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Êóðñîâàÿ: Sport in the UK
Êóðñîâàÿ: Sport in the UK
MOSCOW STATE TEACHER`S TRAINING UNIVERSITY
COURSE PAPER SPORT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Written by Varlamova Anna
group 301
Checked by Makhmuryan K.
MOSCOW 2001
CONTENTS · INTRODUCTION · THE MAIN PART
1. The social importance of sport
2. Football u Football pools
3. Rugby
4. Cricket
5. Animals in Sport
6. Racing
7. Gambling
8. Wimbledon
9. Other Sports
· CONCLUSION
· Questions
· The list of literature
INTRODUCTION
have I chosen such theme? Sport is supposed to be interesting
only for men, not for women. But I think it is a mistaken opinion. Sport is
one of the most amusing things in the world, because of fillings,
experiences, excitements connected with it. Particularly it is so when we
speak about the UK.
Think of your favorite sport. Whatever it is, there is good chance that it
was first played in Britain, and an even better chance that its modern rules
were first codified in this country.
Sport probably plays a more important part in people’s life in Britain than
it does in most other countries. For a very large number it is their main
form of entertainment. Millions take part in some kind of sport at least once
a week. Many millions more are regular spectators and follow one or more
sports. There are hours of televised sport each week. Every newspaper,
national or local, quality or popular, devotes several pages entirely to
sport.
The British are only rarely the best in the world at particular sports in
modern times. However, they are one of the best in the world in a much larger
number of different sports than any other country (British individualism at
work again). My course paper looks at the most publicized sports with the
largest followings. But it should be noted that hundreds of other sports are
played in Britain , each with its own small but enthusiastic following. Some
of these may not be seen as a sport at all by many people. For most people
with large gardens, for example, croquet is just an agreeable social pastime
for a sunny afternoon. But to a few, it is a deadly serious competition. The
same is true of the game such as indoor bowling, darts or snooker. Even board
games, the kind you buy in a shop, have their national championships. Think
of any pastime, however trivial, which involves some element of competition
and, somewhere in Britain, there is probably a ‘national association’ for it
which organized contents.
The British are so fond of competition that they even introduced it into
gardening. Many people indulge in an informal rivalry with their neighbors as
to who can grow the better flowers or vegetables. But the rivalry is
sometimes formalized. Though the country, there are competitions in which
gardeners enter their cabbage, leeks, onions, carrots or whatever in the hope
that they will be judged ‘the best’. There is a similar situation with
animal. There hundreds of dog and cat shows throughout the country at which
owners hope that their pet will win a prize. There are a lot of such specific
kinds of sport in the United Kingdom but I want to stop my thought on
consideration of more widespread.
THE MAIN PART
British are great lovers of competitive sports; and when they are neither
playing nor watching games they like to talk about them, or when they cannot
do that, to think about them. Modern sport in Britain is very different.
'Winning isn't everything' and 'it's only a game' are still well-known
sayings which reflect the amateur approach of the past. But to modern
professionals, sport is clearly not just a game. These days, top players in
any sport talk about having a 'professional attitude' and doing their 'job'
well, even if, officially, their sport is still an amateur one. The middle-
class origins of much British sport means that it began as an amateur pastime
- a leisure-time activity which nobody was paid for taking part in. Even in
football, which has been played on a professional basis since 1885, one of
the first teams to win the FA (Football Association) Cup was a team of
amateur players (the Corinthians). In many other sports there has been
resistance to professionalism. People thought it would spoil the sporting
spirit. May be they are right.
The social importance of sport
The importance of participation in sport has legal recognition in Britain.
Every local authority has a duty to provide and maintain playing fields and
other facilities, which are usually very cheap to use and sometimes even
free. Spectator sport is also a matter of official public concern. For
example, there is a law which prevents the television rights to the most
famous annual sporting occasions, such as the Cup Final and the Derby, being
sold exclusively to satellite channels, which most people cannot receive. In
these cases it seems to be the event, rather than the sport itself, which is
important. Every year the Boat Race and the Grand National are watched on
television by millions of people who have no great interest in rowing or
horse-racing. Over time, some events have developed a mystique which gives
them a higher status than the standard at which they are played deserves. In
modern times, for example, the standard of rugby at the annual Varsity Match
has been rather low - and yet it is always shown live on television.
Sometimes the traditions which accompany an event can seem as important as
the actual sporting contest. Wimbledon, for instance, is not just a tennis
tournament. It means summer fashions, strawberries and cream, garden parties
and long, warm English summer evenings. This reputation created a problem for
the event's organizers in 1993, when it was felt that security for players
had to be tightened. Because Wimbledon is essentially a middle-class event,
British tennis fans would never allow themselves to be treated like football
fans. Wimbledon with security fences, policemen on horses and other measures
to keep fans off the court? It just wouldn't be Wimbledon!
The long history of such events has meant that many of them, and their
venues, have become world-famous. Therefore, it is not only the British who
tune in to watch. The Grand National, for example, attracts a television
audience of 300 million. This worldwide enthusiasm has little to do with the
standard of British sport. The cup finals of other countries often have
better quality and more entertaining football on view - but more Europeans
watch the English Cup Final than any other. The standard of British tennis is
poor, and Wimbledon is only one of the world's major tournaments. But if you
ask any top tennis player, you find that Wimbledon is the one they really
want to win. Every footballer in the world dreams of playing at Wembley,
every cricketer in the world of playing at Lord's. Wimbledon, Wembley and
Lord's are the 'spiritual homes' of their respective sports. Sport is a
British export!
There are a lot of sports in Britain today and of course, there is no use in
considering all of them. I try to make a short review of the most famous in
the world on the one hand and unusual sports on the other hand. And the first
one is the most popular game in the world:
Football
Football is the most popular team game in Britain. The British invented it and
it has spread to every corner of the world. There is no British team.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete separately in European
and World Cup matches. The English and Welsh clubs have together formed a
League with four divisions. The Scottish League has three divisions. The
champions of the English First Division, and the Scottish Premier Division
qualify to play in the European Cup competition.
British football has traditionally drawn its main following from the working
class. In general, the intelligentsia ignored it. But in the last two decades
of the twentieth century, it has started to attract wider interest. The
appearance of fanzines is an indication of this. Fanzines are magazines
written in an informal but often highly intelligent and witty style,
published by the fans of some of the clubs. One or two books of literary
merit have been written which focus not only on players, teams and tactics
but also on the wider social aspects of the game. Light-hearted football
programmes have appeared on television which similarly give attention to
'off-the-field' matters. There has also been much academic interest. At the
1990 World Cup there was a joke among English fans that it was impossible to
find a hotel room because they had all been taken by sociologists!
Many team sports in Britain, but especially football, tend to be men-only,
'tribal' affairs. In the USA, the whole family goes to watch the baseball.
Similarly, the whole family goes along to cheer the Irish national football
team. But in Britain, only a handful of children or women go to football
matches. Perhaps this is why active support for local teams has had a
tendency to become violent. During the 1970s and 1980s football hooliganism
was a major problem in England. In the 1990s, however, it seemed to be on the
decline. English fans visiting Europe are now no worse in their behavior than
the fans of many other countries.
For the great mass of the British public the eight months of the football
season are more important than the four months of cricket. There are plenty
of amateur association football (or 'soccer') clubs, and professional
football is big business. The annual Cup Final match, between the two teams
which have defeated their opponents in each round of a knock-out contest,
dominates the scene; the regular 'league' games, organised in four divisions,
provide the main entertainment through the season and the basis for the vast
system of betting on the football pools. Many of the graffiti on public walls
are aggressive statements of support for football teams, and the hooliganism
of some British supporters has become notorious outside as well as inside
Britain.
Football has been called the most popular game in the world, and it certainly
has a great many fans in Britain. And now I want to mention the English
terminology for football.
Association football (or soccer) is the game that is played in nearly all
countries. A team is composed of a goalkeeper, two backs, three half-backs
and five forwards.
Association football remains one of the most popular games played in the
British Isles. Every Saturday from late August until the beginning of May,
large crowds of people support their sides in football grounds up and down
the country, while an almost equally large number of people play the game in
clubs teams of every imaginable variety and level of skill. Over the last 20
years though, the attendance at football matches has fallen away sharply.
This is because of changing lifestyles and football hooligans about I have
already written but I want to add that violence at and near the football
grounds increased, there was an ever-increasing tendency for people to stay
away, leaving the grounds to football fans.
After serious disturbances involving English supporters at the European Cup
Finals in Brussels in 1985 which led to the deaths of 38 spectators, English
clubs were withdrawn from European competitions for the 1985-1986 season by
the Football Association. The Cup Final at Wembley remains, though, an event
of national importance. Here is a drawing of a football field, or "pitch",
as it is usually called.
The football pitch should be between 100 and 130 metres long and between 50 and
100 metres wide. It is divided into two halves by the halfway line. The sides
of the field are called the touch-lines and the ends are called the goal-lines.
In the middle of the field there is a centre circle and there is a goal at each
end. Each goal is 8 metres wide and between 21/2
and 3 metres high. In front of each goal is the goal area and the penalty area.
There is a penalty spot inside the penalty area and a penalty arc outside it. A
game of football usually lasts for one and a half hours. At half-time, the
teams change ends. The referee controls the game. The aim of each team is
obviously to score as many goals as possible. If both teams score the same
number of goals, or if neither team scores any goals at all, the result is a
draw.
The final of the football competition takes place every May at the famous
Wembley stadium in London. Some of the best known clubs in England are
Manchester United, Liverpool and the Arsenal. In Scotland either Rangers,
Celtic or Aberdeen usually win the cup or the championship.
Today, many people are only interested in football because of the pools and
the chance of winning a lot of money.
Football pools
"Doing the pools" is a popular form of betting on football results each week.
It is possible to win more than half a million pounds for a few pence.
The English have never been against a gamble though most of them know where
to draw the line and wisely refrain from betting too often. Since the war the
most popular form of gambling is no doubt that of staking a small sum on the
football pools. (The word "pool" is connected with the picture of streams of
money pouring into a common fund, or "pool" from which the winners are paid
after the firm has taken its expenses and profit.) Those who do so receive
every week from one of the pools firms a printed form; on this are listed the
week's matches. Against each match, or against a number of them, the
optimist puts down a I, a 2 or an x to show that he thinks the result of the
match will be a home win (stake on fun’s team), an away win (stake on a team
of opponent) or a draw. The form is then posted to the pools firm, with a
postal order or cheque for the sum staked (or, as the firms say, "invested").
At the end of the week the results of the matches are announced on television
and published in the newspapers and the "investor" can take out his copy of
his coupon and check his forecast.
Rugby
There is another game called rugby football, so called because it originated
at Rugby, a well-known English public school. In this game the players may
carry the ball. Rugby football (or 'rugger') is played with an egg-shaped
ball, which may be carried and thrown (but not forward). The ball is passed
from hand to hand rather than from foot to foot. If a player is carrying the
ball he may be 'tackled' and made to fall down. Each team has fifteen
players, who spend a lot of time lying in the mud or on top of each other and
become very dirty, but do not need to wear such heavily protective clothing
as players of American football.
There are two forms of rugby - Rugby Union, which is strictly amateur, and
Rugby League, played largely in the north, which is a professional sport.
Rugby Union has fifteen players, while Rugby League has thirteen, but the two
games are basically the same. They are so similar that somebody who is good
at one of them can quickly learn to become good at the other. The real
difference between them is a matter of social history. Rugby union is the
older of the two. In the nineteenth century it was enthusiastically taken up
by most of Britain's public schools. Rugby league split off from rugby union
at the end of the century. There are two versions of this fast and aggressive
ball game: rugby union and rugby league. Although it has now spread to many
of the same places in the world where rugby union is played (rugby union is
played at top level in the British Isles, France, Australia, South Africa and
New Zealand; also to a high level in North America, Argentina, Romania and
some Pacific islands). Rugby can be considered the 'national sport' of Wales,
New Zealand, Fiji, Western Samoa and Tonga, and of South African whites. Its
traditional home is among the working class of the north of England, where it
was a way for miners and factory workers to make a little bit of extra money
from their sporting talents. Unlike rugby union, it has always been a
professional sport.
Because of these social origins, rugby league in Britain is seen as a working
class sport, while rugby union is mainly for the middle classes. Except in
south Wales. There, rugby union is a sport for all classes, and more popular
than football. In Wales, the phrase 'international day' means only one thing
— that the national rugby team are playing. Since 1970, some of the best
Welsh players have been persuaded to 'change codes'. They are 'bought' by one
of the big rugby league clubs, where they can make a lot of money. Whenever
this happens it is seen as a national disaster among the Welsh.
Rugby union has had some success in recent years in selling itself to a wider
audience. As a result, just as football has become less exclusively working
class in character, rugby union has become less exclusively middle class. In
1995- it finally abandoned amateurism. In fact, the amateur status of top
rugby union players had already become meaningless. They didn't get paid a
salary or fee for playing, but they received large 'expenses' as well as
various publicity contracts and paid speaking engagements.
Cricket
The game particularly associated with England is cricket. Judging by the numbers
of people who play it and watch it (ê look at ‘Spectator attendance
at major sports’), cricket is definitely not the national sport of Britain.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, interest in it is largely confined to
the middle classes. Only in England and a small part of Wales is it played at
top level. And even in England, where its enthusiasts come from all classes,
the majority of the population do not understand its rules. Moreover, it is
rare for the English national team to be the best in the world.
Cricket is, therefore, the national English game in a symbolic sense.
However, to some people cricket is more than just a symbol. The comparatively
low attendance at top class matches does not give a true picture of the level
of interest in the country. One game of cricket takes a terribly long time,
which a lot of people simply don't have to spare. Eleven players in each
team. Test matches between national teams can last up to five days of six
hours each. Top club teams play matches lasting between two and four days.
There are also one-day matches lasting about seven hours. In fact there are
millions of people in the country who don't just enjoy cricket but are
passionate about it! These people spend up to thirty days each summer tuned
to the live radio commentary of ‘Test’ (= international) Matches. When they
get the chance, they watch a bit of the live television coverage. Some people
even do both at the same time (they turn the sound down on the television and
listen to the radio). To these people, the commentators become well-loved
figures. When, in 1994, one famous commentator died, the Prime Minister
lamented that 'summers will never: be the same again'. And if cricket fans
are too busy to listen to the radio commentary, they can always phone a
special number to be given the latest score!
Many other games which are English in origin have been adopted with
enthusiasm all over the world, but cricket has been seriously and extensively
adopted only in the former British empire, particularly in Australia, New
Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies and South Africa. Do you
know how to play cricket? If you don't live in these countries you won't
learn it at school. English people love cricket. Summer isn't summer without
it. Even if you do not understand the rules, it is attractive to watch the
players, dressed in white playing on the beautiful green cricket fields.
Every Sunday morning from May to the end of September many Englishmen get up
very early, and take a lot of sandwiches with them. It is necessary because
the games are very long. Games between two village teams last for only one
afternoon. Games between counties last for three days, with 6 hours play on
each day. When England plays with one or other cricketing countries such as
Australia and New Zealand it is called a test match and lasts for five days.
Cricket is played in schools, colleges and universities and in most towns and
villages by teams which play weekly games. Test matches with other cricketing
countries are held annually.
Cricket is also played by women and girls. The governing body is Women's
Cricket Association, founded in 1926. Women's cricket clubs have regular
weekend games. Test matches and other international matches take place. The
women's World Cup is held every four years. But There is The Marylebone
Cricket Club (MCC) and Lord's cricket ground in the United Kingdom. The MCC
was founded in 1787, and is still the most important authority on cricket in
the world. As a club it is exclusively male. No woman is allowed to enter the
club buildings. There are special stands for members and their wives and
quests.
Organised amateur cricket is played between club teams, mainly on Saturday
afternoons. Nearly every village, except in the far north, has its cricket
club, and there must be few places in which the popular image of England, as
sentimentalists like to think of it, is so clearly seen as on a village
cricket field. A first-class match between English counties lasts for up to
three days, with six hours play on each day. The game is slow, and a
spectator, sitting in the afternoon sun after a lunch of sandwiches and beer,
may be excused for having a little sleep for half an hour.
When people refer to cricket as the English national game, they are not
thinking so much of its level of popularity or of the standard of English
players but more of the very English associations that it carries with it.
Cricket is much more than just a sport; it symbolizes a way of life - a slow
and peaceful rural way of life. Cricket is associated with long sunny summer
afternoons, the smell of new-mown grass and the sound of leather (the ball)
connecting with willow (the wood from which cricket bats are made). Cricket
is special because it combines competition with the British dream of rural
life. Cricket is what the village green is for! As if to emphasize the rural
connection, ‘first class’ cricket teams in England, unlike teams in other
sports, do not bear the names of towns but of counties (Essex and Yorkshire,
for example).
ANIMALS IN SPORT
Traditionally, the favourite sports of the British upper class are hunting,
shooting and fishing. The most widespread form of hunting is foxhunting —
indeed, that is what the word ‘hunting’ usually means in Britain.
Foxhunting works like this. A group of people on horses, dressed in eighteenth
century riding clothes, ride around with a pack of dogs. When the dogs pick up
the scent of a fox, somebody blows a horn and then dogs, horses and riders all
chase the fox. Often the fox gets away, but if not, the dogs get to it before
the hunters and tear it to pieces. As you might guess in a country of
animal-lovers, where most people have little experience of the harsher
realities of nature, foxhunting is strongly opposed by some people. The League
Against Cruel Sports wants it made illegal and the campaign has been steadily
intensifying. There are sometimes violent encounters between foxhunters and
protestors (whom the hunters call 'saboteurs').Foxhunting is a popular pastime
among some members of the higher social classes and a few people from lower
social classes, who often see their participation as a mark of newly won
status. The hunting of foxes is sport associated through the centuries with
ownership of land. The hounds chase the fox, followed by people riding horses,
wearing red or black coats and conforming with various rules and customs. In a
few hill areas stags are hunted similarly. Both these types of hunting are
enjoyed mainly by people who can afford the cost of keeping horses and carrying
them to hunt meetings in 'horse boxes', or trailer vans. Both, particularly
stag-hunting, are opposed by people who condemn the cruelty involved in chasing
and killing frightened animals. There have been attempts to persuade Parliament
to pass laws to forbid hunting, but none has been successful. There is no law
about hunting foxes, but there is a fox-hunting seasons – from November to
March.
Killing birds with guns is known as 'shooting' in Britain. It is a
minority pastime confined largely to the higher social classes; there are more
than three times as many licensed guns for this purpose in France as there are
in Britain. The birds which people try to shoot (such as grouse) may only be
shot during certain specified times of the year. The upper classes often
organize 'shooting parties' during the 'season'. The British do not shoot small
animals or birds for sport, though some farmers who shoot rabbits or pigeons
may enjoy doing so. But 'game birds', mainly pheasant, grouse and partridge,
have traditionally provided sport for the landowning gentry. Until Labour's
election victory of 1964 many of the prime ministers of the past two hundred
years, along with members of their cabinets, had gone to the grouse moors of
Scotland or the Pennines for the opening of the shooting season on 12 August.
Since 1964 all that has changed. Now there are not many leading British
politicians carrying guns in the shooting parties, though there may be foreign
millionaires, not all of them from America. Some of the beaters, whose job is
to disturb the grouse so that they fly up to be shot, are students earning
money to pay for trips abroad. But there is still a race to send the first shot
grouse to London restaurants, where there are people happy to pay huge amounts
of money for the privilege of eating them.
The only kind of hunting which is associated with the working class is
hare-coursing, in which greyhound dogs chase hares. However, because the
vast majority of people in Britain are urban dwellers, this too is a minority
activity.
The one kind of ‘hunting’ which is popular among all social classes is
fishing. In fact, this is the most popular participatory sport of all in
Britain. Between four and five million people go fishing regularly. When
fishing is done competitively, it is called ‘angling’. The most popular of all
outdoor sports is fishing, from the banks of lakes or rivers or in the sea,
from jetties, rocks or beaches. Some British lakes and rivers are famous for
their trout or salmon, and attract enthusiasts from all over the world.
Apart from being hunted, another way in which animals are used in sport is
when they race. Horse-racing is a long-established and popular sport in
Britain, both ‘flat racing’ and ‘national hunt’ racing (where there are jumps
for the horses), sometimes known as ‘steeplechase’. The former became known
as 'the sport of kings' in the seventeenth century, and modern British
royalty has close connections with sport involving horses. Some members of
the royal family own racehorses and attend certain annual race meetings
(Ascot, for example); some are also active participants in the sports of polo
and show-jumping (both of which involve riding a horse). The steeplechase
(crosscountry running) is very popular in most European countries. The first
known organized crosscountry race in 1837 was the Crick Run at Rugby School.
Originally, crosscountry running took place over open country where the
hazards were the natural ones to be found in the country. These included
hedges, ditches, streams and the like. Schools and some clubs still run over
open country. Sometimes, however, the competitors run off the course as, on
one occasion, happened to all the runners in a race. Because of this, the
organization of these races has to be very strict. Nowadays, crosscountry
races (or steeplechases) are often run in an enclosed area where the hazards
are artificial. This makes organization easier.
The chief attraction of horse-racing for most people is the opportunity it
provides for gambling (see below). Greyhound racing, although declining, is
still popular for the same reason. In this sport, the dogs chase a mechanical
hare round a racetrack. It is easier to organize than horse-racing and ‘the
dogs’ has the reputation of being the ‘poor man's racing’. Greyhound racing
has had a remarkable revival in the 1980s, and by 1988 it accounted for about
a quarter of all gambling. Its stadiums are near town centres, small enough
to be floodlit in the evenings. Until recently the spectators were mostly
male and poor, the surroundings shabby. The 1980s have changed all this, with
the growth of commercial sponsorship for advertising. There are fewer
stadiums and fewer spectators than in 1970, but the old cloth cap image has
become much less appropriate. But one thing has not changed. The elite of
Britain's dogs, and their trainers, mostly come from Ireland.
INFORMATION:
Famous (horse) race meetings
The Grand National: at Aintree, near Liverpool, in March or April It is
England's main steeplechase (race over fences). The course is over seven
kilometres and includes thirty jumps, of which fourteen are jumped twice. It is
a dangerous race Jockeys have been hurt and horses have been killed.
The Derby: at Epsom, south of London, in May or June. It is England's
leading flat race (not over fences).
Ascot: near Windsor in June. Very fashionable. The Queen always attends.
As I have mentioned horse-racing, I think it will be good to draw attention
to racing in hole.
RACING
There are all kinds of racing in England — horse-racing, motorcar racing,
boat-racing, dog-racing, and even races for donkeys. On sports days at school
boys and girls run races, and even train for them. There is usually a mile
race for older boys, and the one who wins it is certainly a good runner.
Usually those who run a race go as fast as possible, but there are some races
in which everybody has to go very carefully in order to avoid falling.
There is the "three-legged" race, for example, in which a pair of runners
have the right leg of one tied to the left leg of the other. If they try to
go too fast they are certain to fall. And there is the egg-and-spoon race, in
which each runner must carry an egg in a spoon without letting it drop. If
the egg does fall, it must be picked up with the spoon, not the fingers.
Naturally animals don't race unless they are made to run in some way, though
it often seems as if little lambs are running races with each other in the
fields in spring.
Horses are ridden, of course. Dogs won't race unless they have something to
chase, and so they are given a hare to go after, either a real one or an
imitation one.
The most famous boat-race in England is between Oxford and Cambridge. It is
rowed over a course on the River Thames, and thousands of people go to watch
it. The eight rowers in each boat have great struggle, and at the end there
is usually only a short distance between the winners and the losers.
The University boat-race started in 1820 and has been rowed on the Thames
almost every spring since 1836. At the Henly Regatta in Oxfordshire, founded
in 1839, crews from all over the world compete each July in various kinds of
race over a straight course of 1 mile 550 yards (about 2.1 km).
Horse racing is big business, along with the betting which sustains it. Every
day of the year, except Sundays, there is a race meeting at least one of
Britain's several dozen racecourses. Nine-tenths of the betting is done by
people all over the country, by post or at local betting shops, and it is
estimated that a tenth of all British men bet regularly on horse races, many
of them never going to a race course.
Horse racing accounts for about half of all gambling, dog racing for a
quarter (after increasing by 27 per cent in 1987-88). The total gambling
expenditure is estimated at over three billion pounds a year, or nearly 1 per
cent of the gross domestic product - though those who bet get about three-
quarters of their stake back in winnings. There is no national lottery,
though premium bonds are a form of national savings, with monthly prizes
instead of interest. About half of all households bet regularly on the
football pools, although half of the money staked is divided between the
state, through taxes, and the operators. People are attracted by the hope of
winning huge prizes, but some winners become miserable with their sudden
unaccustomed wealth. Bingo sessions, often in old cinemas, are attractive
mainly to women, and have a good social element. More popular are the slot
machines in establishments described as 'amusement arcades'. There has been
some worry about the addiction of young people to this form of gambling,
which can lead to theft.
Gambling
Even if they are not taking part or watching, British people like to be
involved in sport. They can do this by placing bets on future results.
Gambling is widespread throughout all social classes. It is so basic to sport
that the word 'sportsman' used to be a synonym for 'gambler'.
When, in 1993, the starting procedure for the Grand National did not work
properly, so that the race could not take place, it was widely regarded as a
national disaster. The £70 million which had been gambled on the result
(that's more than a pound for each man, woman and child in the country!) all
had to be given back.
Every year, billions of pounds are bet on horse races. So well-known is this
activity that everybody in the country, even those with no interest in horse-
racing, would understand the meaning of a question such as 'who won the 2.30
at Chester?' (Which horse won the race that was scheduled to take place at
half past two today at the Chester racecourse? The questioner probably wants
to know because he or she has gambled some money on the result.) The central
role of horse-racing in gambling is also shown by one of the names used to
denote companies and individuals whose business it is to take bets. Although
these are generally known as 'bookmakers', they sometimes call themselves
'turf accountants' ('turf is a word for ground where grass grows);
Apart from the horses and the dogs, the most popular form of gambling
connected with sports is the football pools. Every week, more than ten
million people stake a small sum on the results of Saturday's professional
matches. Another popular type of gambling, stereotypically for middle-aged
working class women, is bingo.
Nonconformist religious groups traditionally frown upon gambling and their
disapproval has had some influence. Perhaps this is why Britain did not have a
national lottery until 1994. But if people want to gamble, then they will. For
instance, before the national lottery started, the British gambled
£250,000 on which company would be given the licence to run it! The
country's big bookmakers are willing to offer odds on almost anything at all if
asked. Who will be the next Labour party leader? Will it rain during the
Wimbledon tennis tournament? Will it snow on Christmas Day? All of these offer
opportunities for 'a flutter'.
Apropos of the Wimbledon tennis tournament: Wimbledon is a place to which
every tennis-player aspire. And I want to write some words about it.
WIMBLEDON
People all over the world know Wimbledon as the centre of lawn tennis. But
most people do not know that it was famous for another game before tennis was
invented. Wimbledon is now a part of Greater London. In 1874 it was a country
village, but it had a railway station and it was the home of the All-England
Croquet Club. The Club had been there since 1864. A lot of people played
croquet in England at that time and enjoyed it, but the national
championships did not attract many spectators. So the Club had very little
money, and the members were looking for ways of getting some. "This new game
of lawn tennis seems to have plenty of action, and people like watching it,"
they thought. "Shall we allow people to play lawn tennis on some of our
beautiful croquet lawns?"
In 1875 they changed the name of the Club to the "All-England Lawn Tennis and
Croquet Club", and that is the name that you will still find in the telephone
book. Two years later, in 1877, Wimbledon held the first world lawn tennis
championship (men's singles).3 The winner was S. W. Gore, a
Londoner. There were 22 players, and 200 spectators, each paid one shilling.
Those who watched were dressed in the very latest fashion — the men in hard top
hats and long coats, and the ladies in dresses that reached to the ground! The
Club gained £ 10. It was saved. Wimbledon grew. There was some surprise
and doubt, of course, when the Club allowed women to play in the first women's
singles championship in 1884. But the ladies played well—even in long skirts
that hid their legs and feet.
The Wimbledon championships begin on the Monday nearest to June 22, at a time
when England often has its finest weather. It is not only because of the
tennis that people like to go there. When the weather is good, it is a very
pleasant place to spend an afternoon. The grass is fresh and green, the
players wear beautiful white clothes, the spectators are dressed in the
latest fashion, there may be members of the Royal Family among them, and
there are cool drinks in the open-air cafes next to the tennis courts.
Millions of people watch the championships on television.
OTHER SPORTS
Almost every sport which exists is played in Britain. As well as the sports
already mentioned, hockey (mostly on a field but also on ice) is quite
popular, and both basketball (for men) and netball (for women) are growing in
popularity. So too is the ancient game of rounders.
Rounders
This sport is rather similar to American baseball and ancient Russian lapta,
but it certainly does not have the same image. It has a long history in
England as something that people (young and old, male and female) can play
together at village fetes. It is often seen as not being a proper ‘sport’.
However, despite this image, it has recently become the second most popular
sport for state schools in Britain. More traditional sports such as cricket
and rugby are being abandoned in favour of rounders, which is much easier to
organize. Rounders requires less special equipment, less money and boys and
girls can play it together. It also takes up less time. It is especially
attractive for state schools with little money and time to spare. More than a
quarter of all state-school sports fields are now used for rounders. Only
football, which is played on nearly half of all state-school fields, is more
popular.
The British have a preference for team games. Individual sports such as
athletics, cycling, gymnastics and swimming have comparatively small
followings. Large numbers of people become interested in them only when British
competitors do well in international events. The more popular individual sports
are those in which socializing is an important aspect (such as tennis, golf,
sailing and snooker). It is notable in this context that, apart from
international competitions, the only athletics event which generates a lot of
enthusiasm is the annual London Marathon. Most of the tens of thousands of
participants in this race are 'fun runners' who are merely trying to complete
it, sometimes in outrageous costumes, and so collect money for charity. The
biggest new development in sport has been with long-distance running.
'Jogging', for healthy outdoor exercise, needing no skill or equipment,
became popular in the 1970s, and soon more and more people took it seriously.
Now the annual London Marathon is like a carnival, with a million people
watching as the world's star runners are followed by 25,000 ordinary people
trying to complete the course. Most of them succeed and then collect money from
supporters for charitable causes. Many thousands of people take part in local
marathons all over Britain.
The Highland Games
Scottish Highland Games, at which sports (including tossing the caber,
putting the weight and throwing the hammer), dancing and piping competitions
take place, attract large numbers of spectators from all over the world.
These meetings are held every year in different places in the Scottish
Highlands. They include the clans led by their pipers, dressed in their
kilts, tartan plaids, and plumed bonnets, who march round the arena.
The features common to Highland Games are bagpipe and Highland dancing
competitions and the performance of heavy athletic events — some of which,
such as tossing the caber, are Highland in origin. All competitors wear
Highland dress, as do most of the judges. The games take place in a large
roped-off arena. Several events take place at the same time: pipers and
dancers perform on a platform; athletes toss the caber, put the weight, throw
the hammer, and wrestle. There is also a competition for the best-dressed
Highlander.
Highland dancing is performed to bagpipe music, by men and women, such as the
Sword Dance and the Reel.
No one knows exactly when the men of the Highlands first gathered to wrestle,
toss cabers, throw hammers, put weights, dance and play music. The Games
reflected the tough life of the early Scots. Muscle-power was their means of
livelihood — handling timber, lifting rocks to build houses, hunting. From
such activities have developed the contests of tossing the caber, putting the
weight and throwing the hammer. Tossing the caber originated among woodmen
who wanted to cast their logs into the deepest part of a river. Tossing the
caber is not a question of who can throw it farthest. For a perfect throw the
caber must land in the 12-o'clock position after being thrown in a vertical
semicircle. The caber is a very heavy and long log..
Conker Contest and British Marbles Championship
Every year, usually on the Wednesday nearest to 20th October, about a hundred
competitors gather to take part in the annual conker competition in a chosen
place. The conkers are collected by children from an avenue of chestnut
trees. The conkers are carefully examined and numbered on their flat sides,
then bored and threaded on nylon cord. Each competitor is allowed an agreed
number of "strikes", and a referee is present to see fair play. There are
prizes for winners and runners-up. The contest usually starts at about 7 p.
m.
It is said that in Elizabethan times two suitors for a village beauty settled
the matter by means of a marbles contest. What is now the Marble Championship
is believed to be a survival of that contest. The game of marbles dates back to
Roman times. Teams of six compete on a circular, sanded rink. Forty-nine
marbles are placed in the centre of the rink, and the players try to knock out
4 as many as possible with their marble. The marble is rested on the index
finger and flicked5 with the thumb. The two highest individual
scores battle for the championship with only thirteen marbles on the rink.
Similar contests are now held in some other English-speaking countries.
INFORMATION
The well-known sporting events
The Boat Race: (between Oxford and Cambridge universities), on the River Thames
in London at Easter. The course is over seven kilometres. Oxford have won 64
times, Cambridge 69 times.
The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament: in July, at Wimbledon, south London, regarded
by many tennis players as the most important championship to win. There is great
public interest in the tournament. Many tennis fans queue all night outside the
grounds in order to get tickets for the finals.
The Open Golf Championship: golf was invented by the Scots, and its headquarters
is at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, St. Andrews, Scotland.
Henley (Rowing) Regatta: at Henley on the Thames (between London and Oxford).
An international summer event. It is a fashionable occasion.
Cowes Week: a yachting regatta. Cowes is a small town on the Isle of Wight,
opposite Southampton, and a world-famous yachting centre.
CONCLUSION
At the end of my course paper I want to make a short review of what I have
already written and write what I haven’t written.
Many kinds of sport originated from England. The English have a proverb, "All
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." They do not think that play is more
important than work; they think that Jack will do his work better if he plays
as well, so he is encouraged to do both. Association football, or soccer is
one of the most popular games in the British Isles played from late August
until the beginning of May. In summer the English national sport is cricket.
When the English say: 'that's not cricket' it means 'that's not fair', 'to
play the game' means 'to be fair'.
Golf is Scotland's chief contribution to British sport. It is worth noting
here an interesting feature of sporting life in Britain, namely, its
frequently close connection with social class of the players or spectators
except where a game may be said to be a "national" sport. This is the case
with cricket in England which is played and watched by all classes. This is
true of golf, which is everywhere in the British Isles a middle-class
activity. Rugby Union, the amateur variety of Rugby football, is the Welsh
national sport played by all sections of society whereas, elsewhere, it too
is a game for the middle classes. Association football is a working-class
sport as are boxing, wrestling, snooker, darts and dog-racing. As far as
fishing is concerned it is, apart from being the most popular British sport
from the angle of the number of active participants, a sport where what is
caught determines the class of a fisherman. If it is a salmon or trout it is
upper-class, but if it is the sort offish found in canals, ponds or the sea,
then the angler is almost sure to be working-class.
Walking and swimming are the two most popular sporting activities, being
almost equally undertaken by men and women. Snooker (billiards), pool and
darts are the next most popular sports among men. Aerobics (keep-fit
exercises) and yoga, squash and cycling are among the sports where
participation has been increasing in recent years.
There are several places in Britain associated with a particular kind of
sport. One of them is Wimbledon — a suburb to the south of London where the
All-England Lawn Tennis Championships are held in July (since 1877). The
finals of the tournament are played on the Centre Court. The other one is
Wembley — a stadium in north London where international football matches, the
Cup Finals and other events have taken place since 1923. It can hold over
100,000 spectators. The third one is Derby, the most famous flat race in the
English racing calendar, it is run at Epsom near London since 1780.
Having written my course paper I think that I have proved sport’s deserving
attention. Especially sport is a very interesting theme concerning the United
Kingdom. Of course, I couldn’t illustrate all Britain sports, but which I
still do reflect Britain’s life with all contradictory combinations. Both
life is calm and exciting, and sport is calm with golf’s followers and
exciting with football’s fans.
QUESTIONS
1. Which is the English summer national sport?
2. Which kinds of sport can you name in English?
3. Which game can be called the most popular game in the world?
4. How many players are there in a football team?
5. What has given British football a bad name recently?
6. What is a football pool?
7. Football is played chiefly with the feet. What about rugby?
8. How do Rugby Union and Rugby League differ from each other?
9. What is called a test match in cricket?
10. Which place in Britain is associated with lawn tennis championships?
11. Which place in Britain is associated with a yachting regatta?
12. Which famous horse-race meetings does the Queen call on?
13. What kinds of racing do you know?
14. What events take place at Scottish Highland Games?
15. Where is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club located?
16. What was about half of all money bet on in 1993?
17. What is a ‘conker’?
18. What is ‘jogging’?
19. What is more important in sports: the ability to win a victory or the
ability to lose without anger; absolute fairness or physical power?
20. What English idioms which have come from the world of sport do you know?
21.
THE LIST OF LITERATURE
1. Ïðèëîæåíèå ê ãàçåòå «1 ñåíòÿáðÿ» «English»// «Football, made in
Britain, loved by the world», 2001, ¹13, p.2
2. Britain in Brief, Ïðîñâåùåíèå, 1993
3. Peter Bromhead «Life in Modern Britain», Longman, 1997
4. James O’Driscoll «Britain. The country and its people», Oxford
University Press, 1997
5. David McDowall «Britain in close-up», Longman, 2000
6. Satinova V.F. «Read and speak about Britain and the British», Minsk, 1997
7. Material from the site: www.scotland.com
THE LIST OF LITERATURE
1. Levashova V.A. «Britain today»
2. David McDowall «Britain in close-up», Longman, 2000
3. Oshepkova V.V., Shustilova I. I. «Britain in brief»
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