National Sports in Great Britain

Many kinds of sports have taken the origin in England.

The Englishmen love sports, they are called sports-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports.

Some kinds of sports are professional in England. Popular and famous players get a lot of money.

Many traditional sporting contests take place in England, for example cricket. It is not played much in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but it is played in the Commonwealth countries of Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies. Every year there are test matches between these countries. A test match can last for up to five days. It is played from May till September. This game is associated with England. There are many cricket clubs, and Englishmen are fond of this game. They think summer without cricket is not summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt and white long trousers. Cricket is a team game, each has eleven players.

Footballhas a long history. It was played by the whole village teams in the Middle Ages in England.

Now football is the national sport. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional. During the football season (August to May) most professional footballers play two matches every week. The 22 best English teams play in the premier League, run by the Football association (the FA). The other professional teams play in three divisions run by the Football League. Liverpool is the most successful team and have won the most games and tournaments.

The most exciting game are often between teams from the same city: Manchester United and Manchester City; Arsenal and Chelsea from London; Celtic and Rangers from Glasgow. The highlight of the football season is the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London. Eighty thousand fans fill the stadium and there is usually a very good atmosphere. The most successful FA Cup team is Tottenham Hotspur. They have won the cup eight times.

Rugbyis a type of football. It is played with an oval ball and players can both kick and run with it. There are two types of rugby: in Rugby Union there are 15 players, who are amateurs, and it is played by England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland (a join team from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There are regular matches between these countries. In Rugby League there are 13 players in a team, the players are all professionals and rugby is mostly played in the North of England and Australia.

Table tennis.Englishmen heard about table tennis in 1880.Then the International Table Tennis Association was formed and the international rules were worked out. There are some tennis clubs in England, and you have to pay a fee to have a game of tennis. Englishmen are fond of playing tennis but many of them prefer to watch it on TV.

Wimbledon is the center of lawn tennis. Wimbledon used to be a village but now it is a part of London. All England Tennis Club is located there.

Englishmen pay much attention to swimming, rowing and walking. Usually the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race takes place at the end of March or at the beginning of April. It is an exciting contest between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is usually held on the river Thames. The first race was held in 1820, which attracted a lot of spectators.

There are some racingcompetitions in England. They are: motor car racing, dog racing, donkey racing, boat racing, horse racing. All kinds of racing are popular in England. It is interesting to see egg-and-spoon race. The runner who takes part in this competition, must carry an egg on a spoon. It is not allowed to drop the egg.

We should not miss the Highland Gamesin Scotland. All competitors wear Highland dress. There are such competitions as lifting the weight (поднятие веса), tossing the caber(метание шеста) and others. The English are great sports lovers.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1498