Track and field

In the UK, every year a number of international athletics events, including the London Marathon and the annual competition "Grand Prix of London."

Athletics form a significant part of the program of the Olympic Games 2012 in London.

Tennis, badminton, squash

Tennis is perhaps most famous among them sport because most of the summer seasons in the UK occupy exactly championship Tennis: Wimbledon and «Stella Artois Championships», tournaments «Queens Club». More - Online Lawn Tennis Association.

British badminton players in recent years have made great strides. Biggest achievement was a silver medal Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson won them in mixed doubles competition at the Olympic Games in 2004, the main competition in badminton - open tournament «The Yonex All England Open» - held in March in Birmingham.

Squash - another extremely popular in the UK sport. In one of the best players in the world squash Villstrop includes James and Nick Matthew.

Curling

Many of us are now aware of the sports game of curling included in the Olympic program. It turns out that it takes its roots in Scotland. Comes from the English word curl - «spiral curl." The first mention of curling belongs to the distant sixteenth century. In the mountainous parts of Scotland was found a fragment of a stone engraved with the date. Therefore, it is now considered the birthplace of Scotland curling.

Winter on frozen lakes in between wars Highlanders train and play this game. First used the usual fragments of rock, but in the eighteenth century British soldiers to "optimize" the stones, betraying them the appearance that they have now. Over time, the game was transformed, changed and developed rules.

From the history of professional sports

Football

Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has its own national football association that manages matters concerning football within the boundaries of their territory. This Football Association, founded in 1863, the Scottish Football Association, founded in 1873, the Football Association of Wales, founded in 1876, and the Irish Football Association, founded in 1880. This four oldest football association in the world, they take four of the eight places in the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which defines the rules of the game of football (the remaining four seats on the board belong to FIFA). In England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there are various systems leagues. In Wales, there was no national league until 1992 (before that there were only regional leagues), because of what some of the leading Welsh clubs in the system are the English leagues. England football league system includes hundreds of different leagues and consists of thousands of different divisions. Elite division is Premier League, followed by England's Football League and Football Conference. Football league system includes Northern Ireland Premier League. One Northern Irish club, " Derry ", stands outside of the UK Championship in Ireland. Scottish football league system has two national leagues: Premier League and Football League, as well as several regional leagues. Welsh football league system includes the Welsh Premier League and several regional leagues.

Cricket

Cricket was invented in England and is very popular throughout the country and the former colonies. Wales does not have its team and playing together with England, as well as representatives of Scotland and Ireland cricket team which started to develop only recently. Rugby is popular in some areas of the UK. He appeared in Huddersfield and it is mainly played in Northern England. United team "British Lions " had appeared in the World Cup and test matches, but since 2008, England, Scotland and Ireland compete as separate countries. Rugby -15 teams of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland itself is very strong. Six Nations Cup, played out between the above mentioned teams, as well as Italy and France, is considered the unofficial European championship.

Tennis

Playing tennis in Birmingham appeared sometime between 1859 and 1865. Wimbledon - an international tournament held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and is considered one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.

Rugby

It is believed that rugby came in 1823 when William Webb Ellis while playing a version of football (it should be understood that in those days in each village and school rules could differ significantly from each other, and today popular on at least seven species of game rules football and the game hands prohibited only in football associations) in Rugby School (also found more correct in terms of the rules of transliteration option Rugby), took the ball in his hands and ran with him to the gate. However, well-established rules for a long time was not (as in "normal" football) team before the match every time they agreed on. When in 1863 was created the English Football Association, she forbade taking the ball in his hands and try to take his opponent. So familiar to us football and rugby became separate sports (that's why football is sometimes called association football). In 1871 was created Rugby Football Union (RFU, Rugby Football Union), still administering the rugby in England, and in 1886 - the International Rugby Union (IRB, International Rugby Board). The first international match was played on March 27, 1871 in Edinburgh between the teams England and Scotland. Rugby soon spread to other countries, particularly in Britain, many of ownership: Australia, New Zealand (1870), South Africa (1875). In North America, developed from rugby American and Canadian football. By the end of XIX century there has been a gap between the north of England, where rugby has become very popular among the workers and townspeople, and the south, where this game has remained largely the privilege of gentlemen. The main issue was the opportunity to become professionals, ie getting paid for playing rugby. As a result, August 29, 1895 in Huddersfield was formed "North rugby union» (NRFU). Teams that joined the Northern Alliance, were allowed to have in their composition professionals. Rules of the game have also been slightly modified, and in 1901 was formed Northern rugby league. At the beginning of XX century similar splits occurred in Australia and New Zealand. A new game called Rugby League (sometimes called the Russian Rugby 13, the number of players per team). "Old" rugby steel to avoid confusion call rugby union (since its rules were originally drafted RFU). Rugby Union remained strong in the south of England and in Scotland and Wales (where he was popular among the workers, especially among miners from the valleys to the south).

Motorsport

The UK is also presented in motorsports. Many teams and drivers in Formula 1 are based here, and British pilots won more titles than any other country representatives. In the UK and took the very first Grand Prix in 1950 at Silverstone.

Badminton

In the XIX century British officers serving in India, carried away the old Indian game of Pune, which can be considered the prototype of the modern badminton. The British brought the game home hobby. The modern tradition of the game originated in England, in an old mansion in Badminton House, whose owner, a well-known sports enthusiast and publisher of a series of books about sports, the Duke of Beaufort, built in 1873, the first landing badminton. In 1893, the Badminton Association of England published the first official rules of the game rules. Badminton World Federation (English Badminton World Federation (BWF)) was established in 1934. Since 1947, the largest team competition held among men - Thomas Cup. Among women, the main command start - Uber Cup held since 1955. Since 1992, badminton included in the Summer Olympics.

Golf

It is believed that the game of golf originated in Scotland and was invented by shepherds who are using staves (future putters) driving the stones into rabbit holes. Presumably the game already existed in the XIV century, and in the XV century in Scotland published several laws forbidding play " gouf." In the XVII century ball clubs have played in the Netherlands. The game in its present form took shape in the XIX century in Scotland.

Snooker

It is believed that snooker was invented by Colonel British colonial troops in Jabalpur (India) Neville Chamberlain in 1875. Initially there were only four colored balls, but by 1890 they became 6. In 1919, the rules of snooker were officially established organization BA & CC, and the first World Cup held in Birmingham in late 1926 - early 1927. Before the war, the game was dominated by the British and Australians. Snooker is very popular in the UK, and the annual world championship held in Sheffield. In Northern Ireland, are also popular team sports such as Gaelic football and Hurling, in which the matches going to a lot of viewers. Shinto popular game in the Scottish highlands.

Curling

It is known that Curling originated in Scotland in the early XVI century, the actual evidence for the existence of this sports game is curling sports equipment (stone), the surface of which is stamped date of manufacture (" 1511 "), found at the bottom of a dried lake Danbai. The first historical mention of curling found in medieval monastery books, dated 1541 year, preserved in the Abbey of Paisley, Scotland. Around the same time (1565) are two paintings by Pieter Bruegel, which depicted the Dutch peasants playing curling - a game that is close to curling on the frozen lake. Curiously, that Scotland and the Netherlands in the XVI century had a very strong commercial and cultural ties, as evidenced by the wide spread in continental Europe not only curling, but also courses.

Other interesting sports

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