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...
  
   – Princeton Tigers
  Princeton Tigers football
  The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision...
  
  

Association football

• The Football League
  The Football League
  The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
  
   – 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...
  
   40 points, Aston Villa 29, Wolves 28, Blackburn Rovers 26, Bolton Wanderers 22, West Bromwich Albion 22
• 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...
  
   – 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...
  
   3–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
  Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
  Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
  
   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...
  
  .
• Preston North Ends wins the inaugural Football League championship unbeaten, an achievement that will not be equalled until 2003–04 by Arsenal
  Arsenal F.C.
  Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
  
  . Preston also wins the FA Cup to become the first team ever to complete The Double
  The Double
  The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
  
  . The team earns the nickname of "Invincibles".
• The Football Alliance
  Football Alliance
  The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.It was formed by 12 clubs as a rival to the Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season, also with 12 member clubs...
  
   is founded as a rival to the Football League. It is short–lived and collapses in 1892 when the Football League expands. The Alliance is brokered by Sheffield Wednesday president John Holmes. Founder members include Sheffield Wednesday, Newton Heath (Manchester United), Nottingham Forest, Small Heath (Birmingham City) and Grimsby Town. Ardwick (Manchester City) will join in 1891 for the final season.
• Sheffield United is founded. With Sheffield Wednesday having left Bramall Lane
  Bramall Lane
  -Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...
  
   in 1887, the management committee of the Bramall Lane complex decides to form a new football club at the ground, using Sheffield United Cricket Club as its basis. Bramall Lane is the world's oldest professional football venue, though not the longest in continuous use (which is Deepdale
  Deepdale
  Deepdale is a stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C. and, up to 2010, England's National Football Museum. Preston North End are one of the founder members of the Football League.- History :...
  
  ).
• The 1889–90 Football League season features the same 12 teams as in 1888–89.

• Scottish Cup final – Third Lanark 2–1 Glasgow Celtic
  Celtic F.C.
  Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
  
   (replay; the SFA declared the original match void due to adverse conditions). Celtic has reached the Scottish Cup final in the club's inaugural season.

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 Brooklyn Dodgers
  Los Angeles Dodgers
  The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
  
   (AA) 6 games to 3.

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...

• 8 July — 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...
  
   defeats Jake Kilrain
  Jake Kilrain
  Jake Kilrain was the popular name of John Joseph Killion, a famous bare knuckle fighter and glove boxer of the 1880s.- Early life :...
  
   after 75 rounds in the last major bareknuckle contest. Some authorities recognise it as a world title contest although it is fought under London Prize Ring Rules
  London Prize Ring rules
  The London Prize Ring Rules was a list of boxing rules promulgated in 1838 and revised in 1853. These rules were based on those drafted by Britain's Jack Broughton in 1743 and governed the conduct of prizefighting/bare-knuckle boxing for over 100 years...
  
   rather than the now-accepted Queensberry Rules.

• 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...

• 12–13 March — South Africa plays its inaugural Test match
  Test cricket
  Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
  
   against the touring England national cricket team. England wins by 8 wickets. The match also marks the beginning of first-class cricket
  First-class cricket
  First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
  
   in South Africa where the Currie Cup
  SuperSport Series
  The SuperSport Series is the main domestic first class cricket competition in South Africa, first contested in 1889-90. From 1990-91 it became known as the Castle Cup, and from 1996-97 by its current title...
  
   is inaugurated as the premier domestic competition.
• The number of balls per over in England is increased from four to five. The four-ball over has been used since time immemorial.
• The major English county cricket
  County cricket
  County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
  
   clubs meet to agree a way of deciding an order of ranking for the next season; the official County Championship
  County Championship
  The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
  
   is established.

• Champion County – Surrey, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire share the title
• Most runs – W G Grace 1396 @ 32.46 (HS 154)
• Most wickets – George Lohmann
  George Lohmann
  George Alfred Lohmann is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time...
  
   202 @ 13.43 (BB 9–67)
• Wisden Nine Great Batsmen 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"...
  
   – Bobby Abel
  Bobby Abel
  Robert Abel , nicknamed "The Guv'nor", was a Surrey and England opening batsman who was one of the most prolific run-getters in the early years of the County Championship...
  
  , Billy Barnes
  Billy Barnes
  William Barnes was a professional cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire between 1875 and 1894 and England between 1880 and 1890. In 1890 he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Barnes also toured Australia three times and North America once...
  
  , Billy Gunn
  Billy Gunn (cricketer)
  William "Billy" Gunn was an English sportsman who played internationally in both cricket and football. In first-class cricket, Gunn played professionally for Nottinghamshire from 1880 to 1904 and represented England in 11 Test matches...
  
  , Louis Hall
  Louis Hall
  Louis Hall was an English first-class cricketer.Born in Batley, Yorkshire, England, Hall made his debut in 1873, and came of age with an innings of 78 for a local Eighteen against the Australian XI in 1878...
  
  , Robert Henderson
  Robert Henderson (cricketer)
  Robert Henderson was a Welsh cricketer, a right-hand batsman and right-arm slow bowler.- Brilliant Debut Season in 1883 :...
  
  , Maurice Read
  Maurice Read
  John Maurice Read was an English professional cricketer. Wrote Harry Altham of him in that truly magisterial work, A History of Cricket, "Maurice Read had been recognised as a dashing player up to Test Match form, to say nothing of being a wonderful fielder in the country." A hard-hitting and,...
  
  , Arthur Shrewsbury
  Arthur Shrewsbury
  Arthur Shrewsbury was an English cricketer, and rugby football administrator, who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888, and who was widely rated as competing with W. G...
  
  , Frank Sugg
  Frank Sugg
  Frank Howe Sugg was an English footballer and first-class cricketer. He played for England in two Test matches in 1888 and for three county cricket clubs - Yorkshire in 1883, Derbyshire from 1884 to 1886 and Lancashire from 1887 to 1899...
  
  , Albert Ward

• Most runs – Harry Trott
  Harry Trott
  George Henry Stevens "Harry" Trott was an Australian Test cricketer who played 24 Test matches as an all-rounder between 1888 and 1898. Although Trott was a versatile batsman, spin bowler and outstanding fielder, "... it is as a captain that he is best remembered, an understanding judge of...
  
   507 @ 39.00 (HS 172)
• Most wickets – John Ferris 36 @ 15.83 (BB 6–62)

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...
  
   – Willie Park junior
  Willie Park, Jnr.
  Willie Park, Jr. was one of the top professional golfers of his era, winning The Open Championship twice. Park was also a successful golf equipment maker and golf writer...
  
  

• 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...
  
   – Johnny Laidlay
  Johnny Laidlay
  John Ernest Laidlay was a Scottish amateur golfer. He invented the most popular golf grip used today, although the grip is credited to Harry Vardon, who took it up after Laidlay....
  
  

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...
  
   – Frigate
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Minthe
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Enthusiast
• 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...
  
   – Donovan
• 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....
  
   – L'Abbesse de Jouarre
• 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...
  
   – Donovan

• 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...
  
   – Bravo

• 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...
  
   – Colonist

• 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 Citadel
• 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,...
  
   – Tragedy

• 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...
  
   – Spokane
• 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...
  
   – Buddhist
• 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...
  
   – Eric

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...

• 30 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 46th 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 7th series
  1889 Home Nations Championship
  The 1889 Home Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Three matches were played between 2 February and 2 March. It was contested by Ireland, Scotland and Wales...
  
   is won by 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...
  
   following victories over both 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...
  
   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...
  
  .

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...
  
   – William Renshaw
  William Renshaw
  William "Willie" Charles Renshaw is one of the greatest British male tennis players of all time, and a candidate for the greatest tennis player of all time...
  
   (GB) defeats 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) 6–4 6–1 3–6 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...
  
   – Blanche Bingley Hillyard (GB) defeats Lena Rice (GB) 4–6 8–6 6–4

• 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 Quincy Shaw
  Quincy Shaw
  Quincy Shaw was a left-handed tennis player from the United States.Shaw won the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships in doubles for Harvard University in 1887 and 1890, and also finished singles runner-up at the U.S. National Championships in 1889. He was amongst the top ten American tennis players in...
  
   (USA) 6–3 6–1 4–6 6–2
• 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 Lida Voorhees (USA) 7–5 6–2