famed british sports

8/12/2019 Famed British Sports

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Famed British Sports

I.Introduction

British people have had an amazing contribution to the development of the world ofsport.With the invention of sports such as tennis, football,rugby,lacrosse,snooker andmany more,Great Britain has revolutionized the world of sport,enabling people to explorenew fields.I have chosen this topic as a conse uence of my deep passion and interest insports.!owadays,sports represent a big part of our lives,because this is a good way ofrelaxation,entertainment or even a "ob if you are very talented.#o,being surrounded by

sport every day,it is very interesting to find out more things about its history.

II.History of Sports in the UK $he %nited &ingdom has given birth to a range of ma"or international sports including' associationfootball, baseball, rugby (union and league), cricket, golf, tennis, table tennis, badminton, s uash, rounders,hockey, boxing, snooker, billiards and curling.

$his has meant that in the infancy of many sports, *ngland, #cotland, Wales and Ireland formed amongthe earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. +fter - somesports formed separate bodies for !orthern Ireland though some continued to be organised on an +ll/Island

basis.

+s a result, notably in certain teams sports such as association football and 0ugby, but also in the multi/sport 1ommonwealth Games, international sporting events are contested not by a team representing the%nited &ingdom, but by teams representing the separate 2home nations2. +t 3lympic level, however, the%nited &ingdom is represented by a single national organising committee the British 3lympic +ssociation,and competes as Great Britain and !orthern Ireland (although some !orthern Ireland athletes are eligiblefor, and compete on behalf of, Ireland).

4or more information on most sports you may wish, therefore, to consider reading the #port in *ngland,#cotland, Wales or !orthern Ireland articles.

5a"or individual sports include athletics, golf, motorsport, and horseracing. $ennis is the highest profilesport for the two weeks of the Wimbledon 1hampionships, but otherwise struggles to hold its own in thecountry of its birth. 5any other sports are also played and followed to a lesser degree. $here is muchdebate over which sport has the most active participants with swimming, athletics, cycling all found to havewider active participation than association football in the 6 6 #port *ngland +ctive 7eople survey.


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IV.Elite Level Team and Individual Sports

.Team Sports 4our sports in the %nited &ingdom operate high profile professional leagues. 4ootball is the most popularsport and is played from +ugust to 5ay. 0ugby union is also a winter sport. 1ricket is played in the#ummer, from +pril to #eptember. 0ugby league is traditionally a winter sport, but since the late --6s theelite competition has been played in the summer to minimise competition for attention with football. $hereis also a professional Ice 8ockey league operating in Great Britain called the *lite Ice 8ockey 9eague .

!ssociation foot"all

$he modern global game of football evolved out of traditional football games played in *ngland in the-th century and today is the highest profile sport in *ngland and #cotland by a very wide margin. $his has

been the case for generations, but the gap is widely perceived to have increased since the early --6s, andfootball:s dominance is often seen as a threat to other sports. 4ootball is also very popular in Wales and !orthern Ireland, though 0ugby %nion and Gaelic Games respectively attract much larger crowds andtelevision audiences.

*ach country organises its own football league, there are a few teams who chose to play in anothercountry.

$he only ma"or national team competition won by a 8ome !ation is the -;; World 1up, which *nglandhosted and won, though clubs in both the #cottish and *nglish domestic leagues have had success in*uropean club competitions, most notably Glasgow:s 1eltic 41 and 0angers 41, with 1eltic winning the

-;< *uropean cup, becoming the first British team to do so, and the first team to be composed of players born and raised entirely within the local area around the club:s stadium (all within =6 miles) as well as

5erseyside:s 9iverpool 41 and 5anchester %nited, with 9iverpool winning the 1hampion:s 9eague a totalof > times, making them the most successful British club in *uropean competitions.

$he Welsh football league system includes the Welsh 7remier 9eague and regional leagues. $heseleagues have a relatively low profile as rugby union is the national sport of Wales and the top three Welshfootball clubs play in the *nglish league system, for example Welsh 7remiership club $he !ew #aints playtheir home matches on the *nglish side of the border in 3swestry. $he Welsh clubs of 1ardiff 1ity 4.1.,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(soccer)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(soccer)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crickethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crickethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_leaguehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_leaguehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Ice_Hockey_Leaguehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(soccer)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crickethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_leaguehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Ice_Hockey_League


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1olwyn Bay 4.1., 5erthyr $ydfil 4.1., !ewport 1ounty +.4.1., #wansea 1ity +.4.1. and Wrexham 4.1. play in the *nglish system. $he main Welsh 1up competitions are the Welsh 1up and the 4+W 7remier1up. 1ardiff:s 6 seater 5illennium #tadium is the principal sporting stadium of Wales.

8ampden 7ark, Glasgow?#cotland:s national football stadium

$he !orthern Ireland football league system includes the I4+ 7remiership, often known collo uially asthe 2Irish 9eague2. 3ne !orthern Irish club, @erry 1ity, plays its football outside of the %nited &ingdom inthe 0epublic of Ireland football league system. Windsor 7ark, 9infield 4.1.:s 6,== /seater stadium, is alsothe home stadium of the national team.

*ach season the most successful clubs from each of the home nations ualify for the two *urope wideclub competitions organised by %*4+, the %*4+ 1hampions 9eague and the %*4+ *uropa 9eague(formerly the %*4+ 1up). *ngland and #cotland have both produced winners of each of thesecompetitions.

4or 66 years until -A , *ngland, #cotland, Wales and !orthern Ireland competed annually in theBritish 8ome 1hampionships but these ended for a variety of reasons. 6 saw the inaugural !ations cup,in many ways a reboot of the old tournament. When the idea was first proposed to bring back thecompetition, the *nglish 4+ had reservations, and so it was contested by the other three home nations andthe 0epublic of Ireland, who were the first host nation and winners. $he tournament was intended to be

played biennially to prevent fixture congestion during World 1up ualification years with the 6 = event to be held at the 5illennium stadium in 1ardiff, the tournament was cancelled after the first year as very fewfans were prepared to travel and the tournament did not create the expected revenues. #cotland and Waleswere drawn against each other in World 1up ualification anyway, and a >6th anniversary friendly wasorganised between #cotland and *ngland to celebrate the anniversary of the formation of the *nglish 4.+.

!o %nited &ingdom national team is regularly formed for football events in the 3lympics. 7roposals tohave the %nited &ingdom (designated by the I31 as Great Britain) take part in the 6 #ummer 3lympicswith men:s and women:s teams were not supported by the #cottish, Welsh and !orthern Irish footballassociations. $he three bodies feared that Great Britain teams would undermine their independent status?afear confirmed by 4I4+ president #epp Blatter. *ngland has been the most successful of the home nations,winning the World 1up on home soil in -;;, although there has historically been a close/fought rivalry

between *ngland and #cotland.


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#ric$et

$he early reference to the separate national identities in the %nited &ingdom is perhaps best illustrated by the game of cricket. 1ricket is claimed to have been invented in *ngland. $he national sport of *nglandis cricket, but *ngland has no team of its own, instead fielding a "oint team with Wales. $he *ngland CWales cricket team, controlled by the *ngland and Wales 1ricket Board, (commonly shortened to "ust2*ngland2 and 2*1B2 respectively) is the only national team in the %nited &ingdom with $est status. *achsummer two foreign national teams visit and play seven test matches and numerous one/day internationals,and in the British winter the team tours abroad. $he highest profile rival of the team is the +ustralian team,with which it competes for $he +shes, one of the most famous trophies in British sport.

$here are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in *ngland and one in Wales. *achsummer the county clubs compete in the first class 1ounty 1hampionship, which consists of two leagues ofnine teams and in which matches are played over four days. $he same teams also play the one day !ational9eague, a one day knock out competition called the 4riends 7rovident $rophy, and the short/form$wenty 6 1up. *nglish cricket grounds include 9ords, $he 3val, 8eadingley, 3ld $rafford, *dgbaston and$rent Bridge. 1ardiff:s #ophia Gardens ground has also become increasingly popular in recent years. $eammembers are drawn from the main county sides, and include both *nglish and Welsh players. It is by nomeans e ual to football in finance, attendance or coverage, but it has a high profile nonetheless. It is

probably the second most widely covered sport in *ngland and third most widely covered sport in Walesand the fortunes of the *ngland team are closely followed by many people who never attend a live game.

#cotland and Ireland both have their own cricket teams, but the game is neither as popular nor their teamsas successful as the *nglish C Welsh team. !either team has $est #tatus. +s #cotland and Ireland do not

play test matches, and both have only recently started to play in full 3ne @ay Internationals, many #cotsand Irish previously played in, and captained, the *ngland C Wales sideD the current side for exampleincludes *oin 5organ, a @ublin/born cricketer who has represented Ireland against *ngland at the 66 , -;6 and -< , but *ngland and Wales now compete separately in thistournament and +ustralia have won every World 1up since - except in 66A, when they were upset inthe final by !ew Eealand. $he Great Britain team is retained for some competitions, such as with +ustralia


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and !ew Eealand in the recently founded $ri/!ations competition, and in test series such as the +shes(against +ustralia) and the Baskerville #hield (against !ew Eealand). In 6 =, the %nited &ingdom hostedthe 0ugby 9eague World 1up for the >th time, with *ngland and Wales officially serving as "oint hosts.

Ice hoc$ey

Ice hoc$ey is Britain's lar&est indoor spectator sport( and the only team sport to have a UnitedKin&dom)*ide lea&ue *ith at least one team from every nation. It has a lon& history in theUnited Kin&dom and it is reasona"ly *ell supported( *ith the lar&er teams attractin&thousands of fans to every &ame. The main lea&ue is the ten)team professional Elite Lea&uecontainin&( four Scottish( four En&lish( one +orthern Irish and one ,elsh clu". The lea&uehas featured many former +HL players( predominantly durin& the +HL loc$ out season.!t the moment the -reat Britain men's national ice hoc$ey team is in division of the IceHoc$ey ,orld #hampionships. The team is ran$ed st in the *orld in the IIHF ,orld%an$in& system.

/edia support for ice hoc$ey has improved on a national level( althou&h the ma0ority of ne*s is stillfound on the internet. S$y Sports has "een coverin& the Elite lea&ue since the 112314season( *ith a *ee$ly hi&hli&hts pro&ramme. In that past S$y did sho* a small num"er oflive &ames( "ut this has not happened since the 1 3 season.

The Elite Ice Hoc$ey Lea&ue is reasona"ly *ell reco&nised around the ice hoc$ey *orld(hi&hli&hted "y the 1 1 visit of the Boston Bruins of the +HL *ho too$ on the Belfast-iants at the -iants 5dyssey !rena in Belfast( +orthern Ireland( *innin& 6) over theElite Lea&ue !ll)Stars.


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Bas$et"all

Basketball is a minor sport in the %nited &ingdom. $he top level league is the thirteen team semi/ professional British Basketball 9eague with the *nglish Basketball 9eague and #cottish Basketball 9eague below them. While following an +merican franchise format rather than using promotion and relegation likemost *uropean leagues, the ma"ority of recent additions and replacements for failing clubs have come from

the *nglish league. $he teams are professional or semi/professional but have modest resources. +s withfootball, the home nations teams were encouraged to work together for the 3lympics, while Britishinternational basketball teams have not achieved any ma"or successes since then, 4IB+ officials stated thatif they re/enter the *uropean competition after the 3lympics as individual nations, they will be treated asunranked newcomers. +fter meeting with 4IB+ officials, Basketball Wales voted against making themerger permanent citing amongst other things, the lack of opportunity for Welsh players within a %nited&ingdom framework (no players in either the men:s or women:s 3lympic s uad were Welsh) and for theadvancement of the game domestically ($he BB9 announced intentions to expand into several %nited&ingdom cities but neither 1ardiff nor #wansea had been suggested).

1urrently, British players in the !orth +merican !B+ are Ben Gordon (who was raised in the %nited#tates), 9uol @eng (a #outh #udanese refugee who is now naturalised in the %nited &ingdom), Byron5ullens (born and raised in the %.#., but a dual citizen from birth through his *nglish mother) and Loel

4reeland (both born and raised in *ngland). +nother !B+ player, &elenna +zubuike, was born in 9ondon(leaving for the %nited #tates as a teenager to further his basketball career), but was denied Britishcitizenship in @ecember 66< because of problems with his parents: immigration status at his birth.

+s with +merican football the !B+ have arranged regular season matches in 9ondon for several yearsnow, the most recent being a two game series between the !ew Kork &nicks and @etroit 7istons at the 3+rena, 9ondon. !B+ 1ommissioner @avid #tern, has enthusiastically discussed the possibility of the !B+expanding into *urope, at one point envisioning a new division of > teams based in 9ondon, 7aris, Berlin,Italy (0ome or 5ilan), and #pain (5adrid or Barcelona). $hough in 6 . #tern went on to say that of the


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sites suggested only 9ondon and Berlin had arenas of the standard expected in the !B+, while #pain andItaly:s domestic leagues had become increasingly popular. $he idea of a single team or pair of teamsrelocating to 9ondon and Berlin was dismissed as uneconomical due to the distances involved for awayfixtures.

Field hoc$ey

4ield hockey is the second most popular team recreational sport in the %nited &ingdom. $he GreatBritain men:s team won the hockey tournament at the -AA 3lympics. 8owever British hockey has gone

backwards since then, partly because of conflicts between the need to foster a combined team to compete inthe 3lympics, and the commitment of the hockey associations of each of the home nations to the retentionof separate national teams to compete in other international competitions. It also suffers due to the lack oftelevision of coverage, relative to its participation level.

Speed*ay

5otorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four andsometimes up to six riders competing over four anti/clockwise laps of an oval circuit. #peedwaymotorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usuallyconsisting of dirt or loosely packed shale. $he %nited &ingdom has three domestic leagues, the *lite9eague. the 7remier 9eague, and the !ational 9eague. $he #peedway Grand 7rix is the main worldchampionship for standalone riders with an event taking place in 1ardiff each year. $he #peedway World1up takes place once a year and *ngland hosts a semi final stage in 7eterborough and more recently in

&ing:s 9ynn.


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.Elite level individual sports

!thletics

+thletics does not have a very high profile in Britain on a week/in week/out basis, but it leaps to prominence during ma"or championships. $he level of attention received by successful Britishathletes is illustrated by the fact that athletes have won far more BB1 #ports 7ersonality of theKear awards than practitioners of any other sport. $he governing body of British +thletics is %&+thletics. $here are also semi/independent athletics associations in each of the home nations.


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3ver the last few decades British athletes have usually won between one and three gold medals at the3lympicsD the 6 Games in 9ondon saw three British athletes win four golds (single golds byLessica *nnis and Greg 0utherford, and two by 5o 4arah). $raditionally Britain was strongest inmen:s athletics, especially middle distance running, but over the last 6 years success has beenachieved in a wide range of events and British women have closed the attainment gap on themen. 8owever, there remain serious concerns about the depth of the sport in Britain, with the

number of club athletes reportedly in decline.

$wo high profile annual athletics events are the 9ondon 5arathon and the Great !orth 0un, which is ahalf marathon.

Bo7in&

$he %nited &ingdom played a key role in the evolution of modern boxing, with the codification of therules of the sport known as the Fueensberry 0ules in the -th century.

British professional boxing offers some of the largest purses outside the %nited #tates to a few elite professional boxers who become nationally known. British heavyweight contenders areespecially popular, but most British world champions have fought in the middling weight

brackets. $he governing body of professional boxing is the British Boxing Board of 1ontrol. It isgenerally felt that British professional boxing is in decline in the early years of the st century.$he reasons for this include' the fact that football now offers a relatively large number ofsportsmen the chance to make the sort of income traditionally only available to world boxingchampions, reducing the incentive for athletic youngsters to accept the greater risks of a boxingcareerD the ac uisition of the rights to most ma"or fights by #ky #ports, which means that fewer

boxers become national figures than in the pastD and the knock the sport:s credibility has takenfrom the multiplicity of title sanctioning bodies.


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+mateur boxing is governed by separate bodies in the each home nation. British amateurs have onlyen"oyed a very modest amount of success in international competition in recent decades, partlydue to the tendency for them to turn professional at an early stage. $he amateur sport is in a very

poor state, with dramatic declines in boxer numbers. !ational amateur boxing championshipsand international team matches, which were once highlights of the British sporting calendar, arenow almost invisible to the general sporting public.

/i7ed /artial !rts

5ixed martial arts (55+) has come a huge way. $he sport was on the verge of being sent into oblivionin the early --6s but has since clawed its way back and become one of the most popular sportsin the %#+.

In Great Britain, 55+ failed to capitalise on this momentum and has not seen anywhere near the popularity levels 55+ has received in %#+. It is hard to pinpoint the main reason why exactlythis has happened. $he failure of 55+ promoters to secure a substantial and locked $ dealuntil late last year. $he reluctance of broadcasting powerhouses BB1 and #ky #ports to fullysupport the sportM $he stereotype of extreme violence that they have been unable to shake offM+ll of these are valid reasons why 55+ failed to capture the publicNs imagination.

8owever, things slowly started to change when 5ichael Bisping came onto the scene and won $he%ltimate 4ighter =. Bisping built %& 55+ a bit uicker alongside 0oss 7earson and LamesWilks. $he winners of $he %ltimate 4ighter' %nited #tates vs. %nited &ingdom. %& 55+ is

being pushed further with the likes of @an 8ardy, Brad 7ickett, Lohn 8athaway, Limi 5anuwa,0osi #exton plus many more, including !orthern Ireland:s !orman 7arke, winner of $he%ltimate 4ighter' $he #mashes 9ightweight tournament.

$he %& host promotions such as 1age Warriors and B+55+.

It is now considered to be the fastest growing sport on the planet.

#yclin&

Britain had limited success with cycle racing in the 6th century. $his has changed when the performancedirector of British cycling @avid Brailsford obtained lottery funding which helped cycling at

both grass roots and at an elite level. $his paid off in the 66A 3lympicsD British cyclists broughthome gold medals in seven events, most notably 1hris 8oy who became the first British3lympian to win three golds at one 3lympiad, earning him a knighthood. 3ther successesinclude 0ebecca 0omero and ictoria 7endelton. #uccess at road racing was also limited, withthe %nited &ingdom being the only ma"or nation not to have a $our de 4rance champion, untilBradley Wiggins: victory in the 6 $our de 4rance. $his newfound British success continuedwith 1hris 4roome:s victory in the 6 = $our. In addition to Wiggins and 4roome, other British


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riders to en"oy a level of success include $om #impson, Barry 8oban, 0obert 5illar, 1hrisBoardman, @avid 5illar, and 5ark 1avendish. In women:s cycling, !icole 1ooke is regarded to

be the best female cyclist in the world.

Because of the increasing interest in cycling, a British %1I 7ro$eam ($eam #ky) was formed for the6 6 cycling season. 5a"or names in the roster included the likes of Bradley Wiggins, *dvald

Boasson 8agen and the 6 6 British men:s 0oad 0ace champion, Geraint $homas.

1ycle racing is organised by British 1ycling, who govern most cycling events in the %nited &ingdom andorganise the national team. $ime trialling in *ngland and Wales is organised by a separate bodycalled 1ycling $ime $rials.

-olf

5odern competitive golf originated in #cotland. In the early 6th century British golfers were the best inthe world, winning nearly all of the %.#. 3pen championships before World War I. +mericangolfers later became dominant, but Britain has continued to produce leading golfers, with anespecially strong period in the -A6s and --6s. $here are usually more British golfers than

+mericans in the top 66 of the 3fficial World Golf 0anking relative to population, that is tosay more than a fifth as many. 8owever, Britain did not produce a ma"or new golf star in thiscentury until !orthern Ireland:s 0ory 5cIlroy emerged with record/setting performances in the

6 %.#. 3pen and 6 7G+ 1hampionship, the latter of which returned him to the top of theworld rankings. 8e went on to win the 6 money titles on both the 7G+ and *uropean $ours.#everal other British golfers have reached the world:s top 6 in the early 666s. *ngland:s 9eeWestwood ended $iger Woods: five/year reign atop the rankings in autumn 6 6. In 5ay 6 ,fellow *nglishman 9uke @onald 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 7G+ and *uropean $ours inthe same season. 3ther British golfers to have appeared in the top 6 in the 666s are 7aul


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1asey, Ian 7oulter and Lustin 0ose, all from *nglandD and Graeme 5c@owell of !orthernIreland. 5c@owell also became the first *uropean to win the %.#. 3pen in 6 years when hewon that event in 6 6, with 0ose following suit in 6 =.

Golf is the sixth most popular sport, by participation, in the %nited &ingdom. $he 3pen 1hampionship,which is played each Luly on a number of British golf courses on a rotating basis, the ma"ority ofthem in #cotland, is the only men:s ma"or golf tournament which is played outside of the %nited#tates. $he most famous of these courses is #t +ndrews, which is known as 2$he 8ome ofGolf2. $he 0C+, the governing body of golf outside the %nited #tates and 5exico, is based in#t +ndrews. +lthough $he 0oyal and +ncient Golf 1lub of #t +ndrews, in #cotland, is thesport:s home course,O -P the world:s oldest golf course is actually 5usselburgh 9inks: 3ld Golf1ourse.O 6P $he 7G+ *uropean $our is head uartered in *ngland, and the main *uropean $our

plays more events in the %nited &ingdom than in any other country. In international teamcompetition the %nited &ingdom provides a large part of the *uropean 0yder 1up team, whichhas beaten the %nited #tates team in four of the last six events.

Women:s golf does not have as high a profile as the men:s game, but British players, most notably 9aura@avies, have found success on both the *urope/wide 9adies *uropean $our (9*$) and theoverwhelmingly dominant women:s tour, the 97G+ $our in the %.#. $hrough 6 , theWomen:s British 3pen was the only event recognised as a ma"or by both the 9*$ and the %.#.97G+. ($he other tournament recognised as a ma"or by the 9*$, $he *vian 1hampionship in4rance, became an 97G+ ma"or in 6 =.)

Tennis

$ennis is yet another sport which originated in the %nited &ingdom, first originating in the city ofBirmingham between A>- and A;>. 8owever, it has not flourished there in recent decades' its

profile is highly dependent on the Wimbledon 1hampionships, the most prestigious event of theglobal tennis calendar. +fter 4red 7erry:s Wimbledon win in -=;, no British man won thesingles until +ndy 5urray did so in 6 =. !o British woman has won at Wimbledon since

irginia Wade in -


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(predecessor to the modern %# 3pen) later in -=; was the last for any British man in a Grand#lam singles event until 5urray won the %# 3pen in 6 D Wade remains the last Britishwoman to win such an event. $he governing body of the sport is the 9awn $ennis +ssociation(9$+), which invests the vast profits from the tournament in the game in the hope of producingBritish champions, but a string of revamps of the coaching system have failed to raise thestandard of 9$+/trained players. $he only British players of either sex to reach the world top >6

in recent years are Greg 0usedski, who learnt his tennis in 1anada, and $im 8enman and5urray, who did not pass through the 9$+ system either, and on the women:s side +nne&eothavong and *lena Baltacha have both "ust slipped into the worlds top >6 with highestrankings of A and - respectively. 3utside of Wimbledon fortnight tennis:s profile in Britain islow, and since the 66< retirement of 0usedski and 8enman is now largely dependent on5urray.

Great Britain has won the @avis 1up nine times, but all of them were before World War II and there islittle prospect of another victory in the near future. $he Great Britain women:s team made thefinal of the 4ed 1up four times, losing all four, but their last finals appearance was in -A whenthe competition was known as the 4ederation 1up, and the women:s prospects for future victoryare even more dim than those of Britain:s men. $he men:s team, with 5urray participating,

ualified for the 6 @avis 1up World Group after being absent for six years. By contrast, thewomen:s team is currently in Group I of the *uropeQ+frica Eone?two promotions away fromcompeting for the 4ed 1up. (%nlike the @avis 1up, which has one ;/team World Group, the4ed 1up has two World Groups, with only the eight teams in World Group I actually competingfor that trophy.)

/otorsport

Britain is the centre of 4ormula 3ne, with the ma"ority of the 4ormula 3ne teams based in *ngland, andmore world titles won by drivers from Britain than from any other country, including 5ike8awthornD Graham 8ill (twice)D Lim 1lark (twice)D Lohn #urtees, also a world champion inmotorcyclingD Lackie #tewart (three times)D Lames 8untD !igel 5ansellD Graham 8ill:s son,@amon 8illD 9ewis 8amiltonD and Lenson Button. $he British Grand 7rix takes place at#ilverstone each LuneQLuly.


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$he %nited &ingdom hosted the very first 4 Grand 7rix in ->6 at #ilverstone, the current location of theBritish Grand 7rix held each year in Luly. $he country also hosts legs of the World 0ally1hampionship and has its own touring car racing championship, the British $ouring 1ar1hampionship (B$11), and the British 4ormula $hree 1hampionship.

British drivers have achieved success in the World 0ally 1hampionship with the late 1olin 5c0ae and

the late 0ichard Burns winning the title. $he British leg of the competition is the 0ally GreatBritain. @erek Bell is a five/time 8ours of 9e 5ans winner and one/time winner of the 666km #ilverstone, the ma"or endurance race of the country, formerly part of the World #portscar1hampionship and currently part of the 4I+ World *ndurance 1hampionship.

#ince 666 the British #uperbike 1hampionship has become increasingly popular. Britain hosts oneround of the 5otoG7 championship at @onington 7ark, and usually two rounds of the #uperbikeWorld 1hampionship, at #ilverstone and Brands 8atch. In 66< a third #uperbike World1hampionship round was added at @onington 7ark. In 66A

#ilverstone was droppedD Brands 8atch and @onington 7ark were the venues used for the two rounds thattook place in the %nited &ingdom that year, though in 66- and 6 6 only a single round will beheld, at #ilverstone, after the series organisers and the circuit owners of Brands 8atch failed to

reach a commercial agreement on staging the event.

S*immin&

$he swimming organizations of the home countries have recently formed an umbrella organisation calledBritish #wimming. Britain sends large teams to all the ma"or international swimming events, anden"oy some successes, but it is not currently a leading swimming nation. $he sport:s profile ishighest during the 1ommonwealth Games, when British swimmers have their best chance to wingold medals, and during the 3lympics.


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$he provision of >6 metre pools in the %nited &ingdom is very poor for a developed country, with "ust as of early 66 metre short course pools and other sub 3lympic/size competition pools.

3. Elite level equestrian sports

Horseracin&

$horoughbred racing, which originated under 1harles II of *ngland as the 2sport of kings2, occupies akey place in British sport, probably ranking in the top four or five sports in terms of mediacoverage. $here are sixty racecourses in Great Britain and annual racecourse attendance exceedssix million. $he sport in Great Britain is governed by the British 8orseracing +uthority. $he tworacecourses in !orthern Ireland are governed by 8orse 0acing Ireland, which runs the sport onan +ll/Ireland basis. $he town of !ewmarket is considered the centre of *nglish racing, largely

because of the famous !ewmarket 0acecourse .

$he two forms of horseracing in the %nited &ingdom are !ational 8unt, which involves "umping overfences or hurdles, and the more glamourous flat racing. !ational 8unt is a winter sport and flatracing is a summer sport, but the seasons are very long and they overlap. In flat racing the threeraces which make up the $riple 1rown are the ,666 Guineas, the *psom @erby, and the #t.9eger #takes. 3ther leading flat races include the ,666 Guineas and the *psom 3aks. +part

from the meetings at which the aforementioned races are staged, ma"or flat racing meetingsinclude 0oyal +scot, Glorious Goodwood, and the *bor 4estival at Kork 0acecourse. $hehighlights of the !ational 8unt season are the 1heltenham 4estival and the +intree Grand

!ational.


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famed british sports

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