American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

• College football national championship
  NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship
  A college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
  
   – Yale Bulldogs
  Yale Bulldogs football
  The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1872...
  
   (coached by Walter Camp
  Walter Camp
  Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
  
  )

• Tackling below the waist is legalised.

Association football

• FA Cup final
  FA Cup Final
  The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
  
   – West Bromwich Albion
  West Bromwich Albion F.C.
  West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
  
   2–1 Preston North End
  Preston North End F.C.
  Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
  
   at The Oval
  The Oval
  The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
  
  
• Walsall Town and Walsall Swifts merge to form Walsall Football Club
  Walsall F.C.
  Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...
  
  . The club initially plays under the name of Walsall Town Swifts.
• Small Heath, later Birmingham City, is the first football club to form a limited company

• One of the problems facing professionalism is the lack of competitive matches, especially for teams that have been knocked out of the FA Cup
  FA Cup
  The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
  
  . It is self–evident that crowds for friendly fixtures are much lower, which means a reduction in revenue and consequent struggle to pay wages.
• Aston Villa's Scottish director William McGregor seeks a solution by asking other professional clubs to arrange annual home and away fixtures on a competitive basis, with points to be awarded for winning and drawing. Following a conference between club directors on 23 March, the English Football League is founded on 17 April as one division of twelve clubs.
• The founder members are: Accrington FC (1888–1893), Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County
  Derby County F.C.
  Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
  
  , Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke FC, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

• Scottish Cup final – Renton
  Renton F.C.
  Renton Football Club was a prominent team in the early history of Scottish football. The club was based in the village of Renton, West Dunbartonshire...
  
   6–1 Cambuslang
  Cambuslang F.C.
  Cambuslang Football Club was a Scottish football club, based in the Cambuslang area of Glasgow. Cambuslang was one of the founding members of the Scottish Football League, but left the league after just two seasons....
  
  
• Glasgow Celtic founded by members of the Marist Order, a teaching institute, as a way of raising money for a poor children’s charity. The club's first ground is a piece of rented land not far from the present Celtic Park
  Celtic Park
  Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which is the home ground of Celtic FC. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford,...
  
  . Celtic's first recorded match is a home "friendly" against Rangers
  Rangers F.C.
  Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
  
  ; Celtic win 5–2 in what is therefore the inaugural "Old Firm Game
  Old Firm
  The Old Firm is a common collective name for the association football clubs Celtic and Rangers, both based in Glasgow, Scotland.The origin of the term is unclear. One theory has it that the expression derives from Celtic's first game in 1888, which was played against Rangers. However, author,...
  
  ".

• 7 April — Tinsley Lindley
  Tinsley Lindley
  Tinsley Lindley was an English footballer. He was considered one of the 19th century's great centre forwards. His passes and shots at goal were very precise, he was very clever and an excellent team player. An elegant and technically superb player.He was the son of Leonard Lindley who was a lace...
  
   scores in his ninth consecutive England
  England national football team
  The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
  
   game, a record
  England national football team records
  This article lists various football records in relation to the England national football team. The page is updated where necessary after each England match, and is correct as of 15 November 2011.-Appearances:...
  
   that still stands.
• Durand Cup
  Durand Cup
  The Durand Football Tournament was started by then, India's Foreign Secretary, Mortimer Durand at Simla, India, in 1888. The initial matches were played in Dagshai. It was basically initiated, as a recreation for British troops stationed in India. The Durand Cup was twice suspended, during the two...
  
   instituted by Mortimer Durand
  Mortimer Durand
  Sir Henry Mortimer Durand was a British diplomat and civil servant of colonial British India.-Background:Born at Sehore, Bhopal, India, he was the son of Sir Henry Marion Durand, the Resident of Baroda and he was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School, and Tonbridge School.-Career:Durand...
  
  .as recreation for British troops stationed in India. t is the oldest tournament in India and the third oldest in the world.

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

• National League
  National League
  The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
  
   v. American Association
  American Association (19th century)
  The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
  
   – New York Giants
  San Francisco Giants
  The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
  
   (NL) defeats Saint Louis Cardinals (AA) 6 games to 4.

• The last of many adjustments finally sets four balls and three strikes for a "walk" and a strikeout.

Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

• The inaugural World Welterweight Champion is Paddy Duffy
  Paddy Duffy
  Paddy Duffy was an Irish-American and the first World Welterweight champion of the gloved era of boxing.-Professional career:Duffy won his first fight by KO over Skin Doherty in 1884 at age nineteen....
  
   of Boston, Massachusetts who is recognised following his 17th round knockout of Billy McMillan at Fort Foote, Virginia on 30 October. Duffy retains the title until his death (by tuberculosis) in 1890. The welterweight
  Welterweight
  Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
  
   division is for fighters weighing between 140 and 147lb.

• World Heavyweight Championship – John L. Sullivan
  John L. Sullivan
  John Lawrence Sullivan , also known as the Boston Strong Boy, was recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing from February 7, 1881 to 1892, and is generally recognized as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring rules...
  
  
• World Middleweight Championship – Jack Nonpareil Dempsey
• World Welterweight Championship – Paddy Duffy
  Paddy Duffy
  Paddy Duffy was an Irish-American and the first World Welterweight champion of the gloved era of boxing.-Professional career:Duffy won his first fight by KO over Skin Doherty in 1884 at age nineteen....
  
  
• World Lightweight Championship – Jack McAuliffe
  Jack McAuliffe
  Jack McAuliffe was an Irish-American boxer. Nicknamed 'The Napolean of the Ring', and fighting mostly out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he was one of only nine boxers to remain undefeated throughout his entire career. He was the Lightweight Champion of the World from 1886 to 1893...
  
  

Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

• After a run of disastrous results over a number of seasons, Derbyshire is demoted from first-class status and the 1888 County Championship is contested by only eight teams: Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. Derbyshire will recover first-class status in 1894 and rejoin the Championship in 1895.
• 5 July — formation of Glamorgan CCC at a meeting in the Angel Hotel, Cardiff
  Cardiff
  Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
  
  .
• Thanks mainly to the bowling of Bobby Peel
  Bobby Peel
  Robert "Bobby" Peel was a Yorkshire and England cricketer: a left-arm spinner who ranks as one of the finest bowlers of the 1890s. He was also a capable batsman, who once hit 210 not out...
  
  , England defeats Australia 2–1 to retain The Ashes
  The Ashes
  The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
  
  .

• Champion County – Surrey
• Most runs – W G Grace 1886 @ 32.51 (HS 215)
• Most wickets – Charlie Turner
  Charles Turner (cricketer)
  Charles Thomas Biass Turner was a bowler who is regarded as one of the finest ever produced by Australia....
  
   283 @ 11.68 (BB 9–15)
• Wisden Six Great Bowlers of the Year
  Wisden Cricketers of the Year
  The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
  
   – George Lohmann
  George Lohmann
  George Alfred Lohmann is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time...
  
  , Johnny Briggs
  Johnny Briggs (cricketer)
  Johnny Briggs was a left arm spin bowler for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1879 and 1900 who still stands as the second-highest wicket-taker in the county's history after Brian Statham...
  
  , John Ferris, Charlie Turner
  Charles Turner (cricketer)
  Charles Thomas Biass Turner was a bowler who is regarded as one of the finest ever produced by Australia....
  
  , Sammy Woods
  Sammy Woods
  Samuel Moses James "Sammy" Woods was an Australian sportsman who represented both Australia and England at Test cricket, and appeared thirteen times for England at rugby union, including five times as captain. He also played at county level in England at both soccer and hockey...
  
  , Bobby Peel
  Bobby Peel
  Robert "Bobby" Peel was a Yorkshire and England cricketer: a left-arm spinner who ranks as one of the finest bowlers of the 1890s. He was also a capable batsman, who once hit 210 not out...
  
  

• Most runs – Harry Moses 815 @ 62.69 (HS 297*)
• Most wickets – Charlie Turner
  Charles Turner (cricketer)
  Charles Thomas Biass Turner was a bowler who is regarded as one of the finest ever produced by Australia....
  
   106 @ 13.59 (BB 8–39)

Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

• British Open
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
   – Jack Burns
  Jack Burns (golfer)
  Jack Burns, a native of St Andrews, was a Scottish professional golfer.While employed as golf professional and greenkeeper at Warwick Golf Club in England, Burns won the 1888 Open Championship, which was held at the St Andrews Links that year...
  
  

• British Amateur
  The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
  
   – John Ball
  John Ball (golfer)
  John Ball, Jr. was a prominent English amateur golfer of the late 19th and early 20th century.Ball was born in Hoylake, Merseyside. His father was the prosperous owner of the Royal Hotel, located near the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, in Hoylake...
  
  

Horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

• Grand National
  Grand National
  The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
  
   – Playfair
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Briar-root
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Ayrshire
• Epsom Derby
  Epsom Derby
  The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
  
   – Ayrshire
• Epsom Oaks
  Epsom Oaks
  The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 10 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in early June....
  
   – Seabreeze
• St. Leger Stakes
  St. Leger Stakes
  The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...
  
   – Seabreeze

• Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
   – Mentor

• Queen's Plate
  Queen's Plate
  The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
  
   – Harry Cooper

• Irish Grand National
  Irish Grand National
  The Irish Grand National is a National Hunt chase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of about 3 miles and 5 furlongs , and during its running there are twenty-four fences to be jumped...
  
   – The Maroon
• Irish Derby Stakes
  Irish Derby Stakes
  The Irish Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July.It is Ireland's equivalent of the Epsom Derby,...
  
   – Theodolite

• Kentucky Derby
  Kentucky Derby
  The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
  
   – MacBeth II
• Preakness Stakes
  Preakness Stakes
  The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
  
   – Refund
• Belmont Stakes
  Belmont Stakes
  The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
  
   – Sir Dixon
• The Futurity - Proctor Knott

Rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

• 24 March — Cambridge
  Cambridge University Boat Club
  The Cambridge University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England, located on the River Cam at Cambridge, although training primarily takes place on the River Great Ouse at Ely. The club was founded in 1828...
  
   wins the 45th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
  The Boat Race
  The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
  
  

Rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

• The 1888 Home Nations Championship
  1888 Home Nations Championship
  The 1888 Home Nations Championship was the sixth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Three matches were played between 4 February and 10 March. It was contested by Ireland, Scotland and Wales. England was excluded from the Championship due to their refusal to join the...
  
   is the 6th series of the Home Nations Championship
  Six Nations Championship
  The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
  
   contested by Ireland
  Ireland national rugby union team
  The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
  
  , Scotland
  Scotland national rugby union team
  The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...
  
   and Wales
  Wales national rugby union team
  The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
  
  . England is excluded due to its refusal to join the International Rugby Board
  International Rugby Board
  The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
  
  . The teams win one match apiece and the title is shared by all three.

• The 1888 British Isles tour of New Zealand and Australia
  1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia
  The 1888 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was a series of rugby union games played by an unofficial British team against invitational teams in New Zealand and Australia...
  
   sees the first overseas touring rugby team from Britain. The tour is a private venture and not authorised by the Home Nations.
• The 1888–1889 New Zealand Native football team are the first overseas rugby tourists from the Southern Hemisphere. The team plays matches under Rugby football
  Rugby union
  Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
  
  , Victorian Rules football
  Australian rules football
  Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
  
   and Association football
  Football (soccer)
  Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
  
   codes.
• Bristol Football Club
  Bristol Rugby
  Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
  
   is formed when the Carlton club merges with rival club Redland Park to create a united Bristol team.

Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

• Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship
  The Championships, Wimbledon
  The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
  
   – Ernest Renshaw
  Ernest Renshaw
  Ernest Renshaw was an English tennis player.Together with his twin brother William Renshaw, Ernest won the men's doubles at Wimbledon five times. He also won the singles championship at Wimbledon once, in 1888 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983...
  
   (GB) defeats Herbert Lawford
  Herbert Lawford
  Herbert Lawford was a tennis player from Great Britain who won the men's singles championship at Wimbledon in 1887, and was runner-up five times....
  
   (GB) 6–3 7–5 6–0
• Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship
  The Championships, Wimbledon
  The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
  
   – Lottie Dod
  Lottie Dod
  Charlotte "Lottie" Dod was an English sportswoman best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only fifteen, in the summer of 1887...
  
   (GB) defeats Blanche Bingley Hillyard (GB) 6–3 6–3

• American Men's Singles Championship – Henry Slocum
  Henry Slocum (tennis player)
  Henry Warner Slocum, Jr. was an American male tennis player. He was the son of the American politician and Union general Henry Warner Slocum....
  
   (USA) defeats Howard A. Taylor (USA) 6–4 6–1 6–0
• American Women's Singles Championship – Bertha Townsend
  Bertha Townsend
  Bertha Louise Townsend Toulmin was a female tennis player from the United States. She is best remembered for being the first repeating women's singles champion at the U.S. Championships...
  
   (USA) defeats Ellen Hansell
  Ellen Hansell
  Ellen Forde Hansell Alderdice was a female tennis player from the United States who is best known for being the first women's singles champion of the U.S. Championships in 1887. She was also a losing finalist to Bertha Townsend the next year.-Win :-Runner-up :-External links:*...
  
  (USA) 6–3 6–5