Sport in Britain
Sport in Britain
Sport in Britain
Form 11 a
Sports play an important part in the life of Britain and is a popular leisure activity.
Many of the world's famous sports began in Britain, including cricket, football, lawn
tennis, golf and rugby.
British national sport is cricket although to many people football (soccer) is seen as an
national sport. Some of the British football teams are world famous, the most famous
being Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Cricket is played on village greens and in
towns/cities on Sundays from April to August.
Teams are made up of 11 players each. They
play with a ball slightly smaller than a baseball
and a bat shaped like a paddle. Two batters
stand in front of wickets, set about 20 meters
apart.
Each wicket consists of three wooden rods
(stumps) pushed into the ground, with two
small pieces of wood (bails) balanced on top. A
member of the opposing team (the bowler)
throws the ball towards one of the batters, who
must hit the ball so that it does not knock a bail
off the wicket.
If the ball travels far enough, the two batters
run back and forth between the wickets while
the fielders on the opposing team try to catch
the ball. The game is scored according to the
number of runs, which is the number of times
the batters exchange places.
Football is the most popular sport in England, and has
been played for hundreds of years.