Sport in the United Kingdom
Sport TV Viewing Participating Interested In
Association football 46% 10% 45%
Rugby union 21% NA 27%
Tennis 18% 3% 23%
Cricket 18% 2% 19%
Athletics 18% 2% 21%
Snooker 17% 5% 24%
Motor racing 16% NA 20%
Rugby league 12% NA 15%
Boxing 11% NA 14%
Darts 9% 3% NA
Swimming NA 9% NA
Gym NA 12% 17%
Badminton NA 3% NA
Squash NA 3% NA
Watersport NA 2% NA
Skiing NA 1% NA
Lawn Bowls NA 1% NA
Popularity
Association footballer David Beckham A 2003 MORI poll found : [ 16 ]
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture. The United Kingdom has given birth to a range of major international sports including association football, badminton, billiards, bowls, boxing, cricket, croquet, curling, darts, golf, fives, hockey, netball, rugby (union and league), tennis, table tennis, snooker, squash, and water polo. The standardisation of various sports, such as in rowing, dancesports and motorsports occurred in the United Kingdom. This has meant that in the infancy of many sports, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922 some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland though some continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. In a small number of sports, these teams are supplemented by high-profile events featuring a combined team representing one or more nations. For information on sports in a British home nation you may wish, therefore, to consider reading the Sport in England, Sport in Scotland, Sport in Wales or Sport in Northern Ireland articles, or the Sport in Ireland article where appropriate. Overall, association football attracts the most viewers and money though the nation is notable for the diversity of its sporting interests, especially at the elite level. Major individual sports include athletics, cycling, motorsport, and horse racing. Tennis is the highest profile sport for the two weeks of the Wimbledon Championships, but otherwise struggles to hold its own in the country of its birth. Snooker and Darts, too, enjoy period profile boosts in line with the holding of their largest events. Many other sports are also played and followed to a lesser degree.