# Sport (A - M)

A.T.K.
see "Dukla Prague"

Ace
In tennis terms an ace is a non-returnable serve.

Alabama Angels
The Alabama Angels are an American Association Football team based in Birmingham, Alabama.

American Football
American Football is an 11-a-side team game played with an oval leather ball on a rectangular field of grass or artificial turf.

Aquabobbing
Aquabobbing is a water sport performed on a vehicle like a tricycle, with three water skis in place of wheels, which is towed over the water by a motor launch on the same principle as water-skiing.

Ardwick
see "Manchester City FC"

Arizona Phoenix
The Arizona Phoenix are an American Association Football team based at Glendale, Arizona.

Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal F.C. is an Association Football Club which was founded in 1886 by a group of workmen in a section of the Royal Arsenal establishment at Woolwich, London, and called Dial Square. The club became professional in 1891 and was elected to the Second Division of the Football League in 1893. It became Woolwich Arsenal in 1896 and adopted its present name in 1913 when it moved from Plumstead in south London to Highbury, north of the river Thames.

Art Ross Trophy
The Art Ross Trophy is an ice hockey trophy awarded annually in the national hockey league of North America to the player who leads the league in scoring points at the end of the regular season.

Ascot Gold Cup
The Ascot Gold Cup is an English horse racing meeting. It was first held at Ascot in 1807, and is still run each June over 2.5 miles.

Association Football
Association Football is a variation of football played at Cambridge in the first half of the 19th century. A code of rules forbidding the use of hands was drawn up in 1863, and officially adopted by the Football Association, the governing body of the game, which was formed in the same year. Association football is played by teams of 11 a side with a spherical inflated leather ball 27-28 inches in circumference and about 14 ounces in weight. The ground is 120 yards long and 80 yards wide having a goal at each end 8 yards wide with a cross bar 8 feet above the ground. The match is played in two halves each of 45 minutes with a 5 minute interval at half-time.

Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa F.C. is an Association Football club which was founded in Birmingham in 1874, and was one of the original members of the Football League in 1888. Aston Villa F.C. first won the League Championship in 1893-4 and won it four more times before the Great War.

Athletics
Athletics is the sport of physical games.

Augustales
The augustales were games held in honour of Augustus at Rome and other parts of the Roman empire. After 11BC the senate decreed their celebration annually on the birthday of Augustus.

Aust Ball
Aust Ball is a German bat-and-ball team game of the fives-tennis type and a forerunner of volleyball. It is played between two teams of five players each. The ball is 25-28 inches in diameter and weighs about 12 ounces and is hit with one fist. The object of the game is to hit and return the ball over a rope 2 meters high.

Austin Lone Stars
The Austin Lone Stars are an American Association Football team based at Austin, Texas. They joined the USISL in 1987.

Australian Rules Football
Australian Rules Football is a fast moving team game with few rules. A team consists of 18 players. A game consists of four quarters of 25 minutes each and is played on an oval pitch 110 meters wide and 135 meters long.

AVUS Race Track
The AVUS Race Track was a German motor racing track used to host the 1926 and 1959 German Grand Prix. It was opened in September 1921, and fell into disuse in 1967.

Axel
The axel is a standard movement in figure skating named after its inventor, Axel Paulsen. It is a jump involving one and a half turns in the air. The take-off begins from an outside edge of one skate, landing on the back outside edge of the other skate.

Axel Lift
The axel lift is a movement in pairs figure skating. The woman is turned one and a half times completely over her partner's head. After holding hands on one side, she is supported in the lift by the man's hand under her armpit. The lift begins from the woman's outside forward edge and is completed on the outside back edge of her opposite skate. The man rotates beneath the woman throughout the movement.

Bab at the Bowster
Bab at the Bowster was a 19th century coursing greyhound. She was commonly regarded as the greatest female greyhound ever to course. She was the dual winner of the great Scarisbrick Champion Cup for 128 dogs, the Douglas cup for 64, the Altcar Cup and the Elston Cup. She won a total of 62 of her 67 courses, although was denied a classic victory by Master McGrath in the 1869 Waterloo Cup.

Badminton
Badminton is a game played on a rectangular court by two players, or two pairs of players, with light rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a high net that divides the court in half.

Baltimore Bays
The Baltimore Bays are an American Association Football team playing in the USISL.

Baltimore Bullets
The Baltimore Bullets are an American professional basketball team, playing in the National Basketball Association. Baltimore were original members of the league, and gained championship success in the opening year of the competition, winning the 1948 play-offs.

Baltimore Colts
The Baltimore Colts are an American professional football team, started in the All America Football Conference in 1946 as the Miami Seahawks and moved to Baltimore the next year. They were one of the three Conference teams absorbed into the National Football League after the 1949 season.

Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team which had a strong tradition in the National League during the 1890s.

Bandy
Bandy is a game similar to hockey, played on an ice-covered football pitch. Originally an outdoor game, a condensed version known as rink-bandy is played indoors in Holland, but the game lives on mainly in Finland, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden.

Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian F.C. (Barbarians) is a rugby union touring club which was formed in 1890 at Bradford, Yorkshire, by the Blackheath forward Carpmael. Membership is by invitation only and is extended to outstanding players from all countries.

Barbarians
see "Barbarian F.C."

Barcelona C.F.
Barcelona C.F. is a Spanish Association Football club which was formed in 1899 by Gamper.

Bareback Bronc-Riding
Bareback bronc-riding is a rodeo event similar to saddle bronc-riding, but without a saddle, reins or stirrups. The rider must retain his seat for eight seconds, while keeping one hand free and held in the air.

Barley-Break
Barley-Break (Last Couple in Hell) is a game played among the barley stacks of the farmyard. A piece of ground is divided into three parts, the middle portion being called 'hell'. In this a man and woman stand hand-in-hand and try to catch other couples as they advance from the outer sections. Those who are caught have to take their stand in the middle, and the object is to be the last couple caught. A similar game was Prisoners' base, first mentioned during the reign of Edward III.

Baseball
Baseball is a nine-a-side game played with a bat, ball and glove, mainly in the USA where it is the national game. Teams consist of a pitcher and catcher, first second and third basemen and other fielders.

Basketball
Basketball is a five-a-side ball game which originated in the USA in 1891 but is now played world-wide. It was invented by Naismith and conceived as a game where one team would attempt to gain possession of the ball and throw it into the opponent team's basket. A goal is scored when the ball enters the basket from above and remains in or passes through the net.

Bastya
see "MTK Budapest"

Batinton
Batinton is a game for two or four players based on Badminton with a table tennis scoring system. The game is played indoors or outdoors on any non-slippery surface. The standard court is 36 feet by 12 feet but the width may vary between 10 feet and 13 feet. The game is played with a bat, similar in construction to a table tennis bat, but longer.

Belfast Celtic F.C.
Belfast Celtic F.C. is an Association Football club founded in 1881.

Bellingham Orcas
The Bellingham Orcas are an American Association Football team playing in the USISL.

Belmont Park
Belmont Park is the leading race-track in the USA. It is in New York and is host to the Belmont Stakes, Coaching Club American Oaks, Withers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold-Cup races.

Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is a horse race founded in 1867 and is the third leg of the American triple crown and the only classic race run over 2400 meters in the USA, placing it above the Kentucky Derby in importance to many people. It is held at Belmont Park in early June.

Benson and Hedges Cup
The Benson and Hedges Cup is a one-day competition in English cricket, conducted annually since 1972, which carries a gold trophy and a cash award to the winners. The competing sides are the 17 first-class English counties, two representing the Minor Counties (north and south), and in alternate years, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The country is split into four geographical zones, each containing five sides, which play on a league basis. The top two teams from each zone go forward to a knock-out stage, the final being staged at Lord's in July.

Biathlon
The Biathlon is a combined running and swimming event introduced by the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain in 1968. Men compete over 4000 meters running and 300 meters swimming.

Bicycle Polo
Bicycle polo is a form of polo adapted to the use of bicycles instead of ponies. Like polo, it is a team game in which the object is to score goals by driving a ball up field and between the opposing team's goal posts using a long-handled mallet.

Biddy Basketball
Biddy Basketball is the original version of mini-basketball. It was invented in 1950 by the American youth leader, Jay Archer. The game is still played as biddy basketball in the USA with some differences in the rules to the international version.

Birkenbeinerlauf
Birkenbeinerlauf is a Norwegian ski race. It was instituted in 1932 by the Norwegian Ski Association to celebrate the rescue in 1205 of the two year old Haakon by the Birkenbeiner. The race starts at Lillehammer and ends at Rena, or vice-versa, and is run annually in February or March depending on conditions.

Birling
Birling is a race in which competitors stand astride a floating log and guide it along a course using a pole to steer it. It developed from the skills needed by lumberjacks in steering logs down river.

Birmingham Grasshoppers
The Birmingham Grasshoppers are an American Association Football team based at Birmingham, Alabama and playing in the USISL.

Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C. is an Association Football club which was formed in 1874 by old boys of Blackburn Grammar School. The club adopted professionalism in 1880 and won the F.A. Cup in 1884, 1885 and 1886.

Blackheath F.C.
Blackheath F.C. are a Rugby Union football club formed in 1858 and recognised as the oldest club in existence with open membership.

Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh (bobsledding) is a winter sport in which sleds, normally manned by two-man or four-man crews, are guided down a specially prepared track of solid ice with banked bends. The bobsled is a precision-built machine of aluminium and steel. It has two axles, with two rounded runners mounted on each. The rear axle is fixed and the front one turns for steering which is achieved with either a steering wheel or ropes. The brake is a bar made of hardened steel with a serrated edge located between the two rear runners. In competitions the brake can only be used in an emergency as it damages the ice.

Boca Juniors
The Boca Juniors are an Argentine Association Football club in Buenos Aires. They were founded in 1908 and turned professional in 1931. During the 1920s and 1930s they won the Argentinean championship eight times and another three times during the 1940s.

Bologna
Bologna are an Italian Association Football Club founded in 1909. They were three times Italian champions during the 1930s.

Border Games
The Border Games are a British professional athletics meeting held in the south of Scotland. They reached a peak of popularity in the late 19th century when they were known as the Hitch and Kick because of their variety of jumping events.

Boston Braves
The Boston Braves are an American professional baseball team. Prior to 1900 they were known under a variety of names, and in 1914 became the Miracle Braves.

Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are an ice-hockey club of Boston, USA. In 1924 they became the first American professional team in the National Hockey League of North America, winning the title in 1929, 1930, 1939, 1940 and 1941.

Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball club with the best record in the history of the National Basketball Association. The club was formed in 1946 and entered the NBA in 1947.

Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team. They were one of the original members of the American League when it was founded in 1901 and winners of the official world series in 1903 when they were led by the pitcher Cy Young.

Boston Redskins
see "Washington Redskins"

Boston Renegades
The Boston Renegades are an American Association Football team based at Hvannis and playing in the USISL.

Botafogo
Botafogo is a Brazilian Association Football club based in Rio de Janeiro and founded in 1904.

Boxer
see "Boxing"

Boxing
Boxing is fist-fighting with gloves worn by two men (boxers) in a roped square. It is both an amateur and a professional sport, in which contenders aim to score points by landing blows on their opponent with the gloved fist, preferably delivering such a blow to the head as to knock the opponent unconcious.

Braemar Gathering
The Braemar Gathering is a British professional athletics meeting held in the highlands of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, not far from the royal residence of Balmoral Castle.

Breaststroke
Breaststroke is the slowest and earliest of the four swimming styles.

Bristol RFC
Bristol RFC is a leading Rugby Union football club founded in 1888. The home ground is the Memorial Ground in Bristol, and the players colours are blue and white hooped jerseys with white shorts.

British Columbia Lions
The British Columbia Lions are a Canadian professional football team. They joined the Canadian Football League in 1954 and won the Western Conference Title in 1963 and 1964.

British Empire Games
see "Commonwealth Games"

Brooklands Race Track
Brooklands Race Track was a famous motor racing circuit built near Weybridge in Surrey in 1906.

Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers are an American professional baseball team. They got their name from their fans who used to dodge tram traffic on the way to the ball park.

Broomball
Broomball is a Russian game of hockey played on ice with brooms instead of sticks, and without skates.

Budokwai
Budokwai is a judo club in London. It was founded in 1918, and was the first judo club in Europe.

Bull-Riding
Bull-riding is a very dangerous rodeo sport in which a cowboy tries to remain seated, bareback on a bucking Brahma bull. The only handhold is a loose rope around the bull's girth.

Caber
A caber is a roughly trimmed young pine-trunk used in Scottish highland games (tossing the caber).

Calcutta Cup
The Calcutta Cup is a Rugby Union perpetual challenge trophy at issue since 1878 in the annual match between England and Scotland. The cup was fashioned from the silver rupees left after the disbandment of the Calcutta Football Club in 1877, and was fashioned by Indian craftsmen and presented to the Rugby Football Union.

Calf-Roping
Calf-roping is a rodeo event in which a mounted cowboy must lasso a free running calf in the ring from horseback, tie the rope to his saddle, dismount and throw the calf to the ground by hand and tie together any three of the animal's feet.

California Angels
The California Angels are an American professional baseball team. They adopted their name in 1965, previously being known as the Los Angeles Angels.

Camanachd
see "Shinty"

Cambuca
Cambuca was a form of hockey played in England during the 14th century until it was banned by Edward III because the playing of it interfered with training for war.

Camogie
Camogie is Ireland's native field sport for women. It is a 12-a-side stick-and-ball game similar to hurling with similar rules except that physical contact between the players is not allowed, and the pitch is slightly shorter.

Canadian Football
Canadian Football, like American Football, is a derivation of rugby and is similar to American Football except that the pitch is much bigger, and the teams are 12-a-side.

Canne
Canne is a French individual combat sport which developed over the centuries from a form of quaterstaff into something nearer fencing. It is played with a cane (called a canne) which is held in one hand and may be whirled as well as parried and lunged.

Cape Cod Crusaders
The Cape Cod Crusaders are an American Association Football team based at Hvannis and playing in the USISL.

Cardiff RFC
Cardiff RFC is a Welsh Rugby Union football club. It was founded in 1876 and became a first-class club during the 1880s under the captaincy of Hancock who developed the four-three-quarter system.

Carolina Dynamo
The Carolina Dynamo are an American Association Football team based at Greensboro, North Carolina and playing in the USISL.

Catcher
A catcher is a fielder who stands behind the batter in baseball.

Caulfield Cup
The Caulfield Cup is an Australian handicap horse race run over 2000 meters at Caulfield, near Melbourne, in October.

Celtic FC
Celtic FC is an Association Football club formed in east Glasgow in 1887 by Irish Catholics with the aim of raising money to provide meals for needy children. In 1890 the club became a founder member of the Scottish League from which it has never been relegated.

Central Valley Hydra
Central Valley Hydra are an American Association Football team based at Stockton, California and playing in the USISL.

Cesarewitch Handicap
The Cesarewitch Handicap is a horse race which was inaugurated in 1839, and is run over 3600 meters at Newmarket in late October. It is the second leg of the Autumn Double.

CFSA
The Canadian Figure Skating Association (CFSA) is a national sport governing body responsible for developing and administering skating programs and services for its 200,000 registered membership. In addition to providing skating programs, the CFSA certifies coaches, trains judges, accountants, referees and other officials for skating competitions at national and international levels, administers athlete programs for the national and junior national teams, and maintains and provides its membership with records of tests passed in the CFSA test system.
The national office of the Canadian Figure Skating Association is located at the Canadian Sport and Fitness Administration Centre in Gloucester, Ontario.

Champion Stakes
The Champion Stakes is an important English horse race for three-year old and older horses run over 2000 meters at Newmarket in mid October.

Charles Brownlow Medal
The Charles Brownlow Medal is an award given to the player selected as the best and fairest in the League in Australian Rules Football. It was instituted in 1924 and named after a former vice-president of the Victorian Football League.

Chausson
see "Savate"

Chelsea FC
Chelsea FC is an Association Football club in London. It was founded in 1904 and accepted into the second division of the football league.

Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most important steeplechase run in England at level weights with all competitors carrying 12 stone, unlike the Grand National which is a handicap. The race is run in mid-March during the National Hunt meeting at Cheltenham over 5250 meters.

Cheuca
Cheuca was an early form of hockey played by the Araucano Indians in Argentina. It was played by two teams on a pitch roughly 100 meters long and 10 meters wide with a back line at each end serving as a goal. The sticks had a twisted end and the ball was enclosed in a leather case.

Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are an American professional football team. They began in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys and formed the nucleus of a naval training team.

Chicago Black Hawks
The Chicago Black Hawks are an American professional Ice Hockey club based in Chicago. They joined the Professional National Hockey League of North America in 1926.

Chicago Cardinals
The Chicago Cardinals are an American professional football team. They entered the NFL in 1920 as the Racine Cardinals, in 1960 becoming the St Louis Cardinals before later adopting their present title.

Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team. They joined the American League when it was founded in 1901 and won the league's first title. The 1906 team were nicknamed the 'hitless wonders' for their batting average of .228, but won the world series.

Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team. They were a founding member of the National League under the name of the Cincinnati Red Stockings up to 1880 and then re-entered in 1890 under the name Cincinnati Reds.

Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are an American professional football team. They dominated the All-American Football Conference from its founding in 1946 until 1950 when the Cleveland Browns were merged into the NFL.

Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team. They were an original member of the American league in 1901.

Cleveland Rams
see "Los Angeles Rams"

Cliftonville FC
Cliftonville FC is an Association Football club in Belfast. It was founded in 1879 and is Ireland's oldest football club.

Club Ball
Club Ball was an ancient pastime played with a stick and a ball and of 'rude and unadulterated simplicity'. By Tudor times Club Ball was being combined with elements of stoolball to evolve a form of cricket in the true line of the modern game.

Coaching
Coaching is the sport of driving and racing a coach and horses. It was at its peak of popularity in the nineteenth century, previous to then the conditions of the roads had been generally too poor and had restricted speeds. Generally mail-coaches were used.

Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, originally called the British Empire Games, are an athletic event and major championship of the International Amateur Athletic Federation. The games are held at four-year intervals, the first games being held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930 and the first with women's events at London in 1934.

Conn Smythe Trophy
The Conn Smythe Trophy is an ice hockey trophy, awarded annually in the Stanley Cup competition contested by the leading teams in the National Hockey League of North America. The cup was donated in 1965 by Maple Leaf Gardens of Toronto and named after the former Toronto Maple Leafs coach, manager, president and owner.

Cooper
The Cooper was a British racing car. The first version was built in 1946 by John Cooper and his father Charles Cooper. It was a 500 cc single-cylinder model made from available components.

Corbillon cup
The corbillon cup is a table tennis tournament.

Coronation Cup
The Coronation Cup is an important weight-for-age horse race run in England over the Derby course of 2400 meters at Epsom on the day after the Derby.

Coursing
Coursing is the pursuit of game by dogs running by sight, not by scent. Modern coursing is mainly restricted to greyhound racing where the object is not to catch the hare, but rather a race of speed between the dogs.

Court Tennis
see "Real Tennis"

Coventry RFC
Coventry RFC is a rugby union football club which was formed in 1874.

Cox Plate
The Cox Plate is a valuable weight-for-age horse race held in Australia. It is competed over 2000 meters at Moonee Valley race-track near Melbourne.

Cricket
Cricket is the English national summer game - although the English cricket team of the 1990s is an international joke. The modern day game seems to have evolved around the 16th century from earlier bat and ball games dating from the 13th century and assumed its present form in the 18th century. Cricket is a team game played by two teams of 11 players each on a pitch 22 yards long with a wicket at each end to be defended by the batsman against a ball delivered by one of the opposing side, while the other members of this side endeavour to catch the ball when struck or missed by the batsman.

Crystal Palace Circuit
The Crystal Palace Circuit was a difficult motor racing road circuit in the centre of the London suburb of Sydenham. It was opened in 1937 with a lap distance of 2 miles, and re-opened after the war in 1953 with a lap distance of 1.39 miles. Today it is closed.

Currie Cup
The Currie Cup is a South African cricket trophy presented by Sir Donald Currie for competition between the South African provinces. It was first won by Transvaal in 1890.

Curtis Cup
The curtis cup is an international golf tournament played in alternate years between teams of women amateur golfers representing Great Britain and Ireland and the USA.

Curzon Cup
The Curzon Cup is awarded to the rider with the best aggregate of six runs from Junction at the start of the Cresta run season of tobogganing.

Cycle Ball
Cycle Ball is an amateur cycling ball-game derived from Association Football in which the ball is trapped, driven forward, and shot at goal by the rider manipulating the front wheel of his bicycle. It is played indoors between teams of two riders, and as a field game between teams of six. World championships are held annually.

Cyclo-Cross
Cyclo-Cross is a form of bicycle racing practised in winter on cross-country courses of about 20 km length over a duration of about 60 minutes depending upon the severity of the course.

Dakyu
Dakyu is an equestrian ball-and-goal team game which has been played in Japan for over a thousand years. It is like a mounted form of lacrosse, with the players carrying a metal pole with a net at the end with which they catch the ball and throw it into the opposing goal which is a circle 61 cm in diameter.

Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are an American professional football team. They entered the NFL in 1960.

Dallas Texans
see "Kansas City Chiefs"

Davis cup
The Davis cup is a tennis tournament.

Death Spiral
The Death Spiral is a movement in pairs figure skating where the man swings his partner round at very great speed, himself retaining virtually the same pose.

Decathlon
The decathlon is a standard event on the programme of all major athletics championships. It entered the Olympics in 1912 and is a two day event testing sprinting, hurdling, middle-distance running and a range of field events.

Derby Stakes
The Derby Stakes is the most famous horse race in the world. It is run over 2400 meters on Epsom Downs in England on the last wednsday in May or the first wednsday in June. It was founded in 1780 and named after the 12th Earl of Derby.

Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are an American professional football team. They entered the NFL in 1930 as the Portsmouth Spartans, becoming the Detroit Lions in 1934.

Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are an American ice hockey club based in Detroit.

Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team. They were an initial member of the American League in 1901.

Deutsches Derby
The Deutsches Derby is the premier classic horse race in Germany, run over 2400 meters at Hamburg-Horn at the end of June.

Devizes to Westminster Marathon
The Devizes to Westminster Marathon is a 125 mile race for double crews of canoe or kayak from Devizes in Wiltshire to Westminster in London. It was started in 1949 and is held annually at Easter.

Discus
The discus is a standard field event for men and women on the programme of all major athletics championships. Throwing the discus was first contested in the ancient Greek Olympic Games in about 708 BC. The discus is circular, tapering from its thickest point at the centre to the rim and is constructed of wood with metal plates set flush into the sides.

DKW
DKW are a German manufacturer of motor cycles. They were established in 1919 and became notable for highly developed and specialised racing machines with two-stroke engines.

Dobby
see "Touch-Chasing"

Downhill Racing
Downhill racing is a skiing event consisting of skiing from the top to the bottom of a prescribed course of about 2.5 km 5 km long by the shortest and fastest route possible. Ruts, large bumps (called moguls), and steep pitches add to the hazards. Downhill racing is a test of skiing skill, stamina, and courage.

Dressage
Dressage is an equestrian event which tests a horse's development and state of training. The object of dressage is the harmonious development of the physique and ability of the horse.

Dukla Prague
Dukla Prague is an Association Football club in Prague. The club was formed as the club of the army in 1947 and named A.T.K. in 1953 its name was changed to U.D.A. and in 1956 Dukla in honour of the village of Dukla where Czechs withstood the Germans during the Second World War.

Duleep Trophy
The Duleep Trophy is an Indian cricket trophy named after the late Duleepsinhji who was chairman of the All-India Council of Sports. It is awarded to the winner of an inter-zone knockout competition first played in 1961.

Dynamo Moscow
Dynamo Moscow is an Association Football Club in Moscow, once sponsored by the N.K.V.D and then the K.G.B. it was founded in 1887 by the English Charnock brothers who were manufacturers at Orekhovo-Zuyevo, near Moscow. The club was known as Orekhovo Klub Sport, Morosovsti and then Dynamo Moscow when it was sponsored by the Electrical Trades Union.

Ebor Handicap
The Ebor Handicap is a horse race run at York, England in August over 2800 meters. It was founded in 1843.

Eclipse Stakes
The Eclipse Stakes is a weight-for-age horse race run at Sandown Park, England in July over 2000 meters. It was founded in 1886.

Edinburgh Academicals RFC
Edinburgh Academicals RFC is the oldest Rugby Union club in Scotland. It was founded in 1857 by former pupils of Edinburgh Academy.

Edinburgh SC
Edinburgh SC is an ice skating club formed in 1742, the first in the world.

Edinburgh Wanderers RFC
Edinburgh Wanderers RFC is a Rugby Union football club formed in 1869 for players living in the city but ineligible to join the dominant former pupils' clubs.

Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian professional football team. They entered the Western Conference League in 1949 and dominated the Canadian Football League during the 1950s.

Eisenhower Trophy
The Eisenhower Trophy is an international amateur golf event for mens teams played in alternate years.

Estudiantes De La Plata
Estudiantes De La Plata is an Argentine Association Football Club formed in 1905 by students of La Plata University.

Eton Field Game
The Eton Field Game is a form of football confined to Eton College. It is an eleven-a-side game and the official football game at Eton which differs from Association Football by the small size of the ball, the small goal, the no handling of the ball rule and other minor variations.

Eton Fives
Eton Fives is a hand-ball game played by pairs in a three-walled court, the design of which is based on an area outside the chapel at Eton College where for centuries among the strange collection of ledges, steps and drain-holes, boys played with bare hands and balls of varying sizes and hardness.

Eton Wall Game
The Eton Wall Game is one of the oldest forms of football in existence. It is played only on a site at Eton College where a red brick wall separates the playing fields from the Slough Road. Originally it was a game for eleven-a-side, but after the Second World War the number was reduced to ten. Play takes place in a narrow strip, roughly 5 yards wide and 118 yards long, adjoining the wall which is 11 feet high.

Europa Cup
The Europa Cup is a major team championship of international athletics open to European national associations affiliated to the International Amateur Athletic Federation. It was first staged at Stuttgart in 1965 for men and Kassel for women.

Everton FC
Everton FC is an Association Football club in Liverpool, England. It was founded in 1878 by men from a Sunday School, and named St Domingo Church Sunday School Club. The name was quickly changed to Everton the same year, and the club became professional in 1885.

FA Cup
The Association Football Cup (FA Cup) competition was inaugurated in 1872, the final being played originally at Kennington Oval, it is now played at Wembley Stadium.

Fallowfield Stadium
Fallowfield Stadium is the oldest cycle track extant in the north of England. It was built at Manchester in 1892 of concrete. It is 509 yards in circumference and has thirty degree bankings. Its major annual event is the Manchester Wheelers' meeting on the second Saturday in July. In addition to cycling, the track has athletic and other facilities, and hosted the 1893 FA Cup Final.

Fastnet Race
The Fastnet Race is an offshore yacht race sailed biennially over a 968 km course from Cowes, Isle of Wight, round the Isles of Scilly to the Fastnet Rock off the south-west coast of Ireland and back to Plymouth.

Feijenoord SC
Feijenoord SC are an Association Football club formed in Rotterdam in 1908. The club first won the Netherlands championship in 1924.

Fencing
Fencing is the sport of sword-fighting. Three weapons are used: the foil, epee, and the sabre.

Fenland Skating
Fenland Skating is a form of ice speed-skating which developed on natural, seasonal ice along a stretch of the low-lying Fenland district of England, mainly in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. The first professional races were recorded at Croyland in 1820 when some 4000 spectators watched four competitors compete over a distance of two miles for a prize of five guineas, won by Gittam of Nordelph, Norfolk.

Ferencvaros
Ferencvaros is an Association Football club in Budapest. It was founded in 1899 as FTC, changed its name to Kinizsi in 1945 and after being amalgamated for a while with the army in 1956 was reformed as a separate entity under the name Ferencvaros.

Fettesian-Lorettonians
Fettesian-Lorettonians are a Scottish Rugby Union football club formed in 1881 with the main object of raising an annual touring side for New Year matches. The founder members were pupils of Fettes College and Loretto who were at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Figure-skating
Figure-skating is a sport for solo and pair-skaters which tests style as well as technical skill. In senior championship competition solo competitors are required to skate three specific ice-skating figures, drawn from an internationally recognised schedule. They then have to perform a short programme containing prescribed free-skating elements, and finally, to music, a free-style performance of their own creation.

Fives
Fives is a ball game for 2 or 4 players, in which a small hard ball is struck with the hand against the walls of an enclosed court.

Fleche Wallonne Cycle Race
The Fleche Wallonne Cycle Race is a Belgian professional classic founded in 1936. The race has no fixed course, but traditionally starts at Liege, finishes at Charleroi and covers 206 - 249 km of laborious climbing along the Ardennes mountain roads.

Flemington
Flemington is a horse race-course at Melbourne, Australia, where the Melbourne Cup, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Victoria Derby and other races for two-year-olds are run.

Fluminense
Fluminense is a Brazilian Association Football club in Rio de Janeiro. It was founded in 1902 and was a co-founder of the Rio League in 1906.

Fly Ball
Fly Ball is a bat-and-ball game of the tennis type played with a shuttlecock. The racket is the shape of a table-tennis bat and has a net hitting surface. The shuttlecock is like that used in badminton.

Folkestone Festival
The Folkestone Festival is a hockey festival held annually at Easter in Folkestone, England. It was first held in 1906.

Football
Football is the name of several games involving the kicking of an inflated ball around a pitch, the modern football games evolving around the middle of the 19th century, but football was known to the ancient Britons, and was censured and opposed by Edward II in 1314.

Frank Worrell Trophy
The Frank Worrell Trophy is a cricket trophy played for between the West Indies and Australia. It was instituted in 1961 by the Australian cricket board in commemoration of the tied test match between Australia and the West Indies at Brisbane during the series of the 1960-1961 season and named after Sir Frank Worrell who led the West Indies in that match.

Gaelic Football
Gaelic Football is a 15-a-side variation of football somewhat like a compromise between Association Football and Rugby.

Garryowen RFC
Garryowen RFC is a rugby union football club in Doorodoyle, County Limerick founded in 1884.

Gilera
Gilera are an Italian manufacturer of racing motorbikes.

Gillette Cup
The Gillette Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the winner of the Gillette Cup competition in English cricket. The competition is conducted on a knock-out basis between the 17 first-class county sides and the 5 leading counties in the Minor Counties championship of the previous season. The competition was instituted in 1963 as an antidote to flagging interest in the county championship proper and was an immediate success with the public.

Giro D'Italia
The Giro D'Italia (Tour of Italy) is an annual stage race for professional cyclists. It was first held in 1909 and was modelled on the Tour de France.

Glaciarium
The Glaciarium was the world's first mechanically-refrigerated ice skating rink. It was built in 1876 near the King's Road in London by John Gamgee.

Gleneagles
Gleneagles is a Scottish hotel golf course in the Grampian foothills.

Glentoran FC
Glentoran FC is an Association Football club in Belfast formed in 1882.

Golden Slipper Stakes
The Golden Slipper Stakes is the most valuable and important horse race for two-year-olds in Australia. It is run over six furlongs at the Rosehill track, Sydney, in March.

Golf
Golf is an outdoor club-and-ball game in which the object of the player is to play the ball from its starting point - the tee - to the hole in as few strokes as possible.

Gophers
The Gophers is the nickname of the University of Minnesota American college football team.

Gornik Zabrze
Gornik Zabrze is an Association Football club in Zabrze, Poland.

Gorton Athletic
Gorton Athletic was an English Association Footbnall club founded in 1884. It was amalgamated with West Gorton in 1887 to form Ardwick.

Gran Criterium
Gran Criterium is an important horse race for two-year olds in Italy. It is run in mid-October over 1500 meters at Milan and forms the second leg of the big Italian two-year old double.

Gran Premio D'Italia
Gran Premio D'Italia is a classic horse-race for three-year olds run in early June at Milan over 2400 meters.

Gran Premio De Madrid
The Gran Premio De Madrid is an important horse race for three-year olds and upwards run over 2500 meters on the Zarzuela course at Madrid.

Gran Premio Di Milano
The Gran Premio Di Milano is a horse race which is the first leg of the Italian triple crown of weight-for-age events.

Gran Premio Nacional
Gran Premio Nacional is a horse race in the Argentine Derby run over 2500 meters on the Palermo trace at Buenos Aires in October.

Grand Criterium
Grand Criterium is an important horse race for two-year olds held in France. It is run over 1600 meters at Longchamp in October forming the third leg of the French triple crown for two-year olds.

Grand National
The Grand National Steeplechase is the most famous horse race in the world for jumpers. It was first run in England in 1839 and is now a handicap for horses, geldings and mares, six years old and upwards who have fulfilled certain qualifications in their previous appearances on the race-course. It is run near the end of March at Aintree near Liverpool over a course of 4 miles 856 yards with thirty jumps.

Grand National Archery Society
The Grand National Archery Society is the governing body for archery in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1861 with the sole object of organising the Grand National Archery Meetings which began in 1844.

Grand Prix de Paris
The Grand Prix de Paris is a horse race founded in 1863 and is the French classic for three-year olds. It is run over 3100 meters in late June at Longchamp.

Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American professional football team based in Wisconsin. They joined the NFL in 1922.

Greyhound Racing
Greyhound Racing is a sport in which greyhounds compete in pursuit of a mechanical imitation of a hare. The racing takes place on an elliptical or oval shaped track with a circumference of about 400 to 550 yards.

Grosser Preis Von Baden
The Grosser Preis Von Baden is an important international weight-for-age horse race held at the Iffezheim course at Baden-Baden, Germany in early September over 2400 meters.

Grosser Preis Von Nordrhein-westfalen
The Grosser Preis Von Nordrhein-westfalen is a horse race run at Dusseldorf, Germany in July over 2400 meters and comprises the first leg of the German triple crown for older weight-for-age horses.

GS Varnamo
GS Varnamo is a Swedish walking club located midway between Goteborg and Stockholm. The club dominated Swedish Race Walking from 1948 to 1960.

Guy's Hospital RFC
Guy's Hospital RFC is the oldest Rugby Union football club in existence, founded in 1843 and a founder member of the Rugby Football Union in 1871. It was the first club to win the Hospital's Cup which was introduced in 1875.

Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport competed by men and women on various apparatus which test grace, strength and dexterity.

Hambledon CC
Hambledon CC was, before the formation of the Marylebone CC in 1787, the finest cricket club in England regularly playing and beating "all England" teams. The team played its last recorded match in 1793.

Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV is an Association Football club in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1887.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian professional football team.

Handball
Handball is a no-contact game, played either out of doors by two opposing teams of 11 a side or indoors by teams of 7 a side or 5 a side. It is played by catching, interpassing and throwing the ball, the aim being to score by throwing the ball into the goal. The ball resembles an Association Football ball in size and weight, and the 11 a side game is played with goals the same as in Association Football.

Harai-goshi
Harai-goshi is a sweeping hip throw used in judo.

Hare and Hounds
Hare and Hounds is a cross-country foot race in which two runners, known as hares, set off a short while before the rest of the runners, known as the hounds, who aim to overtake the hares within the distance appointed for the race. Hare and Hounds is popular in English public schools.

Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American all-black professional basketball troupe formed in 1927. The team tours playing in exhibitions and demonstration matches and have become famous for their ball control skill and nefarious antics on the pitch.

Harlequin FC
Harlequin FC is a Rugby Union football club which was formed in 1866 and is one of the surviving founder members of the Rugby Football Union. Harlequins home ground is the Stoop Memorial ground at Twickenham.

Harrow Football
Harrow Football is an 11-a-side team game variation of Association Football played only at Harrow School. It is played with a large flattened ball on a standard rugby pitch marked only with a half-way line.

Hart Trophy
The Hart Trophy is an ice hockey trophy awarded annually in the National Hockey League of North America to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team. The original trophy was presented in 1924 by David A. Hart and was replaced by the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1959.

Hawaiian Games
The Hawaiian Games were a festival of sport embracing the territory of Hawaii. For three months of the year the population would engage in sports and celebrations to honour the god of sports, Louoi-ka-Makahiki. The competitions took place in over 100 games including index finger wrestling, spear-throwing and surfboard riding. The games were suppressed by American missionaries from 1821 onwards who even banned surfboard riding.

Hawick RFC
Hawick RFC is a Scottish Rugby Union football club. It was founded in 1873 and was the first to play a touring side in Scotland.

Haxey Hood
Haxey Hood is a derivative of the rule-less football popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The hood, a bale or ball of rope encased in leather, was thrown into the air by a designated 'chief of the Boggons'. The Boggons would try to prevent the other players from taking the hood off the field, which they would try to do and carry it to the next village.

Heart of Midlothian FC
Heart of Midlothian FC (Hearts) is an Association Football club in Edinburgh. The club was founded in 1873 and was an original member of the Scottish league when it was formed in 1890.

Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is the oldest rowing regatta in Europe and the most famous in the world. It was inaugurated in 1839 at Henley-on-Thames as a direct result of the interest aroused locally by the first Oxford and Cambridge boat race which took place at Henley in 1829.

Heptathlon
The heptathlon is a 7 event athletics discipline.

Hibernian FC
Hibernian FC is an Association Football club in Edinburgh. The club was formed by Irishmen in Edinburgh in 1875 and won the Scottish Cup in 1887.

High Jump
The High Jump is a standard field event on the programme of all major athletics championships for men and women, and also one of the events in the decathlon and the pentathlon.

Highland Games
The Highland Games are a group of British athletics meetings, usually professional, held in the highlands of Scotland from early in the nineteenth century. They perhaps originated from races held among retainers of a local ruler who was dissatisfied with the speed of his messengers.

Hockenheim Circuit
The Hockenheim Circuit is a fast, wooded motor racing circuit near Mannheim. It is the scene of Formula Two races as qualifying rounds in the European Formula Two championship.

Hockey
Field Hockey is a stick-and-ball game played with hooked sticks and a ball. It is usually played by two teams of 11 a side consisting of a goalkeeper, two backs, three halves and five forwards over a game of two periods each of 35 minutes duration.

Holani
Holani is an ancient form of hockey still played in Turkey. Two teams use rough sticks to hit a wooden cylinder or wedge (the holani) through the opponents goal. There are no other rules, the pitch may be any size, the game has no fixed duration and their is no restriction on the number of players.

Honda
Honda are a Japanese firm of motor vehicle manufacturers. They started making motor-cycles and became prominent in the early 1960s in international racing. More recently they moved into automobile production.

Hood Skittles
Hood Skittles is an indoor game played using nine pins about six inches tall placed in a diamond formation at thigh-height from the floor on a table. Stitched, leather padded missiles (known as cheeses) are thrown at the skittles from varying distances, usually in the region of three meters.

Hop, Step and Jump
see "Triple Jump"

Hospitals' Cup
The Hospitals' Cup is a Rugby Union trophy for which the London hospitals compete in an annual knock-out competition dating from 1875.

Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team. They entered the National League in 1962 as the Colt 45s before later becoming the Houston Astros to identify with Houston's space connections.

Huddersfield RLC
Huddersfield RLC is a rugby league football club founded in 1864 and a founder member of the English Northern Union.

Huddersfield Town FC
Huddersfield Town FC is an Association Football club. It was founded in 1908 and elected to the second division of the league in the 1910-11 season.

Hunslet RLC
Hunslet RLC is a Rugby League football club. It was a founder member of the English Northern Union.

Hurdling
Hurdling is an athletics activity with the 110 meters and 400 meters events for men and the 100 meters for women featuring on the programme of all major championships. There are ten flights of hurdles in each event, being 3.5 feet high in the 100 meters event, 2.5 feet high in the 200 meters, 3 feet for the 400 meters and 2.75 feet high in the women's 400 meters event. The first hurdling event took place in 1850, and was a 3000 meters steeplechase. The first 120 yards hurdles race took place at the Oxford University Sports in 1864.

Hurling
Hurling is a fast team game in which teams try to propel a small ball with a broad-bladed stick (caman) between the opposite teams goal posts. The goal posts are 6.4 meters apart with a cross-bar 2.4 meters from the ground.

Ice Hockey
Ice Hockey is a six-a-side team game played with sticks and a rubber puck on a rectangular sheet of mechanically-frozen or natural ice ideally measuring 61 meters long by 26 meters wide and surrounded by wooden boards between 1 meter and 1.22 meters tall. The game is won by the team which scores the most goals. Red goal lines, 5 cm wide are marked 3.5 meters from each end of the rink. In the centre of these lines are the goals, 1.22 meters high and 1.83 meters wide with a net not less than 60 cm at the base.

Ignis Varese
Ignis Varese are an Italian basketball club from Varese. They were inaugurated in 1966 and won the European Cup-Winners Cup in the same year.

Independiente
Independiente are an Argentine Association Football club in Buenos Aires. They were founded in 1905 and turned professional in 1931.

Indy Ann
Indy Ann was a racing greyhound of the 1950s who won more races than any other greyhound in American history. Between 1954 and 1957 she finished first 137 times, second 37 times and third 18 times in 223 starts. She was unplaced only 31 times.

Internazionale
Internazionale are an Italian Association Football club in Milan. They were founded in 1909 and amalgamated in 1928 with US Milanese under the name of Ambrosiana-Internazionale, but reverted to the name Internazionale in 1945.

Ippon
An ippon is a 'full point' scored in judo.

Irish Guinness Oaks
The Irish Guinness Oaks is a horse race sponsored since 1963 by the Dublin brewers, Guinness. It is run by three-year-old fillies over 2400 meters at The Curragh in July.

Irish Rounders
Irish Rounders is a bat-and-ball game similar to softball. The game is played nine a side, there are four bases each 30 yards apart. The batter stands at home base and attempts to hit the ball thrown by the server from a mark 20 yards away.

Irish Sweeps Derby
The Irish Sweeps Derby is a horse race competed by three-year-olds over 2400 meters at The Curragh in late June.

Iroquois cup
The iroquois cup is an English lacrosse tournament.

It
see "Touch-Chasing"

Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference of American East Coast colleges comprising Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania.

James Norris Trophy
The James Norris Trophy is an ice hockey trophy awarded annually in the National Hockey League of North America to the player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability as a defenceman. It was donated in 1954 by the Detroit Red Wings as a memorial to the club's former owner.

Javelin
Javelin-throwing is a standard field event for men and women on the programme of all major athletics championships. The competition javelin weighs 800 grams for men and 600 grams for women.

Jeu Provencal
Jeu Provencal is a ball-and-target game similar to lawn bowls, crown green bowls, and petanque.

Jiu-Kumite
Jiu-Kumite is free-style fighting in sport karate. Contests are always between two individuals irrespective of grade. Team contests consist of a series of individual contests, the team with the greatest winning number of members winning.

Jockey Club
The Jockey Club was founded in 1750 at the Star and Garter Coffee House in Pall Mall, London. Today its stewards are the central authority for the administration and control of the Turf in England.

Jockey Club Gold Cup
The Jockey Club Gold Cup is an important weight-for-age horse race in America. It is run over 3200 meters at Belmont Park in October.

Jousting
Jousting was a medieval form of combat between horsemen armed with lances. A major feature of a joust and the entire tournament in which it took place was that no one under the rank of knight could take part, thus distinguishing the contest from other military-based sports.

Judo
Judo is a combat sport founded by Jigoro Kano and which developed primarily in Japan, but now has world-wide appeal and received Olympic recognition in 1964. Contests (shiai) are conducted by a roving referee and two judges who sit at opposite corners of a 9 meter square mat.

Judogi
A judogi is a loose-fitting suit worn for combat in judo.

Judoka
A Judoka is a participant in judo.

Juventus
Juventus are an Italian Association Football club founded in Turin in 1897. The players play in black and white striped shirts and white shorts.

Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a traditional team pursuit game played in India and requiring players to run and hold their breath for a long time. It is played on a rectangular field 13 meters by 10 meters which is divided into two halves by a line drawn across the middle. Each half, called the court, has a line parallel to the centre line at a distance of 3 meters known as a baulk line. Two teams of 12, with 7 players on the pitch take it in turns to send one player to raid the opposition which he does while holding his breath and chanting Kabaddi while trying to touch one of the opposition and then return to his own side of the baulk line, the touched opposition players must then leave the pitch.

Kansas City Athletics
The Kansas City Athletics are an American professional baseball team.

Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are an American professional football team. They joined the AFL in 1960 as the Dallas Texans and switched to Kansas City to become the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.

Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team. They entered the American League in 1969 when it expanded to twelve teams.

Karting
Karting is a form of motor racing. The kart is a tiny wheeled vehicle with a wheelbase between 40 and 50 inches and a maximum length of 72 inches, usually powered by a small two-stroke engine.

KB Copenhagen
KB Copenhagen are an Association Football club. They were founded in 1876 as a rounders club and known as Kjobenhavns Boldklub. The club was among those that helped to form the Danish Boldspil Union in 1889.

Kendo
Kendo is the Japanese art of sword fighting. The participants are known as kendoka.

Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is an American horse race comprising the first leg of the American triple crown. It was founded in 1875 and is run over 2000 meters at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky in early May.

Kentucky Oaks
The Kentucky Oaks is the American fillies' classic horse race run over 1700 meters at Churchill Downs on the same day as the Kentucky Derby.

Kiai
A kiai is a shout in kendo which must accompany a blow for a point to be scored. It has three purposes; it emphasises the point to be attacked, helps with the co-ordination and unnerves the opponent.

Kiwis
Kiwis is the nickname of the New Zealand Army Rugby Union team.

Kjobenhavns Boldklub
see "KB Copenhagen"

Knur and Spell
Knur and Spell is an ancient bat and ball game played in the north of England, and especially Yorkshire. It is similar to golf, in that the player tries to hit a round ball (the knur) as far as possible with the bat or stick in an agreed number of attempts.

Korfball
Korfball is a type of handball of Dutch origin, usually played out of doors between teams of mixed sexes. The pitch is a rectangle 90 meters by 40 meters, level and of short grass divided into three areas by white tape across the width. Goals, formed of baskets fixed at the top of posts, are mounted one at each end. The ball is about 70 cm in circumference.

Kuningaspallo
Kuningaspallo (kingball) is a Finnish team bat-and-ball game akin to lomgball which was played throughout Finland until the end of the nineteenth century.

Kyu
Kyu is a pupil rank in judo, as distinct from Dan which is a degree rank.

Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a ball-game originally played by North American Indians with twelve players on each side, in which the ball is flung by and carried in the crosse, the object being to throw the ball through the opponents' goal.

Lakeland Games
The Lakeland Games are a British professional athletics meeting held in the Lake District.

Lawn Tennis
see "Tennis"

Lawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the governing body of lawn tennis in England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in 1888 as a result of the initiative of Scrivener, president of the Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club, and Hillyard of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Le Mans
Le Mans is a motor racing circuit in the Sarthe district of France.

Leander Club
The Leander Club is the oldest amateur rowing club in the world. It was originally a London club, founded in 1818, by the end of the nineteenth century it had moved to Henley-on-Thames.

Leautey Coupe
The Leautey Coupe was a cup formerly awarded annually by the FIH to the national hockey association that had done the most to serve the game.

Leeds City
see "Leeds United FC"

Leeds RLC
Leeds Rugby League Club is a Rugby football club founded in 1890 and a founder member of the English Northern Union.

Leeds United FC
Leeds United FC is an Association Football club, founded in 1904 as Leeds City, it played in the Football League Second Division from 1905 until 1919 when the club was ordered to disband over irregularities in its administration. Almost immediately a new club was formed under the name of Leeds United. The club plays in white shirt and white shorts.

Leningrad SC
Leningrad SC is a Russian ice skating club. It was formed as the St Petersburg SC by British residents in 1864 and staged the first world ice figure-skating championships in 1866.

Leonard Trophy
The Leonard Trophy is the trophy presented in the world championships of lawn bowls.

Lifeguard Games
The Lifeguard Games are a competitive exercise in the practical skills practised by beach lifeguards first developed as an international championship at Carpenteria, California in 1967. Events vary, but centre on swimming, rowing, paddling through surf and sprinting on sand.

Liffey Descent
Liffey Descent is an international long-distance canoeing event held in Ireland. It was first raced in 1959.

Lincoln Handicap
The Lincoln Handicap is the first big horse race of the English 'flat' season, run at Doncaster over a straight mile course as the end of March. It is the first leg of the 'Spring Double', the other being the Grand National.

Linfield FC
Linfield FC is an Association Football club in Belfast. It was founded in 1886.

Lions
The Lions is the nickname of the British Rugby Union overseas touring sides. The name was first given to them in 1924 during their visit to South Africa, from the symbol on their official tie.

Liverpool FC
Liverpool FC is an Association Football club in Liverpool, England. They were founded in 1892 after a majority of shareholders in Everton FC decided to leave their ground at Anfield Road following a dispute over rent. Liverpool FC were elected to the Second Division of the Football League in 1893 and went on to win the League in 1901 and the UEFA cup in 1973.

Llanelli RFC
Llanelli RFC is a first class Welsh rugby union football club founded in 1872.

Logrolling
Logrolling is a sport in which tow competitors stand astride a large floating log and try to dislodge the other by rolling the log different directions with their feet.

London Fencing Club
The London Fencing Club was founded in 1848 and was the first English fencing club.

London Irish RFC
London Irish RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1898.

London Rowing Club
London Rowing Club was formed in 1856 and has had a magnificent history of rowing competition wins.

London SC
London SC is an ice skating club formed in 1842.

London Scottish RFC
London Scottish RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1878.

London Welsh RFC
London Welsh RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1885.

Londonderry Cup
The Londonderry Cup is one of the chief as well as the oldest tournaments in the squash rackets calendar. The cup was presented in 1934 by the International Sportsmen's Club and named after its then president, Lord Londonderry.

Long Jump
The Long Jump is a standard field event in the programme of all major athletic championships and is one of the events in the decathlon and pentathlon. The first record of long-jumping contests dates from the ancient Greek Olympic games in 708 BC.

Long-distance Running
Long-distance Running is races over 3 miles or 5000 meters and include the 10,000 meters and the marathon events.

Longwood Cricket Club
Longwood Cricket Club was founded in 1877 by three cricket players at Longwood in the USA. In 1878 lawn tennis was played at the club, and today Longwood Cricket Club is the oldest lawn tennis club in America.

Lonsdale Belts
Lonsdale Belts are boxing awards for British champions. They were created in 1909 when the Earl of Lonsdale presented a belt to Welsh for winning the British lightweight title at the National Sporting Club, of which Lord Lonsdale was president.

Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team. They joined the National League in 1958.

Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are an American ice hockey club of Los Angeles. They were formed in 1967 as one of six teams in the new West Division of the expanded National Hockey League of North America.

Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team playing in the National Basketball Association. They started as the Minneapolis Lakers at the formation of the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and moved to Los Angeles in 1962.

Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are an American professional football team. They joined the NFL in 1937 as the Cleveland Rams and moved to Los Angeles after winning their first league title in 1945.

Lugano 100 km
The Lugano 100 km is a road walking race held in Switzerland and ending at Lugano. It was inaugurated in 1965 and is held annually in late October.

Lugano Cup
The Lugano Cup is the world championship for race walking. It was first held in 1961 at Lugano, Switzerland, the home town of the prime instigator of the event, Libotte.

Lutz
The lutz is a difficult toe-jump standard movement in figure skating. The skater takes-off from a back outside edge, helped by the toe point of the free foot, rotating clockwise in mid-air before landing on the back outside edge of the original free foot.

Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC is an English Association Football club. They were formed in 1880 as the West Gorton club, and amalgamated with Gorton Athletic to form Ardwick in 1887. Ardwick were elected one of the twelve original members of the Second Division of the football league in 1892 and in 1894 took the name Manchester City.

Manchester SC
Manchester SC is an ice skating club formed in Manchester, England in 1877 when it was dependant upon natural ice until the opening of the Manchester Ice Palace in 1910 where the club staged world championships during the first quarter of the 20th century.

Manchester United FC
Manchester United FC are an English Association Football club. They were formed in 1885 by employees of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway and named Newton Heath. In 1902 the present name of Manchester United was adopted.

Manchester-Blackpool
The Manchester-Blackpool is an 83 km long English road walking race held annually since 1909, except in the world war periods. The race is organised by the Lancashire Walking Club.

Manning Cup
The Manning Cup is a hockey trophy competed for by Australia and New Zealand played for alternately in each country either with one Test or a series of Tests.

Marathon
The Marathon is the longest race to figure in the programme of events for all major athletics championships. The name derives from the story of Phidippides, a Greek soldier, who was ordered to run from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 22 miles, to convey the news of the Greek victory over the Persians in 400 BC. The modern Marathon is run over 26 miles.

Marcel Corbillion Cup
The Marcel Corbillion Cup is an award for the women's team championship of the world at table tennis.

Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) was founded in 1787 by a group of noblemen. The club revised the laws of cricket, and became the new official authority on the game until 1969 when a newly created cricket-council took over the responsibility.

Meg Merryleys
Meg Merryleys is a Lincolnshire dialect of Nine Men's Morris.

Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is a handicap race for three year olds and upwards run at Flemington race-course in Melbourne over 3200 meters.

Merels
see "Nine Men's Morris"

Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are an American professional football team. They joined the American Football League in 1966, and won the National Football League in 1971.

Middle-Distance Running
Middle-Distance Running is the track events in athletics, beyond the range of sprinting, but short of the broad classification of long-distance running. Middle-distance events on the programmes of major athletics championships are the 800 meters, 1500 meters and 3000 meters steeplechase for men, and the 800 meters for women.

Middleton Cup
The Middleton Cup is the English inter-county team championships held in lawn bowls at Mortlake, London. The event started in 1911 and was originally played for the John Bull Cup, but this was replaced in 1922 by the Middleton cup.

Midi Libre
The Midi Libre is a French four-day professional cycle race, traditionally held in late May, and named after the newspaper which promotes it.

Milan 100 km
The Milan 100 km was an annual Italian road walking race first held in 1909 and continuing until 1960 when a lack of sponsorship forced it to end.

Milk Race
see "Tour of Britain"

Milwaukee Braves
The Milwaukee Braves are an American professional baseball team. They were originally the Boston Braves, but in 1953 their franchise was shifted to Milwaukee and their name changed accordingly.

Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team. They were an initial member of the American League in 1901, but dropped into the minor leagues the next year.

Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team playing in the NBA since 1968.

Minneapolis Lakers
The Minneapolis Lakers were an American professional basketball team. In 1962 their franchise moved to the west coast and they became known as the Los Angeles Lakers.

Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars are an American ice hockey club based at Bloomington, Minnesota. They were formed in 1967 as one of six teams of the new West Division of the expanded NHL of North America.

Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team. They were formed in 1961, playing at Bloomington, Minnesota.

Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are an American professional football team. They entered the NFL in 1961, and won the National Football Conference title in 1969.

Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup is the oldest Association Football club competition in Europe. It was first suggested in 1924 by Meisl as an annual knock-out competition involving the leading professional clubs of Central Europe, and the competition was instituted in 1927.

Montana-Crans SBC
Montana-Crans SBC is a Swiss skibob club, founded in 1964.

Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian professional football team. They were formed in 1946 from an earlier Montreal team formed in 1907.

Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a Canadian ice hockey club, one of the original four members which formed the professional National Hockey League of North America in 1917.

Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos are a Canadian professional baseball team. They joined the National League in 1969 when it expanded to twelve teams.

Moto Guzzi
Moto Guzzi are an Italian motor-cycle firm. It was founded in 1921 and has been prominent in racing ever since.

Moto-Cross
Moto-Cross (scrambling) is a specialised form of motor-cycle racing in which competitors race around a circuit consisting of a variety of rough cross-country terrain, generally including mud, sand, grass, gravel, stones and streams.

Mount Washington
Mount Washington is a lacrosse club in Baltimore, Maryland. It developed in 1904 from the Mount Washington Cricket and Country Club, whose ground, Roland Park, was taken over by the lacrosse club.

MTK Budapest
MTK Budapest are a Hungarian Association Football club. They were founded in 1888 and known variously as Hungaria, Textilesek, Bastya and Red Banner before once again becoming MTK in 1956.

Murrayfield
Murrayfield is the headquarters, and home ground of the Scottish Rugby Union since 1925, situated on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Murrels
Murrels is a Cambridgeshire name for Nine Men's Morris.

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