Sports in Great Britain

The Englishmen are known to be great sports-lovers. Sport plays a very important role in people’s lives in Britain. Millions of people take part in some kind of sport at least once a week. Many millions more are regular spectators.

The game which attracts the greatest attention is soccer (or football). There are plenty of amateur and professional soccer clubs in every town. About 20 million people go to football matches every year, making it the most spectator sport. The Cup Final played in London is the greatest event of the football season.

Rugby football is also very popular, especially in Wales. It’s a kind of English football which is played with an oval ball, and players can both kick or run with it.

A great number of people watch and play tennis. Among many tennis tournaments the most famous is the one in Wimbledon.

One of the most popular games is cricket, which foreigners can hardly understand. There are two teams of 11 players. Matches last from one to five days. It is played all over the country in summer. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behaviour. Golf began to develop in Scotland and is widely spread all over Britain.

The English also go in for basketball, baseball, bowling and badminton.

Athletic sports such as running, jumping, swimming, boxing and gymnastics are practised at schools and colleges.

The annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race on the river Themes attracts lots of people and is very popular.

In Scotland where there are good conditions for winter sports skiing is very popular.

Sport probably plays a more important role in people's lives in Britain than it does in most other countries. There are hours of televised sport each week. Every newspaper devotes several pages to sport. Indeed, sport in some form or another is an important part of daily life in Britain.