London also has four rugby union teams in the Aviva Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps and Harlequins), although only the Harlequins play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London, although Saracens still play within the M25). The other professional rugby union team in the city is second division club London Welsh, that plays home matches in the city. The city has other very traditional rugby union clubs, famously London Scottish, Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C..
There are currently three professional rugby league clubs in London – Harlequins Rugby League who play in the European Super League at The Stoop and the Championship One side the London Skolars (based in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey) Hemel Stags based in Hemel Hempstead, north of London will play in the Championship One from 2013. Numbers for juniors playing the sport in the city are at an all time high with several earning full England caps at international level. In November 2011 Wembley Stadium will host a Gillette 4 Nations double-header including England v Australia and Wales v New Zealand.
From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000. Twickenham Stadium in south-west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.
Cricket in London is served by two Test cricket grounds Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C) in St John's Wood[220] and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C) in Kennington. Lord's has hosted four finals of the cricket world cups. One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some 35,000 runners attempt a 26.2 miles (42.2 km) course around the city, and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake.
Olympics and Paralympics
London has hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908 at White City and 1948 at Wembley Stadium. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012, making it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.
London will host the Paralympic Games in 2012, for the first time.
The 2012 games will see massive development in the East End of London, particularly Stratford, which will be home to the Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium and many major venues. Other events are spread out across the city, from Wembley Stadium in the north-west to Wimbledon in the south.
Commonwealth Games
London hosted the second British Empire Games at White City Stadium in 1934.
Football in London
London has a special place in the history of football. The playing of football in London has been well documented since it was first outlawed in 1314. In the sixteenth century the headmaster of St Paul's School Richard Mulcaster is credited with taking mob football and transforming it into organised and refereed team football. The modern game of football was first codified in 1863 in London and subsequently spread worldwide. Key to the establishment of the modern game was Londoner Ebenezer Cobb Morley who was a founding member of The Football Association, the oldest football organisation in the world. Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football which led directly to the first meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern in central London of the FA. He wrote the first set of rules of true modern Association football at his house in Barnes. The modern passing game was invented in London in the early 1870s by the Royal Engineers A.F.C..
The most popular spectator sport in London is association football, and London has several of England's leading clubs. Most London clubs are named after the district in which they play (or used to play). Historically the London clubs have not accumulated as many trophies as those from the north-west of England, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, but at present Arsenal (founded at Woolwich Arsenal but currently playing in Holloway), and Chelsea (who actually play in Fulham) are regarded as two of the Premier League's "big four" alongside Manchester United and Liverpool. In 2003-04 they became the first pair of London clubs to finish first and second in the top flight, with Arsenal winning. In 2004-05 they did so again, this time with Chelsea winning. In 2009–10, three of the top four places were occupied by London sides—Chelsea (champions), Arsenal (3rd) and Tottenham Hotspur (4th). This meant that the 2010–11 season would see three London clubs in the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever.
There are also nine London clubs in the fully professional Football League (the three divisions below the Premiership), namely AFC Wimbledon, Barnet, Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Dagenham & Redbridge, Leyton Orient, Millwall and West Ham United. Three of the nine clubs have never previously played in the first division—Barnet; Dagenham & Redbridge, which debuted in The Football League in 2007–08; and AFC Wimbledon, making their Football League debut in 2011–12. AFC Wimbledon was formed in 2002 after Wimbledon F.C. received approval from The FA for their controversial relocation to Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, a move that was eventually made in 2003. The relocated club is now known as Milton Keynes Dons. AFC Wimbledon inherited most of Wimbledon F.C.'s former support, despite playing at a much lower level in the football pyramid. In their first season as a fully professional club in 2010–11, AFC Wimbledon finished second in Conference National and went on to win the playoffs for promotion to The Football League.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, in north-west London, is the national football stadium, and is traditionally the home of the FA Cup Final as well as England's home internationals. The old stadium was closed in 2000 in order to be demolished and completely rebuilt, and the new stadium opened in 2007. Cardiff's Millennium Stadium was the venue for FA Cup finals during the reconstruction, while England played at various venues around the country. Wembley was one of the venues for the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the 1996 European Football Championship, and hosted the final of both tournaments. It also was the venue for the European Cup final in 1968, 1978 and 1992.
Other stadia
In 2006, Arsenal moved half a kilometre to Emirates Stadium in Lower Holloway. Since 1913 the club had played at Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. Prior to 1913, Arsenal played near the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
Barnet F.C., promoted to Football League Two for the 2005-06 season, play at the Underhill Stadium in Barnet. The stadium is also used for Arsenal reserve games.
Brentford play at Griffin Park in Brentford.
Charlton Athletic plays at The Valley in Charlton.
Chelsea play at Stamford Bridge in Fulham, west of Chelsea.
Crystal Palace play at Selhurst Park in South Norwood, south of Crystal Palace.
Dagenham & Redbridge play at Victoria Road in Dagenham.
Fulham F.C. play at Craven Cottage in Fulham.
Leyton Orient play at Brisbane Road in Leyton.
Millwall F.C. play at the The Den in Bermondsey. The club, originally founded in Millwall in 1885, moved from The Den in 1993.
Queens Park Rangers play at Loftus Road in Shepherd's Bush, south of Queens Park. The stadium was also used by Fulham F.C. between 2002 and 2004.
Tottenham Hotspur play at White Hart Lane in Tottenham.
West Ham United play at the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, near West Ham.
AFC Wimbledon and Kingstonian play at Kingsmeadow in Kingston upon Thames, west of Wimbledon. The stadium was originally owned by Kingstonian, but is now owned by AFC Wimbledon. Before moving to Milton Keynes, Wimbledon F.C. played at Plough Lane in Wimbledon until 1991 and then were tenants of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park until 2003.
Cricket
London has two Test cricket grounds (a rare distinction in world cricket but perhaps not surprising due to London's size): Lord's and The Oval. Lord's, located in the leafy suburb of St John's Wood, is home of Middlesex CCC and The MCC. Lord's is also the spiritual home of cricket. The Twenty20 Cup, Minor Counties Cricket Championship and many other Championship finals are held at Lord's. The England and Wales Cricket Board's offices are at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.
The Oval in Kennington, home of Surrey CCC, hosted the first FA Cup final and continued to do so (bar 1873) up until 1892. It also hosted England's first home international football match.
Cricket is very well organised and established within London and is the second most popular sport after football. Essex County Cricket Club has formerly used venues throughout London including Ilford, Leyton Cricket Ground, Romford and Billericay. Kent County Cricket Club also regularly play at Beckenham.
Rugby Union
Rugby union is also well established in London, especially in the middle-class suburbs to the north and west of the city. Four of the twelve clubs in the Aviva Premiership have London origins. London Irish, Saracens and Wasps share football grounds just outside the boundaries of Greater London (respectively in Reading, Watford and High Wycombe), but in the metropolitan area. Harlequins still play in Greater London at The Stoop. In more recent years, a modern tradition has seen all four London clubs play out of Twickenham during the first round of the Premiership, in a double-header. Apart from the elite clubs, the London Scottish and London Welsh, both located in London, and Esher, located just outside Greater London in Hersham, compete in the RFU Championship.
The English national rugby stadium (Twickenham) is in Twickenham. The English national side play their home matches there during the Six Nations Championship, as well as the November inbound touring nations. The ground also hosted the 1991 Rugby World Cup final, where Australia defeated England. Twickenham hosts the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup, and has hosted three Heineken Cup finals, most recently in 2007.
Rugby league in England
Harlequins Rugby League play at The Twickenham Stoop, and have the distinction of being the only member of the elite Super League in London, and indeed, all of southern England.
Another London club in the professional ranks of the game is London Skolars (based in Haringey) who play in the third-level Championship 1.
Amateur and grassroots rugby league has a strong presence in London. Greenwich Admirals (Woolwich), Elmbridge Rugby League Club (Esher) and South London Storm (Croydon) all play in the Rugby League Conference, the local top level of which is the Rugby League Conference South Premier. Many more clubs and second teams in London and the surrounding area play in the London League which serves as a feeder for the Rugby League Conference. The top level age group competition is the London Junior League.
Rowing
The River Thames is the venue for the Boat Race, held between Oxford and Cambridge universities every year from Putney to Mortlake. In addition there are numerous rowing clubs in London based along the Thames, especially in the Putney area. More than twenty rowing clubs are based on the Thames at Putney Embankment; among the largest are London Rowing Club (the oldest, being established in 1856), Thames Rowing Club, University of London Boat Club, Imperial College Boat Club and Vesta Rowing Club. Leander Club owned a boathouse in Putney from 1867 to 1961. The Putney clubs have produced a plethora of Olympic medallists and Henley winners.
Facilities for rowing are excellent throughout the city, including the state-of-the-art London Regatta Centre, at Royal Albert Dock in the Docklands.
Tennis
The Championships, Wimbledon
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Wimbledon Championships, is in Wimbledon in south London. London is also home to Queen's Club, a prestigious sports club that hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships. There is also the National Tennis Centre recently opened by the Queen in Roehampton.
Basketball
For years London Towers have been the flagship of London basketball, dominating the domestic British Basketball League (BBL), challenging in the prestigious Euroleague and fighting out a cross-town rivalry with Greater London Leopards. However, early into the new millennium both teams encountered several financial obstacles and soon folded.
After Towers withdrew from the BBL in 2006, lower-league team London United were elected to the top-tier to ensure the capital continued its presence in Britain's only professional league. Yet after just a year they too found themselves falling at financial hurdles and were replaced by another lower-league outfit, London Capital, who now fly the flag for London in the BBL.
In similar fashion, following the demise of the Leopards in 2003, fans set up a new club to replace and carry on the Leopards name. The reincarnated London Leopards today compete in the second-tier English Basketball League.
Other sports
The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in South London hosts an athletics track and is often use for national meetings. Other athletics venues include Croydon Arena, Mile End Stadium in east London plus Perivale Park and Linford Christie Stadium in the west.
Recent years have seen a cycling revolution sweep over London and its boroughs. Cycling's popularity in London has especially skyrocketed during the summer of 2010 due to Transport for London’s launch of new cycling initiatives including the Barclays Cycle Hire, Cycle Superhighways, and free cycle training. Transport for London has taken strong measures to improve the safety of cyclists in London.
London once had 2 top-level ice hockey teams, the London Knights (UK) (who played at London Arena) and London Racers (who played at the Lee Valley Ice Centre). There are currently no London-based teams in the Elite Ice Hockey League; London does however ice a few teams in the lower-tier English Premier Ice Hockey League (Romford Raiders) and English National Hockey League (Lee Valley Lions, Haringey Greyhounds and Streatham Redskins). The first games of the 2007–08 NHL season were played in London.
Between 1991 and 1998, the London Monarchs competed in American football's NFL Europe, winning the inaugural World Bowl. Today, the London Olympians, London Blitz and the London Cobras all compete in various divisions of the BAFA Community Leagues which is a continuation of the now defunct British American Football League. The new Wembley Stadium hosted a National Football League regular-season game in 2007, the first outside North America. Since the beginning of the NFL International Series in 2007, Wembley Stadium has seen massive turnouts for each annual game. The 2009 edition between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was played in front of an announced crowd of 84,254. The 2010 match-up which featured the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos saw another great turnout of almost 84,000 spectators. In addition to the NFL International Series, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has stated the NFL is considering playing the Super Bowl in London.
Every April since 1981, London has hosted one of the world's largest mass-participation marathons, the London Marathon. The, London Triathlon, the largest triathlon event in the world, also takes place annually.
Other popular sports include field hockey, basketball, baseball (Croydon Pirates are current champions), bowls, snooker, tennis, swimming, motor-racing at Brands Hatch, golf, darts, racquets, croquet, squash, horse-racing (Epsom and elsewhere), boxing, wrestling, archery, and fox-hunting.
All About London
- London
- Demography of London
- Religion in London
- Culture of London
- Education in London
- Economy of London
- Tourism in London
- Transport in London
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