CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCE

NATIONAL SPORTS IN UK

Coordinator, Student,
2021
Table of contents,

ARGUMENT...........................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................3
Chapter I: Football in Uk.......................................................................................4
I.1: The first football competitions in England.....................................4
I.2 The history of the most important football teams in England........5
Chapter II: Cricket in the Uk.................................................................................7
II.1 Rules....................................................................................................7
II.2 Professional county clubs..................................................................8
Chapter III: Rugby Football..................................................................................9
III.1 Rugby league....................................................................................9
Chapter IV: Tennis................................................................................................10
Chapter V: Boxing.................................................................................................11
Chapter VI: individual sports..............................................................................12
VI.1 Motorsport......................................................................................12
VI.2 Swimming........................................................................................13
VI.3 Triathlon.........................................................................................13
VI.4 Cycling.............................................................................................14
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................15
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................16

1
ARGUMENT

Sports of all kinds play an important part in many people’s lives. There are several sports that are
particularly popular in the UK. Many sporting events take place at major stadiums such as
Wembley Stadium in London and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Local governments and private companies provide sports facilities such as swimming pools,
tennis courts, football pitches, dry ski slopes and gymnasiums. Many famous sports, including
cricket, football, lawn tennis, golf and rugby, began in Britain.

I chose to write my certificate of competence about national sports in Uk because i am very

passionate of this field. In my opinion, sports and physical activities are a big part of the culture
of every country, and United Kindom has a huge background related to different kinds of sports.

Practicing sport is a great way for people of different backgrounds and cultures to join in and
play a game they love. It brings people together and teaches valuable lessons such as respect,
teamwork, selflessness and perseverance. This involves a good deal of dedication, hard work,
and good leadership over that span of time.

In my opinion, national sports are not only beneficial for the players, but for the nation too.
Crazy sports fans love breaking down a game, predicting it outcomes or simply analyzing it as a
puzzle. This is a great mental exercise and makes your mind sharper and more active in subtle
and effortless ways. Non-language activities such as playing or watching a sport require using
different parts of your brain unlike the ones used in language understanding. This encourages
various parts of your mind to be active.

I hope i will catch your attention!

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INTRODUCTION

The global spread of sports that had their origins in Britain was central to the development of
modern sports in the 18th and 19th centuries and is one of the British Empire’s important cultural
legacies. The modern game of football (soccer) is generally accepted to have originated in
England. The Football Association, the game’s first organization, was founded in England in
1863, and the first football match played between England and Scotland—the oldest rivalry in
the sport—was at Glasgow in 1872. English football fans can follow three national divisions and
the celebrated premiership, which includes such legendary clubs as Manchester United, Arsenal,
and Liverpool FC.

Rugby and cricket have also long enjoyed great popularity in Britain. According to tradition,
rugby began in 1823 at Rugby School in England. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union was
formed as the English governing body, and the rival Rugby Football League was founded in
1895. England, Scotland, and Wales all have club competitions in both union and league
versions of the game. The three also send national teams to the Six Nations Championship and to
World Cup tournaments. Cricket’s origins may date to 13th-century England, and county
competition in England was formally organized in the 19th century.

Britain is home to several important international sports competitions. The Open Championship
—also known, outside of Britain, as the British Open—is a golf tournament held annually, often
at the world-renowned course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The All-England (Wimbledon)
Championships is one of the world’s leading tennis competitions. Celebrated horse-racing events
include the Royal Ascot, the Derby, and the Grand National steeplechase. The Henley Royal
Regatta is the world’s premiere rowing championship.

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Chapter I: Football in Uk

I.1: The first football competitions in England

FA Cup

The FA Cup, also known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual
knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–
72 season, it is the oldest national football competition in the world. It is organised by and named
after The Football Association (The FA). Since 2015, it has been known as The Emirates FA
Cup after its headline sponsor. A concurrent women's tournament is also held, the FA Women's
Cup.

The competition is open to any club down to Level 10 of the English football league system
which meets the eligibility criteria. All clubs in the top four levels (the Premier League and the
three divisions of the Football League) are automatically eligible. Clubs in the next six levels
(non-league football) are also eligible provided they have played in either the FA Cup, FA
Trophy or FA Vase competitions in the previous season. Newly formed clubs, such as F.C.
United of Manchester in 2005–06 and also 2006–07, may not therefore play in the FA Cup in
their first season. All clubs entering the competition must also have a suitable stadium.

Birmingham Senior Cup

The Birmingham Senior Cup is a football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams,
organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest
county cup competition still active.

The Birmingham Senior Cup is a regional cup contest, which has featured all of the West
Midlands' big clubs, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Burton Albion, Coventry City, Stoke City,
West Bromwich Albion, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

However, in recent years many of region's higher division clubs have tended to treat the cup as a
reserve or youth team competition, giving non-league sides a greater chance of success, while the

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competition's most successful team, Aston Villa, did not compete at all for several years, before
returning for the 2018-19 competition. In the 2016–17 season, Leamington became the first team
to win the cup in a penalty shootout, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers.

I.2 The history of the most important football teams in England

Arsenal

As one of the most successful and beloved clubs in England, Arsenal Football Club was always a
magnet for the public. Tradition-wise, their results speak for themselves; in addition to winning
28 major domestic trophies, Arsenal hold the records for longest unbeaten streak and longest run
in top flight of English football.

In late 1886, a gaggle of workers from the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory decided to
form a football team.

Arsenal FC started life as a works team named Dial Square in 1886 – the workers were
blacksmith's that built cannons, which is the reason for the club being known as the Gunners.
Shortly thereafter, the club turned professional and changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal,
becoming a full-fledged member of the Football League in 1893 (the first club from the south
parts of the country).

Arsenal had won two trophies in as many years, and they were finally starting to become the
successful club that the world knows today.

It's a great feeling for the supporter of any English team to see them pick up the two major
domestic trophies in one season, and Arsenal have managed that feat three times now.
Manchester United have also won three doubles and Chelsea became the only club besides
Arsenal to manage the feat in the 21st century. However Arsenal are still the only club to have
managed the double in two different centuries.

Manchester City F.C

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Manchester City Football Club is an English football club based in Manchester that competes in
the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West
Gorton), it became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894.

It had its first major period of success in the late 1960s, winning the League, FA Cup and League
Cup under the management of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup
Final, the club went through a period of decline, which eventually saw them relegated as far
down as third tier of English football by the end of the 1997–98 season. They since regained
promotion to the top tier in 2001–02 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since
2002–03. In 2008, Manchester City was purchased by Abu Dhabi United Group for £210 million
and received considerable financial investment. The club have won six domestic league titles.

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club in Liverpool, England, that competes in
the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club has won six European Cups, more
than any other English club, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups (both also English
records), one FIFA Club World Cup, eighteen League titles, seven FA Cups, a record eight
League Cups and fifteen FA Community Shields.

Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played at
Anfield since its formation. Liverpool established itself as a major force in English and European
football in the 1970s and 1980s.

Liverpool was the seventh highest-earning football club in the world in 2019, with an annual
revenue of €604 million, and the world's eighth most valuable football club in 2019, valued at
$2.183 billion. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Liverpool has
long-standing rivalries with Manchester United and Everton.

The team changed from red shirts and white shorts to an all-red home strip in 1964 which has
been used ever since. Red has been the main shirt colour ever since 1896. The club's anthem is
"You'll Never Walk Alone".

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Chapter II: Cricket in the Uk

Cricket, England’s national summer sport, which is now played throughout the world,
particularly in Australia, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, and the British Isles.

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in England, and has been played since the 16th century.
Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lord's, developed the modern rules of play and conduct.

Each summer the county clubs compete in the first class County Championship, which consists
of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days. The same teams
also play one day cricket in the Royal London One-Day Cup, and Twenty20 cricket in the
Vitality T20 Blast.

The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England for county
clubs that do not have first-class status. There are nineteen teams representing historic English
counties along with a Welsh minor counties team.

II.1 Rules

Cricket is played with a bat and ball and involves two competing sides (teams) of 11 players. The
field is oval with a rectangular area in the middle, known as the pitch, that is 22 yards (20.12
metres) by 10 feet (3.04 metres) wide. Two sets of three sticks, called wickets, are set in the
ground at each end of the pitch. Across the top of each wicket lie horizontal pieces called bails.

The sides take turns at batting and bowling (pitching); each turn is called an “innings” (always
plural). Sides have one or two innings each, depending on the prearranged duration of the match,
the object being to score the most runs. The bowlers, delivering the ball with a straight arm, try
to break (hit) the wicket with the ball so that the bails fall. This is one of several ways that the
batsman is dismissed, or put out. A bowler delivers six balls at one wicket (thus completing an

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“over”), then a different player from his side bowls six balls to the opposite wicket. The batting
side defends its wicket.

There are two batsman up at a time, and the batsman being bowled to (the striker) tries to hit the
ball away from the wicket. A hit may be defensive or offensive. A defensive hit may protect the
wicket but leave the batsmen no time to run to the opposite wicket. In that case the batsmen need
not run, and play will resume with another bowl.

The team with the highest number of runs wins a match. Should both teams be unable to
complete their number of innings before the time allotted, the match is declared a draw. Scores in
the hundreds are common in cricket.

II.2 Professional county clubs

There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales.
Each summer the county clubs compete in the first class County Championship, which consists
of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days. The same teams
also play the one day National League, a one-day knock out competition called the Friends
Provident Trophy, and the short-form Twenty20 Cup.

English cricket grounds include Lord's, The Oval, Headingley, Old Trafford, Edgbaston and
Trent Bridge. Cardiff's Sophia Gardens ground has also become increasingly popular in recent
years. Team members are drawn from the main county sides, and include both English and
Welsh players. It is by no means equal to football in finance, attendance or coverage, but it has a
high profile nonetheless.

It is probably the second most widely covered sport in England and third most widely covered
sport in Wales and the fortunes of the England team are closely followed by many people who
never attend a live game.

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Chapter III: Rugby Football

Like association football, rugby union and rugby league both developed from traditional British
football games in the 19th century. Rugby football was codified in 1871. Dissatisfaction with the
governance of the sport led, in 1895, to a number of prominent clubs establishing what would
become rugby league. The estranged clubs, based in mainly working class industrial regions of
northern England, had wished to be allowed to compensate their players for missing work to play
matches but they had been opposed by those clubs that were predominantly middle class and
often based in the south of the country. Subsequently, rugby league developed somewhat
different rules. For much of the 20th century there was considerable antagonism towards rugby
league from rugby union. One Member of Parliament described it as "one of the longest (and
daftest) grievances in history" with anyone over the age of 18 associated with rugby league being
banned forever from rugby union. This antagonism has abated since 1995 when rugby union's
international governing body, now known as World Rugby, "opened" rugby union to
professionalism.

III.1 Rugby league

Rugby league is played as an amateur sport, especially in the heartland areas, where the game is
administered by BARLA. Since the rugby union authorities ended the discrimination against
playing rugby league amateur numbers in the sport have increased, particularly outside the
heartland areas. Through competitions such as the Rugby League Conference the sport is
heading towards a national spread, at amateur level at least.

A single 'Great Britain Lions' team had competed in the Rugby league World Cup and Test
match games, but this changed slightly in 2008 when England, Scotland and Ireland competed as
separate nations. Internationally, only England (and sometimes Wales) field truly competitive
teams in international rugby league. For many tournaments the home nations are combined to
compete as Great Britain. The Great Britain team won the Rugby league World Cup in 1954,

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1960 and 1972, but England and Wales now compete separately in this tournament and Australia
have won every World Cup since 1975 except in 2008, when they were upset in the final by New
Zealand. The Great Britain team is retained for some competitions, such as with Australia and
New Zealand in the recently founded Tri-Nations competition.

Chapter IV: Tennis

Tennis is yet another sport which originated in the United Kingdom, first originating in the city
of Birmingham between 1859 and 1865 as a more open variant of the historical real tennis, or
Royal tennis, often associated with the Tudor monarchy of Henry VIII of England.

However, it has not flourished there in recent decades: its profile is highly dependent on the
Wimbledon Championships, the most prestigious event of the global tennis calendar. After Fred
Perry's Wimbledon win in 1936, no British man won the singles until Andy Murray from
Scotland did so in 2013. No British woman has won at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1977.

The only British players of either sex to reach the world top 50 in recent years are Greg
Rusedski, who learnt his tennis in Canada, Tim Henman and Murray, who did not pass through
the LTA system either, and on the women's side Anne Keothavong and the late Elena Baltacha
both slipped into the world's top 50 during their careers.

Outside of Wimbledon fortnight tennis's profile in Britain is low, and since the 2007 retirement
of Rusedski and Henman is now largely dependent on Murray, the current UK number 1. Very
recently (2015-), the rise of a number of other players, notably doubles specialist Jamie Murray,
and younger top 50 players Laura Robson, Heather Watson, Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund has
been supplemented by the spectacular rise of British women's number one Johanna Konta from a
position outside the top 100 to the top ten in the world in just under eighteen months leading to
October 2016. As a result, Great Britain had a top ten ranked men's singles, men's doubles and
women's singles players at the same time for the first time ever.

Great Britain have won the Davis Cup ten times, with their most recent title in 2015 being their
first since 1936. The women's team is currently in Group I of the Europe/Africa Zone—two
promotions away from competing for the Fed Cup. (Unlike the Davis Cup, which has one 16-

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team World Group, the Fed Cup has two World Groups, with only the eight teams in World
Group I actually competing for that trophy.)

Chapter V: Boxing

The United Kingdom played a key role in the evolution of modern boxing, with the codification
of the rules of the sport known as the Queensberry Rules, named after John Douglas, 9th
Marquess of Queensberry in 1867. Britain's first heavyweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons
made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. Some of the best
contemporary British boxers have included super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe,
featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis, Tyson
Fury and Anthony Joshua. Welshman Calzaghe's display against Jeff Lacy in 2006 prompted
Lacy's trainer to state "I have never seen a better performance than that in the world."

British professional boxing offers some of the largest purses outside the United States to a few
elite professional boxers who become nationally known. British heavyweight contenders are
especially popular, but most British world champions have fought in the middle weight bracket.
The governing bodies of professional boxing are the British Boxing Board of Control and British
& Irish Boxing Authority.

It is generally felt that British professional boxing is in decline in the early years of the 21st
century. The reasons for this include: the fact that football now offers a relatively large number
of sportsmen the chance to make the sort of income traditionally only available to world boxing
champions, reducing the incentive for athletic youngsters to accept the greater risks of a boxing
career; the acquisition of the rights to most major fights by Sky Sports, which means that fewer
boxers become national figures than in the past; and the knock the sport's credibility has taken
from the multiplicity of title sanctioning bodies.

Amateur boxing is governed by separate bodies in each home nation. At Olympic, World and
European events, home nation boxers (with the exception of N.Ireland) compete under the GB

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podium squad banner. British amateurs have enjoyed success in international competition in
recent years but unlike their counterparts boxing for the Irish Republic there's a tendency for
them to turn professional early in their amateur career.

Chapter VI: individual sports

VI.1 Motorsport

Britain is the center of Formula One, with the majority of the Formula One teams based in
England, and more world titles won by drivers from Britain than from any other country,
including Mike Hawthorn; Graham Hill (twice); Jim Clark (twice); John Surtees, also a world
champion in motorcycling; Jackie Stewart (three times); James Hunt; Nigel Mansell; Graham
Hill's son, Damon Hill; Lewis Hamilton (seven times); and Jenson Button. The British Grand
Prix takes place at Silverstone each June/July.

The United Kingdom hosted the very first F1 Grand Prix in 1950 at Silverstone, the current
location of the British Grand Prix held each year in July. The country also hosts legs of the
World Rally Championship and has its own touring car racing championship, the British Touring
Car Championship (BTCC), and the British Formula Three Championship.

British drivers have achieved success in the World Rally Championship with the late Colin
McRae and the late Richard Burns winning the title. The British leg of the competition is the
Rally Great Britain. Derek Bell is a five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and one-time winner
of the 1000 km Silverstone, the major endurance race of the country, formerly part of the World
Sportscar Championship and currently part of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Britain hosts one round of the MotoGP World Championship at Silverstone in early September,
and celebrated its first motorcycle grand prix world champion since the late Barry Sheene with
Danny Kent's title in Moto3 in 2015. The UK also hosts one round of the Superbike World
Championship, at Donington Park. In 2007 the race had become the third Superbike World
Championship round in Britain, but since then rounds at Silverstone and Brands Hatch have been
dropped.

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The reigning SBK World Champion is Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea. Since 2000 the British
Superbike Championship (BSB) has become increasingly popular. Road racing events are
popular, with the Isle of Man hosting the Isle of Man TT and Northern Ireland hosting the North
West 200. In rally raiding, Sam Sunderland became the first British winner of the Dakar Rally
when he won the motorcycle classification in 2017.

VI.2 Swimming

Swimming is the largest participation sport in England according to Sport England (2014). It is
larger than athletics, cycling and football. The swimming organisations of the home countries
formed an umbrella organisation called British Swimming in the year 2000. British Swimming
concentrates on elite swimmers with podium potential. Britain sends large teams to all the major
international swimming events, and enjoy some successes, but it is not currently a leading
swimming nation. The sport's profile is highest during the Commonwealth Games, when British
swimmers have their best chance to win gold medals, and during the Olympics. The sport has a
thriving club structure with competition at all levels.

The provision of 50 metre pools in the United Kingdom was very poor for a developed country,
with just 22 as of early 2007, only two of which conformed to the full Olympic standard. There
are however far more 25 metre short course pools and other sub Olympic-size competition pools.
(See List of Olympic size swimming pools in the United Kingdom.) The number of 50m pools
has now increased and there are 9 full Olympic size pools including the London Aquatics Centre
pool which is regarded as currently the best pool in the world.

VI.3 Triathlon

Triathlon popularity continues to grow in the UK with membership to the British triathlon
federation up 174% since 2009, though numbers of participants are larger due to many people
who swim, bike or run also participating in triathlons. One reason the popularity has increased
domestically is due to the UK's strength at the international level with two gold and two bronze
medals at the two most recent Olympic games and many wins on the international circuit. Many

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races are held over the UK hosted by local clubs with about 213,000 race entrants in 2017. The
British Triathlon federation manages the GB team at both the elite and age-group level with
performance centre's in Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Loughborough, Nottingham,
Stirling.

VI.4 Cycling

Britain had limited success with cycle racing in the 20th century. This has changed when the
performance director of British Cycling Peter Keen (formerly coach of Chris Boardman and later
appointed in 2003 as performance director with UK Sport) obtained lottery funding which helped
cycling at both grass roots and at an elite level. The first fruits of the programme were harvested
in 2000: at that year's Summer Olympics, Team GB took two bronzes, a silver and a gold on the
track, backing up their success at the subsequent 2000 UCI Track Cycling World Championships
on home ground in Manchester by winning five medals. Progress was made in the 2004 Summer
Olympics under Keen's successor Dave Brailsford, where Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins won
golds - the first time the British team had won two golds in track cycling since 1908, whilst
Great Britain won 11 medals at the 2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, seven of
them gold, and nine gold medals at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in
Manchester. The investment paid off in the 2008 Olympics; British cyclists brought home gold
medals in seven events, most notably Chris Hoy who became the first British Olympian to win
three golds at one Olympiad, earning him a knighthood. Other successes include Rebecca
Romero and Victoria Pendleton.

Cycle racing is organised by British Cycling, who govern most cycling events in the United
Kingdom and organise the national team. Time trialling in England and Wales is organised by a
separate body called Cycling Time Trials.

The success of British Cycling and Team Sky has increased dramatically the popularity of the
sport in the UK which has brought in more sponsors into the sport. As well as Team Sky, ONE
Pro Cycling and NFTO are aiming to ride in the world's biggest races. A lot of cyclists take part
in the many sportives organized all over the country including the hugely popular Ride London

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event which. Words such as MAMIL (middle aged men in lycra) have become part of popular
culture.

CONCLUSION

Sport is an integral part of society in the 21st century, providing people with endless hours of
activity and entertainment. Whether you participate or simply watch, sport often provides a
welcome break from the stresses and strains of daily life.

As Nelson Mandela once famously said, ‘sport has the power to change the world’ and it is
impossible to disagree with the sentiment.

Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture. The United Kingdom has
given birth to a large majority of the team sports including association football, badminton,
billiards, bowls, boxing, British baseball, rounders, cricket, croquet, curling, darts, golf, fives,
field hockey, netball, rugby (union and league), tennis, table tennis, snooker, Motorcycle
Speedway, squash, water polo, and shinty. Moreover, the standardisation of various sports, such
as in rowing, dancesports and motorsports occurred in the United Kingdom.

In my certificate of competence I wrote about the most known and appreciated sports in United
Kindom.

Thank you for your attention!!

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://sport-travel.com/the-top-five-sports-in-the-uk/

https://whatsanswer.com/what-is-the-national-sports-of-england/

https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/uk-life/life-uk-test/sport-uk

https://theinscribermag.com/health-benefits-of-watching-sports/

https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Sports-and-recreation

https://www.wealthandfinance-news.com/the-importance-of-sports-to-the-uk-economy/

https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/life/07072020-most-popular-sports-in-london-and-the-uk/

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