1.
Irish Rugby Football Union
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The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium. In addition, the Union also owns Ravenhill in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick, the IRFU was formed in 1879 as an amalgamation of these two organisations and branches of the new IRFU were formed in Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Connacht Branch was formed in 1900, the IRFU was a founding member of the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, in 1886 with Scotland and Wales. To maintain the unity of Irish rugby union and the linkages between North and South, the IRFU purchased a new ground in 1923 in the Ravenhill district of Belfast at a cost of £2,300. The last full International at Ravenhill involving Ireland for more than a half-century took place in 1953–54 against Scotland who were victorious by 2 tries to nil, Australia played Romania in the 1999 World Cup at the ground. The next full International played at Ravenhill was the Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Italy in August 2007 due to the closure of Lansdowne Road for reconstruction. The four provincial branches of the IRFU first ran cup competitions during the 1880s, although these tournaments still take place every year, their significance has been diminished by the advent of an All-Ireland league of 48 Senior Clubs in 1990. The four provincial teams have played an Interprovincial Championship since the 1920s and these are Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht. All four provinces play at the level as members of the Guinness Pro12. The Irish Rugby Football Union represents the island of Ireland and the emblems, some elements have changed since 1874, but what has remained consistent throughout the history of the union is the use of the shamrock in its emblems. In 1927 a new crest was introduced, with the design altered to a sprig of 3 shamrocks of a similar size within a smaller white shield. This was the official crest until 1974 when the logo was used. Although the use of the shamrock has been a constant, albeit with modifications to design, in the early twenties, when the Irish Free State was established, the union was left in the position of governing a game for one island containing two separate political entities. A controversy ensued as to what flag should be flown at international matches, for a side that played both in Dublin and Belfast this posed a significant issue. In 1925 the union designed their own flag, incorporating the arms of the four provinces, although it had the same elements as the Flag of the Four Provinces, it was not identical, instead having them separated on a green background with the IRFU logo in the centre. Even so, the call to fly the Irish tricolour at Lansdowne Road continued, the result was that on 5 February 1932, the IRFU unanimously voted to fly both the flag of the union and the national flag at Lansdowne Road at all international matches in Dublin. The IRFU flag, as designed in 1925, is that which is used by the Ireland rugby union side
2.
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading is a large, historically important town in Berkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway, Today Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, by 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UKs top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to such as employment, health, income. Reading is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of Englands biggest music festivals, sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In 2015, Reading had an population of 232,662. The town is represented in Parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295, for ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 75 miles east of Bristol,25 miles south of Oxford,42 miles west of London,17 miles north of Basingstoke,13 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 20 miles east of Newbury. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, the name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Readas People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex, on 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in, in its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
3.
Madejski Stadium
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The Madejski Stadium /məˈdeɪski/ is a football stadium located in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is the home of Reading Football Club playing in the Football League Championship and it also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon. The stadium is named after Readings chairman Sir John Madejski and it is an all-seater bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,161 and is located close to the M4 motorway. It is built on the site of a household waste dump and is surrounded by methane vents. The West Stand contains the Millennium Madejski Hotel, the stadium was opened on 22 August 1998 and replaced Elm Park as Readings home ground. In 1994, the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums compulsory in the top two divisions, Reading were champions of the Second Division in 1994, and were promoted to the first division. Reading became subject to the Taylor requirements, converting Elm Park to an all-seater stadium was not practical, so a location in Smallmead was identified as the site for a new stadium. The location of a landfill, the site was purchased for £1. The last competitive match at Elm Park took place on 3 May 1998 against Norwich City, Reading began the 1998–99 season at the Madejski Stadium. It was opened on 22 August 1998 when Luton Town were beaten 3–0 with Grant Brebner having the honour of scoring the first ever goal at the stadium. Following the death of academy manager Eamonn Dolan in 2016, Reading announced that the North Stand would now be renamed The Eamonn Dolan Stand. The stadium cost more than £50m to build and the pitch incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass, the Eamonn Dolan Stand capacity is said to be 4,946 including 25 spaces for wheelchairs. Although in use for all Reading matches, the stand is normally closed for London Irish, the South Stand has a capacity of 4,350 including 29 wheelchair spaces and is where visiting supporters sit for Reading games. The initial allocation visiting teams receive is 2,327 and is the half of the stand joining onto the East Stand, under the terms of the original lease, London Irish only utilised the South Stand for the most popular matches. However, with the original renegotiation and extension of the lease, London Irish sold season tickets for South Stand between 2008 and 2014-15. Since 2014, with falling attendance at London Irish, the South stands remained closed for rugby, the East Stand has a capacity of 7,286 including 18 spaces for wheelchairs. The stand also contains the video screen which is located in the corner adjoining the South Stand. The stand was open for all London Irish fixtures only until the end of the 2015-16 season, the West Stand, the stadiums main stand, has a capacity of 7,579 including 15 wheelchair spaces and contains a lower and an upper tier
4.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
5.
Sunbury-on-Thames
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Sunbury-on-Thames, also known as Sunbury, is a town and London suburb in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, England. Sunbury is centred 16 miles from Charing Cross, the town has a railway station on a branch line from London Waterloo and includes junction one of the M3 motorway. Lower Sunbury contains most of the parks, pubs and listed buildings and is home to Kempton Park Racecourse. Offices and hotels form part of its labour-importing economy, retail buildings are at Sunbury Cross and in four parades. By Sunbury Park is a walled garden which has a large millennium tapestry in its art gallery/café. Most of Sunburys riverside is privately owned, including Wheatleys Ait, on the outskirts of Greater London, Sunbury is surrounded by other suburban towns with Feltham to the north, Hampton to the east, Ashford to the northwest, and Walton-on-Thames to the south. Sunbury is bordered by the River Thames to the south and green buffer zones preventing merger with Shepperton, the earliest evidence of occupation in Sunbury is provided by the discovery of Bronze Age funerary urns dating from the 10th century BC. It is mentioned in the Sunbury Charter in AD962, many years later the arrival of Huguenot refugees gave the name to French Street. Sunbury was in the Middlesex Domesday map in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Suneberie and its Domesday assets were,7 hides. It had 5 ploughs, meadow for 6 ploughs, cattle pasture and it had about 22 households, including one priest and have included the manor of Kempton, Kynaston, Chenneston, Kenton or Kenyngton, listed separately. The manor rendered £6 per year to its feudal system overlords, rev. Gilbert White described Sunbury, in The Natural History of Selborne, letter xii,4 November 1767 as one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames, near Hampton Court. In 1889 a group of music hall stars met in the Magpie Hotel in Lower Sunbury to form the Grand Order of Water Rats. The pub itself was named after the horse one of the entertainers owned. The Three Fishes in Green Street is one of the oldest pubs in Surrey, in the twentieth century, kennels near Sunbury Cross in the town were used for keeping greyhounds for racing at the disbanded stadiums of Wandsworth, Charlton and Park Royal. Under the Local Government Act of 1888 County Councils were established the following year and this was further refined by the creation of Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District in 1894. In 1965, most of Middlesex was absorbed into Greater London, however, the Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District was instead transferred to the County of Surrey. The Royal Mail did not adopt the change in 1965 and the county remained Middlesex until their official disestablishment in 1996. In 1974 the urban district was abolished and it has formed part of the borough of Spelthorne
6.
Leicester Tigers
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Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club based in Leicester, England that plays in the English Premiership. Leicester have also appeared in a record nine successive Premiership finals, the Tigers have never finished a league season below 6th position, and are one of only four teams never to have been relegated from the top division. The clubs first game was a draw on 23 October against Moseley at the Belgrave Road Cycle. That first season Tigers play a local fixture list against the likes of Northampton, Nuneaton, Rushden, Kettering, Market Harborough, in 1881 the club joined the Midlands Counties Football Association enabling them to enter the Midlands Counties Cup the next season. Tigers first ever cup game was a loss to Edgbaston Crusaders. This inauspicious start to the cup continued with losses to Moseley in each of the three seasons. In 1888 Tigers fixture list started to expand outside the midlands, the 1888-89 season saw Tigers welcome back Manningham as well as Oldham and Swinton, Cardiff Harlequins became the clubs first Welsh opponents. Leicester also reached their first Midland Counties Cup Final that year losing, again, 1889-90 saw Tigers travel to Wales for the first time playing Cardiff and Newport on consecutive days, the Monday and Tuesday of Easter week. Gloucester were added to the fixture list in 1891-92, whilst on 13 February Tigers played in London for the first time, on 10 September 1892 Leicester played their first game at their present ground, Welford Road, against a Leicestershire XV. That season saw derby matches produce attendances up to 7,000 whilst 10,000 saw Leicester lose 12-0 to Coventry in the round of the Midlands Counties Cup. Tom Crumbie was appointed secretary on 2 August 1895, a position he held for the next 33 years. Crumbie has been credited with dragging the club to prominence, he disbanded reserve and third teams making the First XV an invitation side. During his tenure 26 players from the club became capped at international level, Jones was forced to miss the final on medical grounds but Tigers still took home the cup for the first time winning 5-3. The only score coming from Percy Oscroft after only 3 minutes, in the final Nuneaton were beaten 20-3. For the next three seasons Leicester had the better of Moseley beating them in the each year, before seeing off Rugby in the final of 1903. Moseley were defeated again in 1904, Nottingham beaten 31-0 in 1905, having won the Midlands Counties Cup every year from 1898 to 1905, they dropped out to give other teams a chance. In 1903 Jack Miles became the first home produced England international and he had come to prominence scoring 43 tries in 52 appearances. In 1908 the club had three players selected for the 1908 Anglo-Welsh tour of New Zealand, John Jackett, Tom Smith and Fred Jackson became the first Tigers selected for an overseas tour
7.
Twickenham Stadium
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Twickenham Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, south west London, England. Owned by the body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union. The RFU headquarters are based in the stadium and it is the second largest stadium in the UK, after Wembley Stadium, and the fourth largest in Europe. Twickenham is often referred to as the home of rugby union, the stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts Englands home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby union matches. It is also the venue for the final of the Aviva Premiership as well as the season-opening London Double Header, Big Game, anglo-Welsh Cup, Heineken Cup and Champions Cup finals have also been held here in the past. Sold out Tests against New Zealand and South Africa at Crystal Palace saw the RFU realise the benefit of owning their own ground. Committee member William Williams and treasurer William Cail led the way to purchasing a 10.25 acre market garden in Twickenham in 1907 for £5,500 12s 6d, the first stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was purchased, it was used to grow cabbages, after further expenditure on roads, the first game, between Harlequins v. Richmond, was played on 2 October 1909, and the first international, England v. Wales, on 15 January 1910. At the time of the English-Welsh game, the stadium had a capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was used for cattle, horse, king George V unveiled a war memorial in 1921. In 1926, the first Middlesex Sevens took place at the ground, in 1927 the first Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for the first time. On 19 March 1938, BBC Television broadcast the England – Scotland match from Twickenham, in 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined side of England and Wales beat Ireland and Scotland by 26 points to 17. Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against the Irish, the Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years, and at half-time against Ireland they were 0–3 down. During the second half a remarkable transformation took place and England started playing a game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A 0–3 deficit was turned into a 35–3 win, with England scoring six tries and this day also saw the origins of the adoption of the negro spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as a terrace song. In the 35–3 win against Ireland, three of Englands tries were scored by Chris Oti, a player who had made a reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing
8.
Stade Toulousain
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Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Occitania. Toulouse is arguably one of the finest rugby clubs in the world and they were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps and Munster, respectively. Stade Toulousain have also won a record 19 French Championship titles and it is traditionally one of the main providers for the French national team. Their home ground is the Stade Ernest-Wallon, however, big Top 14 matches along with Heineken Cup games are often played at the Stadium Municipal de Toulouse. The club colours are red, black and white, before 1907 rugby in Toulouse was only played in schools or universities. In 1893, students of secondary school Lycée de Toulouse got together in les Sans Soucis, once attending university the same students founded lOlympique Toulousain, which became Stade Olympien des Etudiants de Toulouse a few years later in 1896. In the same period, non-students grouped in le Sport Atléthique Toulousain while students of the school created lUnion Sportive de lEcole Vétérinaire. Both entities merged in 1905 and called themselves Véto-Sport, finally in 1907, Stade Toulousain was founded resulting from a union between the SOET and Véto-Sport. Stade Toulousain played its first final of the national title French Championship in 1909, in 1912 Stade Toulousain won its first national title. It had to wait until 1922 before it won its second, however the 1920s were a golden era for the club. Their first final action in the 1920s was in 1921, when they were defeated by USA Perpignan, despite losing in 1921, the side went on to win the 1922,1923,1924,1926 and 1927 championships. The following decades were relatively quiet after such a dominant era during the 1920s, Stade Toulousain would not make it to any grand finals during the 1930s, and it would not be until the late 1940s when they would return. However they did contest the Challenge Yves du Manoir with RC Toulon in 1934, though it ended in a nil-all tie, the club made it to the final of the 1947 championship, and claimed the premiership, beating SU Agen,10 to 3. However, no such championships followed, the club was relatively quiet on the championship. It was 22 years in the waiting, Toulouse made it to the final, in 1971 Toulouse contested the Challenge Yves du Manoir against US Dax, losing 18 to 8. Eleven years after the CA Bègles defeat, the club was again disappointed in the final, the latter end of the decade was however, reminiscent of the 1920s sides. Toulouse were again contesting the Challenge Yves du Manoir for the 1984 season and they did however claim their first championship since 1947, defeating RC Toulon in the 1985 final. The following season saw them successfully defend their championship, defeating SU Agen in the final, after a number of defeats in the Challenge Yves du Manoir finals, Toulouse defeated US Dax to win the 1988 competition
9.
Mascot
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Mascots are also used as fictional, representative spokespeople for consumer products, such as the rabbit used in advertising and marketing for the General Mills brand of breakfast cereal, Trix. In the world of sports, mascots are used for merchandising. Team mascots are often confused with team nicknames, while the two can be interchangeable, they are not always the same. For example, the teams of the Auburn University are nicknamed the Auburn Tigers. Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are used as goodwill ambassadors in the community for their team, company. It was originally sporting organisations that first thought of using animals as a form of mascot to bring entertainment and excitement for their spectators, before mascots were fictional icons or people in suits. Animals were mostly used in order to bring a different feel to the game. The event that prompted these changes was the invention of the Muppets in the late 1960s, the puppets offered something different to what everyone was used too. It allowed to people to not only have visual enjoyment but also allowed them to interact physically with the mascots, marketers quickly realized the great potential in three-dimensional mascot and took on board the Muppet-like idea. This change encouraged other companies to start creating their own mascots, resulting in mascots being a necessity amongst not only the sporting industry, the word mascot originates from the French term mascotte which means lucky charm. This was used to describe anything that brought luck to a household, the word was first recorded in 1867 and popularised by a French composer Edmond Audran who wrote the opera La Mascotte, performed in December 1880. But didnt enter into the English language until the year after in 1881, however, before this, the terms were familiar to the people of France as a slang word used by gamblers. The term is a derivative of the word masco meaning sorceress or witch, before the 19th century, the word mascot was associated with inanimate objects that would be commonly seen such as a lock of hair or a figurehead on a sailing ship. But from then on until the present day, the term was seen to be associated with good luck animals. Often the choice of mascot reflects a desired quality, an example of this is the fighting spirit. In the United States, controversy surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses, Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious, as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture. However several Indian tribes have come out in support of keeping the names. For example, the Utah Utes and the Central Michigan Chippewas are sanctioned by local tribes, similarly, the Florida State Seminoles are supported by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in their use of Osceola and Renegade as symbols
10.
Irish Wolfhound
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The Irish Wolfhound is a breed of domestic dog, specifically a very large sighthound from Ireland. The name originates from its purpose—wolf hunting with dogs—rather than from its appearance, originally developed from war hounds to one used for hunting and guarding, Irish Wolfhounds can be an imposing sight due to their formidable size. The breed is old, there are suggestions it may have been brought to Ireland as early as 7000 BC. These dogs are mentioned, as cú in Irish laws and in Irish literature which dates from the 5th century or, in the case of the Sagas, from the old Irish period - AD 600-900. The word Cu often became an added respected prefix on the names of warriors as well as denoting that they were worthy of the respect. Ancient woodcuts and writings have placed them in existence as a breed by 273 BC, however, there is indication that huge dogs existed even as early as 279 BC when the Tectosages and Tolistobogii Celts sacked Delphi. Survivors left accounts of the fierce Celts and the dogs who fought with them. Wolfhounds were bred as hunting dogs by the ancients, who called them Cú Faoil, the Irish continued to breed them for this purpose, as well as to guard their homes and protect their stock. During the English Conquest of Ireland, only the nobility were allowed to own Irish Wolfhounds and they were much coveted and were frequently given as gifts to important personages and foreign nobles. Wolfhounds were the companions of the regal, and were housed themselves alongside them, king John of England, in about 1210 presented an Irish hound, Gelert to Llewellyn, a prince of Wales. The poet The Hon William Robert Spencer immortalised this hound in a poem, in his Historie of Ireland completed 1571, Edmund Campion gives a description of the hounds used for hunting the wolves on the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. He says, They are not without wolves and greyhounds to hunt them, bigger of bone, due to their popularity overseas many were exported to European royal houses leaving numbers in Ireland depleted. This led to a declaration by Oliver Cromwell himself being published in Kilkenny on 27 April 1652 to ensure sufficient numbers remained to control the wolf population. References to the Irish wolfhound in the 18th century tell of its size, strength. Writing in 1790, Bewick described it as the largest and most beautiful of the dog kind, about 36 inches high, generally of a white or cinnamon colour, somewhat like the Greyhound but more robust. He said that their aspect was mild, disposition peaceful, the last wolf in Ireland is thought to have been killed at Myshall, Co Carlow in 1786 by a pack of wolfdogs kept by a Mr Watson of Ballydarton. Scotsman Captain George Augustus Graham is responsible with a few other breeders for attempting to reaffirm the breeds existence and this blood is now in my possession. Captain Graham devoted his life to ensuring the survival of the Irish wolfhound, owing to the small numbers of surviving specimens outcrossing was used in the breeding programme
11.
Parc des Princes
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The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. The stadium, with a capacity of 48,583 spectators, has been the home pitch of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. Before the opening of the Stade de France in 1998, it was also the home arena of the French national football, the Parc des Princes pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Présidentielle Francis Borelli, Auteuil, Paris and Boulogne Stands. Conceived by architect Roger Taillibert, the current version of the Parc des Princes officially opened on 4 June 1972, the stadium is the third to have been built on the site, the first opening its doors in 1897 and the second following in 1932. The Parisians recorded their highest average attendance during the 2015–16 season. Meanwhile, the record home attendance was registered in 1983. However, the French national rugby team holds the stadiums attendance record. They defeated Wales 31–12 in the 1989 Five Nations Championship in front of 50,370 spectators, originally, the site on which the pitch of Paris Saint-Germain stands was a hunting ground for members of the royal family in the 18th century, before the fall of the Bastille. This anecdote gave its name to the Stade Vélodrome du Parc des Princes, the “Princes’ Park” began its sporting history as a velodrome in the late 19th century. With 3,200 seats, the velodrome marked the history of cycling, the ground, which featured a cycling track until the end of the 1960s, was the finishing line for the final stage of the Tour de France from its first edition in 1903 until 1967. It also boasts a history as an international rugby venue. But it was not until 1903 that a football match was played at the Parc des Princes. In front of 984 paying spectators, a composed by the best Parisian players suffered a severe defeat to an England squad. Two years later, the French national football team contested their first ever match against Switzerland. However, the Parc des Princes lost protagonism with the construction of the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir for the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1925, the Paris City Council, which owns the Parc des Princes and this allowed the Société d’Exploitation Sports-Evénements of the Parc to carry out a thorough renovation of the sports arena. The stadium was expanded to 45,000 seats, including 26,000 covered, but the capacity was quickly reduced to 38,000 seats to improve comfort. In spite of that, Match magazine published A new grand stage at the gates of Paris in its front cover of 19 April 1932
12.
Herne Hill
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Herne Hill /hɜːrn/ is a district in south London, England, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Denmark Hill, Dulwich Village, Loughborough Junction and Tulse Hill. It overlaps the boundary between the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, there is a road of the same name in the area. In Rocques 1746 map, the area is shown as Island Green, probably reflecting the presence of the River Effra, early references to the area also use the form Ireland Green. The earliest documented reference to Herne Hill is in two insurance policies issued by the Sun Insurance Company in 1792. The area now known as Herne Hill was part of the Manor of Milkwell, which existed from at least 1291 and it was divided between the ancient parishes of Camberwell and Lambeth. In 1783, Samuel Sanders bought the now occupied by Denmark Hill and Herne Hill from the Manor. By the mid-19th century, the road from the modern Herne Hill Junction to Denmark Hill was lined with residential estates. Herne Hill was transformed by the arrival of the railways in 1862, the Half Moon is a Grade II* listed public house in Half Moon Lane. Herne Hill escaped lightly from V-weapons attacks during World War II, with five V-1 flying bombs, thames Water admitted liability and estimated the total cost of the damage to be around £4 million. The Half Moon reopened in March 2017, following a local campaign to save it as a pub. Herne Hill is situated between the areas of Brixton, Dulwich Village and Camberwell and it also straddles two boroughs, and is a community of just under 12,000 people, with a range of independent shops, art galleries, bars and restaurants. The Southwark half of Herne Hill is part of what is now called the North Dulwich Triangle, famous Herne Hill residents from history include John Ruskin and the Lupino family, and actor Roddy McDowall was born there. The area is home to the 50.8 ha Brockwell Park, near a hilltop in Brockwell Park stands the Grade II* listed Brockwell Hall, which was built in 1831. The hall and the land surrounding it were opened to the public in 1891 after being purchased by London County Council, Brockwell Park hosts the annual Lambeth Country Show and was the site of Londons Gay Pride festival for several years in the 1990s. The park also houses Brockwell Lido, a 1937 open-air swimming-pool that faces on to Dulwich Road, Herne Hill railway station on Railton Road was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1862, the Gothic, polychrome brick station building was Grade II listed in 1998. The Herne Hill Velodrome, situated in a park off Burbage Road, was built in 1891, unlike most modern, steeply-banked velodromes, it is a shallow concrete bowl, the Save the Herne Hill Velodrome campaign is seeking a way to secure the future of the site. The same park also has a pitch and was the home of Crystal Palace F. C. from 1915 until 1918. A Blue Plaque at 84 Burbage Road marks the former home of the athletics coach Sam Mussabini, Mussabini was later immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, in which he was played by actor Ian Holm
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Juan Manuel Leguizamón
James O'Connor
Jebb Sinclair
Delon Armitage
Jerry Yanuyanutawa
Ben Franks
Justin Bishop
Olivier Magne
Daniel Leo
Joe Ansbro
Danie Coetzee
Chris Hala'ufia
Brent Cockbain
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