Englishmen are known to be great sports-lovers. One of the most popular British games is cricket, which foreigners can hardly understand. There are two teams of 11 players. Matches last from one to five days. It is played all over the country in the summer. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. When they consider something unfair they say “That isn’t cricket.” Almost all Englishmen become fans when they watch a traditional cricket match between the teams of Great Britain and Australia, or New Zealand. England without cricket would be like bacon without eggs.Another game which attracts great attention is soccer (European football). There are plenty of amateur and professional soccer clubs in every town. Professional soccer is big business. The Cup Final played in London is the culminating event of the football season. Rugby football is also very popular, but it is played mainly by amateurs. It’s a kind of English football in which the players use their hands for carrying the ball. This game is played by teams of 15 men with an oval ball and it’s often considered to be a violent game.A great number of people play and watch tennis. Among many tennis tournaments the most famous is the one in Wimbledon. Horse racing is also extremely popular in Great Britain. The racing season includes five races. The annual race for “Derby” is perhaps the most famous sporting event in the whole world. Englishmen also go in for golf, baseball, hockey, basketball, bowling, and badminton. Athletic sports, such as running, jumping, rowing, swimming, boxing and gymnastics, are practiced at schools and colleges. The annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race on the river Thames attracts lots of people and is very popular. In Scotland, where there are good conditions for winter sports, skiing is very popular.