Sports in Great Britain
Sport plays such an important part in British life that many idioms in the English language have come from the world of sport. For example, «to play the game» means «to be fair», and «that;s not cricket» means «that;s not fair». The British are proud that many sports originated from their country and then spread throughout the world. The national British sports are: football, golf, cricket, table tennis, lawn tennis, darts, racing. The most popular kind of sports in Britain is football. A lot of people support their local clubs at matches on Saturday afternoons or watch the matches live on television. Golf is Scotland;s chief contribution to British sport. English people love cricket. Cricket is played at schools, colleges, universities, in most towns and villages. Test matches with other countries are held regularly. Tennis is played by both men and women either in exclusive tennis clubs or on public tennis courts. People all over the world know Wimbledon as the centre of lawn tennis. The Wimbledon championship, in which the leading rackets of the world compete, is held annually in the southern suburb of London. Englishmen like racing. There are all kinds of racing in England: horse-racing, motor-car racing, boat-racing, dog-racing, donkey-racing. The most famous boat race in England is between Oxford and Cambridge. Thousands of people go to watch it. You see, all kinds of sports are very popular among the British.