sports in england

Popular Sports in the UK

Cricket is one of the national sports of England. However, football has now acquired the status of the most popular sports in the country. There are more than 100 football teams in England, and they follow the conventional league football system. Among these hundreds of football teams, there are about 20 premier leagues selected from every region of the UK, who take part in premier league competition. Manchester, Liverpool and Arsenal teams are the favourite football teams. The Football Association, which is the oldest one in the field, governs all the teams.

England is the motherland of cricket. Its popularity, though second to that of football, is supported by thousands of fans, who gather to see cricket played in England. The rules of Cricket were initially regulated in the 18th century in the Marylebone Cricket Club or MCC, which is at the Lord’s Cricket Stadium. Reputable cricket players and researchers were involved. Today the UK has more than 29 cricket clubs and over thousands of cricket teams.

Another popular game in England is badminton. There are a large number of badminton fans as well. The Association of Badminton in England was established as far back as 1893 and now it is known as Badminton England. All the badminton clubs in the UK are represented in this association and they represent the UK badminton internationally. Badminton England is one of the founding members of the International Badminton Federation.

Rugby is also very popular in England. However, it was an elite game in the UK in the past. Like football, now there is a rugby club in every region of the UK. The UK government assists in improving the standards of rugby in the country and abroad. The Rugby Football League (RFL) governs this sport. Some areas where rugby is really popular are North West England, Yorkshire, and Cumbria.

Tennis is another popular sports in England. The Wimbledon Cup that takes place in the UK every year is well known now throughout the world. The first tennis club came to exist in the UK in 1877. The first tennis tournament in England was said to have offered $40,000 to the winner. The four major tennis tournaments in the world include the Wimbledon tournament as well. They are the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, the French Open Tennis Tournament and the US Open Tennis Tournament and the Wimbledon.

When writing about sports in the UK, one has to highlight swimming as well. Among British there are a lot of notable swimmers and the sports has now become one of the most popular sports in the UK, with the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympics Association operating in the field. These associations organize international swimming competition in the UK every year.

Except for these sports, athletics, rowing, ice hockey, netball and various other sports such as indoor games are also quite popular in the UK. England is a country that promotes and enjoys sports activities. Therefore, in each form of sports activity, a high participation of fans and athletes is indeed seen in the UK.

Vocabulary:

 

Cricket [ˈkrɪkɪt] Wimbledon Cup [ʹwımbəldən][kʌp]
acquired [əˈkwaɪəd] a tournament [ˈtɔːnəmənt]
conventional [kənˈvenʃənəl] notable [ˈnəʊtəbəl]
a league [liːɡ] athletics [æθˈletɪks]
to govern [ˈɡʌvən] rowing [ˈraʊɪŋ]
motherland [ˈmʌðəlænd] ice hockey [aɪs][ˈhɒki]
initially [ɪˈnɪʃəli] netball [ʹnetbɔ:l]
reputable [ˈrepjʊtəbəl] indoor [ˈɪndɔː]
badminton [ˈbædmɪntən] to promote [prəˈməʊt]