Association Football
Originating in the UK and now popular all over the world but particularly in Europe and Latin America. The modern game is played in the UK according to the rules laid down by the home countries' football associations. Slight amendments to the rules take effect in certain competitions and international matches as laid down by the sport's world governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, 1904). FIFA organizes the competitions for the World Cup, held every four years since 1930.

Badminton
Racket game similar to lawn tennis but played on a smaller court and with a shuttlecock (a half sphere of cork or plastic with a feather or nylon skirt) instead of a ball. The object of the game is to prevent the opponent from being able to return the shuttlecock.

Badminton is played by two or four players. The court measures 6.1 m/ 20 ft by 13.4 m/44 ft. A net, 0.8 m/ 2.5 ft deep, is stretched across the middle of the court and at a height of 1.52 m/5 ft above the ground to the top of the net. The shuttlecock must be volleyed. Only the server can win points.

The sport is named after Badminton House, the seat of the duke of Beaufort, where the game was played in the 19th century. The major tournaments are held on indoor courts; they include the Thomas Cup , an international team championship for men, first held 1949, and the Uber Cup, a women's international team competition, first held 1957.

The invention of a cheap and durable synthetic shuttlecock 1952 gave the game a wider appeal, though synthetic shuttlecocks are not accepted in top-level badminton games.

In Britain there are an estimated 4 million badminton players.

World championships have existed since 1977 in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles and are now held every two years.

Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh was invented by a group of Englishmen on holiday in Switzerland in 1890. Their aim was to create a sled that could carry two or more people down a snow covered road between St Moritz and Celerina.

The new sport immediately caught on and a special track, complete with banked curves, made of ice, was constructed next to the road in 1902.

The first races were for 5 and 6 people and a requirement of the competition was that each crew included at least one woman. This requirement was dropped in the 1930s and the disciplines altered to 2 and 4 man events.

Bowls
Outdoor and indoor game popular in Commonwealth countries. It has been played in Britain since the 13th century and was popularized by Francis Drake, who is reputed to have played bowls on Plymouth Hoe as the Spanish Armada approached in 1588.

The outdoor game is played on a finely cut grassed area called a rink, with biased bowls 13 cm / 5 in in diameter. It is played as either singles, pairs, triples, or fours. The object is to get one's bowl (or bowls) as near as possible to the jack (target).

There are two popular forms: lawn bowls, played on a flat surface, and crown green bowls, played on a rink with undulations and a crown at the centre of the green. This latter version is more popular in the Midlands and N England. The major events include the World Outdoor Championship first held 1966 for men and 1969 for women, the World Indoor Championship first held 1979 for men and 1988 for women, and the Waterloo Handicap, Crown Green bowling's principal tournament, which was first held 1907 at the Waterloo Hotel, Blackpool, England.

Boxing
Fighting with gloved fists is known to date back to 1520 in Greece. The sport dates from the 18th century, when fights were fought with bare knuckles and untimed rounds. Each round ended with a knockdown. Fighting with gloves became the accepted form in the latter part of the 19th century after the formulation of the Queensberry Rules in 1867.

Jack Broughton (1704-1789) was one of the early champions and in 1743 drew up the first set of boxing rules. The last bare-knuckle championship fight was between John L Sullivan and Jake Kilrain in 1899. Today all boxing follows the original Queensberry Rules, but with modifications. Contests take place in a roped ring 4.3-6.1 m/14-20 ft square. All rounds last three minutes. Amateur bouts last three rounds;
professional championship bouts last as many as 12 or 15 rounds. Boxers are classified according to weight and may not fight in a division lighter than their own. The weight divisions in professional boxing range from straw -weight (also known as paperweight and mini-flyweight),
under 49 kg/108 lb, to heavyweight , over 88 kg/195 lb.

Canoeing
Sport of propelling a lightweight, shallow boat, pointed at both ends, by paddles or sails. Present-day canoes are made from fibreglass, but original boats were of wooden construction covered in bark or skin. Canoeing was developed as a sport by John Macgregor, a British barrister, in 1865.

Two types of canoe are used: the kayak and the Canadian-style canoe. The kayak, derived from the Inuit model, has a keel and the canoeist sits. The Canadian-style canoe has no keel and the canoeist kneels. In addition to straightforward racing, there are slalom courses, with up to 30 `gates´ to be negotiated through rapids and around artificial rock formations. Penalty seconds are added to course time for touching suspended gate poles or missing a gate. One to four canoeists are carried. The sport was introduced into the Olympic Games 1936.

The Royal Canoe Club in Britain was founded on 26 July 1866.

Cricket
Bat-and-ball game between two teams of 11 players each. It is played with a small solid ball and long flat-sided wooden bats, on a round or oval field, at the centre of which is a finely mown pitch, 20 m / 22 yd long. At each end of the pitch is a wicket made up of three upright wooden sticks (stumps), surmounted by two smaller sticks (bails). The object of the game is to score more runs than the opposing team. A run is normally scored by the batsman striking the ball and exchanging ends with his or her partner until the ball is returned by a fielder, or by hitting the ball to the boundary line for an automatic four or six runs.
The exact origins of cricket are unknown, but it certainly dates back to the 16th century. The name is thought to have originated from the Anglo-Saxon word cricc, meaning a shepherd's staff. The first players were the shepherds of south-east England, who used their crooks as bats and the wicket gate and movable bail of the sheep pens as a target for the bowlers. It became popular in southern England in the late 18th century. Rules were drawn up in 1774 and modified following the formation of the MCC in 1787. The game's amateur status was abolished in 1963. Sponsored one-day cricket was introduced in the same year. From 1967 two overseas players were allowed in British first-class teams. Cricket is closely associated with pubs and inns in England with many village inns hosting the local village pitch and many a pleasant afternoon can be spent supping some fine ale whilst watching the game go by.

Croquet
Outdoor game played with mallets and balls on a level hooped lawn measuring 27 m/90 ft by 18 m/60 ft. The present day game originated as a country house lawn game in Ireland in 1852.

Two or more players can play, and the object is to drive the balls though the hoops (wickets) in rotation. A player's ball may be advanced or retarded by another ball. The headquarters of croquet is the Croquet Association (founded 1897), based at the Hurlingham Club, London.

Curling
Game played on ice with stones, sometimes described as `bowls on ice´. One of the national games of Scotland, it has spread to many countries. It can also be played on artificial (cement or tarmacadam) ponds. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, curling was included as a medal event for the first time. Two tees are erected about 35 m/38 yd apart. There are two teams of four players. The object of the game is to deliver the stones near the tee, those nearest scoring. Each player has two stones, of equal size, fitted with a handle. The usual weight of the stone (a thick, disclike object), is about 16-20 kg/36-42 lb. In Canada, the weight is greater (about 27 kg/60 lb) and iron replaces stone. The stone is slid on one of its flat surfaces and it may be curled in one direction or another according to the twist given as it leaves the hand. The match is played for an agreed number of heads or shots, or by time. The first world championship for men was held in 1959 and in 1979 for women.
The first club was formed at Kilsyth, Stirlingshire in 1510.

Darts
Indoor game played on a circular board. Darts (like small arrow shafts) about 13 cm/5 in long are thrown at segmented targets and score points according to their landing place.

The game may have derived from target practice with broken arrow shafts in days when archery was a compulsory military exercise. The Pilgrim Fathers are believed to have played darts aboard the Mayflower 1620.

The present-day numbering system was designed by Brian Gamlin of Bury, Lancashire, England, in 1896. The world championship was inaugurated in 1978 and is held annually.

Fives
Game of handball, where two or four players hit a hard ball against a wall or walls with padded gloves. In England there are three forms of the game, distinguished from one another by the names of the schools in which they were variously played: Eton, Rugby and Winchester Fives. Under the name of  handball a similar game is played in the USA and Ireland. Although Eton Fives is known as the original game, dating back to 1825 when the game was played against the buttress of Eton College Chapel, a court existed at Lord Weymouth's School, Warminster as early as 1773 but the earliest known record of Fives being played is against the church wall at Babcary, Somerset in June 1765.

Golf
Outdoor game in which a small rubber-cored ball is hit with a wooden- or iron-faced club into a series of holes using the least number of shots.  Most golf courses have 18 holes and are approximately 5,500 m / 6,000 yd in length. Golf developed in Scotland in the 15th century.
Golf is played in two principal forms: stroke play (also known as medal play) and match play. In stroke play the lowest aggregate score for a round determines the winner. In match play, the object is to win holes by scoring less than one's opponent(s).
Golf's handicap system allows for golfers of all levels to compete on equal terms. Players are handicapped according to the number of strokes they take for a round.

Hockey
Game played with hooked sticks and a small, solid ball, the object being to hit the ball into the goal. It is played between two teams, each of not more than 11 players. Hockey has been an Olympic sport since 1908 for men and since 1980 for women.
The ground is 91.5 m/100 yd long and 54.9 m/60 yd wide. Goals, 2.13 m/7 ft high and 3.65 m/4 yd wide, are placed within a striking circle of a 14.64 m/16 yd radius, from which all shots at goal must be made. The white ball weighs about 155 grams/ 5.5 oz, circumference about 228 mm/9 in. Most sticks are about 91 cm/3 ft long and they must not exceed 50 mm/2 in diameter. The game is started by a `push-back´ (or `bully-
off´). The ball may be stopped with the hand, but not held, picked up, thrown or kicked, except by the goalkeeper in his or her own striking circle. If the ball is sent into touch, it is returned to play by a `push-in´. The game is divided into two 35-minute periods; it is controlled by two umpires, one for each half of the field.
It is believed that a game similar to hockey may date back to 2050 B.C. in Egypt. A game using hooked sticks, not unlike the contemporary ones, was played by the ancient Greeks, and under the names of `hurley´ and `shinty´ a primitive form of the game was played in Ireland and Scotland. There are references to the game in Lincolnshire in 1277 and the first country to form a National association was England when the Hockey association was founded at canon Street Hotel, london on 16 April 1875.

Hurling or Hurley
Stick-and-ball game played between two teams of 15 players each, popular in Ireland. Its object is to hit the ball, by means of a curved stick, into the opposing team's goal. If the ball passes under the goal's crossbar three points are scored; if it passes above the crossbar one point is scored. First played over 3,000 years ago, the game was at one time outlawed. The rules were standardized 1884, and are now under the control of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The premier competition, the All-Ireland Championship, was first held 1887.

Ice Skating
Self-propulsion on ice by means of bladed skates, or on other surfaces by skates with small rollers (wheels of wood, metal, or plastic).
The chief competitive ice-skating events are figure skating, for singles or pairs, ice-dancing, and simple speed skating. The first world ice-skating championships were held in 1896.
Although Skating on frozen ponds is known to have taken place as a pastime in Denmark in 1134 and England in 1180 it wasn't until the first club was formed in Edinburgh in 1742 that the pastime started to become a sport. Ice-skating became possible as a world sport from the opening of the first artificial ice rink in London, England in 1876. Figure skating includes both compulsory figures and freestyle combinations to music; ice-dancing has developed into a choreographed combination of ballet and popular dance movements welded to an artistic whole, as exemplified by John Curry and the team of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

Mountaineering
Art and practice of mountain climbing. For major peaks of the Himalayas it was formerly thought necessary to have elaborate support from Sherpas (local people), fixed ropes, and oxygen at high altitudes (siege-style climbing). In the 1980s the Alpine style was introduced. This dispenses with these aids, and relies on human ability to adapt, Sherpa-style, to high altitude.

Although some mountains have been scaled since the Bronze Age, it wasn't until 1854 when the Wetterhorn in Switzerland was climbed by Alfred Wills, that it became regarded as a sport. There is still some debate as to whether an earlier British expedition, actually reached the summit of Mount Everest before Sir Edmund Hilary achieved the monumental feat on 29th May 1953.

Rackets or racquets
Indoor game played on an enclosed court. Although first played in the Middle Ages, rackets developed in the 18th century and was played against the walls of London buildings. There is a record of the sale of a Racket Court at Southernhay, Exeter, Devon dated 12th January 1798. It is considered the forerunner of many racket and ball games, particularly squash.
The game is played on a court usually 18.3 m/60 ft long by 9.1 m/30 ft wide, by two or four persons each with a racket about 75 cm/2.5 ft long, weighing 255 g/9 oz. The ball is 25 mm/1 in in diameter and weighs 28 g/1 oz. Play begins from a service box - one is marked at each side of
mid-court - and the ball must hit the end wall above a 2.75 m/9 ft line high. After service it may be played anywhere above a line 68.5 cm/27 in
high on the end wall, the general rules of tennis applying thereafter.

Rowing
Propulsion of a boat by oars, either by one rower with two oars (sculling) or by crews (two, four, or eight persons) with one oar each, often with a coxswain. Major events include the world championship, first held 1962 for men and 1974 for women, and the Boat Race (between England's Oxford and Cambridge universities), first held 1829.

Doggett's Coat and Badge in 1715, begun for Thames watermen and also the first English race, still survives. Rowing as a sport began with the English Leander Club 1817.
The Boat Race is rowed by crews from Oxford and Cambridge rowing clubs between Putney and Mortlake on the river Thames. The events of  Henley Royal Regatta, another major international event, also take place on the Thames.
Sir Stephen Redgrave became probably the greatest Olympian ever when he won his fifth successive Gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydey in 2000.

Rugby
Contact sport that originated at Rugby School, England, 1823 when a boy, William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball and ran with it while playing football. Rugby is played with an oval ball. It is now played in two forms: Rugby League and Rugby Union.
Rugby League is predominantly played in Northern England along what is now know as the M62 corridor between Liverpool and Leeds. It was formed as the professional form of rugby football founded in England in 1895 as the Northern Union when a dispute about pay caused northern clubs to break away from the Rugby Football Union. 

The Rugby Football Union was formed 1871 and has its headquarters in England (Twickenham, Middlesex). At the start of each year, a competition is held, formally known as the Five Nations when England, France, Ireland, Scotland & Wales competed and now known as the Six Nations after Italy were invited to join.

Skiing
Even skiing is a British invented sport. Skiing generally means self-propulsion on snow by means of elongated runners (skis) for the feet, slightly bent upward at the tip. It is now a popular recreational sport, as cross-country ski touring or as downhill runs on mountain runs; events include downhill; slalom, in which a series of turns between flags have to be negotiated; cross-country racing; and ski jumping, when jumps of over 150 m / 490 ft are achieved from ramps up to 90 m / 295 ft high.
Skiing was known as a means of transportation across snow in N Europe and Asia from about 3000 BC, but developed into a sport when innovations in ski design made it possible to manoeuvre more accurately. It wasn't until the 1820's that the Norwegians organised a few cross country 'races' on skis. In 1894, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle wrote in 'Strand Magazine': "I am convinced that the day will come when hundreds of Englishmen will come to Switzerland for the 'ski'ing season." Soon after Sir Henry Lunn formed the 'Public Schools Alpine Sports Club' and started arranging Downhill races and then invented the 'Package Holiday' to gets Brits to the snow which could best be found in the European Alps.

Squash or squash rackets
Racket-and-ball game usually played by two people on an enclosed court, derived from rackets. Squash became a popular sport in the 1970s and later gained competitive status. There are two forms of squash: the American form, which is played in North and some South American countries, and the English, which is played mainly in Europe and Commonwealth countries such as Pakistan, Australia, and New Zealand.

In English singles, the court is 10 m/32 ft long and 6.4 m/21 ft wide. The front wall is 5 m/15 ft high, and the back wall is 2.1 m/7 ft high. The side walls slant down from 15 ft at the front to 7 ft at the back. Doubles squash is played by two teams of two players each on a larger court.
Players use rackets and a small rubber ball, the ball is hit against a wall (the front wall) and, when serving, must be above a line about 1.83 m/6 ft high. Thereafter the ball must be hit alternately against the front wall, within certain limitations, but rebounds off the other three walls are permitted. The object is to win points by playing shots the opponent cannot return to the wall.

Squash was first played at Harrow public school in 1817. The Squash Rackets Association was formed in 1928. The World Open championship was first held in 1975.

Table Tennis or ping pong
Indoor game played on a rectangular table by two or four players. It was developed in Britain about 1880 and derived from lawn tennis. World
championships were first held 1926.

Play takes place on a table measuring 2.74 m/9 ft long by 1.52 m/5 ft wide. Across the middle is a 15.25-cm/6-in -high net over which the ball must be hit. The players use small, wooden paddles covered in sponge or rubber. A feature of the game is the amount of spin put on the small plastic ball. Volleying is not allowed. Points are scored by forcing the opponent(s) into an error. The first to score 21 wins the game. A match may consist of three or five games. In doubles play, the players must hit the ball in strict rotation.

Tennis or lawn tennis
Racket-and-ball game invented towards the end of the 19th century, derived from real tennis. Although played on different surfaces (grass, wood, shale, clay, concrete), it is also called `lawn tennis´. The aim of the two or four players is to strike the ball into the prescribed area of the court, with oval-headed rackets (strung with gut or nylon), in such a way that it cannot be returned. Until the mid-1970s, tennis rackets were made from wood or moulded from aluminium. In 1976, the Prince racket, made from sandwiched layers of aluminium and glass fibre, doubled the racket area to 130 sq in. Today, rackets are made from graphite and glass fibre.
Major events include the Davis Cup first contested 1900 for international men's competition, and the annual All England Tennis Club championships (originating 1877), an open event for players of both sexes at Wimbledon.

Although tennis was played in England as early as 1793, the first club wasn't formed until 1872 in Leamington by Major Harry Gem. Tennis was introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield at a Christmas party at Nantclwyn, Wales, 1873 and is regarded as the first commercialised form of the sport. His game was then called `Sphairistike´. The game is won by those first winning four points (called 15, 30, 40, game), unless both sides reach 40 (deuce), when two consecutive points are needed to win. A set is won by winning six games with a margin of two over opponents, though a tie-break system operates, that is at six games to each side (or in some cases eight) except in the final set. A match lasts a maximum of five sets for men, three for women.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam events; the others are the US Open, first held 1881 as the US Championships, becoming the US Open 1968; the French Championships; and the Australian Championships.

Tenpin Bowling
The object is to bowl a ball down an alley at pins (ten as opposed to nine). The game is usually between two players or teams. A game of tenpins is made up of ten `frames´. The frame is the bowler's turn to play and in each frame he or she may bowl twice. One point is scored for each pin knocked down, with bonus points for knocking all ten pins down in either one ball or two. The player or team making the greater score wins.

The ancient German game of ninepins was introduced to America by Dutch immigrants in the 17th century. By the end of the 19th century it was very popular as a gambling game on the streets of New York. In about 1845 it was outlawed by the Connecticut and New Haven State Legislatures and the extra pin was added to get round the law. Although the modern game is derived from the German form, there is evidence that 10 pins were being used in Suffolk in the late 16th Century.

Today's bowling lanes measure 18.3 m/60 ft to the nearest pin and have an extra 4.57 m/15 ft approach area; they are 1 m/3.5 ft wide. Balls weighing up to 7.25 kg/16 lb are made of rubber composition and drilled with holes for thumb and two fingers. Pins made of maple are 38.1 cm/1.25 ft high.

Trotting or harness racing
Form of horse racing, also known as trotting or pacing, in which the horses are harnessed, pull a light vehicle (sulky) and compete at either a trotting or pacing gait. If a horse breaks the pace and gallops, the driver must start it again. The trotting gait - the simultaneous use of diagonally opposed legs, was first recorded in England in 1750

Water Polo
Water sport developed in England 1869, originally called `soccer-in-water´. The aim is to score goals, as in soccer, at each end of a swimming pool. It is played by teams of seven on each side (from squads of 13).
An inflated ball is passed among the players, who must swim around the pool without touching the bottom. A goal is scored when the ball is thrown past the goalkeeper and into a net.
The Swimming Association of Great Britain recognized the game 1885. World championships were first held 1973; they are held during the world swimming championships.

Water Skiing
Water sport in which a person is towed across water on a ski or skis, wider than those used for skiing on snow, by means of a rope (23 m/75 ft long) attached to a speedboat. Competitions are held for overall performances, slalom, tricks, and jumping.

Although the U.S.A. (1922) and France (1920) both claim to have invented the Sport, there is a photograph in existence of a contest during a regatta at Scarborough, Yorkshire on 15 July 1914 - won by local boy, Mr S. Storry. Its governing body, the Union Internationale de Ski Nautique, was founded 1946. World championships were first held 1949

Weightlifting
Sport of lifting the heaviest possible weight above one's head to the satisfaction of judges. In international competitions there are two standard
lifts: snatch and jerk.
In the snatch, the bar and weights are lifted from the floor to a position with the arms outstretched and above the head in one continuous movement. The arms must be locked for two seconds for the lift to be good. The jerk is a two-movement lift: from the floor to the chest, and from the chest to the outstretched position. The aggregate weight of the two lifts counts. The International Weightlifting Federation was formed in 1920, although a world championship was first held in London on 28 March 1891.

Yachting
Pleasure cruising or racing a small and light vessel, whether sailing or power-driven. At the Olympic Games, seven sail-driven categories exist: Soling, Flying Dutchman, Star, Finn, Tornado, 470, and Windglider or windsurfing (boardsailing). The Finn and Windglider are solo events; the Soling class is for three-person crews; all other classes are for crews of two.

Yachting dates back to a £100 stake race between Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York on the Thames in 1661. The English yacht club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, was established at Cowes on the Isle of Wight 1812, and the Yacht Racing Association was founded 1875 to regulate the sport. The Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (1960) is held every four years.