Conclusion.
Many kinds of sport have originated from Great Britain, some of them have been known since the Middle Ages; the others were invented in the 20th century. Sport deeply penetrates into the life of the British. The rules for many kinds of sport were worked out in Great Britain. The government has got a wide programme of supporting sports in the country. Interest and participation have increased as a result of improved facilities, more time and widespread coverage. Many sport facilities are cheap and very often free for people. There are a lot of swimming pools and stadiums, courts and grounds for different kinds of sport in every city and town, every school and college. Moreover, it becomes fashionable to do any sport, especially among the teenagers and the youth. In one of the letters I have got from England I have learnt about the sport life in schools and colleges of London and Bristol. It was very interesting to read them.
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.
Many pages of different literary works of different writers are devoted to sport, it's worth mentioning if only "Three Men in a Boat" by J. K. Jerome. The role of sport is so large that nowadays a lot of specific sport expressions denoting different moments of sport life are used in everyday speech to describe the attitude of people towards different events and to value them. When the English says "that's not cricket" it means "that's not fair"; when he says "to play the game" it means "to be fair". And when working at my essay I have found out that a lot of such expressions are very interesting. So I have made a small glossary of the most interesting of them in my opinion. For that I took the British edition of "The English Idioms" and selected those that have connection with sport. But the explanation of these idioms was given in English and sometimes it was very difficult to give the correct translation. For doing that I searched in many dictionaries and reference books. But I think the result is worth doing that.
The British prefer team kinds of sport that help bring up team spirit, the ability to work in a team, fairness, honour, the ability to win and to lose. In such kinds of sport they do best of all.
So, such game as association football, or soccer, is the most popular in the UK. It is played practically all year round. And I think it's very difficult to find a person who has never heard the names of such clubs as Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United, and the names of the best football players.
The runner-up in popularity in Great Britain is rugby. And it has been increasing its popularity throughout the world, though the best players are in the English-speaking countries. It may seem to be a bit rough game but it is very catching and spectator. As for me, rugby is one of the most spectator and catching games. I saw several matches on TV and in films and I was caught with it. But it is practically unknown in Russia. So I began to search for the material about this kind of sport. I found several Internet sites devoted to rugby with stories about clubs, teams, fans and the game itself. I wrote to schools through the Internet asking for help in searching for information and got several answers. They told me not only about rugby, they promised me to send pictures of the most famous British sportsmen.
Golf is the chief contribution of Scotland to British sport. And, of course, the headquarters of this game is in Scotland, though the world championships are held regularly every year.
But the game, that is associated with the British life style is, of course, cricket. It is considered to be the most English by character. Though there are not many sportsmen playing this game there are a lot of fans, closely watching the matches and the results.
It is worth noting here an interesting feature of sporting life in Britain, namely, its frequently close connection with a social class of the players or spectators. 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 played by all sections of society whereas elsewhere it is also a game for the middle class. 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 the angle of being the most popular British sport from the angle of the number of active participants, a sport where what is caught determines the social class of a fisher – salmon or trout are for upper class and common river fish is for working class. While fox-hunting is, of course, the privilege of aristocracy.
The British are famous for their love for animals and especially horses. So all kinds of sport connected with horses are very popular. Even the Royal family can't resist the charm of these animals. There are numerous annual horse racing in different places and for animals of different ages, show-jumping and the dressage competitions.
All kinds of water sports have their participants and fans. And yachting is one of the most famous that is of no wonder because of a long shoreline of the country.
Walking and swimming are the two most popular sporting activities being almost equally undertaken by men and women. There are a lot of hiking routs throughout the country's most beautiful places. Snooker (billiard), pool, darts are the next most popular sports among men.
There are several kinds of sport that have become very popular quite recently – curling, handgliding, and windsurfing.
But the British keep up closely to their traditions. Their Highland Games originate to ancient folk traditions and they are very popular. Scots from all over the world and people of other nationalities take an active part in these annual Games.
There are several places in Great Britain that are associated with a particular kind of sport. Among the most famous ones we can name Wimbledon and Wembley in London, Derby, Epsom and Ascot in the suburbs of London, Wimbledon is known all over the world as the world centre of lawn tennis, while every football player dreams to play at Wembley. Derby, Epsom, Ascot are famous places of hors racing.
I have said nothing about the Olympic Games held in London twice – in 1908 and 1948, but it is a topic for a large separate essay. I can mention here that this is the recognition of the achievements of the British sport in the world.
So you can see that sport is a very exciting theme concerning the United Kingdom.