History
The British & Irish Basketball Federation (BIBF) was formed in 1960 from funding from the Sports Council. Northern Ireland began to be represented by Basketball Ireland, and in 2004 Ireland left the BIBF.
In October 2004 the BIBF changed its name to Great Britain Basketball.
In December 2006 the British Basketball Federation (BBF) was formed, and GB teams replaced England in the U20 and senior age groups in FIBA competitions. In order for GB teams to compete in the London Olympics in 2012, FIBA had insisted that a single governing body for Great Britain be formed, rather than the existing three separate home nations. England, Scotland and Wales continued to compete separately in youth competitions.
Basketball Wales rejected a full merger in 2012, so the new governing body was initially formed by just England Basketball (now Basketball England) and basketballscotland. Wales eventually agreed to join the new federation in 2015. The merger was formally completed in October 2016, and the home nations gave up their individual memberships of FIBA. Great Britain national teams now compete in all age groups from U16 to senior, with Scotland and Wales still able to field separate teams in some lower division youth competitions.
The federation is based in the offices of UK Sport.
The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The organisation that operated the competition, Basketball League Limited, folded in July 2024 after the British Basketball Federation terminated its operating license. It was succeeded as the top-level men's basketball competition with Super League Basketball.
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Football League.
Sport holds the central place in British culture, and the United Kingdom has played a key role in both the development and global spread of many sports. In the early stages of organized sport, the Home Nations were instrumental in establishing formal rules and forming some of the earliest governing bodies, national teams, and domestic league competitions.
The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom, but also incorporate representatives from eight of the eleven inhabited British Overseas Territories, and the three Crown Dependencies, who do not have their own separate Olympics teams.
British Fencing (BF), formerly the British Fencing Association is the national governing body (NGB) for the Olympic sport of fencing in the United Kingdom.
The Scottish national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Scotland in international competition. They are organised by basketballscotland, the sport's governing body in Scotland, which in 2005, along with England and Wales merged to form the Great Britain national basketball team. The Scotland national team used to compete in the FIBA Europe's Division C. Scotland's direct affiliation to FIBA ended on 30 September 2016. To date, Scotland's main accomplishments were two qualifications to the EuroBasket, Europe's main basketball event. Further, the team won five bronze medals at the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries.
The United Kingdom has been represented at every modern Olympic Games. By end of the 2024 Summer Olympics, it is third in the all-time Summer Olympic medal table by overall number of medals, and fourth in number of gold medals won. London hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012.
The Great Britain men's national basketball team represents Great Britain in international basketball competitions. The national team is administered by British Basketball.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include association football, cricket, field hockey, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Football is generally considered to be the popular sport, followed by cricket, tennis and rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, chesstennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
Sport in Wales plays a prominent role in Welsh culture. Like the other countries of the United Kingdom, Wales enjoys independent representation in major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and in the Rugby World Cup, but competes as part of Great Britain in some other competitions, including the Olympics.
Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.
Rugby union is a popular sport in the British Isles, including England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The game was arguably invented in 1823 by William Webb Ellis, and in 1871 the English Rugby Football Union was the first national rugby football union to be founded. It is organised separately in each of these countries, and also on an all-Ireland basis.
Sport in Cardiff is dictated by, amongst other things, its position as the capital city of Wales, meaning that national home sporting fixtures are nearly always played in the city. All of Wales' multi-sports agencies and many of the country's sports governing bodies have their headquarters in Cardiff and the city's many top-quality venues have attracted world-famous sport events, sometimes unrelated to Cardiff or to Wales.
The British Triathlon Federation is the national governing body for triathlon, duathlon and associated multisport in Great Britain. It administers triathlon in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Britain at the world body, the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and the regional body the European Triathlon Union (ETU). The BTF also selects athletes to represent the national team, at races such as the world triathlon series and the Olympic games.
The Welsh national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Wales in international competition. They are organised by Basketball Wales, the sport's governing body in Wales.
Rugby league is played across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but its heartland in parts of Northern England is where the sport is most popular, and is where the majority of professional clubs are based. The sport was first established in the George Hotel, Huddersfield, where 22 clubs split from the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Rugby Football Union.
The Great Britain women's Olympic football team represent the United Kingdom in the women's football tournament at the Olympic Games. Normally, no team represents the whole of the United Kingdom in women's football, as separate teams represent England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Great Britain women's national basketball team represents Great Britain in international women's basketball. The current governing body for the Great Britain team was formed by the national basketball organisations of England, Scotland and Wales on 1 December 2005 in order to provide a competitive team for international competition. This structure does not include the basketball association of Northern Ireland; Northern Irish players normally represent the Ireland women's national basketball team, though they are also eligible to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games.
The Great Britain men's national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. The team competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series as well as the Olympic Games and European Games. Historically, Great Britain was represented in rugby 7s by England, Scotland and Wales but the inclusion of Rugby 7s at the Olympic and European Games, together with funding issues has resulted in the formation of a permanent combined team from 2023. The separate England, Scotland and Wales teams play in the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.
British Weight Lifting (BWL) is a trading name of the British Weight Lifters' Association Ltd (BWLA), the National Governing Body (NGB) in the United Kingdom for the sports of weightlifting and para powerlifting. The Association was initially established in 1910. From 1911 to 2003 its name was the British Amateur Weight Lifters' Association (BAWLA); and in 1957, it was incorporated as a limited company.
