ESL Blogs

SPORT IN BRITAIN
Even if you are not interested in sport itself , it is useful to know something about this important part of British life.
There are three major team sports in Great Britain.
1 Football ,also known as “soccer”.
2 Cricket, a strange game that few foreigners like or can even understand.
3 Rugby, also known sometimes as ‘football’.
Of these , football, or ‘soccer’ is the most popular .During the football season, one of the most important things on television is the football match shown on the BBC on Saturday evenings around 10 o’ clock. On Saturday afternoons, the big sports day in Britain some football grounds will have crowds of more than 40,ooo.
Professional teams are organized into four ‘divisions’ in England and Wales. Scotland has its own two divisions. The bottom three teams or’ clubs’ of the First division at the end of the season go into the Second Division. These teams are’ relegated’. The top three teams of the Second Division go into the First. They are ’promoted’. The same thing happens between the second and the Third divisions. But the third Division loses its bottom four clubs to the Fourth every year, and the top four clubs of the Fourth are promoted to the Third.
Recently, football has been getting less popular. The crowds are not so big. Some clubs are always in financial trouble. It is said that one reason for this is ’violence on and off the field’. Players tackle each other very hard. They sometimes get into fights. Crowds of young spectators also get into fights. They are called ‘hooligans’. After some matches, shop windows near the grounds are smashed up. So are the trains that carry football crowds.
Rugby and Cricket are interesting because they show certain class differences. For a long time ,soccer was said to be a’ working man’s sport’. But today even intellectuals and artists can be found among the crowds. Rugby, strangely enough, has been described as ‘a game designed for hooligans but played by gentlemen’. This may have been a ‘gentlemen’s game once. It looks rougher than soccer.It was first played at a famous public school called Rugby.
In Rugby, the ball is picked up and run with. The idea is to ‘score a try’;that is,to get to the other end of the field with the ball .The ball can also be thrown or passed backwards. There are actually two types of Rugby in Great Britain. Rugby Union is played is played all over Britain,but Rugby League is a tougher and faster game.There are thirteen in each side in Rugby League and fifteen in Rugby Union.Rugby Union is also the type of game played by public schools;Rugby League is not. It is a working-class sport, whereas Rugby Union is not.
Cricket seems more peaceful. A man with a small ball in his hand runs up to a spot and throws it.A few yards away a man with a bat,called a batsman,tries to hit it.The ball bounces in front of him. Sometimes it bounces up and hits him in the face. It is very hard ball and some batsmen have lost a few teeth this way or have had broken jaws.Cricket is played in the summer. Some of the countries of the Commonwealth send national teams to play each other.This is called ‘A Test Match’.A test match can go on for five days. Great interest is shown in the result. The story is told of an American arriving in Britain for the first time.At Victoria Station he saw newspapers with headlines like ‘Great Crisis for England’s Position Hopeless’. He thought that a war was about to begin,or that there was another great economic crisis. In fact, the newspaper headlines were all about a test match being played between England and Australia.
Explain what these words mean:
a. The First Division
b The Second, Third and Fourth Divisions
c ‘relegated’
d ’promoted’
e What other game is also known as’football’?
f Describe the difference between this game and’ soccer’.
g Where did it get its name?
h What are the main differences between Rugby League and Rugby Union?
I Describe very briefly and roughly what happens in cricket.
J Is it really completely safe?
k Tell the story of the American arriving in Britain for the first time.