Sport in London

London is the capital city of England. It has hosted major international tournaments and has professional teams in many sports.

Olympics and Paralympics

The Olympic Stadium

London has hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908 at White City and 1948 at Wembley Stadium. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012, making it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.

London hosted the Paralympic Games in 2012, for the first time.

The 2012 games saw massive development in the East End of London, particularly Stratford, which is home to the Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium and many major venues. Other events were spread out across the city, from Wembley Stadium in the north-west to Wimbledon in the south.

Commonwealth Games

London hosted the second British Empire Games at White City Stadium in 1934.

Football

Main article: Football in London

London has a special place in the history of football. The playing of football in London has been well documented since it was first outlawed in 1314. In the sixteenth century the headmaster of St Paul's School Richard Mulcaster is credited with taking mob football and transforming it into organised and refereed team football. The modern game of football was first codified in 1863 in London and subsequently spread worldwide. Key to the establishment of the modern game was Londoner Ebenezer Cobb Morley who was a founding member of The Football Association, the oldest football organisation in the world. Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football which led directly to the first meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern in central London of the FA. He wrote the first set of rules of true modern Association football at his house in Barnes. The modern passing game was invented in London in the early 1870s by the Royal Engineers A.F.C..[1][2]

The most popular spectator sport in London is association football, and London has several of England's leading clubs. Most London clubs are named after the district in which they play (or used to play). Historically the London clubs have not accumulated as many trophies as those from the north-west of England, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, but at present Arsenal (founded at Woolwich Arsenal but playing in Holloway), and Chelsea (who actually play in Fulham) are regarded as two of the Premier League's "big four" alongside Manchester United and Liverpool. In 2003-04 they became the first pair of London clubs to finish first and second in the top flight, with Arsenal winning. In 2004-05 they did so again, this time with Chelsea winning. In 2009–10, three of the top four places were occupied by London sides—Chelsea (champions), Arsenal (3rd) and Tottenham Hotspur (4th). This meant that the 2010–11 season would see three London clubs in the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever.

In 2014 Tottenham Hotspur Became the First Club in The Premiere league to play 200 London Derby matches in their 2-0 win over Crystal Palace

London clubs are able to charge higher ticket prices than clubs in other parts of the country (particularly for corporate facilities), and this has swung English football's balance of power towards London. Before Chelsea's recent rise in fortunes the two highest profile London clubs were Arsenal and their long-standing North London rivals Tottenham, both of whom were considered to be members of English football's "big five" for most of the post-war period. The 2014–15 Premier League features six London clubs: Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, plus Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United.

As of the 2013–14 season, there are seven London clubs in the fully professional Football League (the three divisions below the Premiership), namely AFC Wimbledon, Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge, Leyton Orient, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers. Two of the eight clubs have never previously played in the first division—Dagenham & Redbridge, which debuted in The Football League in 2007–08, and AFC Wimbledon, which made their Football League debut in 2011–12. AFC Wimbledon was formed in 2002 after Wimbledon F.C. received approval from The FA for their controversial relocation to Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, a move that was eventually made in 2003. The relocated club is now known as Milton Keynes Dons. AFC Wimbledon inherited most of Wimbledon F.C.'s former support, despite playing at a much lower level in the football pyramid. In their first season as a fully professional club in 2010–11, AFC Wimbledon finished second in Conference National and went on to win the playoffs for promotion to The Football League. There are also numerous London clubs playing outside the top four divisions of English football, one or two of which are fully professional and many of which are part-time professional. Hackney Marshes in east London, home to many amateur sides, is reportedly the single largest collection of football pitches in the world.

Wembley Stadium

Main article: Wembley Stadium
The new Wembley Stadium during construction

Wembley Stadium, in north-west London, is the national football stadium, and is traditionally the home of the FA Cup Semi Finals and Final, League Cup Final and England's home internationals. The old stadium was closed in 2000 in order to be demolished and completely rebuilt, and the new stadium opened in 2007. Cardiff's Millennium Stadium was the venue for FA Cup finals during the reconstruction, while England played at various venues around the country. Wembley was one of the venues for the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the 1996 European Football Championship, and hosted the final of both tournaments. It also was the venue for the European Cup final in 1968, 1978 and 1992. As well as football matches, Wembley has hosted many other sporting events, including the rugby league Challenge Cup final. Wembley will host the semi-finals and finals of the Euro 2020 after winning the right to host the semi-finals and finals when Germany withdrew their bid.

Other stadia

Cricket

Lords Cricket Ground

London has two Test cricket grounds (a rare distinction in world cricket but perhaps not surprising due to London's size): Lord's and The Oval. Lord's, located in the leafy suburb of St John's Wood, is home of Middlesex CCC and The MCC. Lord's is also the spiritual home of cricket. The Twenty20 Cup, Minor Counties Cricket Championship and many other Championship finals are held at Lord's. The England and Wales Cricket Board's offices are at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.

The Oval in Kennington, home of Surrey CCC, hosted the first FA Cup final and continued to do so (bar 1873) up until 1892. It also hosted England's first home international football match.

Cricket is very well organised and established within London and is the second most popular sport after football. Essex County Cricket Club has formerly used venues throughout London including Ilford, Leyton Cricket Ground, Romford and Billericay. Kent County Cricket Club also regularly play at Beckenham.

Rugby Union

Main article: Rugby union in London
Twickenham Stadium

Rugby union is also well established in London, especially in the middle-class suburbs to the north and west of the city. Five of the twelve clubs in the Aviva Premiership have London origins. London Irish and Wasps share football grounds just outside the boundaries of Greater London (respectively in Reading and High Wycombe), but in the metropolitan area. Saracens also shared a football ground just outside the boundary in Watford through the 2011–12 season. It planned to return home matches to Greater London at the start of the 2012–13 season, but their new ground was not ready until February 2013. Harlequins still play in Greater London at The Stoop. In more recent years, a modern tradition has seen these four clubs play out of Twickenham during the first round of the Premiership, in a double-header. Apart from the traditional elite clubs, London Welsh have bounced between the Premiership and the RFU Championship in recent years, spending the 2012–13 season in the Premiership, being relegated to the Championship at season's end, and earning a return to the Premiership for 2014–15. Since their first Premiership season in 2012–13, they have shared a football ground outside the commuter belt, namely Kassam Stadium in Oxford. London Scottish, located in London, compete in the RFU Championship. Two other clubs from the immediate London area have recently played in the Championship before being relegated to National League 1. Esher, located just outside Greater London in Hersham, were relegated for 2012–13, whilst Ealing Trailfinders, playing in the North London borough of Ealing, were relegated at the end of the 2013–14 season. In addition to the professional clubs, many amateur sides exist and include teams such as London Nigerian who draw their players from the supporters of fallen corrupt Nigerian regimes as well as numerous accountants, doctors and lawyers from Nigeria's Igbo and Yoruba communities.

The English national rugby stadium (Twickenham) is in Twickenham. The English national side play their home matches there during the Six Nations Championship, as well as the November inbound touring nations. The ground also hosted the 1991 Rugby World Cup final, where Australia defeated England. Twickenham hosts the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup, and has hosted the Heineken Cup final four times, most recently in 2012. The stadium is also host to The Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge as well as the English school's Daily Mail Cup final. London was also home to the massive celebrations for the English rugby team when they returned home from Australia after winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup, where Jonny Wilkinson kicked a drop-goal in extra time. An estimated 750,000 gathered in Trafalgar Square to celebrate their arrival.

Rugby League

London Broncos play at The Hive Stadium, and have the distinction of being the only member of the elite Super League in London, and indeed, all of southern England.

Another London club in the professional ranks of the game is London Skolars (based in Haringey) who play in the third-level Championship 1.

Amateur and grassroots rugby league has a strong presence in London. Greenwich Admirals (Woolwich), Elmbridge Rugby League Club (Esher) and South West London Chargers (Croydon) all play in the Rugby League Conference, the local top level of which is the Rugby League Conference South Premier. Many more clubs and second teams in London and the surrounding area play in the London League which serves as a feeder for the Rugby League Conference. The top level age group competition is the London Junior League.

Rowing

2002 Oxbridge Boat Race

The River Thames is the venue for the Boat Race, held between Oxford and Cambridge universities every year from Putney to Mortlake. In addition there are numerous rowing clubs in London based along the Thames, especially in the Putney area. More than twenty rowing clubs are based on the Thames at Putney Embankment; among the largest are London Rowing Club (the oldest, being established in 1856), Thames Rowing Club, University of London Boat Club, Imperial College Boat Club and Vesta Rowing Club. Leander Club owned a boathouse in Putney from 1867 to 1961. The Putney clubs have produced a plethora of Olympic medallists and Henley winners.

Facilities for rowing are excellent throughout the city, including the state-of-the-art London Regatta Centre, at Royal Albert Dock in the Docklands.

Tennis

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Wimbledon Championships, is in Wimbledon in south London. London is also home to Queen's Club, a prestigious sports club that hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships. The O2 Arena is the home of the ATP World Tour Finals through at least 2015. There is also the National Tennis Centre recently opened by the Queen in Roehampton.

Basketball

For years London Towers have been the flagship of London basketball, dominating the domestic British Basketball League (BBL), challenging in the prestigious Euroleague and fighting out a cross-town rivalry with Greater London Leopards. However, early into the new millennium both teams encountered several financial obstacles and soon folded.

After Towers withdrew from the BBL in 2006, lower-league team London United were elected to the top-tier to ensure the capital continued its presence in Britain's only professional league. Yet after just a year they too found themselves falling at financial hurdles and were replaced by another lower-league outfit, London Capital, who now fly the flag for London in the BBL.

In similar fashion, following the demise of the Leopards in 2003, fans set up a new club to replace and carry on the Leopards name. The reincarnated London Leopards today compete in the second-tier English Basketball League.

The O2 arena hosted the Euroleague Final Four in 2013.

Other sports

The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in South London hosts an athletics track and is often use for national meetings. Other athletics venues include Croydon Arena, Mile End Stadium in east London plus Perivale Park and Linford Christie Stadium in the east

Recent years have seen a cycling revolution sweep over London and its boroughs. Cycling's popularity in London has especially skyrocketed during the summer of 2010 due to Transport for London’s launch of new cycling initiatives including the Barclays Cycle Hire, Cycle Superhighways, and free cycle training. Transport for London has taken strong measures to improve the safety of cyclists in London.

London once had 2 top-level ice hockey teams, the London Knights (UK) (who played at London Arena) and London Racers (who played at the Lee Valley Ice Centre). There are no London-based teams in the Elite Ice Hockey League; London does however ice a few teams in the lower-tier English Premier Ice Hockey League (Romford Raiders) and English National Hockey League (Lee Valley Lions, Haringey Greyhounds and Streatham Redskins). The first games of the 2007–08 NHL season were played in London.

Between 1991 and 1998, the London Monarchs competed in American football's NFL Europe, winning the inaugural World Bowl. Today, the London Olympians, London Blitz and the London Cobras all compete in various divisions of the BAFA Community Leagues which is a continuation of the now defunct British American Football League. The new Wembley Stadium hosted a National Football League regular-season game in 2007, the first outside North America. Since the beginning of the NFL International Series in 2007, Wembley Stadium has seen massive turnouts for each annual game. The 2009 edition between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was played in front of an announced crowd of 84,254. The 2010 match-up which featured the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos saw another great turnout of almost 84,000 spectators.[3] The series has continued to this day, with two games played in 2013 and three scheduled for 2014. In addition, the Jacksonville Jaguars are taking one home game to Wembley as part of the International Series from 2013 through to 2016.

Every April since 1981, London has hosted one of the world's largest mass-participation marathons, the London Marathon.[4] The, London Triathlon, the largest triathlon event in the world, also takes place annually.

Other popular sports include field hockey, basketball, baseball (Croydon Pirates are champions), bowls, snooker, tennis, swimming, motor-racing at Brands Hatch, golf, darts, racquets, croquet, squash, horse-racing (Epsom and elsewhere), boxing, wrestling and archery.

London also has Inter-county Gaelic football and Hurling teams which is one of only two outside Ireland to compete in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship or the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Similarly, London plays host to the only shinty team outside Scotland which competes in Camanachd Association competitions, London Camanachd.

London also hosts two roller derby leagues: the London Rockin Rollers, and London Rollergirls. Both are widely regarded as top teams in Europe, with the London Rollergirls' A and B teams (London Brawling and Brawl Saints) both unbeaten in Europe.

References

  1. ↑ Wall, Sir Frederick (2005). 50 Years of Football, 1884-1934. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-86223-116-8.
  2. ↑ History of Football
  3. ↑ Niners strike Wembley gold www.skysports.com
  4. ↑ Flora London Marathon - Background www.london-marathon.co.uk