Sports

As a quick glance at the national press will tell you, sport in Britain is a serious matter, with
each international defeat being taken as an index of the country's slide down the scale
of world powers. Many of the crucial domestic and international fixtures of the football ,
rugby and cricket seasons take place in the capital, and London also hosts one of the
world's greatest tennis tournaments, the Wimbledon championships.

For up-to-the-minute details of sporting events in London, check the Evening Standard or
Time Out, or ring the London Sportsline on 020/7222 8000.

Football
English football (or soccer) is passionate, and if you have the slightest interest in the
game, then catching a league or FA Cup fixture is a must. The season runs from
mid-August to early May.

Cricket
In the days of the Empire, the English took cricket to the colonies as a means of instilling
the gentlemanly values of fair play while administering a sound thrashing to the natives.
These days, the former colonies - such as Australia, the West Indies and India - all beat
England on a regular basis, and to see the game at its best you should try to get into
one of the Test matches between England and the summer's touring team. These
international fixtures are played in the middle of the cricket season, which runs from April
to September. Two of the matches are played in London: one at Lord's (tel 020/7289
1611; www.lords.org), the home of English cricket, in St John's Wood, the other at The
Oval (tel 020/7582 6660; www.surreyccc.co.uk), in Kennington. In tandem with the
full-blown five-day Tests, there's also a series of one-day internationals, two of which are
usually held in London.

Rugby
Rugby gets its name from Rugby public school, where the game mutated from football
(soccer) in the nineteenth century. A rugby match may at times look like a bunch of
weightlifters grappling each other in the mud - as the old joke goes, rugby is a hooligan's
game played by gentlemen, while football is a gentleman's game played by hooligans -
but it is in reality a highly tactical and athletic game. England's rugby team tends to
represent the country with rather more success than the cricket squad, though they
can't quite match the power and attacking panache of the sides from the Southern
Hemisphere.

Tennis
Tennis in England is synonymous with Wimbledon (tel 020/8946 2244;
www.wimbledon.com), the only Grand Slam tournament in the world to be played on
grass, and for many players the ultimate goal of their careers.

Horse racing
There are five horse racecourses within easy reach of London: Kempton Park (tel
01932/782292; www.kempton.co.uk), near Sunbury-on-Thames; Sandown Park (tel
01372/463072; www.sandown.co.uk), near Esher in Surrey; and Windsor (tel
01753/865234; www.windsorracing.co.uk), in Berkshire, which hold top-quality races on
the flat (April-Sept) and over jumps (Aug-March). There's also Ascot (tel 01344/622211;
www.ascot.co.uk), in Berkshire, and Epsom (tel 01372/726311; www.epsomderby.co.uk)
in Surrey, which are the real glamour courses, hosting major races of the flat-racing
season every June.

Thousands of Londoners have a day out at Epsom on Derby Day, which takes place on
the first or second Saturday in June. The Derby , a mile-and-a-half race for three-year-old
thoroughbreds, is the most prestigious of the five classics of the April to September English
flat season, and is preceded by another classic, the Oaks , which is for fillies only. The
three-day Derby meeting is as much a social ritual as a sporting event, but for sheer
snobbery, nothing can match the Royal Ascot week in mid-June, when the Queen and
selected members of the royal family are in attendance, along with half the nation's
bluebloods. The best seats are the preserve of the gentry, who get dressed up to the
nines for the day; but, as is the case at most racecourses, the rabble are allowed into
the public enclosure for a mere £5.


Greyhound racing
A night out at the dogs is still a popular pursuit in London. It's an inexpensive, cheerful
and comfortable spectacle: a grandstand seat costs less than £5 and all six London
stadiums have one or more restaurants.


Ice skating
London has just one centrally located indoor ice rink, plus the outdoor Broadgate rink -
located in the heart of the City near Liverpool Street station. Session times tend to vary
quite a lot, but generally last for around two to three hours.


Pool and snooker
Pool has replaced darts as the most popular pub sport in London. There are scores of
pubs offering small-scale pool tables, even in the centre of the city, where space is at a
premium. Real American pool , played on a larger table than pub pool, is also moving
into halls once dedicated to snooker , the equivalent British game.