9. 17. Sports in gb

The English are great lovers of competitive sports, they like to talk and think about them. Cricket / "a stick" in Old French/ is the game peculiarly associated with England. Nearly every village has its cricket club and its own ground where a quiet of Sunday afternoon is broken only by the slap of leather on willow and a gentle ripple of applause. It is a game impossible to describe to foreigners. At times it is not a game but a kind of dignified public ritual.

Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players on a field having a central pitch 22 yards long. There are wickets /3 stumps/ in the ground at either end. The best grounds are in London. They are Lord's Cricket Ground and the Oval . Lord's is the best-known in the country. The most famous is the Maryle-bone Cricket Club.

Football is any of various team games played with a round or elliptical ball. In the Middle ages in England football was played by teams formed of whole villages, and there were no clear rules. With hundred people on each side, the teams struggled to score goals with a ball made of the bladder of a pig. In some villages the football match was an opportunity to settle grievances against neighbours. In 1385 Edward III had to ban the fame because his troops were spending more time playing than training for war.

Football became an orderly game in the 19th century. In 1863 the Football Association / FA/ was founded. The International Football Association /FIFA/ sees that rules are universal and runs the World Cup Competition. Wembley Stadium held its first FA Cup Final in 1923 and has been the Cup Final venue ever since. Association Football or Soccer, the game played under FA rules is the most widespread. It is played by two teams each of 11 men, with a round football, on a rectangular field. Players kick, dribble and pass the ball with there feet. Only the goalkeeper may handle the ball. A goal is scored when the ball is sent between the opponent's goalposts.

The famous football clubs are Arsenal, Chelsea, Orient, and Queen's Park Rangers.

Rugby football is a game, which originated in 1823 at Rugby School in England when W. Ellis picked up a soccer ball and ran with it. Guy's Hospital claims to have the world's oldest Rugby Club, formed in 1843. Rugby is played by 15 /Rugby Union/ or 13 men /Rugby League/, with an elliptical football. There is an H-shaped goal at either end. Players may kick the ball or run with it in their hands, but may not pass, throw or knock it forwards. Tackling is allowed. Scoring is by points: 3 for a try and 5 for a goal.

Tennis /take it/ is very popular in England. Top players from across the globe converge in London at Wimbledon to compete for the most coveted prizes in lawn tennis. In the last week of June and the first week of July, Wimbledon sweeps the whole country with tennis madness. "Wimbledon" has become one of those great British institutions which everybody loves - or simply learns to live with.

Speedway is one of the most popular spectator sports. The motorcycling sport developed fron dirt-track racing in open fields. It is now held within large stadiums. The highly- powered 500 cc bikes run on pure methanol, and have no brakes.

Bowls is a game for individuals. Bowls /"woods"/ are rolled at a smaller ball /"jack"/. A rink is 21 ft wide and 120 ft long. The game was known in Britain by the 13th century. Each player has 4 biased /not properly balanced/ bowls. He bowls these underarm at the jack. The object is to touch the jack with a bowl.

Business is forgotten while gentlemen go down on one knee and bowl a black "wood". They say that when the Spanish Armada was sighted in 1588, Sir Francis Drake was playing the game of bowls at Plymouth. He is supposed to have said, "The Armada can wait. I must finish my game first."