This morning we went on a sports walk across London. In addition to learning about sports, we stood outside 10 Downing Street and saw Boris’ Johnson’s car pull through the gates, accompanied by about 5 other cars. Then later in Leicester Square, a woman and some cameramen approached our group and told us to ask her a question. Unaware of who she was, I asked her what her favorite part about London is. The woman responded that the architecture and the bustle of the city is her favorite part before asking me about mine. I told her about my love for football, specifically Chelsea FC, and how I had attended some matches so far during my time here. I only found out afterwards who she was: Amanda Holden, judge on Britain’s Got Talent, interviewing us for her morning heart radio show. Other than these two instances, we learned quite a bit about London sporting history.
One of the most interesting parts of the tour was the history of bare-knuckle boxing. Both areas in which we learned about this sport revolved around pubs. The first pub was Tom Cribb, named after and opened by the undefeated English boxer of the same name. Cribb nearly lost his undefeated streak early on in his career against a freed American slave, Tom Molineaux. When Molineaux appeared as if he were going to win, Cribb’s corner crew called for a timeout in the match because of alleged metal in Molineaux’s hand. Although untrue, it allowed Cribb time to relax and rally enough strength to eventually win. Cribb and Molineaux had a rematch a year later, which Cribb handily won. The other example of bare-knuckle boxing was with the pub Lamb and Flag, known as the bucket of blood. There was a boxing ring in the pub, which opened in 1623.
I have never been into boxing and have only watched a few matches in my life; I have never found the sheer intentional violence entertaining. Bare-knuckle boxing was most likely worse than boxing today because of the lack of restrictions and time frame involved. However, I cannot say I am surprised at the popularity of the sport, as other sports, like mob football, gained a large following in London.
There were other aspects of the walk I found especially interesting. I knew the story of Pheidippides and his 24.8 mile run from Marathon to Athens, coining the phrase “marathon.” However, I never knew why the current distance of a marathon was 26.2 miles. Standing on the red road, or “the mall,” we learned that the marathon is this distance because of Queen Alexandra’s request at the 1908 London Olympics for the marathon to begin at Windsor Castle and end in front of the royal box at the Olympic Stadium. These locations added up to the distance we know today of 26.2 miles. Despite the alteration from tradition, the royal family’s request affected the event forever, as the distance permanently changed soon after this.
There were various other parts of the sport walk that caught my attention. Of course, as an avid football fan, I was interested in the history of England’s most popular sport. We learned that the official organization which created the rules of football was called the Football Association. We went to the place where the rules were created; it used to be a pub, which has since been destroyed. We also learned that soccer was derived from the “soc” in Association.
In addition to the abovementioned stories, we learned about rugby and also saw the place where their rules had been established. In addition to England, rugby also played a large role in South Africa. After Mandela’s end to his 27 years of imprisonment, he used rugby to help break apartheid and the barriers between different races. When South Africa won the rugby world cup, he handed the trophy off to the white captain of the team. This is an example in which sport has been used in powerful and important ways.
Although there were more aspects of sport we talked about, such as NFL UK, the 2012 Olympics (specifically beach volleyball), the Boat Race and cricket, these antidotes are what stood out to me most. I quite enjoyed the walk, which just happened to fall on a beautiful, sunny morning. I am always interested in hearing more about sports, especially those I know little about.
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