under the name
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 ...
or, more rarely as
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 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 ...
; the latter is the official name of the United Kingdom's team at the Olympic Games, though it is commonly referred to, not uncontroversially, as the former. Teams rarely, if ever, compete under the designation 'United Kingdom', reflected in the standard abbreviations ''GB'' and ''GBR''. Overall, association football attracts the most viewers and money, though the nation is notable for the diversity of its sporting interests, especially at the elite level. Great Britain has a special affinity with both Olympic Sport as the only nation to win at least one gold medal at every Summer Games, and with Paralympic Sport as the birthplace of the modern Paralympic movement in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948. The capital
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
was the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games, and the United Kingdom has twice hosted the Paralympic Games, in London in 2012 and in Stoke Mandeville in 1984. Major individual sports include
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...
,
cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
,
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 ...
,
motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
, and
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 ...
. The United Kingdom hosts significant major events across many sports annually, which see a seasonal uptick of interest in that sport for the duration of the event. Tennis is the highest profile sport for the two weeks of the
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, but otherwise struggles to hold its own in the country of its birth.
Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
and
darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...
, too, enjoy period profile boosts in line with the holding of their largest events.
The 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's ...
in rowing, the
All England Open Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...
, Badminton and
Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...
in three-day eventing, the
London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...
enjoy similar global renown within their fields, and peak interest for short periods nationally.
The Open Championship 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 ...
in golf also peaks periodic interest domestically as the only non-US and oldest Major, but golf maintains a reasonably high profile throughout the year and is a significant social sport. Many other sports are also played and followed to a lesser degree. There is much debate over which sport has the most active participants with swimming, athletics, and cycling all found to have wider active participation than association football in the 2010 Sport England Active People survey.


History


17th century

Writing about has explained the role of
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
power, the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, and
the Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
of the monarchy in England. The
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
in 1642 "banned theatres, which had met with Puritan disapproval. Although similar action would be taken against certain sports, it is not clear if cricket was in any way prohibited, except that players must not ''break the
Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
''". In 1660, "the Restoration of the monarchy in England was immediately followed by the reopening of the theatres, and so any sanctions that had been imposed by the Puritans on cricket would also have been lifted."Leach (2005a) is a heavily annotated chronology of cricket 1300–1730 and the source for numerous entries here. He goes on to make the key point that political, social, and economic conditions in the aftermath of the Restoration encouraged excessive gambling, so much so, that a Gambling Act was deemed necessary in 1664. It is certain that cricket, horse racing, and boxing (i.e., prizefighting) were financed by gambling interests. Leech explains that it was the habit of cricket patrons, all of whom were gamblers, to form strong teams through the 18th century to represent their interests. He defines a strong team as one representative of more than one parish, and he is certain that such teams were first assembled in or immediately after 1660. Prior to the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and the
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 ...
, all available evidence concludes that cricket had evolved to the level of
village cricket Village cricket is a term, sometimes pejorative, given to the playing of cricket in rural villages in England and Wales. Many villages have their own teams that play at varying levels in local or regional club cricket leagues. When organised cric ...
, where only teams that are strictly representative of individual parishes compete. The "strong teams" of the post-Restoration mark the evolution of cricket (and, indeed of professional team sport, for cricket is the oldest professional team sport) from the parish standard to the county standard. This was the point of origin for major, or first-class, cricket. The year 1660 also marks the origin of professional team sports.


Cricket

Cricket had become well-established among the English upper class in the 18th century, and was a major factor in sports competition among the public schools. Army units around the Empire had time on their hands, and encouraged the locals to learn cricket so they could have some entertaining competition. Most of the Empire embraced cricket, with the exception of Canada. Cricket test matches (international) began by the 1870s; the first and most famous rivalry is that between Australia and England for "
The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...
."


Public schools

A number of the public schools such as
Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
and
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
, introduced variants of football and other sports for their pupils. These were described at the time as "innocent and lawful", certainly in comparison with the rougher rural games. With urbanization in the 19th century, the rural games moved to the new urban centres and came under the influence of the middle and upper classes. The rules and regulations devised at English institutions began to be applied to the wider game, with governing bodies in England being set up for a number of sports by the end of the 19th century. The rising influence of the upper class also produced an emphasis on the amateur, and the spirit of "
fair play Fair play or Fairplay usually refers to sportsmanship. Fair play or Fairplay may also refer to: Media * ''Fair Play'' (1925 film), an American silent film * ''Fair Play'', a 1972 TV movie starring Paul Ford * ''Fair Play'' (2014 film), a Czech ...
". The industrial revolution also brought with it increasing mobility, and created the opportunity for universities in Britain and elsewhere to compete with one another. This sparked increasing attempts to unify and reconcile various games in England, leading to the establishment of the Football Association in London, the first official governing body in football. For sports to become professionalized, coaching had to come first. It gradually professionalized in the Victorian era and the role was well established by 1914. In the First World War, military units sought out the coaches to supervise physical conditioning and develop morale-building teams.


Sports culture

British Prime Minister
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
was the political leader most closely identified with promotion of sports. In 1995 he argued: :We invented the majority of the world's great sports.... 19th century Britain was the cradle of a leisure revolution every bit as significant as the agricultural and industrial revolutions we launched in the century before. The British showed a more profound interest in sports, and in greater variety, than any rival. This was chiefly due to the development of the railway network in the UK before other nations. Allowing for national newspapers, and travel around the country far earlier than in other places. They gave pride of place to such moral issues as sportsmanship and fair play. Cricket became symbolic of the Imperial spirit throughout the Empire. Football proved highly attractive to the urban working classes, which introduced the rowdy spectator to the sports world. In some sports, there was significant controversy in the fight for amateur purity especially in rugby and rowing. New games became popular almost overnight, including lawn tennis, cycling and hockey. Women were much more likely to enter these sports than the old established ones. The aristocracy and landed gentry, with their ironclad control over land rights, dominated hunting, shooting, fishing and horse racing. Many modern Olympic sports trace their roots back to Britain.


Administration and funding

Political responsibility for sport is a devolved matter. As England has no parliament of its own, the United Kingdom
Department of Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...
which is headed by a cabinet minister -though the Minister for Sport and Tourism is not in the cabinet- deals with English sport in addition to United Kingdom-wide sports. Political responsibility for sport in
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 ...
lies with the Scottish government Minister for Sport and Health Improvement, currently
Jamie Hepburn James Douglas Hepburn (born 21 May 1979) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member ...
, though is part of the remit of the Cabinet secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, currently
Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish ...
. Political responsibility for sport in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
lies with the Welsh Minister for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, currently
Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething (born 15 March 1974) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Minister for the Economy since 2021. He previously served as the Minister for Health and Social Services from 2016 to 2021. He has been the Member o ...
. The minister sets out the strategic policy objectives for
Sport Wales Sport Wales ( Welsh: ''Chwaraeon Cymru'') is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim t ...
, which is responsible for the development and promotion of sport and active lifestyles in Wales. Sport Wales work closely with the
Governing bodies of sports in Wales The governing bodies of sports in Wales perform an organisational, regulatory or sanctioning function at a national level in Wales, some tracing their history to the 19th Century. Many cooperate with similar bodies from other countries to agree ru ...
to whom they distribute government and National Lottery funding, through grants and awards. Political responsibility for sport in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
lies with the
Department for Communities The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal'', Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility f ...
, under Minister for Communities
Carál Ní Chuilín Carál Ní Chuilín (; born 18 December 1964), formerly known as Caroline Cullen, is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional IRA member. She has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North since 2007 and serv ...
. Sport NI is administered by the Department for Communities, and is engaged in the development and funding of sporting activity. The
Sport and Recreation Alliance The Sport and Recreation Alliance, formerly known as the Central Council of Physical Recreation, is the representative body for national sports organisations in the United Kingdom. The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the main body for sport an ...
is the representative body for sports organisations in the United Kingdom, including federations, players associations, managers associations and regional organisations. A large majority of the funding for elite sport in the United Kingdom is commercially generated, but this is concentrated heavily on a few sports. For example, the English
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
's 20 clubs had an estimated combined turnover of £1.25 billion in 2003–04 according to
Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...
, and British professional football's total income was in the region of £2 billion. Other major sports have a turnover in low nine figures or the tens of millions of pounds. For example, cricket is highly dependent on its TV contract, which was worth £55 million a year for the 2006–09 seasons. Athletics, and also most sports outside the top ten or so in popularity, are heavily dependent on public funding. The government agency which funnels this is
UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...
, which has affiliates in each of the home nations, for example
Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...
. These agencies are also responsible for distributing money raised for sport by the National Lottery. In 2005, when it was announced London would host the 2012 Games, UK Sport announced funding plans which were more focused than ever before on rewarding sports which have delivered Olympic success, and as a
corollary In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...
, penalising those which have not. UK Sport also provides money for the recreational side of the main team sports, even football. Other sports benefit from special financial provision. British tennis is subsidised by the profits of the
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, which are in the tens of millions of pounds each year. Horse racing benefits from a levy on betting.


Popularity

A 2003
MORI Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname, and also a Persian pet name for Morteza. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname *Barbara Mori, Uruguayan-Mexican actress *Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare ...
poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places o ...
found:


Sports media

The British media is dominated by United Kingdom-wide outlets, with local media playing a much smaller role. Traditionally, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
played a dominant role in televising sport, providing extensive high-quality advertisement, free coverage, and free publicity, in exchange for being granted broadcast rights for low fees.
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 ...
broadcast a smaller portfolio of events. In the early 1990s, this arrangement was shaken up by the arrival of
pay-TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but ...
.
BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
based its early marketing largely on its acquisition of top division English league football, which was renamed The Premiership as part of the deal. It has subsequently acquired many more top rights in other sports. However, Sky tends to focus on competitions which can fill its specialist sports channels on a regular basis, and many events are still shown on free to air television, especially annual and
quadrennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...
events, such as Wimbledon and the Olympics which are wholly or partially protected for free-to-air broadcast by legislation; such events are commonly referred to in the media as listed events or Crown Jewel events, and often have a particular position within national culture. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own feeds for BBC1 and BBC2, allowing the BBC to opt out of the United Kingdom-wide programming to show a match in that area. This is often used when all four nations have an International football match on the same evening, but can also be used to show minority interest sports in the country where they are most appreciated (for example BBC One Scotland may show the
shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...
cup final, while BBC One Wales shows a rugby union match, e.g. a URC match between two Welsh sides). In Scotland, the BBC also operates
BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal s ...
, a Gaelic-language channel which often broadcasts Scottish sports fixtures, benefiting from the generally lower fees required for minority language broadcasting rights. S4C enjoys the same role in Welsh-language television, and
TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...
, an Irish language station from the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
but widely available in Northern Ireland by agreement performs a similar role. In 2006, the Irish company
Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...
made a major move into the British market by paying £392 million for rights to certain
Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
, as well as one third of live Premier League matches for the three-year period from summer 2007 to summer 2010. Radio sports coverage is also important. The BBC's
Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
broadcasts almost all major sports events. It now has a commercial rival called TalkSport, but this has not acquired anywhere near as many exclusive contracts as Sky Sports.
BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...
also provides extensive coverage of sport, giving more exposure to second-tier clubs which get limited national coverage. The United Kingdom does not have an extant tradition of sports newspapers in the mould of '' L'Equipe'', '' Gazetta dello Sport'' and ''
Marca Marca may refer to: Places * Marca, Sălaj, a commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Marca, a tributary of the Barcău in Sălaj County, Romania * an alternative name for Merca, Somalia * Marca District, in the province Recuay, Peru * Marçà, a vil ...
'' – although publications such as ''
Bell's Life in London ''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886. History ''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William In ...
'', ''
The Sporting Times ''The Sporting Times'' (founded 1865, ceased publication 1932) was a weekly British newspaper devoted chiefly to sport, and in particular to horse racing. It was informally known as ''The Pink 'Un'', as it was printed on salmon-coloured paper ...
'' and '' The Sportsman'', all featuring a particular emphasis on horse racing, were popular during the 19th century and into the early 20th century, whilst '' Sporting Life'' and the ''
Sports Argus The ''Sports Argus'' was a Saturday sports paper printed on distinctive pink paper and published in Birmingham, England between 1897 and 2006. Its great appeal was that it was available very shortly after all the Saturday 3pm games had been comple ...
'' continued publication until the 1990s and 2000s, and live on as a website and a supplement to the ''
Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...
'' respectively. All of the national newspapers except the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' devote many pages to sport every day. Local newspapers cover local clubs at all levels, and there are hundreds of weekly and monthly sports magazines.


By sport


Team sports

Four sports in the United Kingdom operate high-profile professional leagues. Association football is the most popular sport and is played from August to May, headed by the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
in England, and the
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...
in Scotland.
Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
is traditionally a winter sport, but since the late 1990s the elite competition,
Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
has been played in the summer to minimise competition for attention with football.
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 ...
is also a winter sport, with
Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...
in England, and the
United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...
in Scotland, Wales and Ireland being two of the three dominant leagues in the Northern Hemisphere.
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 ...
is played in the Summer, from April to September in a variety of formats by professional county teams under the auspices of the
England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...
, while in Ireland,
Northern Knights The Northern Knights is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based in Preston, representing the northern suburban area of Melbourne. The Knights a ...
.and
North West Warriors North West Warriors is one of four provincial cricket teams in Ireland. Along with the Leinster Lightning, Northern Knights and Munster Reds, it makes up the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup & Inter-Provincial Trophy. The tea ...
both from Northern Ireland play first-class cricket across various Inter-Provincial competitions There are also a number of semi-professional leagues with a national footprint and some level of national media coverage; Ice Hockey operate a league in the United Kingdom called the
Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
, with at least one team in each of the four constituent countries. Both men's and women's basketball leagues, the
British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
and
Women's British Basketball League The Women's British Basketball League (WBBL) is the top-level women's basketball league in Great Britain, founded on 5 June 2014 as the women's counterpart to the British Basketball League (BBL). The league's headquarters are in Leicester alongsi ...
operate on a professional basis in England and Scotland, as does the premier
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
competition the
Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in England, Wales and Scotland. The league was commenced playing at the 2005–06 ...
in England, Scotland and Wales. All these leagues have small but significant domestic television and media presence. In Northern Ireland, as in the rest of Ireland,
gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the ...
, specifically Gaelic football and hurling, enjoy significant support from the nationalist community, although the players are mostly amateur. Despite the amateur status, major games involving county teams from Northern Ireland draw attendances comparable with both rugby codes, and in the later stages of the
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
comparable with the largest Premier League teams. In Northern Ireland, outside Antrim and the Ards peninsula, Gaelic football is the dominant GAA sport.


Association football

The modern global game of football evolved out of traditional football games played in England in the 19th century and today is the highest profile sport in the United Kingdom by a very wide margin. This has been the case for generations, but the gap is widely perceived to have increased since the early 1990s, and football's dominance is often seen as a threat to other sports. Each of the four countries in the UK organises its own football leagues for both men and women; there are however a few teams who play
in another country "In Another Country" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway. It was published in Hemingway's 1927 short story collection, ''Men Without Women''. The story deals with WWI soldiers receiving treatment in Italy during the war. Summa ...
. The only major men's national team competition won by a
Home Nation Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
is the
1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...
, which England hosted and won, though clubs in both the Scottish and English domestic leagues have had success in European club competitions, most notably the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
or its predecessor the European Cup. Glasgow's
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
won the 1966-67 European Cup, becoming the first British team to do so, with a team composed entirely of players born and raised within the local area around the club's stadium, while the following year,
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
became the first English club to win the competition, 10 years after the team had been the victim of a notorious air disaster in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
while playing in the same competition.
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, with 6 wins, is the most successful English, and British, team in European football, while the competition has also been won by Manchester United 3 times in total,
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
and
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
from London twice, and
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, from Birmingham once. Cardiff City F.C,.,
Swansea City F.C. Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional association football, football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of Englis ...
,
Newport County F.C. Newport County Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Sir Casnewydd) is a professional football club in the city of Newport, South Wales. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The c ...
and
Wrexham F.C. Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. For ...
all play in the English league system. The only major women's national team competition won by a
Home Nation Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
is the 2022 Euros, which England hosted and won.
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
, which now shares ownership with the men's club of the same name, has won the
UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...
once. The
Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gra ...
includes
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...
, played between 12 teams. Two English clubs,
Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...
and Tweedmouth Rangers, both based in
Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
in England, play in lower Scottish divisions. The
Welsh football league system The Welsh football league system (or pyramid) is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. While most Welsh clubs play in the Welsh pyramid and most clubs in that pyramid are Welsh, five Welsh clubs play ...
includes
Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...
(historically the Welsh Premier League) and regional leagues. These leagues have a relatively low profile as
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 ...
is the national sport of Wales and the top three Welsh football clubs,
Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
, Newport County and
Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
, play in the
English 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 Engl ...
. Two more Welsh clubs play in the
English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...
,
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
in
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
and
Merthyr Town Merthyr Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Merthyr) is a Welsh semi-professional association football, football club based in Merthyr Tydfil, currently playing in the , in the seventh tier of the English football league system. The ...
(a reformed version of the liquidated
Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...
) in the seventh tier. In addition, one Cymru Premier club,
The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...
, play their home matches on the English side of the border in
Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
. The main Welsh Cup competitions are the
Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...
and the
FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Welsh football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English leagues (including six Welsh c ...
. Cardiff's 76,250 seater
Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
is the principal sporting stadium of Wales. The
Northern Ireland football league system The Northern Ireland football league system is categorised into three levels: senior, intermediate and junior. Clubs attain intermediate status by fulfilling certain criteria (e.g. owning or leasing its own enclosed ground). Senior status requires ...
includes the
NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...
, often known colloquially as the "Irish League". One Northern Irish club, Derry City, plays its football outside of the United Kingdom in the
Republic of Ireland football league system The Republic of Ireland football league system currently consists of 12 levels. Traditionally association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland have been classified as either senior, intermediate or junior. These leagues are effectively nation ...
.
Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...
,
Linfield F.C. Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Li ...
's 20,332-seater stadium, is also the home stadium of the
national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...
. Each season the most successful clubs from each of the home nations qualify for the four Europe-wide club competitions organised by
UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
—the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
(formerly the European Cup), the
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
(formerly the UEFA Cup) and, starting with the 2021–22 season, the
UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...
for men, as well as the UEFA Women's Champions League. England has produced winners of both the men's and women's Champions Leagues, and Scotland has produced a winner of the men's version. Linfield of Belfast's run to the
1966–67 European Cup The 1966–67 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Celtic for the first time in the final against Internazionale, who eliminated defending champions Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, making them the first British team in ...
quarter-final is the furthest any Northern Irish or Welsh team has reach in the premier European men's competition. Historically Welsh men's clubs were able to qualify for the now-defunct
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
by winning the
Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...
: a number of Welsh teams enjoyed runs into the latter stages of the competition, with
Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
going furthest by reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in 1967–68. For 100 years until 1984,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
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 ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
competed annually in the
British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...
but these ended for a variety of reasons. 2011 saw the inaugural Nations cup, in many ways a reboot of the old tournament. When the idea was first proposed to bring back the competition, the English FA had reservations, and so it was contested by the other three home nations and the Republic of Ireland, who were the first host nation and winners. The tournament was intended to be played biennially to prevent fixture congestion during World Cup qualification years with the 2013 event to be held at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, the tournament was cancelled after the first year as very few fans were prepared to travel and the tournament did not create the expected revenues. Scotland and Wales were drawn against each other in World Cup qualification anyway, and a 150th anniversary friendly was organised between Scotland and England to celebrate the anniversary of the formation of the English F.A. No United Kingdom national team hs regularly been formed for
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 in the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. Proposals to have the United Kingdom (designated by the
IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
as
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 ...
) take part in the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
with men's and
women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
teams were not supported by the Scottish,
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
and
Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...
football associations. The three bodies feared that Great Britain teams would undermine their independent status—a fear confirmed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Nevertheless, Great Britain entered teams in both 2012 tournaments as host. Following the 2016 Olympic Games, the Home Nations agreed to allow Great Britain to attempt to qualify a women's team in 2020, with England's results, as the highest-seeded of the Home Nations, treated as qualification results for Great Britain, but with Scottish and Welsh players allowed to join the Great Britain squad, technically representing the
British Olympic Committee The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...
, not the English Football Association, in the event of qualification. England succeeded in qualifying for the 2020 Games and the arrangement, which echoes similar arrangements in rugby sevens and hockey, continues through the
2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...
for the women's team. no such arrangement is in place for the men's team. England has been the most successful of the home nations, winning the
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
on home soil in 1966, although there has historically been a close-fought rivalry between England and Scotland.


Cricket

The early reference to the separate national identities in the United Kingdom is perhaps best illustrated by the game of cricket.
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 ...
is claimed to have been invented in England. The national sport of England is cricket. The
England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...
, controlled by the
England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...
, (commonly shortened to just "England" and "ECB" respectively) was the only national team in the United Kingdom with
Test status Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
until
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, which represents both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, received Test status in June 2017. Each summer two foreign national teams visit and play seven Test matches and numerous
One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
s, and in the British winter the team tours abroad. The highest profile rival of the team is the Australian team, with which it competes for
The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...
, one of the most famous trophies in British sport. There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales. Each summer the county clubs compete in the first class
County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
, which consists of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days. The same teams also play the one day
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
, a one-day knock out competition called the
Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...
, and the short-form
Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...
. English
cricket grounds 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 strikin ...
include
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
,
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
,
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...
,
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
,
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
and
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...
. Cardiff's
Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( cy, Gerddi Sophia) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket matches and county cricket matches are held in the Sophia Gardens cricket ground, the home of Gl ...
ground has also become increasingly popular in recent years. Team members are drawn from the main county sides, and include both English and Welsh players. It is by no means equal to football in finance, attendance or coverage, but it has a high profile nonetheless. It is probably the second most widely covered sport in England and third most widely covered sport in Wales and the fortunes of the England team are closely followed by many people who never attend a live game.
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 ...
and Ireland both have their own cricket teams, but the game is neither as popular nor their teams as successful as the English and Welsh team. Ireland did not receive Test status until 2017, and Scotland still does not have Test status. Since Ireland did not play its first Test until 2018, Scotland still does not play Tests, and both have only recently started to play in full One Day Internationals, many Scots and Irish previously played in, and captained, the England and Wales side; the current side for example includes
Eoin Morgan Eoin (, or ) is an Irish name. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent is () and both are closely related to the Welsh . It is also cognate with the Irish . In the Irish language, it is the name used for all Biblical figures known as ''John'' in Engli ...
, a Dublin-born cricketer who has represented Ireland against England at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and captained England against Ireland in 2011.


Rugby football

Like association football,
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 ...
and
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
both developed from traditional British football games in the 19th century. Rugby football was codified in 1871. Dissatisfaction with the governance of the sport led, in 1895, to a number of prominent clubs establishing what would become rugby league. The estranged clubs, based in mainly working class industrial regions of northern England, had wished to be allowed to compensate their players for missing work to play matches but they had been opposed by those clubs that were predominantly middle class and often based in the south of the country. Subsequently, rugby league developed somewhat different rules. For much of the 20th century there was considerable antagonism towards rugby league from rugby union. One Member of Parliament described it as "one of the longest (and daftest) grievances in history" with anyone over the age of 18 associated with rugby league being banned forever from rugby union. This antagonism has abated since 1995 when rugby union's international governing body, now known as
World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
, "opened" rugby union to professionalism.


=Rugby union

=
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
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 ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
(Northern and The Republic combined) all field separate teams and are collectively known as the
Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
. All four teams are among the top ten in global rugby union. The
Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...
played between the Home Nations,
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
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
is the premier international tournament in the northern hemisphere. The
Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...
is awarded to any of the Home Nations who beats the other three in that tournament. Games are also often played against the "Southern Hemisphere" quartet of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
—as well as other rugby playing countries. England won the
2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...
, the first victory in the competition by a British team (or, for that matter, any Northern Hemisphere country), and were runners-up to Australia in
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
and South Africa in both
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
and
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
(the latter of which came after a convincing win against the All-Blacks in England's semi-final). In 1987,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
achieved a best of third place and in 1991,
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 ...
a best of fourth place.
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
has not progressed beyond the quarter finals. England (1991) and Wales (1999) have both hosted the Rugby World Cup in conjunction with the other Home Nations. In 2015, England hosted the Rugby World Cup; however, some games were played in Wales. In the
2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...
Wales was the only home nation to progress beyond the quarter-finals. Rugby union has a number of heartlands, notably
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
, the
Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
, the English
West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...
, London and the Midlands. Rugby union is generally regarded as the national sport of Wales. England organises its own national league in
Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...
, which launched the
Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Welsh regions. History The Premiership Rugby Cup was ...
in 2018–19 to replace the former
Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
, which had begun as an England-only competition but included Welsh teams from 2005 until its demise in 2018. The other Home Nations now have a single professional league, currently known as the
United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...
, that also includes teams from Italy and South Africa. Attendances at club rugby in England have risen strongly since the sport went professional; by contrast, the professional era has had a traumatic effect on the traditional structure of club rugby in Wales and Scotland, although the long established provincial structure in Ireland rebounded relatively successfully, and attendances (and successes) there in domestic and European competition, including the team based in Northern Ireland,
Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...
, are comparable to the larger English clubs. Following the regional model of Wales and Ireland, Scotland also originally established four regional teams for North, East, South and West Scotland. Due to the demographics of the country, the Northern region was too vast for a single club to serve (over twice the size of Wales but with only a quarter the population) and the 5% of the population who happened to live in the rugby-loving borders were not enough to sustain the Southern franchise, leaving just West and East. There was some talk of the regions being redrawn, with the North being divided in two and the South being absorbed into the West and East regions, but two Italian sides instead took the vacated places, and still later the competition added South African sides, with two joining in 2017 and eventually being replaced by four different sides in 2021. All of the home nations play in large, state-of-the-art venues.
Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
in London, home to the England national team and the country's governing body, the
Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...
, currently seats 82,000, making it the second-largest stadium in the country after Wembley. Wales and its governing body, the
Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...
, make their home at Millennium Stadium, which is owned by the WRU. Scotland's largest stadium, with a capacity of over 67,000, is
Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often conside ...
in Edinburgh, home to the national team and the
Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...
. Ireland currently play all their home matches in the Republic's capital of Dublin at
Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...
, a 55,000-seat stadium for football and rugby union built on the site of Irish rugby's historic home of
Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...
. During the construction of the Aviva in the 2000s, Ireland played many home games in the 80,000 seat national GAA stadium,
Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...
. As the sport's worldwide governing body, World Rugby, is based in Dublin and is heavily dominated by the Home Nations, there has never been a threat to the independence of each country's team and a joint team, known as the
British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
, will tour a Southern Hemisphere nation every four years. The Lions games however do not compete in any major tournaments, and will play local clubs as well as the host nation's First XV. The four home nations also field national sevens teams. England, Scotland and Wales are all "core teams" that compete in all events of the annual
World Rugby Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...
for men, and England have been a core team in the
World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held ...
since the latter competition's creation in
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
. Ireland have not been as competitive in men's sevens, but the women's sevens team have had core status alongside England on two different occasions—first for the 2013–14 series, and most recently since the 2015–16 series. The United Kingdom currently hosts an event in each (men's) World Sevens Series in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
; the UK had also hosted a second event in
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 ...
, but that event was removed from the schedule after the 2014–15 series. The 2014–15 women's series saw the debut of a London event, but that tournament did not return in any subsequent series. Rugby union returned to the Olympics in
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
with sevens tournaments for both men and women; the Great Britain men's team won the silver medal, losing to
Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
in the final, and the women's team lost in the bronze medal match to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. In a contrast with football, the participation of Great Britain sevens teams at the Olympics was endorsed by World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) in 2011. In the
Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...
, the men's teams of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and Wales national rugby sevens team, Wales have both been victorious—England in the inaugural tournament in 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, 1993 and Wales in 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, 2009.


=Rugby league

= England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland all field separate teams Rugby league sides. Rugby league draws healthy crowds in its heartlands in Yorkshire and North West England, and is popular with armchair sports fans nationwide. The top-level league is
Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
, which 2009–11 Super League licences, expanded to 14 teams for the Super League XIV, 2009 season, but was reduced to 12 teams with the end of licensing and a reorganisation of the professional leagues in Super League XX, 2015. In 2020, the number of teams was further reduced to 11 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; the one Canadian side in the league, Toronto Wolfpack, withdrew (at least temporarily) from the league due to pandemic-related financial challenges and travel restrictions. The Wolfpack had been the first team from outside Europe to play in the English system, having won the League 1 title and automatic promotion to the Championship in their inaugural 2017 season and earning promotion to Super League in 2019. As of the current 2020 season, 10 of the teams are in the heartlands, with French side Catalans Dragons being the exception. Before the 2015 reorganisation, London Broncos competed in Super League. Below this level are the Championship (rugby league), Championship and League 1 (rugby league), League 1 (historically the National Leagues); French side Toulouse Olympique competed in the Championship from 2009 through to 2011, returned to British rugby league in 2016 in League 1, and were promoted to the Championship for 2017. The 2020 Championship, abandoned after five rounds due to COVID-19, involved 14 teams, with 12 from the heartlands, London Broncos and Toulouse Olympique. The 2020 League 1, abandoned after two rounds due to COVID-19, involved 11 teams (down from 16 in the 2017 season), with six from the heartlands, three scattered through the remainder of England, and two from Wales. Until 2008, automatic promotion and relegation existed between Super League and the Championship when it was replaced by three-year licences for clubs to play in the former. Promotion and relegation returned to Super League and the Championship in 2015. The main knock-out competition is the Challenge Cup, which also includes clubs from Rugby league in France, France and Rugby league in Canada, Canada, and in the past has also included clubs from Rugby league in Russia, Russia. As a spectator sport, it historically ranks second only to football, with a record high of nearly 8 million spectators attending games in the 1948–49 season. It has also attracted the largest English stadium crowd outside London with the 1954 Challenge Cup Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford attracting an unofficial attendance exceeding 120,000. Rugby league is also played as an amateur sport, especially in the heartland areas, where the game is administered by British Amateur Rugby League Association, BARLA. Since the rugby union authorities ended the Amateur sports#Rugby, 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 the sport is heading towards a national spread, at amateur level at least. A single 'Great Britain Lions' team had competed in the Rugby league World Cup and Test match games, but this changed slightly in 2008 when England national rugby league team, England, Scotland national rugby league team, Scotland and Ireland national rugby league team, Ireland competed as separate nations. Internationally, only England national rugby league team, England (and sometimes Wales national rugby league team, Wales) field truly competitive teams in international rugby league. For many tournaments the home nations are combined to compete as Great Britain. The Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain team won the Rugby league World Cup in 1954 Rugby League World Cup, 1954, 1960 Rugby League World Cup, 1960 and 1972 Rugby League World Cup, 1972, but England and Wales now compete separately in this tournament and Australia national rugby league team, Australia have won every World Cup since 1975 Rugby League World Cup, 1975 except in 2008 Rugby League World Cup, 2008, when they were upset in the final by New Zealand national rugby league team, New Zealand. The Great Britain team is retained for some competitions, such as with Australia and New Zealand in the recently founded Rugby League Tri-Nations, Tri-Nations competition, and in test series such as the Rugby league Ashes, Ashes (against Australia) and the Baskerville Shield (against New Zealand). In 2013, the United Kingdom hosted the Rugby league World Cup for the 5th time, with England and Wales officially serving as joint hosts.


Field hockey

Field hockey is the second most popular team recreational sport in the United Kingdom. The Great Britain men's hockey team won the hockey tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1988 Olympics, while the women's hockey team repeated the success in the Field hockey at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, 2016 Games. While hockey receives widespread television coverage during the Olympics, coverage outside that is small, especially relative to its participation level. The success of the women's team in 2016 has raised the profile of the sport, the women's side and a number of the team's star players, notably captain Kate Richardson-Walsh and goalkeeper Maddie Hinch.


Ice hockey

Ice hockey, a sport that originated in Canada (former British colony), is the only team sport to have a United Kingdom-wide league with at least one team from every nation. It has a long history in the Ice hockey in the United Kingdom, United Kingdom and it is reasonably well supported, with the larger teams attracting thousands of fans to every game. Ice hockey is now being considered the United Kingdom's biggest indoor sport and fastest-growing winter sport. The main league is the ten-team professional
Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
containing three Scottish, five English, one Northern Irish and one Welsh club. The league has featured many former National Hockey League, NHL players, predominantly during the two NHL lock out seasons of 2004 and 2013. At the moment the Great Britain men's national ice hockey team is in the top division of the Ice Hockey World Championships. The team is ranked 19th in the world in the IIHF World Ranking system as of 2021. Media support for ice hockey has improved on a national level, although the majority of news is still found on the internet. With a weekly highlights programme Sky Sports covered the Elite league from the 2006/07 season. Sky has also shown a small number of live games, but this has not happened since the 2011/12 season. Following this Premier Sports picked up the mantle for a number of seasons. On 31 August 2017, Premier Sports launched their sister channel FreeSports which showed eleven live EIHL games in the 2018/19 season including the PredictorBet Playoff Final and a regular highlights show. The
Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
is reasonably well recognised around the ice hockey world, highlighted by the 2010 visit of the Boston Bruins of the NHL who took on the Belfast Giants at the Giants Odyssey Arena in Belfast,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, winning 5–1 over the Elite League All-Stars. The league currently ranks 12th in Europe.


Gaelic games

Gaelic games such as Gaelic football and hurling are organised on an all-Ireland basis and are highly popular in Northern Ireland, with a smaller presence in Great Britain. They are regulated by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Six Northern Ireland teams (Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim, Down and Derry) feature in the
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
, as do London GAA, the London senior football team from Great Britain. In hurling, London beat Cork GAA, Cork in the 1901 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final, nowadays their hurlers compete in the third tier Nicky Rackard Cup. Antrim GAA, Antrim are the only Northern Ireland team in the first tier. The female equivalent of hurling is called camogie and is played by teams from Northern Irish and London. Gaelic handball with its roots in Scotland is still played at a competitive level in Northern Ireland. Composite rules shinty-hurling is a hybrid sport which was developed to facilitate international matches between shinty players and hurling players. International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players.


Shinty

Shinty (or ''camanachd'') is an amateur sport indigenous to the Scottish Highlands. Although it is mostly restricted to this area, it is highly popular within the Highlands, sometimes attracting crowds numbering thousands in what is the most sparsely populated region of the United Kingdom. It is administered by the Camanachd Association. Its main trophies are the Camanachd Cup and the Premier Division (shinty), Premier Division. It was once played throughout Scotland and England until the early 20th century. Nowadays, outside of the Highlands, there are also clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow within Scotland. In England there has been a bit of a revival starting in the 2010s. If London Camanachd was the only remaining English club, in 2013 the English Shinty Association was founded and currently supports four more clubs, Cornwall Shinty Club, Devon Shinty Club, Bristol Shinty Club and Oxford Shinty Club.


Australian rules football

Australian rules football, a sport that originated in Australia (former British colony), is a growing amateur sport in the United Kingdom. The British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) formed in 1989 and has Premier, Regional and Conference divisions. The Grand Final is an event that regularly attracts growing audience of up to 5,000. Great Britain has a national team the Great Britain national Australian rules football team, British Bulldogs, it regularly competes in international matches and has competed in the Australian Football International Cup since its inception in 2002. Australian rules football exhibition matches, Exhibition matches are regularly scheduled for
The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in London, and despite the fact that few Britons know of the sport, the most recent match attracted a record crowd of 18,88


American football

American football, a sport that originated in the United States of America (former British colony), is a minor amateur sport in the UK, with two League associations BAFA National Leagues and BAUFL (University league). The BAFA League has 3 divisions: Premier, 1 and 2, with Premier and 1 divided into a North and South conference (with Coventry being the Most Southern of the Northern teams) while division 2 is further split into 4 conferences, North becoming North (Scotland and Carlisle) and Central and the South being split into East and West. The Championship participants are promoted to the divisions above and the lowest-ranking teams in each division are relegated. Previously, many of these teams competed in the BAFL which entered administration in 2010. The Great Britain national American football team, national team is known as the GB Lions and represents the United Kingdom in international gridiron. Formed in 1991 the London Monarchs played in NFL Europe. With attendances slumping to an average of 5,944 the Monarchs became defunct seven years later, and with the league making a reported $30 million loss per season the NFL announced the end of NFL Europe in 2007. The British Universities and Colleges Sport, the national governing body for British university sport, has introduced the British Universities American Football League in 2012. The league is separated in three divisions: Premier, Division 1, and Division 2. The league now has over 50 teams, including from colleges of top international academic standards such as Imperial College London (Division 1), University of Warwick (Division 1), University of Cambridge (Division 2), and University of Oxford (Division 2). The best participants in the play-offs of each division are promoted to better divisions while the lowest-ranking teams in each division are relegated. Despite the minor status of the sport in the United Kingdom, the National Football League, NFL played NFL International Series, at least one game each season at Wembley Stadium from 2007 through to 2019; the originally scheduled 2020 London games were moved to the U.S. due to COVID-19 issues. Wembley has hosted multiple games in each season since 2013, and the series has since expanded to include other locations in London.
Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
began hosting NFL games in 2016, and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, new Tottenham Hotspur stadium, opened in April 2019, became the NFL's newest London venue later that year. The NFL currently plans, with the support of the UK Government, to establish an Potential London NFL franchise, NFL team in London.


Bandy

Invented in England, bandy has been virtually unknown in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century, but this hockey sport played on ice with rules similar to football has been taken up again. The Bandy Federation of England was founded in 2010 and changed names to Great Britain Bandy Association in 2017. The Great Britain national bandy team, national team for men made its official international début at the 2019 Bandy World Championship and at the 2022 Women's Bandy World Championship the Great Britain women's national bandy team, national team for women participated for the first time.


Basketball

Basketball, a sport that originated in the United States of America, has been rising in popularity in the United Kingdom. The top-level league is the
British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
(BBL) which follows an American franchise format rather than using promotion and relegation. Below the BBL is the English National Basketball League (NBL) operated by Basketball England and the Scottish Basketball Championships (SBC) operated by Basketball Scotland. The Great Britain men's national basketball team, Great Britain Men's National Team (GBMNT) and the Great Britain women's national basketball team, Great Britain Women's National Team (GBWNT) are governed by the British Basketball, British Basketball Federation and represent Great Britain in international basketball competitions. The teams compete in three major tournaments; EuroBasket, FIBA EuroBasket, the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and the Basketball at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Games. Prior to 2006, England, Scotland, and Wales competed independently in international competition except for the Olympic Games and Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. The Great Britain Men's National Team have qualified for five of the last six FIBA EuroBaskets (2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2022). An impressive achievement for a nation that had only qualified for six FIBA EuroBaskets in the 60 years prior to 2006 when England men's national basketball team, England, Scotland men's national basketball team, Scotland, and Wales men's national basketball team, Wales competed independently. England had made four appearances (1946, 1955, 1961, 1981) and Scotland two (1951, 1957). The Great Britain women's national basketball team, Great Britain Women's National team qualified for four of five EuroBasket Women, FIBA EuroBaskets in the 2010s (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019). In 2019, the GBWNT advanced to the semi-final stage of FIBA EuroBasket Women, the best ever finish for a British national team in a major basketball tournament. Whether competing as Great Britain or as one of the home nations, no British team has ever qualified for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, FIBA World Cup during the 70-year history of the competition. The Great Britain Men's National Team has played in two Basketball at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Games (1948, 2012), while the Women made their first appearance in 2012. The British player Tarik Phillip, Tarik Philip was added to the Washington Wizards roster at the end of the 2018–19 NBA season, 2018–19 season. The most recent NBA player to have been developed in the British basketball system, South Sudanese refugee and naturalised British citizen Luol Deng retired at the end of the 2018–19 season. At the time of his retirement, Deng career on-court earnings of $151 million, making him the highest earner of any British player in history, and one of the highest paid British athletes. During the 2019–20 NBA season, 2019–20 season, only one player born in the UK with British nationality was on an NBA roster—OG Anunoby with the Toronto Raptors. Anunoby emigrated to the US as a child, playing youth basketball in Missouri and college basketball for Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball, Indiana. Whilst Admiral Schofield, who played that season with the Washington Wizards, was born in London, he has never held British nationality; he was born to a Military brat (U.S. subculture), U.S. Navy family, and returned to the U.S. with his family in early childhood. Other British basketball players who have played in the NBA include Chris Harris (basketball), Chris Harris, Steve Bucknall, James Donaldson (basketball), James Donaldson, John Amaechi, Robert Archibald, Ndudi Ebi, Michael Olowokandi, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Kelenna Azubuike, Byron Mullens, Ben Gordon, and Joel Freeland. As with the NFL and American football, the NBA has arranged regular season matches in London for several years now, the most recent being a 2018 game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at the The O2 Arena, O2 Arena. Former NBA commissioner David Stern enthusiastically discussed the possibility of the NBA expanding into Europe, at one point envisioning a new division of 5 teams based in London, Paris, Berlin, Italy (Rome or Milan), and Spain (Madrid or Barcelona). Though in 2012, Stern went on to say that of the sites suggested only London and Berlin had arenas of the standard expected in the NBA, while Liga ACB, Spain's and Lega Basket Serie A, Italy's domestic leagues had become increasingly popular. The idea of a single team or pair of teams relocating to London and Berlin was dismissed as uneconomical due to the distances involved for away fixtures. A 2018 piece on the ESPN.com, web outlet of US sports media giant ESPN explored why British basketball has so far failed to develop players to the degree of countries such as France, Germany and Australia. The first is the dominance of other sports, especially football, in the country's sporting culture. A 2016 survey by
Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...
found that basketball was the third most-played sport among the 14–25 age group in England, just behind rugby union in numbers—but both sports combined have less than one-third the participation of football. Additionally, a British sport journalist pointed out that football academies are "really bad at letting players out of the system who aren't going to make it", frequently keeping players until age 17 or 18, beyond an age at which they can reasonably be developed for top-level basketball. Another issue is politically related. Basketball is not played in the elite fee-paying secondary schools that produce a disproportionate share of the UK's political leaders. Also, several British basketball insiders have cited problems with the sport's governance within the UK, with Kevin Routledge, chairman of the BBL's Leicester Riders, calling it "shambolic", and former NBA player John Amaechi saying "British basketball is dominated by people who are well meaning but poorly skilled". Funding is another issue. The British government provided many sports, including basketball, with major funding in advance of the 2012 Olympics. However, Team GB was perceived as a failure in basketball, with the women's team going winless and the men going 1–4, though losing by only 1 point to eventual silver medallists Spain men's national basketball team, Spain. As a result, basketball's funding was dramatically cut. The sport also currently lacks private funding, with Amaechi claiming that many British BBL players are not paid living wages. Finally, until very recent years, British players were reluctant to develop themselves in the more competitive leagues of continental Europe.


Speedway

Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt or loosely packed shale. The United Kingdom has three domestic leagues, the SGB Premiership (speedway), SGB Premiership. the SGB Championship, and the SGB National League. The Speedway Grand Prix is the main world championship for standalone riders with an event taking place in Cardiff each year. The Speedway of Nations Final takes place over two days a year and Russia have won three SoN titles in a row since the competition began in 2018. Previous finals have been held at Wroclaw, Tolyatti, and Lublin. The 2021 final is set to take place in Manchester.


Rounders

Rounders is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball base-running game played on a diamond. Played in England since Tudor period, Tudor times, it is referenced in 1744 in the children's book ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' where it was called baseball. The game is popular among British and Irish school children."Rounders (English Game)"
Encyclopædia Britannica
In 2015 it was played by seven million children in the UK. Gameplay centres on a number of innings, in which the two teams alternate at batting and fielding. A maximum of nine players are allowed to field at any time. Points (known as 'rounders') are scored by the batting team when one of their players completes a circuit past four bases without being put 'out'.National Rounders Association – History of the Game
in an Archive.org snapshot from 2007
The batter must strike at a good ball and attempt to run a rounder in an anti-clockwise direction around the first, second, and third base and home to the fourth, though they may stay at any of the first three.


Touch

Touch (sport), Touch (or Touch Rugby) is a Contact sport#Limited-contact, limited-contact sport variant of rugby football. It is typically played with a mixed-gender team of six (three men and three women), with single-gender and age group variants. Teams play on a 70m by 50m pitch with rolling substitutions. There are no set pieces (e.g. scrums or lineouts) and kicking the ball is not allowed. Scores are made by grounding the ball over the score line as in Rugby Union or League; a team is allowed six touches in possession to attempt a score before the ball is turned over to the opposition. It is administered globally by the Federation International Touch and by the England Touch Association, Scotland Touch Association, Wales Touch Association and Ireland Touch Association in the United Kingdom. The England Touch Association runs three national mixed series from April to September, as well as a men's and a women's series. More than a thousand players across over 40 clubs are registered to play in these competitions. There are also substantial local and regional competitions, many run with the involvement of O2 Touch.


Individual sports


Athletics

Sport of athletics, Athletics does not have a very high profile in Britain on a week-in week-out basis, but it leaps to prominence during major championships. The level of attention received by successful British athletes is illustrated by the fact that athletes have won far more BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards than practitioners of any other sport. The governing body of British Athletics is UK Athletics. There are also semi-independent athletics associations in each of the home nations. Over the last few decades British athletes have usually won between one and three gold medals at the Olympics; the Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Games in London saw three British athletes win four golds (single golds by Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford, and two by Mo Farah), while a further two golds were won in 2016 (both by Farah, who with four Olympic and six World titles is Great Britain's most successful track athlete). Traditionally Britain was strongest in men's athletics, especially middle-distance running in which Roger Bannister, Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram were global stars, but over the last 20 years success has been achieved in a wide range of events and British women have closed the attainment gap on the men, seeing particular success in heptathlon with major titles for Ennis, Denise Lewis, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Louise Hazel and Kelly Sotherton. However, there remain serious concerns about the depth of the sport in Britain, with the number of club athletes reportedly in decline. In contrast, recreational athletics, especially running has enjoyed a boom under the Parkrun scheme. Two high-profile annual athletics events organised in Great Britain are the
London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...
and the Great North Run, which is a half marathon, while the elite level Diamond League holds two events in the country, the London Grand Prix, commonly referred to as the Anniversary Games in reference to the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and the Birmingham Grand Prix. The indoor counterpart to the Diamond League, the IAAF World Indoor Tour also hold an event in the United Kingdom, the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, Indoor Grand Prix which has alternated between Birmingham and Glasgow. The United Kingdom also has a significant recent record in hosting major athletics championships, having hosted the 2012 Olympic Games, the 2017 IAAF World Championships, the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Athletics, the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2014 Commonwealth Games between 2012 and 2019. Birmingham held the athletic competition in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and will host the 2026 European Athletics Championships.


Boxing

The United Kingdom played a key role in the evolution of modern boxing, with the codification of the rules of the sport known as the Marquess of Queensberry rules, Queensberry Rules, named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry in 1867. Britain's first heavyweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. Some of the best contemporary British boxers have included super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Welshman Calzaghe's display against Jeff Lacy in 2006 prompted Lacy's trainer to state "I have never seen a better performance than that in the world." 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 List of British world boxing champions, British world champions have fought in the middle weight bracket. The governing bodies of professional boxing are the British Boxing Board of Control and 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 separate bodies in each home nation. At Olympic, World and European events, home nation boxers (with the exception of N.Ireland) compete under the GB podium squad banner. British amateurs have enjoyed success in international competition in recent years but unlike their counterparts boxing for the Irish Republic there's a tendency for them to turn professional early in their amateur career. The amateur sport is steadily recovering from a decline that reached a peak in the late 1980s, with dramatic increases in boxer numbers driven by recent GB podium squad success, most notably at the London 2012 Olympics. Although Britain's top amateur boxers are household names and lauded by the general public, the financial and commercial leverage that professional sports now have on televised media means amateur boxing rarely receives its fair share of T.V. coverage.


Mixed Martial Arts

In Great Britain, Mixed martial arts (MMA) failed to capitalise on the early momentum in the United States and has not seen anywhere near the popularity levels MMA has received in USA. However, things slowly started to change when Michael Bisping came onto the scene and won The Ultimate Fighter 3. Bisping built UK MMA a bit quicker alongside Ross Pearson and James Wilks. The 2 winners of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom. Michael Bisping coached Team UK opposing Dan Henderson who coached Team USA. UK MMA is being pushed further with the likes of Dan Hardy, Brad Pickett, John Hathaway, Jimi Manuwa, Rosi Sexton plus many more, including
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
's Norman Parke, winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes Lightweight (MMA), Lightweight tournament and
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 ...
's Joanne Calderwood who competed on The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned. The UK host promotions such as Cage Warriors and BAMMA. UFC now have contract with BT Sport.


Cycling

Britain had limited success with cycle racing in the 20th century, although Tom Simpson's world road racing title, and subsequent tragic death on Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France remained iconic moments ithin the sport. While the Tour de France was consistently popular with a niche television audience on Channel 4, the sport was clouded by doping allegations and lack of mainstream interest. This changed when the performance director of British Cycling Peter Keen (cyclist), Peter Keen (formerly coach of Chris Boardman and later appointed in 2003 as performance director with
UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...
) obtained lottery funding which helped cycling, particularly Track cycling at both grass roots and at an elite level. The first fruits of the programme were harvested in 2000: at 2000 Summer Olympics, that year's Summer Olympics, Team GB took two bronzes, a silver and a gold on the track, backing up their success at the subsequent 2000 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on home ground in Manchester by winning five medals. Progress was made in the 2004 Summer Olympics under Keen's successor Dave Brailsford, where Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins won golds – the first time the British team had won two golds in track cycling since 1908, whilst Great Britain won 11 medals at the 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, seven of them gold, and nine gold medals at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester. The investment paid off in the 2008 Olympics; British cyclists brought home gold medals in seven events, most notably Chris Hoy who became the first British Olympian to win three golds at one Olympiad, earning him a knighthood. Other successes include Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton. Great Britain became the dominant track cycling nation globally until 2021, when they finally lost their place at the top of the Olympic track cycling medal table, just, to Netherlands, but Great Britain remain a global force in the discipline. Success at road racing was also limited, although sporadic success for British cyclists on the road was achieved by such athletes as Tom Simpson, Barry Hoban, Robert Millar, Chris Boardman, and David Millar. The United Kingdom provided no Tour de France champion, or Grand Tour champion, until Bradley Wiggins' victory in the 2012 Tour de France. This newfound British success continued with Chris Froome winning four of the next five Tours (2013 Tour de France, 2013, 2015 Tour de France, 2015, 2016 Tour de France, 2016, 2017 Tour de France, 2017), followed by Geraint Thomas taking victory in 2018 Tour de France, 2018. In addition to Wiggins, Froome and Thomas, other British riders to enjoy a significant level of success included road sprinting legend Mark Cavendish, elite climbers Adam Yates (cyclist), Adam and Simon Yates (cyclist), Simon Yates. Tao Geoghegan Hart, Hugh Carthy, and Hugh Carthy, time trial riders Alex Dowsett and Ethan Hayter and the multi-discipline star Tom Pidcock, who won an iconic Tour de France stage on top of Alpe d'Huez, Olympic mountain bike gold, and World Cyclo-cross gold in a twelve month stretch. Before 2011, no British rider had ever won a Grand Tour in cycling in almost 100 years, in 2018 all three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour races, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana were won by different British riders; Froome, Thomas and Simon Yates respectively, and between 2010 and 2020, British riders won 11 Grand Tours in total. Britain has had more historic success in women's road cycle racing in producing 4 road racing world champions including Beryl Burton, Mandy Jones, Lizzie Armistead and Nicole Cooke who also won the Olympic road race title and the world championship in the same year in 2008. Emma Pooley won the world road time trial championship in 2010 UCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial, 2010. Because of the increasing interest in cycling, a British UCI ProTeam (Team Sky) was formed for the 2010 cycling season. Major names in the roster included the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Edvald Boasson Hagen and the 2010 British National Road Race Championships, British men's Road Race champion, Geraint Thomas. Cycle racing is organised by British Cycling, who govern most cycling events in the United Kingdom and organise the national team. Time trialling in England and Wales is organised by a separate body called Cycling Time Trials. The success of British Cycling and Team Sky has increased dramatically the popularity of the sport in the UK which has brought in more sponsors into the sport. As well as Team Sky, ONE Pro Cycling and NFTO (cycling team), NFTO are aiming to ride in the world's biggest races. A lot of cyclists take part in the many sportives organized all over the country including the hugely popular Ride London event which. Words such as MAMIL (middle aged men in lycra) have become part of popular culture.


Golf

Modern competitive golf originated in Scotland. In the early 20th century British golfers were the best in the world, winning nearly all of the U.S. Open (golf), US Open championships before World War I. American golfers later became dominant, but Britain has continued to produce leading golfers, with an especially strong period in the 1980s and 1990s. There are usually more British golfers than others in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking relative to population, that is to say more than a fifth as many. Several British golfers have reached the world's top 10 in the early 2000s. England's Lee Westwood ended Tiger Woods' five-year reign atop the rankings in autumn 2010. In May 2011, fellow Englishman Luke Donald reached the top of the rankings, and by the end of that year became the first golfer in history to top the money lists of both the PGA and European Tours in the same season. Other British golfers to have appeared in the top 10 in the 21st century are Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, all from England and Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland. Golf is the sixth most popular sport, by participation, in the United Kingdom.
The Open Championship 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 ...
, which is played each July on a number of British golf courses on a rotating basis, the majority of them in Scotland, is the only men's Men's major golf championships, major golf tournament which is played outside of the United States. The most famous of these courses is St Andrews Links, St Andrews, which is known as "The Home of Golf". The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews#The R&A, The R&A, the governing body of golf outside the United States and Mexico, is based in St Andrews. Although The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, in Scotland, is the sport's home course, the world's oldest golf course is actually Musselburgh Links' Old Golf Course. The PGA European Tour is headquartered in England, and the main European Tour plays more events in the United Kingdom than in any other country. In international team competition the United Kingdom provides a large part of the European Ryder Cup team, which has beaten the United States team in seven of the last eight events. Women's golf does not have as high a profile as the men's game, but British players, most notably Laura Davies, have found success on both the Europe-wide Ladies European Tour (LET) and the overwhelmingly dominant women's tour, the LPGA Tour in the US Through 2012, the Women's British Open was the only event recognised as a Women's major golf championships, major by both the LET and the US LPGA. (The other tournament recognised as a major by the LET, The Evian Championship in France, became an LPGA major in 2013.)


Tennis

Tennis is yet another sport which originated in the United Kingdom, first originating in the city of Birmingham between 1859 and 1865 as a more open variant of the historical real tennis, or Royal tennis, often associated with the Tudor monarchy of Henry VIII of England. However, it has not flourished there in recent decades: its profile is highly dependent on the
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, the most prestigious event of the global tennis calendar. After Fred Perry's Wimbledon win in 1936 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles, 1936, no British man won the singles until Andy Murray from Scotland did so in 2013 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles, 2013. No British woman has won at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1977 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles, 1977. In addition, Perry's victory in the 1936 U.S. National Championships – Men's Singles, US National Championships (predecessor to the modern US Open (tennis), US Open) later in 1936 was the last for any British man in a Grand Slam singles event until Murray won the US Open in 2012 US Open – Men's Singles, 2012. Wade remained the last British woman to win such an event until Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open – Women's Singles, 2021 US Open. The governing body of the sport is the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which invests the vast profits from the tournament in the game in the hope of producing British champions, but a string of revamps of the coaching system have failed to raise the standard of LTA-trained players. The only British players of either sex to reach the world top 50 in recent years are Greg Rusedski, who learnt his tennis in Canada, Tim Henman and Murray, who did not pass through the LTA system either, and on the women's side Anne Keothavong and the late Elena Baltacha both slipped into the world's top 50 during their careers. Outside of Wimbledon fortnight tennis's profile in Britain is low, and since the 2007 retirement of Rusedski and Henman is now largely dependent on Murray, the current UK number 1. Very recently (2015–), the rise of a number of other players, notably doubles specialist Jamie Murray, and younger top 50 players Laura Robson, Heather Watson, Daniel Evans (tennis), Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund has been supplemented by the spectacular rise of British women's number one Johanna Konta from a position outside the top 100 to the top ten in the world in just under eighteen months leading to October 2016. As a result, Great Britain had a top ten ranked men's singles, men's doubles and women's singles players at the same time for the first time ever. More recently, Raducanu's 2021 US Open win made her the first player of either sex to win a Grand Slam singles event as a qualifier in the Open era, and elevated her into the world top 25; she would finish the 2021 season in the top 20. Great Britain have won the Davis Cup ten times, with their most recent title in 2015 Davis Cup World Group, 2015 being their first since 1936. The Great Britain women's team made the final of the Billie Jean King Cup four times, losing all four, but their last finals appearance was in 1981 when the competition was known as the Federation Cup.


Motorsport

Britain is the centre of Formula One, with the majority of the Formula One teams based in England, and more world titles won by drivers from Britain than from any other country, including Mike Hawthorn; Graham Hill (twice); Jim Clark (twice); John Surtees, also a world champion in motorcycling; Jackie Stewart (three times); James Hunt; Nigel Mansell; Graham Hill's son, Damon Hill; Lewis Hamilton (seven times); and Jenson Button. The British Grand Prix takes place at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone each June/July. The United Kingdom hosted the very first F1 Grand Prix in 1950 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, the current location of the British Grand Prix held each year in July. The country also hosts legs of the World Rally Championship and has its own touring car racing championship, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), and the British Formula 3 International Series, British Formula Three Championship. British drivers have achieved success in the World Rally Championship with the late Colin McRae and the late Richard Burns winning the title. The British leg of the competition is the Rally Great Britain. Derek Bell (auto racer), Derek Bell is a five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and one-time winner of the 1000 km Silverstone, the major endurance race of the country, formerly part of the World Sportscar Championship and currently part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Britain hosts one round of the MotoGP World Championship at Silverstone in early September, and celebrated its first motorcycle grand prix world champion since the late Barry Sheene with Danny Kent's title in Moto3 in 2015. The UK also hosts one round of the Superbike World Championship, at Donington Park. In the race had become the third Superbike World Championship round in Britain, but since then rounds at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone and Brands Hatch have been dropped. The reigning SBK World Champion is Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea. Since 2000 the British Superbike Championship (BSB) has become increasingly popular. Road racing events are popular, with the Isle of Man hosting the Isle of Man TT and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
hosting the North West 200. In rally raiding, Sam Sunderland became the first British winner of the Dakar Rally when he won the motorcycle classification in 2017.


Triathlon

Triathlon popularity continues to grow in the UK with membership to the British Triathlon Federation up 174% since 2009, though numbers of participants are larger due to many people who swim, bike or run also participating in triathlons. One reason the popularity has increased domestically is due to the UK's strength at the international level with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the three most recent Triathlon at the Summer Olympics, Olympic games and many wins on the ITU World Triathlon Series, international circuit. Many races are held over the UK hosted by local clubs with about 213,000 race entrants in 2017. The British Triathlon federation manages the GB team at both the elite and age-group level with performance centre's in Bath, Somerset, Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Loughborough, Nottingham, Stirling. Global champions for Great Britain include Simon Lessing, Tim Don, Leanda Cave, Helen Jenkins, Non Stanford, Alistair Brownlee and his brother Jonny Brownlee, Jonny, Vicky Holland, Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown. Further success has been achieved at Ironman distances by the likes of Cave and Lucy Charles-Barclay.


Swimming

Swimming is the largest participation sport in England according to Sport England (2014). It is larger than athletics, cycling and football. The swimming organisations of the home countries formed an umbrella organisation called British Swimming (organisation), British Swimming in the year 2000. British Swimming concentrates on elite swimmers with podium potential. Britain sends large teams to all the major international swimming events, and enjoy some successes, but it is not currently a leading swimming nation, trailing the dominant United States and Australian teams at major championships, although it is increasingly a power at European level. There has been significant improvement since 2012 under Bill Furniss, former coach of double Olympic and world champion Rebecca Adlington, which saw a record four gold medals in the swimming pool at the Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Olympic Games, led by legendary breaststroke sprinter Adam Peaty, and relay stalwarts James Guy (swimmer), James Guy and Duncan Scott (swimmer), Duncan Scott, who became the first British Olympian ever to win 4 medals at a single games (1 gold, three silver). The sport's profile is highest during the Commonwealth Games, when British swimmers, swimming for their home nations, have their best chance to win gold medals, and during the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. The sport has a thriving domestic club structure with competition at all levels. The provision of 50-metre pools in the United Kingdom was very poor for a developed country, with just 22 as of early 2007, only two of which conformed to the full Olympic size swimming pool, Olympic standard. There are however far more 25-metre short course pools and other sub Olympic-size competition pools. (See List of Olympic size swimming pools in the United Kingdom.) The number of 50m pools has now increased and there are 9 full Olympic size pools including the London Aquatics Centre pool which is regarded as currently the best pool in the world.


Other individual sports


= Snooker

= Other sports with loyal domestic followings include snooker, which is a popular television sport as it fills their schedules at low cost, and also attracts good audiences. However, its popularity has waned somewhat since 1985, when nearly a third of the British population watched the conclusion of the celebrated Dennis Taylor versus Steve Davis World Snooker Championship, World Championship 1985 World Snooker Championship final, final even though it ended after midnight. All but two events on the professional snooker tour in 2007/2008 are played in the United Kingdom, and the World Championship has been played at Crucible Theatre, The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, since 1977. There are many amateur leagues set up across the country, featuring team matches between snooker clubs.


= Darts

= Darts is another British centred sport with an assured place in the attention of the British sporting public. The two rival Darts World Championships were held in the United Kingdom since their inception. The BDO World Championship began in 1978 and ended in 2020; while the first PDC World Championship was in 1994 and continues to this day. Phil Taylor (darts player), Phil Taylor of Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke has won more World Championships than any other player. Popular at the same time as snooker, with stars such as Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson and John Lowe (darts player), John Lowe, darts also suffered a decline before the PDC revolution, led by entrepreneur and manager Barry Hearn helped turn the sport around financially and organisationally. The sport remains dominated by British stars, but has now stretched out to success in Netherlands, Germany, Australia and China. Hearn latter became chair of World Snooker Tour, World Snooker, and has overseen something of a revival in that sport also, utilising the wide support for flamboyant six-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. Table Tennis is, according to Sport England a widely participated physical activity with c 200000 participants and a large number of regional clubs enrolled to English Table Tennis Association https://www.statista.com/statistics/490344/table-tennis-participation-uk Sailing (sport), Sailing is a niche but a well regarded sport in the United Kingdom. It is governed by the RYA, and there are many locations in the United Kingdom where sailing can take place, both inland and coastal. Media coverage is low except for the Olympic Games, although there is a history of significant media interest in endurance navigation such as the Round-the-World Yacht Race, the Americas Cup and figures such as Ellen MacArthur, Ellen Macarthur, Ben Ainslie, Robin Knox-Johnston and the tragic Donald Crowhurst. Orienteering is regulated by the British Orienteering Federation, and Britain generally puts on a very strong show at the World Orienteering Championships with Jamie Stevenson (orienteer), Jamie Stevenson, second at WOC in 2006. The United Kingdom has proved successful in the international sporting arena in rowing (sport), rowing. It is widely considered that the sport's most successful rower is Steve Redgrave who won five gold medals and one bronze medal at five consecutive Olympic Games, as well as numerous wins at the World Rowing Championships and Henley Royal Regatta. There are many other sports in which Britons compete, sometimes with success, but which do not receive much attention outside a small number of aficionados except during major events such as the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, or when a British athlete does something extraordinary such as breaking a world record. Examples include judo, gliding, modern pentathlon, figure skating, fives, and sailing (sport), sailing.


Equestrian sports


Horseracing

Thoroughbred horse race, Thoroughbred racing, which originated under Charles II of England as the "sport of kings", occupies a key place in British sport, probably ranking in the top four or five sports in terms of media coverage. There are sixty racecourses in Great Britain with annual racecourse attendance exceeding six million and roughly 13,500 races being held across Britain and Ireland each year. The sport in Great Britain is governed by the British Horseracing Authority. The two racecourses in Northern Ireland are governed by Horse Racing Ireland, which runs the sport on an All-Ireland basis. The town of Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket is considered the centre of English racing, largely because of the famous Newmarket Racecourse. The two forms of horseracing in the United Kingdom are National Hunt racing, National Hunt, which involves jumping over fences or hurdles, and the more glamorous flat racing. National Hunt is a winter sport and flat racing is a summer sport, but the seasons are very long and they overlap. In flat racing the three races which make up the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, Triple Crown are the 2,000 Guineas Stakes, 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, The Derby, and the St. Leger Stakes. Other leading flat races include the 1,000 Guineas Stakes, 1,000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks, The Oaks, and these five races are collectively known as the British Classic Races, Classics. Apart from the meetings at which the aforementioned races are staged, major flat racing meetings include Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, and the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse. The highlights of the National Hunt season are the Cheltenham Festival and the Aintree Grand National.


Eventing and showjumping

The United Kingdom also played a key role in the evolution of three-day eventing and showjumping. Two of the six annual three-day event competitions given Concours Complet International, the highest classification by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, FEI are British, namely the Badminton Horse Trials and the
Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...
. Badminton attracts crowds of up to a quarter of a million spectators on cross country day, which is the largest for any paid-entry sports event in Britain.


Great Britain at the Olympics

The United Kingdom competes in the Olympics as Great Britain during Olympic competition. The British Olympic Association is responsible for the promotion of the Olympic Movement within the United Kingdom and for the selection, leadership and management of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at every Olympic accredited event. By longstanding practice, athletes of Northern Ireland have the option of being part of either the Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympics, Ireland teams. After the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics Great Britain was third in the all-time Olympic Games medal count, all-time Summer Olympic medal count (ranked by gold medals), although the majority of the medals are accounted for by some very large tallies in the first few Olympic Games. British medal tallies for much of the post-war period were generally considered disappointing, but the 2000 Summer Olympics marked an upturn and this was sustained at the Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics when Great Britain finished tenth in the 2004 Summer Olympics medals count, medal table and the 2008 where it finished fourth behind only China, the US and Russia. This was seen as a great success, and there was a victory parade through the streets of London. This trend continued in the Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Games in London. Great Britain again finished fourth in the total medal table (behind the US, China and Russia), but was third in the gold medal count behind the US and China. In 2016 at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Britain reached all time Olympic best by coming second in the medals table only being beaten by the US.The sports in which the British team has won most medals in recent Summer Olympics include rowing, sailing (sport), sailing,
cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
, and athletics (sport), athletics. In addition to the 2012 Summer Olympics, London hosted the Games in 1908 and 1948. Winter sports only play a minor role in British sporting life because the winters are not cold enough for them to be practised out of doors very much, with little suitable natural ice or snow. Great Britain is not a leading nation at the Winter Olympics, but has had a few successes in sports such as figure skating, curling and Skeleton (sport), bob skeleton, and has had a guiding hand in the early stages of the evolution of three Olympic winter sports; curling, bobsleigh and alpine skiing. A number of athletes represented Great Britain in the freestyle skiing discipline when it debuted at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Snowboarder Jenny Jones (snowboarder), Jenny Jones made history at those Games as the first British competitor to win a medal in an event on snow when she took a bronze in the Snowboarding at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Women's slopestyle, slopestyle competition. Another British snowboarder, Billy Morgan (snowboarder), Billy Morgan, won a bronze medal in the big air competition in the 2018 Winter Olympics.


Disability sport


Great Britain at the Paralympics

The United Kingdom has played a huge role in the development of Parasports, disability sport. The Paralympic Games originated in the Stoke Mandeville Games, which were held at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire in 1948. The Great Britain team does much better in the medal table at the Summer Paralympic Games, Summer Paralympics, than at the Summer Olympic Games, Summer Olympics. It has never finished outside the top five and has been second several times, including the last five games in 2000 Summer Paralympics, 2000, 2004 Summer Paralympics, 2004, 2000 Summer Paralympics, 2008, 2012 Summer Paralympics, 2012, and 2016 Summer Paralympics, 2016. The BBC is an enthusiastic promoter of disability sport. Former International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven is British. London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics also meant that it hosted the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Although Great Britain have been a minor nation in the Winter Paralympics, they have enjoyed particular success in women's Visual impairment, visually impaired alpine skiing in the 2010s, with Kelly Gallagher (alpine skier), Kelly Gallagher becoming the first British Winter Paralympic gold medallist at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, 2014 Games, when she won the Alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics – Women's Super-G, super-G, and Jade Etherington, Menna Fitzpatrick, and Millie Knight all winning multiple Paralympic medals in the sport.


Major sports facilities

In the early 20th century, the United Kingdom had some of the largest sports facilities in the world, but the level of comfort and amenities they offered would be considered totally unacceptable by modern standards. After a long period of decline relative to other developed countries, British facilities have made a relative improvement since the 1980s, and continue to improve.


National stadia

Many of the best stadia in the United Kingdom were built for national teams: * Wembley Stadium (England football team, FA Cup finals, EFL Cup finals, FA Community Shield, English Football League play-offs, and EFL Trophy) 90,000. It has held the rugby league Challenge Cup Final most years since 1929 – with up to a record 99,801 spectators attending (1985). It has also hosted regular-season games of the National Football League, the major US professional league of American football, as part of the NFL International Series. In both 2011 UEFA Champions League Final, 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, 2013, it hosted the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
Final. In the Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 Summer Olympics, Wembley hosted a total of nine matches—six in the Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament, men's tournament and three in the Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, women's tournament, including both gold-medal matches. *
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
(England cricket team, Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex County team) 32,000. Lord's is widely referred to as the ''"home of cricket"'' and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum. It hosted the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final, final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Bowls, baseball, tennis, archery and several other sports have been played at Lord's in the past. The Archery at the 2012 Summer Olympics, archery competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held in front of the Pavilion. *
Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
(England rugby union team; occasionally used for major club matches, notably the London Double Header) 82,000. Twickenham hosted one NFL International Series game in 2016 and two in 2017. *
Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
(Wales rugby union and football teams) 75,000. Also a football venue at the 2012 Summer Olympics. *
Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often conside ...
(Scotland rugby union team and Edinburgh Rugby, a professional club team in the same sport) 67,000. * Hampden Park (Scotland football team; the building is owned by Queen's Park but also contains the offices for Scotland's national team) 52,025. Also a football venue at the 2012 Summer Olympics. *
Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...
(Northern Ireland football team and
Linfield F.C. Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Li ...
). Owned by Linfield and rented to the Irish Football Association for national team matches.


Club football grounds

British football grounds are almost always football-only facilities in which the spectators are close to the action. Since the late 1980s, there has been a dramatic spurt of reconstruction and replacement of league grounds, which is ongoing, and the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
's facilities are among the best of any sports league. As of early 2019, there are nearly 40 All-seater stadium, all-seater club grounds in England with a capacity of 25,000 or more, three in Scotland, and two in Wales. The largest is Manchester United F.C., Manchester United's Old Trafford, which has a capacity of over 76,000, and the most recently built football stadia in the Premier League include the Emirates Stadium and the City of Manchester Stadium, with the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium recently opened.


Cricket grounds

English Cricket field, cricket grounds are smaller than the largest in some other countries, especially India and Australia, but the best of them have been modernised to a high standard, and two new international grounds have been built in recent years. The largest English cricket ground,
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
in London, is internationally regarded as the "home of cricket".


Club rugby grounds

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 ...
and
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
clubs are generally poorer than their football counterparts. Some clubs have good all seater grounds in the 10,000–25,000 capacity range; some have older grounds which are still partly terraced, and others play in local government in the United Kingdom, council-owned joint-use stadia (e.g. the KCOM Stadium). Some clubs rent stadia from football clubs. In some cases, union and league clubs share grounds; one current example where this exists is in AJ Bell Stadium, Salford.


Golf courses

The United Kingdom has many world class golf courses, which can accommodate crowds in the tens of thousands for tournaments. The greatest concentration of these is in Scotland. The Open Championship is always played over a links (golf), links course, the most famous venue being the Old Course at St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland. The Belfry in the The Midlands, English Midlands has hosted the Ryder Cup more times than any other site. Wentworth Club near London was once the only venue which hosted two European Tour events each season, but it now hosts only one.


Athletics stadiums

The provision of athletics stadiums in the United Kingdom is very poor compared to most other developed countries. The main reason for this, is that it is not considered acceptable to ask football or rugby fans to sit behind an athletics track. This means that athletics stadiums have to be separately financed, and this can only be done with public funds, which have not been forthcoming on a large scale. The largest athletics stadium built in the United Kingdom between Second World War and the 2010s, the 38,000-capacity City of Manchester Stadium built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, was reconfigured for football-only use after that event. For many years, the largest existing stadium was the 25,000 seat Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, and London's largest athletics venue was Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, Crystal Palace, which has just 15,500 permanent seats. Both have since been superseded by the venue now known as London Stadium, which was built as an 80,000 seater for the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and became the new home of West Ham United F.C. in 2016. By the time West Ham moved in, the capacity was reduced to 60,000, and the track remained in place, with movable seating added to allow optimal configurations for both athletics and football. Since the retention of the track was a necessary condition for tenancy, the Olympic Stadium won the right to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships. The Alexander Stadium in Birmingham was upgraded to a long term capacity of 25,000 (temporarily 50,000) for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.


Horse racecourses

There are Horseracing in Great Britain#Racecourses, 60 horse racecourses in Great Britain, with two more in Northern Ireland (the sport is governed on an all-Ireland basis). The best of them are world class. For example, Ascot Racecourse was redeveloped in 2005 and 2006, at a cost of £185 million.


Motorsport circuits

Silverstone Circuit, Donington Park and Brands Hatch are the three international motorsport courses. They have hosted the British Grand Prix, British motorcycle Grand Prix, FIA World Endurance Championship, World Endurance Championship, Superbike World Championship, FIA GT Championship, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Champ Car.


Velodromes

There are several outdoor velodromes for track cycle racing in the United Kingdom with Herne Hill in London being the only venue from the 1948 Olympics still in operation. There are also five indoor velodromes, one in Wales National Velodrome, Newport, the 3,500 seater Manchester Velodrome, part of the National Cycling Centre that serves as the headquarters of British Cycling, as well as the London Velopark, 6,000 seater arena built as part of the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in London, the National Indoor Sports Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, 2,500 seater venue built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 1,700 seater Derby Velodrome which opened in 2015.


Indoor arenas

In the United Kingdom, there is no indoor sport capable of attracting five-figure attendances on a regular basis, and this restricts the development of large indoor arenas. Nonetheless, a number of 10,000+ seater arenas have been built in recent years and more are planned. These facilities make most of their income from pop concerts, but they occasionally stage boxing matches, and other sporting events. The largest arena is The O2 Arena (London), The O2 Arena in London with a capacity of over 20,000, surpassing the former leader, the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester. Most notably, The O2 Arena has hosted the ATP Finals in men's tennis since 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, 2009, and will continue to host the event through at least 2020. It also hosted the 2012–13 Euroleague Final Four, 2013 Euroleague Final Four, Final Four of the continent-wide EuroLeague in basketball. The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, with a capacity of 13,000, was built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and hosted the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The National Ice Centre in Nottingham, Odyssey (Belfast), Odyssey Arena in Belfast and the Sheffield Arena all host ice hockey, the largest being the Sheffield Arena which holds in the region of 8,500 spectators. Several smaller arenas hosting ice hockey and basketball are found around the United Kingdom, though these generally hold only a few thousand fans. The largest arena in the basketball league is Glasgow's 6,500 seater Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Commonwealth Arena, also built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.


Reigning British Champions


Student sport

Apart from a couple of Oxbridge events, student sport has a very low profile in the United Kingdom. While universities have significant sports facilities, there was no system of sports scholarships, with tuition fees only being introduced in the late 90s. However, students who are elite standard competitors are eligible for funding from bodies such as
UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...
on the same basis as anyone else. The university most focused on sports provision is Loughborough University. Budding professionals in the traditionally working class team sports of association football, football and
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
rarely go to university. Talented youngsters in the more middle class sports of cricket and
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 ...
are far more likely to attend university, but their sports clubs usually play a greater role in developing their talent than their university coaches. Some sports are attempting to adapt to new conditions in which a far higher proportion of British teenagers attend university than in the past, notably cricket, which has established several university centres of excellence.


School sport

Sport is compulsory for all students up to the age of sixteen, but the amount of time devoted to it is often small. There are frequent complaints that state sector schools do too little to Health promotion, encourage sport and a healthy lifestyle. In the 1980s, the government sold many schools sports fields to housing developers; as such, many older schools do not have outdoor facilities readily available. Sports culture is stronger in Independent school (UK), independent schools in the United Kingdom, and these schools contribute disproportionate numbers of elite competitors in almost all sports, with the exceptions of football, rugby league, boxing, and possibly athletics. In addition to many of the aforementioned sports, popular sports at junior level include
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
and rounders, both of which are played almost entirely by girls. The leading body for physical education in the United Kingdom is the Association for Physical Education. In 2006, the UK School Games was established by the Youth Sport Trust as an annual sporting competition for elite school age athletes in the United Kingdom, and by 2008, was expanded to include nine sports over four days.


See also

* List of national sports teams of the United Kingdom * Politics and sports * Sport in England * Sport in Scotland * Sport in Wales * Sport in Northern Ireland * Sport in the Isle of Man * Sport in Jersey * Sport in Guernsey * Sport in Gibraltar * Commonwealth Games England * Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland * Commonwealth Games Council for Wales * History of sport


Notes


References


Further reading

* Andrews, David L. "Welsh Indigenous! and British Imperial?–Welsh Rugby, Culture, and Society 1890–1914." ''Journal of Sport History'' 18#3 (1991): 335–349. * Baker, William J. "The state of British sport history." ''Journal of Sport History'' 10.1 (1983): 53–66
online
* Beck, Peter J. "Leisure and Sport in Britain." in Chris Wrigley, ed., ''A Companion to Early Twentieth-Century Britain'' (2008): 453–69. * Birley, Derek. ''Land of sport and glory: Sport and British society, 1887–1910'' (1995). * Birley, Derek. ''Playing the Game: Sport and British Society, 1914–1945'' (1995) * Birley, Derek. ''A Social History of English Cricket'' (1999
excerpt
* Brailsford, Dennis. ''A Taste for Diversions: Sport in Georgian England'' (Lutterworth Press, 1999). * Carter, Neil. "The origins of British sports medicine, 1850–1914." ''Gesnerus'' 70.1 (2013): 17–35. * Coghlan, John F., and Ida Webb. ''Sport and British politics since 1960'' (Routledge, 2003). * Day, Dave., ''Professionals, Amateurs and Performance: Sports Coaching in England, 1789–1914'' (2012). * Hill, Jeff. ''Sport, Leisure, and Culture in Twentieth-century Britain'' (Palgrave, 2002). * Holt, Richard. ''Sport and the British: A Modern History'' (1990
excerpt
* Huggins, Mike. "Second‐class citizens? english middle‐class culture and sport, 1850–1910: a reconsideration." ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 17#1 (2000): 1–35. * Ismond, Patrick. ''Black and Asian Athletes in British Sport and Society'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). * Jefferys, Kevin. "The Thatcher governments and the British sports council, 1979–1990." ''Sport in History'' 36.1 (2016): 73–97. * Johnes, Martin. "Race, Archival Silences, and a Black Footballer between the Wars." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 31.4 (2020): 530–554
online
* Kay, Joyce. "‘Maintaining the traditions of British sport’? The private sports club in the twentieth century." ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 30.14 (2013): 1655–1669. * Kay, Joyce. "A Window of Opportunity? Preliminary Thoughts on Women's Sport in Post-war Britain." ''Sport in History'' 30#2 (2010): 196–217. * Llewellyn, Matthew P. "‘The Best Distance Runner the World Has Ever Produced’: Hannes Kolehmainen and the Modernisation of British Athletics." ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 29#7 (2012): 1016–1034. * Taylor, Matthew. ''The association game: A history of British football'' (Routledge, 2013). * Maguire, Joe. "Images of manliness and competing ways of living in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain." ''The International Journal of the History of Sport'' 3.3 (1986): 265–287. * Nicholson, Rafaelle, and Matthew Taylor. "Women, sport and the people’s war in Britain, 1939–45." ''Sport in History'' 40.4 (2020): 552–575. * Polley, Martin. "‘The amateur rules’: Amateurism and professionalism in post‐war British athletics." ''Contemporary British History'' 14#2 (2000): 81–114. * Polley, Martin. ''Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society since 1945'' (1998
online
* Taylor, Matthew. ''The association game: a history of British football'' (Routledge, 2013).


Historiography

* Baker, William J. "The state of British sport history." ''Journal of Sport History'' 10#1 (1983): 53–66
online
* Cox, Richard William. ''History of sport: a guide to the literature and sources of information'' (British Society of Sport History in association with Sports History Pub., 1994). * Hill, Jeffrey. "British Sports History: A Post-Modern Future?." ''Journal of Sport History'' 23.1 (1996): 1–19
online
* Holt, Richard. "Sport and History: the state of the subject in Britain." ''Twentieth Century British History'' 7#2 (1996): 231–252. * Holt, Richard, and Grégory Quin. "National, comparative, and biographical approaches: Reflections on a career in French and British sports history. Interview with Richard Holt." ''Staps'' 3 (2019): 139–149

* Vamplew, Wray. "Playing together: towards a theory of the British sports club in history." ''Sport in Society'' 19.3 (2016): 455–469
online
* Vamplew, Wray. "Theories and typologies: A historical exploration of the sports club in Britain." ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 30.14 (2013): 1569–1585.


External links


Association for Physical Education
Official website
Sport and the British
De Montfort University/BBC
Victorian Sport: Playing by the Rules
BBC History {{Sport in Europe Sport in the United Kingdom,