Sport in Milton Keynes

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Sport in Milton Keynes covers a range of professional and amateur sport in the Borough of Milton Keynes. There are professional teams in football, ice hockey and basketball. Most other sports feature at amateur level.

[edit] Archery

There are archery clubs in Newport Pagnell and Shenley/Loughton.^[1]

[edit] Athletics

Marshall Milton Keynes AC is one of England's leading Athletic clubs. Their web page is here.

[edit] Badminton

With the National Badminton Training Centre located in the city, badminton is an important sport. The club website is here.

[edit] Basketball

Marshall Milton Keynes Lions are the city's professional basket ball club, sponsored by Marshall Amplification and playing in the English Premier Division. Amateur teams include the Wildcats, Shenley Lions, MK All Starts and MK Lions Ladies Basketball Club.

[edit] Cricket

Milton Keynes CC is based in Milton Keynes Village and plays in the Morrant Four Counties Cricket League.
Milton Keynes Park CC is based at Campbell Park. It won the Buckinghamshire Senior Cup in 2004.

[edit] Cycling

Team Milton Keynes and North Bucks Road Club are the leading clubs for racing cyclists, with Team MK also incorporating Triathlon and Duathlon as well as Mountain Biking. Milton Keynes Cycling Association also holds circuit racing at the Bowl. For the rest of us, the Milton Keynes redway system provides miles of traffic free leisure cycling. The Milton Keynes Cycle Users Group represents cyclists' interests in the Borough, though they oppose the principle of Segregated cycle facilities that the redways are based on.

[edit] Golf

There are courses at Abbey Hill (Two Mile Ash), West Bletchley and Wavendon. Just outside the Borough, there are courses in Aspley Guise, Soulbury and Woburn.

[edit] Hockey

As home to the National Hockey Stadium, hockey is an important game in Milton Keynes and the surrounding area. The Hockey Stadium was the home of Milton Keynes Dons F.C. until the team moved to their new multipurpose stadium:mk in time for the 2007/08 football season. There are many all-weather pitches throughout Milton Keynes - most of which are within school grounds, including the two pitches at Stantonbury. There are also two water based pitches at Woughton on the Green, which is the home ground of Milton Keynes Men's and Women's Hockey club. Teams from Milton Keynes Hockey Club compete at many levels in leagues covering the South East of England.

[edit] Fishing

With its miles of river and canal bank and its balancing lakes, Milton Keynes is a favoured location for anglers. For further details see MKWEB article and the Milton Keynes Angling Association.

[edit] Football

Milton Keynes Dons F.C. is the city's professional football team, based in the Stadium:mk in Denbigh.

The better known non-League clubs in the Borough include:

Bletchley United F.C.^[2]
New Bradwell St Peter F.C.^[3] are members of the Spartan South Midlands Football League Division One.
Newport Pagnell Town F.C. "The Swans"^[4] are currently members of the United Counties Football League Premier Division.
Stony Stratford Town F.C. are members of the Spartan South Midlands Football League Division One.
Wolverton A.F.C., the oldest club in the area folded, were reinstigated, but are currently in abeyance. In the years before going into administration, they reached the Premier Division of the Spartan South Midlands League. Until recently, it had the oldest (and almost certainly the first) football stand and at one point in the club's history the longest name of any football club in the United Kingdom - "Newport Pagnell & Wolverton London & North Western Railway Amalgamated Association Football Club".
Wolverton Town F.C. were reformed in 2004 and are currently competing in the Milton Keynes Sunday League and the North Bucks League.^[5]
Milton Keynes City F.C. are defunct. This name has been used by at least two clubs - in the first instance Bletchley Town FC became MK City FC from 1974-85, then Mercedes Benz FC (a London works team that moved to Milton Keynes) assumed the name from 1998 - 2003. In the years before going into administration, the second incarnation of the team reached the Premier Division of the Spartan South Midlands League.

Sunday league football attracts many smaller clubs too numerous to list individually.

Under 11's to under 18's play in the Milton Keynes and Border Counties Youth Football League

[edit] Ice hockey

The city has two semi-professional ice hockey teams, these being Milton Keynes Lightning (founded in 2002) of the EPL and Milton Keynes Thunder (founded in 2001) of the ENL. Both teams play out of the 2,500 capacity Planet Ice Arena which is situated nearby Milton Keynes Central railway station. The city also used to be home to professional team Milton Keynes Kings from 1990-1996 and 1998-2002 who played out of the same arena, although during 1990-1996 it was known as the bladerunner arena. There are also a number of junior, ladies and recreational adult teams who also play out of the arena.

[edit] Korfball

Milton Keynes Bucks Korfball Club^[6] coach all players from beginner level upwards, and won the Oxfordshire League and Cup double in 2006 and 2007. A second club, MK City,^[7] launched in autumn 2006.

[edit] Martial arts

This popular family of sports / traditional arts has clubs^[8] in each of the six major disciplines (Aikido, Ju Jitsu, Judo, Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi).

[edit] Motor racing

Given its proximity to Silverstone, it is not surprising that Milton Keynes has connections with motor racing. The Red Bull Racing Formula One team is based here (as was the Arrows team until it went bankrupt). The Kart racing track in Rooksley is considered one of the better circuits in the UK. (Hi-res picture from MKWEB).

[edit] Parkour

Milton Keynes boasts a growing Parkour / Freerunning movement. Due to its urban landscape, the Central Milton Keynes area is ideal for Parkour. A Parkour team has formed here. Using the Go MK! ad campaign logo (Go MK is an advertising campaign promoting living and working in Milton Keynes) they have used this and formed under the name MK PK!.

[edit] Pool

Milton Keynes has a strong affinity with the game of Pool, specifically the English version of Eight Ball. There are five long established leagues which cover the city: Bletchley Friendly, Milton Keynes Clubs, Milton Keynes Sunday, Milton Keynes Tuesday and Newport Pagnell. Two current Interleague teams exist, Milton Keynes 'A' and MK Shooters (Formerly Milton Keynes 'B'), which have dominated the Buckinghamshire Interleague since its reformation in 2003. Milton Keynes has also provided the backbone of the Buckinghamshire County squad since the early 1990's due to the city being the long time base of the Buckinghamshire County Pool Association, although BCPA currently play from and are based in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

[edit] Rowing

Milton Keynes Rowing Club operates out of Caldecotte Lake.

[edit] Rugby

The major Borough clubs are Bletchley RUFC,Milton Keynes RUFC and Olney RFC.

Bletchley RUFC

Bletchley Rugby Club, who play at Manor Fields, routinely put out three Senior XVs, a ladies side and a Vets side. The 1st and 2nd XVs finished the 2006/07 season as champions of their respective leagues, the Firsts gaining promotion to South West Division 2 east and the Seconds to Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier A. The Thirds finished a creditable 5th in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon 2 North table.

In addition to the 120+ adult section, the club has a Youth (U7s to U17s) set-up with over 200 members. In the 2005/06 season the club's U17 squad were Buckinghamshire County Cup champions, and finalists in the South West Division Bowl.

The playing activities at Bletchley are supported by a large number of volunteers, including the 50+ Vice-Presidents of whom many are ex-players. Bletchley will be celebrating their 60th anniversary during the 2007/08 season.

In 2003 Bletchley RUFC were the first sports organisation in Milton Keynes/North Bucks to again the Rugby Football Union 'Seal of Approval' and Sport England Clubmark. In 2006 the club gained Stage 2 accreditation from the same bodies.

Milton Keynes RUFC

In March 2006, Milton Keynes RUFC won the Bucks Plate against Slough RUFC who are in the league above. Milton Keynes went on to finish as runners up in the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Premier League and were promoted to Southern Counties North. The Club has over 400 members including a mini and junior section with players between the ages of 6 and 18.

In early 2006 Milton Keynes Council announced a plan to move Milton Keynes RUFC from their current site in Greenleys to a new site in Emerson Valley which, they say, would be used for the purpose of promoting sport in the city. This proposal was opposed by the local community[1], but planning permission was granted on 6 September 2007.^[9]

[edit] Swimming

There are a number of pools in the Borough, with a competition pool at Stantonbury. The performance swimming club is City of Milton Keynes SC.

[edit] Table Tennis

Table Tennis is thriving in Milton Keynes, which has one of the largest leagues in the UK. With a league that currently boasts over 60 teams and a state of the art, purpose-built Table Tennis Centre in Kingston, which many England ranked players like to call their home venue, the scene couldn't be better.

Other club venues in the league include Greenleys, Newport Pagnell, Woburn Sands, Stony Stratford and the Open University, amongst others.

[edit] Tai Chi

There is a Tai Chi club based at the Open University.

[edit] Volleyball

MK City VC is a volleyball club formed in 2006 from the ashes of corporate team Abbey VC. It plays out of Oakgrove Leisure Centre.

In its first season the men's team completed a league double taking by the Herts and Northants crowns.

[edit] Wrestling

A non-professional wrestling club is in Bletchley, known as Anglian Championship Wrestling (ACW), which is copied from wrestling promotions such as WWE or TNA. Three championships can be brought, ACW Heavyweight, ACW Light Heavyweight and the ACW Tag Team Championships.

[edit] References

[edit] Directory of sports in the Borough of Milton Keynes

Directory of sports in Milton Keynes at MKWEB on which this article is extensively based.

Also try http://www.localsportsclubs.co.uk Find other local sports clubs