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Wherever there is green grass, there will be also place to play football. At weekends all those places are full of kids or adults from the amateur leagues playing their games. Nice to watch, but if you can, try to go to one of the premier league games. Leave a Comment
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If you’ve never watched cricket, you may find it more than a little confusing, although anyone familiar with baseball or rounders will spot that the main principle is the same, i.e. to use your bat to hit a ball bowled towards you, and to score by running between fixed points while the ball is in play. But that’s probably where the similarity ends. As I said, I’m not an expert, but anyone who watches a bit of sport in England can’t fail to pick up the basics of the game, so here’s my attempt at an explanation:
A cricket match is played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called the pitch. A wicket, usually made of wood and consisting of three uprights with two horizontal pieces balanced on them, is placed at each end of the pitch. The objective, for the batting side, is to defend this wicket while also scoring runs.
The bowler, a player from the fielding team, bowls the ball from one end of the pitch towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching the batsman. The other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field and are known as fielders. Their aim is to retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring runs, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been waiting near the bowler's wicket. However, there is no obligation for the batsman either to hit the ball or to attempt a run. A batsman will be out if:
1. the ball hits the wicket by passing his bat or glancing off it
2. he hits the ball and it is caught by a fielder or the bowler while still in the air (i.e. before its first bounce)
3. a fielder “stumps” him by catching the ball and using it to hit the wicket before the running batsman has got either his bat or his body across the crease
Each completed exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area (four runs if it crosses the boundary, or six if it does so while still in the air). After six balls have been bowled (known as an “over”), the other bowler takes over and the direction of the bowling switches to the opposite wicket.
When all the batsmen bar one are out, the “innings” is over and the teams swap roles. The match is won by the team that scores more runs over the course of the game. Traditionally a match consists of two innings for each team, but various shorter games are played, known as “limited overs” games.
This is an incredibly abbreviated description – if you really want to know more, read the Wikipedia article about the rules of cricket. Theme: Sports Watching
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England is the home of football (or 'soccer' as the Americans like to call it). The English (usually the male sex) are big football fans, almost obsessed. What other sport could get people so excited about a 0-0 draw or 1-0 win?!
Football originated as a rule-less kickaround, particularly 'Shrovetide Football' played around Ashbourne, Derbyshire, until the mid-19th century. The English Football League was formally set-up in 1888. In 1992 the top League was renamed The Premier League (or 'Premiership'), with the 20 top teams in England. Currently all the Premiership teams are based in English cities, and likely to remain so. Scotland has its own Premier League.
No David Beckham - he currently (2005/6) plays in Spain.
This could also be a World tip - Manchester United, the most famous English football team, is well known for having fans all over Planet Earth. And the Premiership is more famous for its international players, from France, Holland, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Africa etc.
Womens' football has been played since the 1910's but only recognised by the chauvinist Football Association in 1970!
Passions run high in football (helped by drink, amongst some fans). Footballers swear, shout at the referee (who is always wrong ;). Whoever said the English were 'sporting'?
The cliche is that if a team loses a football match, they will be "Sick as a parrot". Amd if they win, "Over the Moon" :-)
If you are able to get a ticket to see a match (unlikely), expect to pay between 20 and 40 GBP. Leave a Comment Theme: Sports WatchingAddress: Anywhere from Newcastle to Portsmouth.Directions: The Stadiums will probably be the biggest, most expensive and noisiest locations in the area!Website: http://www.premierleague.com/
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England had a reputation for badly behaved football supporters. Football hooliganism has been called The English Disease. This has now improved somewhat, especially because football clubs and the police are identifying and controlling key ringleaders.
Understandably, passions run very high amongst football supporters. Their football team is the most important thing to them. However, the introduction of other factors, such as large amounts of alcohol, right-wing extremists, and police violence have made 'situations' at times!
It is not exclusively English. Unfortunately, one of the worst records of football violence was held by a team a very short distance from my house :-( Generally, one or two London teams have the worst reputation.
Football violence is not new, occurring regularly in England since the start of organised football in the 19th century. However, a few dreadful incidents in the 1980's began to change attitudes!
In 1985, Liverpool played the Italian team Juventus, in the Heysel Stadium, Belgium. Fighting broke out between supporters, there was mass panick, large numbers of people were trapped against a brick wall, which collapsed. 39 fans died.
In 1989, an English 'FA Cup' semi-final was taking place in Sheffield's Hillsborough ground. Massive crowds entering the stadium were sent into an already packed area. A horrific 95 people were crushed to death!! In this case, the problem was with the police attitude - they saw football fans as cattle and did not help until it was too late.
As a result, things have improved. Stadiums have to meet strict standards. There are no longer large areas of standing fans. Stadiums are usually all-seating. Police attitudes have improved.
There are still large amounts of alcohol consumed before football matches. Drunk fans will leave the pubs and pick fights. But hey, drunk fights happnen every Saturday night in most English cities.
Remember the vast majority of English football fans are good-humoured and want to enjoy football.
Good humour. An enjoyment of football. Tolerance of the occasional 'lout' ;-) Leave a Comment
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Scuba diving in this area of the UK is fantastic. One of the best in the country. There are quite a few wrekcs that can be explored and the wildlife is amazing. Basking sharks frequent this area in the warmer months, and you may be lucky enough to swim with them.
The Porthkerris dive shop is superb. They offer PADI continuation and certification courses and all equipment can be rented from them, including dry suits. It is all well taken care of and they are very serious about safety. They were wonderful to work with. Leave a Comment Theme: Scuba DivingPhone: +44 1326 280620Directions: 2 km from Porthallow, CornwallWebsite: www.porthkerris.com
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Cricket is probably the quintessential English sport. Watch out for games of cricket being played on village greens and playing fields during the summer months.
Interest in cricket is being revived now that the England team is playing very well*. Interest has always been high amongst the countries of the British Commonwealth e.g. India and Sri Lanka. Therefore the game is particularly popular amongst English Asians.
Professional cricket is played between two teams of eleven. The England team sometimes includes players from (the Welsh) Glamorgan county side, who are a top team ;-)
England's first international match was in 1877, against Australia. Rivalry between England and Australia has been strong ever since!
Famous English cricketers include bearded W.G.Grace (1848-1915) and Harold Larwood (1904-1995), exponent of modern-day 'fast bowling'.
The home of English cricket is Lord's, near Regents Park in Central London.
"Owzat!?" is the shout you will hear from the players when they think a player is 'out' i.e. ball hit his 'stumps', ball caught by 'fielder', 'batter' put his leg in front of his 'stumps' etc.
My great-grandfather and his many brothers formed a well-known cricket 'eleven' during the early years of the last century. They played cricket in the South London area.
However, in my view cricket is still an extremely boring game which involves, for the most part, 13 overweight, unfit men (and an umpire) standing around in a field for hours, or even days doing nothing much. And what's with all the silly names?
A bat (ideally made of willow wood), a ball (small, hard, very unpleasant if it hits you, almost impossible to catch, haha), some 'stumps'. A group of friends, not necessarily young, or fit.
A good game for playing on a sandy beach.
The distance between the two wickets is traditionally 66 feet (c.20m).
* Tip written in February 2005. How quickly things change! Leave a Comment
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So you’ve been to the match, tried to get to grips with cricket and maybe watched some rugby (league or union) as well. What other sports can you watch or participate in here in England? Well, of course there are all the usual sports popular all round the world, but for something a bit different how about one of the following?
The British Marble Championships: these take place in Sussex during Lent each year
Egg-rolling: an Easter tradition in Lancashire. Eggs are hard boiled and decorated, and hundreds of children compete to see whose egg can roll the furthest down a grassy slope without cracking.
The World Coal Carrying Championship: held annually in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Competitors, each carrying a hundredweight of coal, have to run nearly a mile as quickly as possible, before being allowed to drop the "secks ‘o’ coil" (Yorkshire dialect for sacks of coal) at the foot of the Maypole which stands on the village green. The current world record is 4mins. 6secs.
Pancake races: these form an important part of Shrove Tuesday celebrations in some parts of the country. People dress in fancy dress and race down streets tossing pancakes. The object is to get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run.
Shrove Tuesday Football: as the name suggests, another Shrove Tuesday tradition. This is not so much a game of football but rather a free-for-all scramble involving several hundred players. The rules tend to be local to the town or village, and play takes place on village greens or even through the streets, with prominent buildings such as a church or pub serving as the goals.
Cheese Rolling: in this centuries-old Whit Monday custom competitors chase a rolling cheese down a steep slope (Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire), and the one who catches the cheese is allowed to keep it.
World Gurning Championship: gurning means pulling faces, and these championships are held every September in Cumbria. Contestants have to try and pull the ugliest face with their heads stuck through a horse's collar. Theme: Sports Watching
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If you want to see football for nothing, and have a bit of a laugh, just visit any large park at around 10.00am on a Sunday morning. There you will find groups of middle aged over-weight guys kicking the hell out of each other and swearing profanely at another poor bloke who has made the misguided decision to wear black and try to referee one of these chaotic encounters. Even more amusing are the "managers" and "trainers" on the sidelines who are effectively blokes who aren't good enough to actually play but don't want to miss out on the opportunity to question the marital status of the referee's parents. Generally the teams will be sponsored by either a local building firm, where most of them work, or a local pub, where most of them drink. In fact most of them will have been chucked out of the pub around 11.00pm the previous night and be back there about 20 minutes after the referee decides that he has had enough and blows the final whistle. Theme: Sports Watching
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The most popular spectator sport by far in England is football. And when an English person talks about football, they mean what our US friends refer to as soccer. The latter term is very rarely used here and is usually scoffed at by football fans!
Despite the influence of extensive TV coverage and the consequent creation of so-called “armchair fans”, going to the match is still a very popular activity, and would be a great way for a visitor to the country to meet and mix with local people. The bigger and more successful the team, the harder it will be to get tickets for the match, though ticket agencies may sell them, at a premium. But there’s no need to pay a lot of money for games involving these big clubs if all you want is a good day out – tickets for lower league games, or even for those featuring teams at the bottom end of the Premier League, should not be too hard to come by and the match-day experience will be just as good, if not better.
The traditional match time is 3.00 PM on a Saturday, though again TV coverage has meant that more and more matches take place at different times (Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, for instance). For the lower league teams you can probably just turn up and pay at the turnstile, but for others you should check as it may be necessary to buy in advance. If you’d like to meet some of the local fans, head to any nearby pub an hour or so before the game starts and introduce yourself to a group or two over a beer – they’ll almost certainly be happy to talk if the topic of conversation is their favourite sport and the team they love. The same applies after the match too, when a “post-mortem” in the pub is another traditional element of the day.
At the game itself, you might like to try to blend in by wearing something in the team colours. Most clubs have a club-shop at or near the ground, where you can buy football strips, scarves, hats (very welcome on a chilly January afternoon) and other souvenirs of your visit. Another way to join in is to learn some of the fans’ chants, but that will probably take several visits. Many of these are specific to an individual club, while others are generic and heard at most grounds. The latter include:
“There’s only one [insert player’s or manager’s name], one [name], walking along, singing a song, walking in a [name] wonderland”
“Going up, going up, going up” or “Going down, going down, going down”, depending on the current fortunes of the team and their opposition
Many other songs are variations adapted for a particular team – all clubs will have several based on a simple chanting of their name, and others denigrating their fiercest rivals (“We hate xxx, and we hate xxx ...” is the simplest, if a little aggressive). Some clubs have a particular song associated with them, e.g. Liverpool fans always sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. In some cases the reason for the link is obvious – “Blaydon Races”, sung by Newcastle fans, is a traditional Geordie song. But no West Ham fan has ever been able to explain satisfactorily to me the reason for their adoption of “We’re forever blowing bubbles” as a club anthem! And lastly, and perhaps hardest to learn, is the repertoire of songs that each team’s fans have developed and added to over the years, unique to them and many referring to players and incidents from long before today’s fans were even born.
Depending on what part of the country you are visiting, you might consider going to watch the following teams:
London
Arsenal – playing at the Emirates Stadium, a large new stadium in north London which is always a pleasure to visit as an opposing fan (not something that can be said of every club!) and having a sizeable capacity, one you can probably get a ticket for despite the large fan base
Tottenham Hotspur – playing at White Hart Lane (again in north London), which is a smaller ground and may be hard to get tickets for except through an agent
Chelsea – playing at Stamford Bridge (west London) and again almost certainly only available through an agent – personally I wouldn’t bother as I’ve never yet enjoyed a match here!
West Ham – playing at Upton Park in east London, smaller and friendlier than the biggest clubs
Fulham – playing at Craven Cottage in a nice setting by the Thames in West London, another smaller and friendly club
Charlton – playing at the Valley (south east London), a smaller and family-friendly Championship (i.e. lower) league club
Queen’s Park Rangers – another Championship side, playing at Loftus Road (west London) and again small and quite friendly in our experience
Crystal Palace – yet another friendly Championship club, playing at Selhurst Park in south London
Birmingham
Aston Villa – playing at Villa Park and doing very well at the moment, so likely to be an exciting team to watch
Birmingham City – playing at St Andrews and currently doing well in the Championship (the second tier league)
And nearby are Wolves (playing at Molineux in Wolverhampton), West Bromwich Albion (at the Hawthorns) and Coventry City (Ricoh Arena)
Manchester
Manchester United – the most famous team in the country, playing at Old Trafford, and as hard to get tickets for as the big London clubs
Manchester City – playing at the modern City of Manchester Stadium (built for the Commonwealth Games)
Liverpool
Liverpool – playing at Anfield, another of the country’s great clubs and consequently hard to get tickets for
Everton – the city’s “other” club, playing at Goodison Park
Tranmere Rovers – a smaller club, well worth a try if you can’t get tickets for the big two
Newcastle
Unique among the bigger English cities in having only one team, Newcastle United, playing at the atmospheric city-centre St James’s Park. This is my team, so I’m biased, but I can guarantee you a great day out, if not a great game!
And elsewhere in the country, consider Southampton, Portsmouth or Bournemouth on the south coast; Bristol City or Bristol Rovers in the west of England; Blackburn, Bolton or Wigan in the north-west; Sunderland or Middlesbrough in the north-east (though their out-of-town grounds are rather soulless in my view); Norwich or Ipswich in the east; Stoke, Nottingham Forest or Derby in the Midlands – and many, many more. Theme: Sports Watching
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If you want to watch a game of football or soccer in England you will have plenty of choice as there are 92 professional teams in four leagues spread throughout the country. The structure of the leagues is a bit confusing, I can remember back to the days when it was simply Divisions 1, 2, 3 & 4, then live TV coverage came along and greed took over. The teams in the first division decided that they could command better prices for their live games so broke away from the rest of the leagues, formed the Premiership, and started negotiating their own sponsorship and TV deals. So then we had the Premiership, and divisions 1, 2 & 3. Shortly afterwards the new first division clubs decided that they wanted their own separate identity as well so they formed the Championship.
The upshot is that we now have the Barclays Premiership, the Coca-Cola Championship and a first and second division also sponsored by Coca-Cola. Teams are relegated and promoted within these leagues at the end of every season. The football season runs from August to the following April and includes both league and cup competitions. Prices will vary and if you are lucky enough to be able to get a ticket to watch say Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool in the Premiership you can expect to pay up to ?50-?60 a ticket. Prices in the lower leagues are likely to be in the ?15-?35 range.
Sitting just below the four professional leagues is the Nationwide Conference, which is the highest-rated of the non-professional leagues and has 66 teams. It consists of the main Conference division then two further divisions split up into Conference North and Conference South. This allows the lower clubs to cut down on their travelling costs. There is one team promoted from the Conference to the professional leagues each year and one team relegated down. Admission prices are likely to be in the ?8-?15 range.
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20 Leinster Gardens Bayswater, England
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on February 10, 2005
on August 27, 2008
on July 3, 2006
on January 16, 2004
on February 10, 2006
