London

Sports

In London, as elsewhere throughout Britain, soccer (called football) tops the list of popular sports for both spectators and participants. Amateur games can be found in parks and other green spaces throughout the city. The game is played professionally from August until May. The sport is organized within individual boroughs rather than citywide, giving London 13 teams, each of which is closely associated with a particular locality rather than the city itself. It is common for crowds of up to 15,000 to attend regular-season games, rising to between 30,000 and 40,000 for playoffs.

In summertime, cricket is popular. There are almost 1,000 clubs, and amateur games abound. Spring brings the annual boat race between the rival universities of Oxford and Cambridge. London draws the international attention of the sports world every June when the Wimbledon matches are held, and horse racing remains a popular spectator sport although Londoners must travel to such venues as Epsom Downs and Ascot as the city's last race-course closed in 1970. Other spectator sports include greyhound racing, hockey, and auto racing. Both forms of rugby—rugby league and rugby union—are played in London, whose rugby league team is the London Broncos. The American games of basketball and baseball are growing in popularity.