he origins of cricket are very vague, and many theories have been put forward suggesting its origins. Extensive studies and research have been conducted to trace its history and they have come out with different versions. However it is commonly accepted that the game originated from a very old leisure activity indulged by shepherds. The shepherds used crook and other farm equipments to hit a ball like deceive which used to be made up of wool or stone.
The first evidence of cricket being played was recorded in the year 1550, by the pupils of Royal Grammar School, Guildford. In the year 1611 it is reported that two young men from Sussex were punished for playing cricket instead of going to the church. The first match is recorded to have been played at Coxheath in Kent in the year 1646.
Earlier cricket used to thrive greatly as a gambling game. People used to place huge amounts of bets in matches and thus the game started to get recognition. Cricket was in fact a major gambling sport towards the end of the 17th century. It is recorded that in the year 1679, a 11-a-side match was played with stakes as high as 50 guineas per side.
During the 18th century cricket survived and thrived due to the huge amounts of money via monetary backing and gambling. The first instance of a match to be played between counties in England is recorded to be on 29th June in the year 1709. This match was played between Surrey and Kent at Dartford Brent.
The 18th century also witnessed the emergence of two types of cricket players. They were known as the retained player and the individual player. Generally the retained player was the servant of the lord and a cricketer as well. On the other hand the individual player was free to play anywhere with his skills. Basically it was something like the player could play anywhere with the amount of skill he possesses.
In the year 1787, the Marylebone Cricket Club also known MCC was created. The MCC has since then gone on to become one of the most prominent bodies in world cricket. Cricket in its initial days were restricted to the aristocratic class of England. Cricket gradually went on to become the national game of England.
The late 18th century was a very crucial phase for the development of the game, both within and outside Britain. The game was spread far and wide mainly due to England’s imperialism. Wherever they went, the game went with them and thus spread outside England. The first official match was held between Canada and United States was held in the year 1844.
In the present times, cricket has its own following of loyal fans. The International Cricket Council, better known as the ICC is the governing body in world cricket. The ICC was founded on the 15th of June in the year 1909. All laws relating to ODIs and Test Cricket are framed and implemented by the ICC.
Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of basketball. He was born in 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from Naismith's school days in the area where he played a simple child's game known as duck-on-a-rock outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game involved attempting to knock a "duck" off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith went on to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
After serving as McGill's Athletic Director, James Naismith moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in 1891, where the sport of basketball was born. In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable for play inside during the Massachusetts winter for the students at the School for Christian Workers. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as goals. Naismith joined the University of Kansas faculty in 1898, teaching physical education and being a chaplain.
Golf as we know it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club.Some historians believe that Kolven from Holland and Chole from Belgium influenced the game. The latter was introduced into Scotland in 1421. However while these games and countless others are stick and ball games, they are missing that vital ingredient that is unique to golf - the hole. Whatever the argument, there can be no dispute that Scotland gave birth to the game we know as golf today. During the mid-15th century, Scotland was preparing to defend itself against an English invasion. The population's enthusiastic pursuit of golf and soccer to the neglect of military training (archery primarily) caused the Scottish parliament of King James II to ban both sports in 1457. The ban was reaffirmed in 1470 and 1491 although people largely ignored it. Only in 1502 with the Treaty of Glasgow was the ban lifted with King James IV (James 1 of England) himself taking up the sport.
The premier golf course of the time was Leith near Edinburgh. Indeed King Charles I was on the course when given the news of the Irish rebellion of 1641. Leith was also the scene of the first international golf match in 1682 when the Duke of York and George Patterson playing for Scotland beat two English noblemen.
While the exact origins of baseball are unknown, most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. A game which began to become quite popular in this country in the early 19th century, and many sources report the growing popularity of a game called "townball", "base", or "baseball". Throughout the early part of the 19th century, small towns formed teams, and baseball clubs were formed in larger cities. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright wanted to formalize a list of rules by which all teams could play. Much of that original code is still in place today. Although popular legend says that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday, baseball's true father was Cartwright.
The first recorded baseball contest took place a year later, in 1846. Cartwright and his Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City lost to the New York Baseball Club in a game at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. These amateur games became more frequent and more popular. In 1857, a convention of amateur teams was called to discuss rules and other issues. Twenty five teams from the northeast sent delegates. The following year, they formed the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized baseball league. In its first year of operation, the league supported itself by occasionally charging fans for admission. The future looked very bright.
Tennis originated from a 12th century French game called paume (meaning palm); it was a court game where the ball was struck with the hand. Paume evolved into jeu de paume and rackets were used. The game spread and evolved in Europe. In 1873, Major Walter Wingfield invented a game called Sphairistikè (Greek for "playing ball) from which modern outdoor tennis evolved.
Games of racket and ball (including real tennis in Great Britain, royal tennis in Australia, and court tennis in the United States, all of which are the same game and played indoors) originated from a 12th and 13th century French handball game called jeu de paume (game of the palm). In 1873, Major Walter Wingfield invented a game called sphairistikè, from which modern outdoor tennis evolved. - Encyclopedia Britannica
The aim of this web site is to record the history of Rugby Union Football and make it available online for educational purposes, The web site has been featured by the BBC, Rugby World, The Guardian, US Public Radio's Rugby Hour and a variety of other newspapers and publications. The web site is growing all the time so check back regularly and see what's been added. By all means, send in your thoughts, questions and suggestions for how we can continue to improve the web site.
As for recorded events the records are somewhat clearer, though here again we find an area of history that has more than a single claim as to where and when the first race involving just motorcycles took place. From the site of Motorcycle.com we find this in an article by Glenn Le San to, "The earliest claim I unearthed was at Sheen House, Richmond, Surrey, [England] on November 29, 1897. The race distance was over one mile and was won by Charles Jar rot in a time of 2 minutes and 8 seconds on a Fourier." Prior to that there was the European Paris-Roue event where both cars and motorcycles raced side by side as early as 1894, though the motorcycles involved were mostly three wheelers. As with most of the early racing accident rates were very high for both cars and motorcycles, safety devices or apparel unheard of, and the races were as much a test of shear endurance of machine and operator as they were of speed and/or distance.
As for recorded events the records are somewhat clearer, though here again we find an area of history that has more than a single claim as to where and when the first race involving just motorcycles took place. From the site of Motorcycle.com we find this in an article by Glenn Le Santa, "The earliest claim I unearthed was at Sheen House, Richmond, Surrey, [England] on November 29, 1897. The race distance was over one mile and was won by Charles Jarret in a time of 2 minutes and 8 seconds on a Fourier." Prior to that there was the European Paris-Rune event where both cars and motorcycles raced side by side as early as 1894, though the motorcycles involved were mostly three wheelers. As with most of the early racing accident rates were very high for both cars and motorcycles, safety devices or apparel unheard of, and the races were as much a test of shear endurance of machine and operator as they were of speed and/or distance.
In 1904 during the Paris Car and Bike Show, there occurred the first meeting of the Federation Internationale De Motorcycles Clubs and it agreed to base its operation in Paris. The first European Grand Pr ix was held a few years later in Putz, Astor-Hungary on July 8, 1906.
In America motorized racing was also being introduced. On June 1, 1896 Sylvester Roper showed up at a bicycle board track riding a one of his steam powered two-wheelers. When the young racers discovered it was Mr. Ropers intention to race this contraption on the indoor 1/3 mile track against the bicyclists they just laughed. Imagine a 73 year old man aboard this outlandish machine claiming to not only be able to keep pace with them, but to actually win. So the race was on and at the end of the three lap event Sylvester not only bested the other racers but did so at a pace of some 30 miles an hour. He then tried for even faster speeds, but unfortunately the front wheel started to come loose and he was thrown off the track and into the sand surrounding it. When the spectators rushed up it became evident that Mr. Roper was dead. It was later determined that he had died of heart failure, not as a result of the accident itself. Thus ended the first entry of a motor bicycle in American racing history.
Right around the turn of the century Charles H. Meta, president of Walt ham Enterprises began experimenting with a motorized tandem trainer for pacing his team of bicycle racers. Encouraged by his success he soon developed a commercial one-man motor bicycle which he introduced at the Charles River Race Track in July of 1900. He entered his "Orient" in what was to be the first recorded motorcycle speed contest and it turned in a time of 7 minutes for a 5 mile run. Soon the Orient appeared for sale to the public and quickly gain popularity.
