. Үстірт орта мектебі

Sports in Great Britain

дайындаған: Жаулыев Шоқан


Бейнеу, 2011-2012

Contents.

1. Introduction: Some people thoughts of mine on the place of sport in
human life and how the attitude to sports should be
fostered in people. What makes sports attractive? …….....…………… 4

2. The main part: Sports in everyday life of the British and sport as a
national obsession. ………………………………………………….. 5
3. Sports played in Britain traditionally and nowadays:
• Football ……………………………………………………………………7
• Rugby ... ……………………………………………………………… 8
• Golf …………………………………………………………………… 8
• Cricket ……………………………………………………………………9
• Horse racing …………………………………………………………………10
4. What else we can call “sports” in Great Britain:
• Hunting, shooting, fishing ………………………………………………… 11
• Fitness, cycling, athletics ………………………………………………… 11
• Gambling, rounders and such …………………………………………………12
5. Big sporting events in Great Britain. ………………………………………14
6. Conclusion. ……………………………………… 16
7. The list of literature used. ……………………………………….17

Introduction.

We all are involved in sports somehow: some people are more, and some are less. Some go to fitness clubs, two or even three times a week and then play football twice and do tennis on Sundays. Some only watch football matches on TV and … maybe figure skating once a year, because it is just very beautiful.
There are families where “sports” is something very natural: children look at their parents and see them going to fitness clubs during a week and playing football or cycling at the weekend. In summer the whole family goes to the countryside to fish, for example, and in winter – to mountain-ski or snowboard, or skate. It’s much better than parents who just sit at home in front of TVs, smoking and drinking alcohol. People who don’t see the examples of healthy way of life in their own families are much less likely to lead such way of life when they grow up.
Talking about the importance of sport, needless to say that people’s opinion of sport as something developing only physical abilities of a human being is a mistake one. I suppose everybody who has ever been into any kind of sport for a long time, had a chance to notice that not only his/her physical health grew better but the inside started to change as well. So, sport teaches us to be strong, self possessed, resilient.
Life is a game: sometimes we win, sometimes we lose and we should learn both: learn to win and accumulate the results of the success properly: learn to lose and do it with dignity without stupid whining and anger.
Doing sports we don’t only improve our physical health and shape. We also improve from inside and with time become stronger and more confident, and noble. This is another thing that makes sport attractive for me.

The main part.

As mentioned in the introduction, most people are into sports, both as doers and spectators. This is particularly true for Great Britain: people there are considered to be great sport lovers. The sport-loving spirit is at work everywhere in this country and is shown in many parts of life of the British which are not connected with sports at all. The British are the nation where the competitive spirit of team games is combined with traditional english individualism in such a peculiar way that it makes a national character!

Some historical points.

Think of your favourite sport. Whatever it is, there is a good chance that it was first played in Britain, and an even better chance that its modern rules were first confide in Britain. The public schools of the Victorian era believed that organized competitive games had many psychological benefits. These games appealed to, and developed, the British sense of “fair play”. You had to be a “good loser”. To be a cheat was shameful, but to lose was just a “part of the game”. Team games were best, because they developed “team spirit”. What is also interesting about the history of British sports is the concept of “gentlemen” and “players”.
The middle class origins of much British sport means that it began as an amateuer pastime – a leisure-time activity which nobody was paid for talking part in. Even in football. In many other sports there has been resistance to professionalism. People thought it would spoil the sporting spirit.
Modern sport in Britain is very different. “Winning isn’t everything” and “it’s only a game” are still well-known saying which reflect the amateuer approach of the past. But to modern professionals, sport is clearly not just a game. Nowadays top players in any sport talking out
having a “professional attitude” and doing their “job” well, even if their sport is still an amateuer one. Nevertheless the public school enthusiasm for sport and the importance placed on simply taking part has had a lasting influence on the nature and role of sport in Britain today. Even the “first class” cricketers are all professionals.

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 can not receive. In these cases it seems to be the event rather than the sport itself, which is important.
Sometimes the traditions which accompany an event can seem as important as the actual sporting contest. Wimbledon isn’t just a tennis tournament. It means summer fashions, strawberries and cream, garden parties and warm, long English summer evenings. 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. 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. You can find that Wimbledon is the one they really want to win. And every footballer in the world dreams of playing at Wembley, every cricketer in the world – of playing at Lord’s. So “Wimbledon”, “Wembley” and Lord’s are the “spiritual homes” of their respective sports. Sport is a British export!
We can see that sport accompanies a person in the UK through the whole life starting from the very young age. Sport is very important part of child’s education in Britain, and it is on the program of all state and private schools and universities. In the UK nearly all schools have sports grounds and swimming pools. As it has already been mentioned, sport in British schools is a part of moral education. Team games in particular encourage such social qualities as enthusiasm, cooperation, loyalty and unselfishness.
When British grow up and even don’t become involved in any sports, they remain a kind of sport admirers. They knight their best footballers and cricketers, try not to miss a day of Wimbledon TV shows and call a special phone number gives the latest score during international cricket matches.

Sports played in Britain traditionally and nowadays.

Football.

The most popular spectator sport in Britain as a whole is football. A lot of people support their local clubs at matches on Saturday afternoons, or watch the matches live on television. About 20 million people go to football matches every year which causes some problems as well as the great excitement.
The British invented football created its rules (written between 1870 and 1890) and spread it to every corner of the world. Everything started as a pastime for walking class people who also needed to fill their time left after hard work at plants with something active and positive. On Saturdays the working day ended at 12 and football was a great leisure time activity. The first football fields were mostly located near plants and factories and workers’ communities and at first they were absolutely inconvenient for playing. The money was so little that the team could hardly buy a ball. But in spite of all this football grew in popularity amazingly fast. Such english clubs as Preston, Tottenham, Hotspur, Manchester United and Arsenal started with bad quality balls and lousy playing fields. Nowadays they earn millions of dollars producing brilliant footballers, winning matches and … selling the T-shirts of famous players through advertising and charity campaigns.
The football league in England and Wales has 4 divisions. Each division includes 20 teams and at the end of each season the top three clubs from the lower divisions are promoted to a higher one.
Football has been called the most popular game in the world, and it certainly has a great many fans in Britain. Association football 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. A game of football usually lasts for one and half hours. At half-time, the teams change ends. The person who controls the game is a referee.
There are two main prizes each season. The Football League championship is won by the team that is on top of the first division, whereas the FA (Football Association) is a knockout competition between all the teams of the League. The final of this 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 Rangers, Celtic or Aberdeen usually wins 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. There is a phenomenon called “football pools” and “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.

Rugby.

This game takes its name from Rugby School in the Midlands. In 1823 a boy playing football at the school picked up the ball and ran with it. That is why originally rugby is a type of football. 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. The ball is passed from 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 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 amateuer, 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.
Rugby league in Britain is seen as a work king class sport, while rugby union is mainly for the middle classes. 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. The amateuer 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” s well as various publicity contracts and paid speaking engagement.


Golf.

Golf as we known it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players wouldn’t hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club. Golf’s status and popularity quickly spread throughout the 16th century due to its royal endorsement. King Charles the First popularized the game in England and Mary Queen of Scots, who was French, introduced the game to France while she studied there.
In 1744 the first golf club The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith was formed. It promoted an annual competition with a silver golf club as the prize. At the time the first rules were codified. By this time golfers were using proper clubs and balls. Club heads were made from beech or the wood of fruit trees such as apple. Balls were made from tightly compressed feathers wrapped in a stitched horse hide sphere. The sport was somewhat exclusive due to the cost of all this equipment. Later the time for other materials came and now 18th century antiques are highly prized by collectors.
The first international golf tournament was the Amateuer Golf Championship of India and the East in 1893. By 1900 there were more than 1000 golf clubs in the USA. The USA became the centre of the professional game due to the proliferation of amateuer rather than professionals, which were exalted by the public. Golf was confirmed as a global sport when it was made an Olimpic sport in 1900. The dawn of the 20th century brought some technological changes again.
The most important golf tournament is held in Scotland in St. Andrew’s – the first significant golf competition took place there in 1552 and from there on it has been the most famous venue for golf because of the publicity it once received, the royal support and other historical factors.

Cricket.

The game particularly associated with England is cricket. Judging by the numbers of people who play it and watch it, cricket is definitely not the national sport in Britain. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, interest in it is largely confined to the middle classes.
Cricket is the national English game in symbolic sense. One game of cricket takes a terribly long time, which a lot of people simply don’t have to spare. There are eleven players in each team in cricket. Test matches between national teams can lat up o five days of six hours each. Top clubs teams play matches lasting between two and four days.
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 in England. Even if you don’t 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 countries last for three days, with 6 hours play on each day.
Cricket is also played by women and girls. The government 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 UK. The MCC was founded in 1787, and is still the most important authority in 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.
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. Cricket is what the village green is for!

Horse racing.

The British use animals a lot I their sporting activities and one of the most famous ones, also originating from the leisure of British aristocracy, is horse racing. It is a big business, along with the betting which sustains it.
Horseracing 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” (quite dangerous, both jockeys and horses can get seriously hunt). The former became known as “the sport of kings” in the 17th century. The cross country races (or steeplechases) are often run in an enclosed area where the hazards are artificial. This it makes organization easier.


What else we can call “sports” in Great Britain.

Hunting, shooting, fishing.

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. A group of people on horses, dressed in 18th 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 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 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 to various rule and customs.
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 may only be shot during certain specified times of the year. The British don’t shot small animals or birds for sport, through some farmers who shoot rabbits or pigeons may enjoy doing so.
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 dweller, this too is a minority activity.
The only 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.

Fitness, cycling, athletics.

Nowadays team games aren’t as popular as they were in 1950s. Team games also tended to draw fewer spectators, especially football, though for international matches and cup matches in all the major sports still filled the grounds.
The majority of people live in towns and cities where space for team sports is limited. To keep fit, most people take part in individual sports. They usually go walking, swimming or cycling, or do aerobics. Taking part in all these sports is informal and casual. Most people just want to relax; many would like a good workout. If they do aerobics or go swimming they usually go to the fitness centre, but not many people join a sports club. We can speak of a fitness culture which includes the whole set of media, such as TV shows, several fitness centers in exercising, right eating, right thinking… It would be good however if the number of people following all these recommendations would grow as fast as the infrastructure does but recent surveys show that many people, through interested in staying healthy, talk much more than really do. A lot of people aren’t as active as they are through to while they themselves believe that they do enough to stay healthy. The facts are that only a bit more than ten per cent of British adults take part in sport more than twice a week. Others limit themselves to watching shaping classes on TV in the morning – and one can always find good excuse not to repeat the trainer’s moves from the screen.
Meanwhile, there are around 2000 sports centers in Britain: one for every town, large or small. They were built mostly in the 1980s to encourage the public to take part in sport. The number of people who take part in sport has risen, but not many people exercise more than once a month.
Cycling has been one of the fastest – growing sports in Britain. Among its advantages is the opportunity to combine being “with nature” and working out. It also is perceived more than just a “walk” than a 100% workout. That is how most people explain why they choose cycling: «I go cycling most weekends, usually with my mates. I’ve discovered loads of places on my mountain bike. It’s my favourite hobby”.
Athletics is another very popular spectator sport in Britain. The British particularly adore ladies in this sport.
An extreme sport is the latest innovation in the great variety of sports worldwide. Such types of outdoor activities as mountain skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, different kinds of diving, street racing etc. have increased in popularity sharply by the late 1990s and are continuing to. The time will show where this will lead the modern world and which games will become history and which – a good tradition and a famous contest.

Gambling, rounders and such.

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 didn’t work properly, so that the race couldn’t take place, it was widely regarded as a national disaster. The 70 million pounds which had been gambled on the result all had to be given back.
Every year, billions of pounds are bet on horse races. 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 didn’t have a national lottery until 1994. But if people want to gamble, then they will.
About other sport we can talk very long because almost every sport which exists is played in Britain. As well as the sports already mentioned, hockey is quite popular, and both basketball and netball are growing in popularity. So too is the ancient game of rounders. This sport is rather similar to American baseball and ancient Russian lapta, but it certain doesn’t have the same image. It has a long history in England as something that people 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 sport fields are used for rounders now. Only football, which is played on nearly half of all state-school fields, is more popular.
Every year, usually on the Wednesday nearest to 20th October, about a hundred competitions 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 be means of a marbles matches. 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 complete on a circular, sanded rink. Forty-nine marbles are placed in the centre in the rink, and the players try to knock out as many as possible with their marble. The marble is rested on the index finger and flicked 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.

Big sporting events in Great Britain.

The Boat Race: The most famous boat-race in England is between Oxford and Cambridge universities. 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. The course is seven kilometers. Oxford has 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 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 (a great “show off” session for the higher society people).
Cowes Week: A yachting regatta. Cowes is small town on the Isle of Wight, opposite Southampton, and a world-famous yachting centre.

Famous sporting venues in the UK.

Football.
Wembley (London)
Hampden Park (Glasgow)

Rugby union.
Twickenham (London)
Cardiff Arms Park (Wales)
Murrayfield (Edinburgh)
Lansdowne Road (Dublin)

Horse racing.
Flat: Ascot, Epsom, Newmarket
Steepchase: Aintree, Cheltenham

Cricket.
Lord’s (London)
The Oval (London)
Old Trafford (Manchester)
Headingley (Leeds)
Trent Bridge (Nottingham)
Edgbaston (Birmingham)

Golf.
St. Andrews (Scotland)

Motor racing
Silverstone (Northampton)
Brands Hatch (Rochester)

Conclusion.

The majority of people live in towns and cities, where space for team sports is limited. To keep fit, most people take part in individual sports. They usually go walking, swimming, cycling, or do aerobics. Taking part in all of these sports is informal and casual. Most people just want to relax. If they do aerobics or go swimming, they usually go to the sports centre, but not many people join a sport club. There are 2000 sports centres in Britain: one of every town, large or small. They were built mostly in the 1980s to encourage the public to take part in sport. The number of people who take part in sport has risen, but not many people exercise more than once a month.
Although many British people are interested in staying healthy, not many people do very much about it. A recent survey proved that many people were not as active as they thought and incorrectly believed that they did enough exercises to stay healthy. Only 10 per cent of adults take part in sport more than twice a week.

The list of literature used.

1. “English 11” A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva. “Examen”, Moscow, 2000.
2. “Sportlight on English-speaking countries” N. Timanovskaya. “Avtograf”, Tula, 2000.
3. “In Britain” M. Vaughan-Rees. “Titul”, Obninsk, 1997.
4. “About Britain” V.V. Oshchepkova, I.I. Shustilova. Moscow, 1997.
5. “400 topics”. Press Kirilenko Yu. V., 2002. .