American football
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves; the offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, otherwise they turn over the football to the defense. Points are scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal; the team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football; the first match of American football was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams and Princeton, under rules based on the association football rules of the time.
During the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, the concept of downs; the sport is related to Canadian football, which evolved parallel and contemporary to the American game, most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are present in Canadian football. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States; the most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually all of them men, with a few exceptions. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world.
In the United States, American Football is called "football". The terms "gridiron" or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia. American football evolved from the sports of rugby football. Rugby football, like American football, is a sport where two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent's goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams; the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, head or sides, with the ultimate goal being to advance it into the opponent's goal. Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for several years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school.
Representatives of Yale, Columbia and Rutgers met on October 19, 1873 to create a standard set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified. Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. After playing McGill University using both Canadian and American rules, the Harvard players preferred the Canadian style having only 11 men on the field, running the ball without having to be chased by an opponent, the forward pass and using an oblong instead of a round ball. An 1875 Harvard–Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes; these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to "selling refrigerators to Eskimos." Princeton, Harvard and Columbia agreed to intercollegiate play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879.
Yale player Walter Camp, now regarded as the "Father of American Football", secured rule changes in 1880 that reduced the size of each team from 15 to 11 players and instituted the snap to replace the chaotic and inconsistent scrum. The introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt. However, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records; each team held the ball. This "block game" proved unpopular with the spectators and fans of both teams. A rule change was necessary to prevent this strategy from taking hold, a reversion to the scrum was considered. However, Camp proposed a rule in 1882 that limited each team to three downs, or tackles, to adva
1900s (decade)
The 1900s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1900, ended on December 31, 1909. The term "nineteen-hundreds" can mean the entire century 1900–1999 years beginning with a 19; the Edwardian era covers a similar span of time. There are several main varieties of how individual years of the decade are pronounced in American English. Using 1906 as an example, they are "nineteen-oh-six", "nineteen-six", "nineteen-aught-six". Which variety is most prominent depends somewhat on global region and generation. In American English, "nineteen-oh-six" is the most common. In the post-World War II era through the 1990s, mentions of "nineteen-ought-six" or "aught-six" distinctly connoted old-fashioned speech; the strength of the comedic effect diminished during the aughts of the next century, as the public grew used to questioning how to refer to an "ohs" or "aughts" decade. The New Imperialism The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign Entente Cordiale Second Boer War ends.
Philippine–American War takes place. Russo-Japanese War establishes the Empire of Japan as a world power. Battle of Riyadh was a minor battle of the Unification of Saudi Arabia. Battle of Dilam was a major battle of the Unification War between Saudi rebels. First Saudi–Rashidi War was engaged between the Saudi loyal forces of the newborn Emirate of Riyadh versus the Emirate of Ha'il; the Russian Revolution of 1905. Demand for Home Rule for Ireland Herero and Namaqua Genocide in German South-West Africa. January 1, 1901, British colonies in Australia federate, forming the Commonwealth of Australia May 20, 1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. June 7, 1905 – The Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, Norway achieves full independence. October 5, 1908 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire. September 8, 1900 – A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas, USA killing about 8,000. April 19, 1902 – A magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocks Guatemala, killing 2,000.
May 8, 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000. April 7, 1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples. April 18, 1906 – The 1906 San Francisco earthquake on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, USA, killing at least 3,000, with 225,000–300,000 left homeless, $350 million in damages. September 18, 1906 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong. January 14, 1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000. June 30 - The Tunguska event or "Russian explosion" near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Empire occuers resulting in the flattening 2,000 km2 of forest, it is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres above the Earth's surface. December 28, 1908 – An earthquake and tsunami destroys Messina and Calabria, killing over 150,000 people. April 26, 1900 – The Great Lumber Fire of Ottawa–Hull kills 7 and leaves 15,000 homeless.
May 1, 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster in Scofield, Utah caused by explosion killing at least 200 men. June 30, 1900 – Hoboken Docks Fire: The German passenger ships Saale, Main and Kaiser William der Grosse, all owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship line, catch fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA; the fire began on a wharf and spread to the adjacent piers and smaller craft, killing 326 people. May 3, 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, FL, USA. July 10, 1902 – The Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA kills 112 miners. August 10, 1903 – Paris Métro train fire. December 30, 1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, USA kills 600. February 7, 1904 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, USA destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours. June 15, 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021. June 28, 1904 – The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrants.
January 22, 1906 – The SS Valencia strikes a reef off Vancouver Island, killing over 100 in the ensuing disaster. Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, assassination attempts include: July 29, 1900 – King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci. March 6, 1901 – In Bremen, an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany. September 6, 1901 – American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots U. S. President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley dies 8 days later. June 16, 1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland. February 1, 1908 – Carlos I of Portugal is assassinated in Lisbon, Portugal. October 26, 1909 – Itō Hirobumi, four time Prime Minister of Japan and Resident-General of Korea, is assassinated by Ahn Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria; the cost of an American postage stamp was worth 1 cent. March 17, 1905 - Annus Mirabilis papers - Albert Einstein publishes his paper "On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light", in which he explains the photoelectric effect, using the notion of light quanta.
For this paper Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. May 11, 1905 - Annus Mirabilis papers - Albert Einstein submits his doctoral dissertation "On the Motio
Finland
Finland the Republic of Finland, is a country in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Finland, between Norway to the north, Sweden to the northwest, Russia to the east. Finland is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia; the capital and largest city is Helsinki. Other major cities are Espoo, Tampere and Turku. Finland's population is 5.52 million, the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region. 88.7% of the population is Finnish and speaks Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Finland is the eighth-largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union; the sovereign state is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital city of Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, one autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which produces one third of the country's GDP. Finland was inhabited when the last ice age ended 9000 BCE.
The first settlers left behind artefacts that present characteristics shared with those found in Estonia and Norway. The earliest people were hunter-gatherers; the first pottery appeared in 5200 BCE. The arrival of the Corded Ware culture in southern coastal Finland between 3000 and 2500 BCE may have coincided with the start of agriculture; the Bronze Age and Iron Age were characterised by extensive contacts with other cultures in the Fennoscandian and Baltic regions and the sedentary farming inhabitation increased towards the end of Iron Age. At the time Finland had three main cultural areas – Southwest Finland and Karelia – as reflected in contemporary jewellery. From the late 13th century, Finland became an integral part of Sweden through the Northern Crusades and the Swedish part-colonisation of coastal Finland, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.
In 1906, Finland became the first European state to grant all adult citizens the right to vote, the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent. In 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Red Guard supported by the new Soviet Russia, fighting the White Guard, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the country became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Kuusamo and some islands, but retaining their independence. Finland established an official policy of neutrality; the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era. Finland joined the OECD in 1969, the NATO Partnership for Peace in 1994, the European Union in 1995, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997, the Eurozone at its inception, in 1999.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a agrarian country until the 1950s. After World War II, the Soviet Union demanded war reparations from Finland not only in money but in material, such as ships and machinery; this forced Finland to industrialise. It developed an advanced economy while building an extensive welfare state based on the Nordic model, resulting in widespread prosperity and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, human development. In 2015, Finland was ranked first in the World Human Capital and the Press Freedom Index and as the most stable country in the world during 2011–2016 in the Fragile States Index, second in the Global Gender Gap Report, it ranked first on the World Happiness Report report for 2018 and 2019. A large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution.
The earliest written appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three runestones. Two have the inscription finlonti; the third was found in Gotland. It dates back to the 13th century; the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, mentioned at first known time AD 98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, meaning "land". In addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian. Alternatively, the Indo-European word * gʰm-on "man" has been suggested; the word referred only to the province of Finland Proper, to the northern coast of Gulf of Finland, with northern regions such as Ostrobothnia still sometimes being excluded until later. Earlier theories suggested derivation from suomaa or suoniemi, but these are now considered outdated; some have suggested common etymology with saame and Häme, but that theory is uncertain
20th century
The 20th century was a century that began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000. It was the final century of the 2nd millennium, it is distinct from the century known as the 1900s which began on January 1, 1900 and ended on December 31, 1999. The 20th century was dominated by a chain of events that heralded significant changes in world history as to redefine the era: flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear power and space exploration and decolonization, the Cold War and post-Cold War conflicts, it saw great advances in communication and medical technology that by the late 1980s allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide computer communication and genetic modification of life. Global total fertility rates, sea level rise and ecological collapses increased, it took over two-hundred thousand years of human history up to 1804 for the world's population to reach 1 billion. Global literacy averaged 80%; the century had the first global-scale total wars between world powers across continents and oceans in World War I and World War II.
Nationalism became a major political issue in the world in the 20th century, acknowledged in international law along with the right of nations to self-determination, official decolonization in the mid-century, related regional conflicts. The century saw a major shift in the way that many people lived, with changes in politics, economics, culture, science and medicine; the 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization. Terms like ideology, world war and nuclear war entered common usage. Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, profoundly changed the foundational models of physical science, forcing scientists to realize that the universe was more complex than believed, dashing the hopes at the end of the 19th century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in, it was a century that started with horses, simple automobiles, freighters but ended with high-speed rail, cruise ships, global commercial air travel and the Space Shuttle.
Horses, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles and buses within a few decades. These developments were made possible by the exploitation of fossil fuel resources, which offered energy in an portable form, but caused concern about pollution and long-term impact on the environment. Humans explored space for the first time. Mass media, telecommunications, information technology made the world's knowledge more available. Advancements in medical technology improved the health of many people: the global life expectancy increased from 35 years to 65 years. Rapid technological advancements, however allowed warfare to reach unprecedented levels of destruction. World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weapons gave humankind the means to annihilate itself in a short time. However, these same wars resulted in the destruction of the imperial system. For the first time in human history and their wars of expansion and colonization ceased to be a factor in international affairs, resulting in a far more globalized and cooperative world.
The last time major powers clashed was in 1945, since violence has seen an unprecedented decline. The world became more culturally homogenized than with developments in transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of Western culture, international corporations, what was arguably a global economy by the end of the 20th century. Technological advancements during World War I changed the way war was fought, as new inventions such as tanks, chemical weapons, aircraft modified tactics and strategy. After more than four years of trench warfare in Western Europe, 20 million dead, the powers that had formed the Triple Entente emerged victorious over the Central Powers. In addition to annexing many of the colonial possessions of the vanquished states, the Triple Entente exacted punitive restitution payments from them, plunging Germany in particular into economic depression; the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were dismantled at the war's conclusion. The Russian Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the Tsarist regime of Nicholas II and the onset of the Russian Civil War.
The victorious Bolsheviks established the Soviet Union, the world's first communist state. At the beginning of the period, the British Empire was the world's most powerful nation, having acted as the world's policeman for the past century. Fascism, a movement which grew out of post-war ang
Al Ahly SC
Al Ahly Sporting Club is an Egyptian sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. It is known as "The Club of the Century" in African football, it is best known for its professional football team that plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the top tier in the Egyptian football league system, is the most decorated football club in Africa. It was founded on 24 April 1907, as a gathering place for Cairo's Student Unions. Al Ahly has a record of 40 national league titles, 36 national cups titles, 10 national super cup titles making Al Ahly the most decorated club in Egypt. In addition, Al Ahly has never been relegated to the Egyptian Second Division. In international competitions, the club has won a record 8 CAF Champions League titles, a CAF Confederation Cup title, a record 6 CAF Super Cup titles, a record 4 African Cup Winners' Cup titles, an Afro-Asian Club Championship title, an Arab Club Champions Cup title, an Arab Cup Winners' Cup title, a record 2 Arab Super Cup titles. Al Ahly won the bronze medal in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup.
Al Ahly is the second most successful club in the world in terms of number of international titles behind Real Madrid. The idea of establishing Al Ahly in the first decade of the century was raised by Omar Lotfy during his presidency of the High School Students Club, established in 1905 The establishment of the club of high school students was for political reasons, found that these students needed a sport club that combined them for leisure and exercise, he introduced the idea of establishing the club to a group of friends who were enthusiastic about the idea. In 1907, Al Ahly was established. Omar Lotfy abdicated the honor of the position of the president of the club in favor of Michel Anse, an advisor to the Ministry of Finance at the time to facilitate financial support for the club. An official meeting of the club's board was held on 24 April 1907; the committee met at 5:30 pm in the house of Michel Anas Giza in his chairmanship and the membership of Idris Ragheb Bey, Ismael Sari Pasha and Sami Basha and Omar Lotfi Bek and Mohamed Effendi Sherif as secretary The establishment of the club was approved and Ismail Seri designed the main building of the club as an architect.
A civil company on behalf of Al Ahly Sports Club was established and shares of the company worth 5EGP Pounds per share, was the goal of the club when it was established to raise the amount of 5000 pounds, but it was Collected 3165 pounds over a year and, not enough, which forced the club to borrow 1,000 pounds from the National Bank of Egypt in March 1908 by Omar Sultan and Idris Ragheb and Talaat Harb which contributed 100 pounds to the establishment of the club. First honorary president of the club was the leader Saad Zaghloul in his position as Ministry of Education that time; the name of the Al Ahly Sporting Club was suggested by Amine Samy Amin, to serve the students and graduates of high schools who were the mainstay of the revolution against the English occupation. On 2 April 1908, Michel Inse stepped down as president of the club. Aziz Azzat became the first Egyptian president of Al Ahly; the official opening ceremony of the club was held in the club's main building on 26 February 1909.
Although the game of football was not one of the goals of the founders of Al Ahly club the goal of the club was openining its doors to students of higher schools to meet and practice political dialogues, but the graduates of high schools members of the club have fallen in love with football, which prompted Ahly to build the first stadium in 1909 and they used to call it the time, a colloquial word from Egyptian dialect means the courtyard in Arabic. The stadium was developed over the years to be Mokhtar El-Tetsh Stadium; the first official football team was established in 1911. The team is one of the primary and secondary school players who played the ball in Al-Hawash, established in 1909 in the club's land; the names of the first players of Al Ahli club were as follows: Hussain Higazi, Abdel Fattah Taher, Fouad Darwish, Hussein Mansour and Ibrahim Fahmy. The star of this team was the striker Hussein Hegazi. In 1917, Al Ahly wanted to demonstrate the strength of the Egyptian clubs against the Allied military teams founded by Britain in Egypt.
Al Ahly agreed to play against Zamalek SC, under the control of foreigners at this time. The match was held on 9 February 1917 at Zamalek Stadium. Al-Ahly won 1-0 with a goal scored by Abdulhamid Muharram. In 1918 the club first official participation was held. After Al Ahly refused to compete with the foreign allies for the first edition of the Sultan Husain Cup in 1917, the club decided to participate in the 1918 tournament. Ahly contributed with Zamalek SC, El Sekka El Hadid SC in the formation of the first football team of Egypt to participate in the Olympic games 1920. Al-Ahly contributed to the establishment of the Egyptian Football Association. In 1923, Al Ahly played an active role in the establishment of the Egyptian Tennis Federation; the Egyptian League championship began in 1948–49. Al Ahly won the first of nine successive national championship titles. Following the deposing of King Farouk in the revolution of 1952, Ahly appointed Gamal Abdel Nasser as club president. Al-Ahly did not win the league for 13 years.
After years of deterioration, Ahly took the first steps to recovery when the management decided to sign the golden player of Hungary in the fifties, Nándor Hidegkuti, in September 1973 at a salary of fewer than 600 dollars. The title returned to Al Ahly in 1974–1975, with the team scoring 70 goals in 34 games. Ahly won the league championship in 1976–1977; this season saw the second participation in A
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building, destroyed by fire in 1936, is on the same site as the former FA Cup Final venue, used here between 1895 and 1914, it was one of the five National Sports Centres, run on behalf of Sport England, but responsibility was transferred to the London Development Agency and is managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited, under their Better brand logo. The athletics stadium has a capacity of 15,500, which can be increased to 24,000 with temporary seating, it hosts international athletics meetings. The sports centre building was designed by the LCC Architects Department under Sir Leslie Martin between 1953–54 and is a Grade II* listed building, it has a interesting interior: there is a central concourse with a complex and delicate exposed concrete frame supporting the roof, which has a folded teak lining, to one side a series of pools, including a 50m competition pool, a diving pool with a dramatic reinforced concrete diving platform, to the other side a smaller sports arena.
The current 15,500 seater athletics stadium was built on the site of the football ground by M J Gleeson and opened in 1964. From 1999 to 2012 it hosted the London Grand Prix; the stadium can be expanded to 24,000 with temporary seating. Sand from the Beach Volleyball Courts at Horse Guards Parade during London 2012 was donated to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in 2012; the current athletics stadium is on the same land as a previous football ground, which hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914 as well as other sports. In 1905, the owners wanted their own football club to play at the venue, so they formed Crystal Palace F. C.. The club were forced to leave by the military, in 1915, now play at nearby Selhurst Park; the largest'domestic' attendance at the stadium was in the 1913 Cup final between Aston Villa and Sunderland, when 121,919 spectators squeezed into the stands. The previous world record had been the 1901 Cup Final, when 114,815 amassed to watch Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United draw 2–2.
Crystal Palace F. C. have played reserve team matches in the past at the centre, most in 2001, in January 2011 the club's owners announced plans to relocate the club back to the site of the NSC, redeveloping it into a 40,000-seater, purpose-built football stadium. Tottenham Hotspur F. C. released plans to redevelop the NSC into a 25,000-seater stadium, maintaining it as an athletics stadium, as part of their plans to redevelop the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. However, their plans were cancelled due to their failure to obtain the Olympic Stadium. AC London used the stadium during the 2015–16 season; the following international matches have been played at Crystal Palace: 3 April 1897 – England 1–2 Scotland 30 March 1901 – England 2–2 Scotland 1 April 1905 – England 1–0 Scotland 3 April 1909 – England 2–0 Scotland 4 March 1911 – England Amateurs 4–0 Belgium 21 teams competed in the twenty FA Cup Finals staged at Crystal Palace, with ten different winners. Four more teams won the FA Cup after replays at other grounds.
Newcastle United appeared in the most finals at the ground, but never lifted the cup there, whilst Aston Villa won all four of their games there. Results of FA Cup Finals at Crystal Palace FA Cup Final Wins at Crystal Palace FA Cup Final appearances at Crystal Palace Goals Scored in FA Cup Finals at Crystal Palace Goals Conceded in FA Cup Finals at Crystal Palace On 2 December 1905, the ground held the first England rugby union international match against New Zealand in England, New Zealand winning 15–0. On Wednesday 18 August 1965, the ground was the venue of the Rugby league match in which the Commonwealth XIII rugby league team were defeated 7–15 by New Zealand, it played host to Fulham Rugby League in the mid-1980s for a couple of seasons, after they were forced to leave their previous ground of Craven Cottage. London County Cricket Club was a short-lived cricket club founded by the Crystal Palace Company. In 1898 they invited W. G. Grace to help them form a first-class cricket club. Grace accepted the offer and became the club's secretary and captain.
As a result, he severed his connection with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club during the 1899 season. The club played first-class matches from 1900 to 1904; some of the best players of the time played some matches for the club while continuing to play for their usual teams, among them CB Fry, Johnny Douglas and K S Ranjitsinhji. However, the games were little more than exhibition games — and money-making exercises for Dr Grace — and so it lost its first-class status, with that the ability to attract the top players; the club folded in 1908. The 2,000 capacity indoor Arena at the National Sports Centre was home to former British Basketball League team's Crystal Palace and London Towers. Crystal Palace merged into the London Towers organisation in 1998, whilst after great success domestically and in European competition the Towers ran into severe financial difficulties and folded its professional team in 2006. During its most successful period, Towers alternated between Crystal Palace and Wembley Arena as its home venues.
For the 2012–2013 season, the London Lions played the home games at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre until they moved to the brand new Copper Box in 2013. From 2018, the Arena once more became a BBL venue when it was announced as the home of the new London City Royals franchise, the second London based franchise in the league; the stadium hosted the 1989
Sport of athletics
Athletics is a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, walking race; the results of racing events are decided by finishing position, while the jumps and throws are won by the athlete that achieves the highest or furthest measurement from a series of attempts. The simplicity of the competitions, the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most competed sports in the world. Athletics is an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a team score, such as cross country. Organized athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC; the rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, were spread to other parts of the world. Most modern top level meetings are conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations and its member federations.
The athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international athletics meeting is the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, which incorporates track and field, marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes with a physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics Championships; the word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής from ἆθλον or ἆθλος. The term was used to describe athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking and throwing; this definition continues to be the most prominent one in the United Kingdom and most of the areas of the former British Empire. Furthermore, foreign words in many Germanic and Romance languages which are related to the term athletics have a similar meaning.
In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, maintaining a more historical usage of the term. The word "athletics" is used to refer to the sport of athletics in this region. Track and field is preferred, is used in the United States and Canada to refer to most athletics events, including racewalking and marathon running. Athletic contests in running, walking and throwing are among the oldest of all sports and their roots are prehistoric. Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara, with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival and high jumping appearing in tombs from as early as of 2250 BC; the Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in Ireland, founded circa 1800 BC, the thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing among its sporting events. The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length running event known as the stadion; this expanded to include throwing and jumping events within the ancient pentathlon.
Athletics competitions took place at other Panhellenic Games, which were founded around 500 BC. The Cotswold Olimpick Games, a sports festival which emerged in 17th century England, featured athletics in the form of sledgehammer throwing contests. Annually, from 1796 to 1798, L'Olympiade de la République was held in revolutionary France, is an early forerunner to the Modern Summer Olympic Games; the premier event of this competition was a running event, but various ancient Greek disciplines were on display. The 1796 Olympiade marked the introduction of the metric system into the sport. Athletics competitions were held about 1812 at the Royal Military College, in 1840 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire at the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt; the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, a regular series of closed meetings open only to undergraduates, was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850. The annual Wenlock Olympian Games, first held in 1850 in Wenlock, incorporated athletics events into its sports programme.
The first modern-style indoor athletics meetings were recorded shortly after in the 1860s, including a meet at Ashburnham Hall in London which featured four running events and a triple jump competition. The Amateur Athletic Association was established in England on 1880 as the first national body for the sport of athletics and began holding its own annual athletics competition – the AAA Championships; the United States began holding an annual national competition – the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – first held in 1876 by the New York Athletic Club. Athletics became codified and standardized via the English AAA and other general sports organisations in the late 19th century, such as the Amateur Athletic Union and the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques. An athletics competition was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and it has been as one of the foremost competitions at the quadrennial multi-sport event since. For men only, the 1928 Olympics saw the introduction of women's events in the athletics programme.
Athletics is part of the Paralympic Games since the inaugural Games in 1960. Athletics has a high-profile during major championships the Olympics, but otherwise is less popular. An internation
Australasia 3–2 
British Isles at Warple Road (grass) London, United Kingdom
