Greyhound Racing

After the World War II greyhound racing enjoyed a boom, but interest has steadily declined. There is a greyhound track in most towns on which races are held every Saturday afternoon and on several evenings in a week. The dogs race round a track in pursuit of an electric "hare", which is really a trolley carrying a piece of meat. Along with horse racing, dog racing provides a means for betting.

It used to be illegal to bet with money except on race courses and with certain licensed bookmakers who took bets on the telephone. There used to bea lot of illegal betting — forexample, in the streets or in factories. In 1960an Act of Parliament was passed, making betting shops legal. The number of betting shops in 1980 was 12,248.

Some people

go to the races to see the horses and to enjoy themselves, but most people are more interested in betting. Everywhere on the course there are bookmakers ("bookies"), as they are called and their clerks taking bets from the crowd. Even if a man cannot go to the races himself, he can still place a bet on a horse he thinks will win. In fact, with horse-racing most of the betting is done through off-course betting offices which take most of the money staked.

It is acknowledged

as the most difficult steeplechase in the world to be followed by the "Velka Pardubickd" steeplechase, which is considered the most difficult race on the continent. Amateur riders can take part as well as professional jockeys. Many Britons who do not normally gamble place a bet on the horse they think will win the Grand National.Many people today enjoy horse-riding, and watching horse-jumping (or "show jumping" as it is called), on television. But the most popular sport with horses is still horse racing. There are race-courses in many towns and race-meetings are held in spring, summer and autumn. Horse races take place on at least one of Britain's race-courses on almost every day of the year.

The Derby

is the leading English flat race (no jumps). It takes place at Epsom, near London.
The Ascot Races are held in June at Ascot, six miles from Windsor. The meeting is noted for its fashions, particularly women's hats.
The St Leger, run at Doncaster in south Yorkshire and the meeting held at York a fortnight earlier are the most important of the whole year in the North of England.
The Grand National run at Aintree, near Liverpool every year is England's principal steeplechase, i.e. a race over fences and ditches. The course is over four miles long and includes thirty jumps, of which fourteen are jumped twice. Many horses do not finish and it is thought by many people to be too dangerous.

Horse Racing

Horse racing is one of the chief spectator sports in England. The way in which it is organized is rather different than in other countries, one of the reasons being the existence of laws forbidding such activities on Sundays. Each of the 63 race courses has from two to about six "meetings" every year, each meeting consisting of several days of racing; most horse racing takes place on working days.
There are two forms of horse racing — flat racing (from late March to early November) and steeplechasing and hurdle racing (from August to June).

Most tennis players regard the Wimbledon tourna¬ment (competition) as the world championship. The whole tournament is covered by television, but large numbers of people queue all night outside the grounds in order to be able to get tickets for the finals.
In tennis, as in other cases, the amateur sport has given way to profes¬sionalism, and the best tennis players in the world a re those who make it their livelihood.

Lawn Tennis

Tennis is one of the favourite individual games. It is played at school during the games' lesson in summer usually by girls, but now also by boys as well. Some tennis-players join a club after leaving school, but most go to one of the many public tennis courts which can be hired by the hour. Some employees enjoy a quick game during the lunch-hour break.
The Open Lawn Tennis Championships are held annually in July at Wimbledon, in London.

Golf

The earliest reference to golf is a Scottish law forbidding it in 1457; until the nineteenth century, it was almost exclusively a Scottish game. It is often called the "Royal and Ancient game" and the R and A rules have long been accepted internationally. In England golf courses have been popular meeting places of the business community and their club houses are usually fitted with a bar. In Scotland there are cheap municipal golf courses, but in England until recently there were few courses and the game was confined to private, expensive clubs. Now new municipal courses are being constructed to meetthe growing demand. In Scotland golf has always been a popular sport.

...

Rugby is a game which is played in most of the public schools, as well as in many state schools. There is a large number of rugby clubs, some of which are formed by "old boys" (former pupils of various schools). Rugby enjoys a wide popularity today and many working people enjoy a game of "rugger" in their leisure time. The Welsh people are great rugby enthusiasts and crowds flock to Cardiff from all over the country for the international matches.

Rugby Football

(or "rugger")
Rugby Union (15-a-side) is played strictly by amateurs while Rugby League (13-a-side) is played by professionals. Rugby Union is played all over Britain. National teams representing England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France compete in a yearly championship before huge crowds. Rugby is certainly a much rougher game than soccer. Nowadays rugby is more than just a different way of playing football. Modern rugby owes its name to Rugby Public School (where in a form of soccer match in 1823, William Webb Ellis "with a fine disregard for the rules... first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game"), and the first Rugby clubs were set up by former public school-boys. At its foundation in 1863 the Football Association ruled against "the carrying code"; Rugby Union developed separately.

Cricket

When was cricket first played? This is difficult to answer but perhaps as early as the 13th century. Cricket grew up in South England and by the mid 18th century, the Hambledon (Hampshire) Club was famous. Laws of cricket existed by 1744.
Cricket is called the English "national" game and is the usual summer game for schoolboys. It is the game associated with England, yet even in England cricket is losing its popularity.
In most towns and villages there are amateur clubs which play weekly games on Saturday afternoons from late April to the end of September. A first-class match, as played between English counties, lasts for up to three days, with six hours of play each day. These games have become less popular and the spectator sitting in the afternoon sun cannot be blamed for taking 40 winks. They tend to be slow and often end with no result.
There is still great interest in the annual series, of five-day international matches, called Test matches, played between England and a touring team

Football Pools

Football Pools, on which bets are made on results of matches, provide amusement for millions of people, both men and women. "Filling in the pools", i.e. forecasting wins, losses and draws on a printed form, takes place during the week; then on Saturdays at about 5 p.m. millions of people switch on their radio and television sets to check their forecasts. Anyone who gets them all right will win a very large sum of money.
About half of all British households risk on an average £20 a year each on the football pools. Only 30 per cent of the total risked is returned in prizes; the other 70 per cent is divided through taxes and the private firms whose costs are high. Huge profits are made by the football monopolies, such as Little-woods or Vernons, who week by week collect the coins from the pockets of the people, each of whom hopes to be the prize-winner.

National teams

representing England, Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland compete against one another annually, and take part in European Competitions, the World Cup Competition and other international matches.
The crowds attending the big matches are not as large as they used to be-there is a steady decline in numbers. One reason for this is the violence on and off the field. Crowds of young spectators, often under the influence of drink get into fights and do untold damage. After some matches, shop windows in the vicinity of the football grounds are smashed up, as well as some of the buses and trains that carry the football crowds.