Nottingham is home to several high-profile sports clubs. These include two notable Football League clubs in the shape of Nottingham Forest which, along with Liverpool, is one of only two clubs in England to have won consecutive European Cups and Notts County which is the oldest professional football club in the world. Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is a top level county cricket club, whilst both the National Ice Centre and the National Watersports Centre are also located in the city.
Nottingham Forest are currently members of the English Premier League (the top tier of English football). They are best remembered for their success under Brian Clough, who was manager from 1975 to 1993 and guided them to a Football League title, two European Cups and four League Cups. The club has been based at the City Ground, which stands in West Bridgford on the banks of the River Trent, for over a century.
Notts County, who play at Meadow Lane stadium on the opposite side of the River Trent to Nottingham Forest, is the oldest professional Football League team in the world, having been founded in 1862 – a year before the establishment of the Football Association. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888 and won the FA Cup in 1894, but have spent most of their history outside the top flight of English football, the most recent spell ending in 1992 after just one season. The club's most notable manager was Jimmy Sirrel who oversaw the elevation of Notts County from Division Four strugglers to an established Division Two side.
In December 2009, Nottingham was selected by the FA as a candidate host city in England's 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid. [1] If the English bid had been successful, a new stadium would have been built, exceeding FIFA's 40,000 capacity requirement. The bid was unsuccessful, Russia was selected as the host of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Trent Bridge cricket ground, located across the river in West Bridgford, Rushcliffe, is the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, who were winners of the 2005 County Championship and runners-up in the 2006 Twenty20 cup competition. Trent Bridge is a major venue for international Test matches, and also hosts other important cricketing events such as the Twenty20 cup finals and regular One Day International games. The ground, which has won architectural awards[ citation needed ] for the design of some of its newer stands, also houses a cricket academy, a hotel, and a gym, and also uniquely features not one, but two public houses built within the ground itself, most famously the world-renowned Trent Bridge Inn.
The National Ice Centre consists of two ice rinks, one of which is olympic-sized; the city's links to ice skating can be traced back to arguably its most famous children of recent times, Olympic ice dancing champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean who collected a unanimous 6.0 score at the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo. The NIC is used as a training and competition venue for speed skating, sledge hockey and figure skating and receives an annual grant from bodies such as Sport England to maintain and fund these sports.
The NIC is the home of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team, founded in 1946. The team are currently managed by Canadian Corey Neilson who transitioned from a role as player to player coach in 2008. Neilson was a 3rd round draft pick (53rd overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in 1994. In January 2009 it was announced that Neilson would remain as Panthers head coach for the 2009/2010 season. There is a thriving junior ice hockey programme which is also based at the centre. Since 2001, Nottingham has been the host city of the annual ice hockey Play-off Championship Finals weekend, which attracts fans from many different parts of the country. Also calling the NIC home is the Nottingham North Stars recreational ice hockey team. Founded in 1989 North Stars are one of the oldest recreational clubs in the country.
The city's rugby union side, Nottingham Rugby are currently members of the RFU Championship (the second tier of rugby union in England). In January 2015 they moved back to Lady Bay Sports Ground from Meadow Lane.
Nottingham is home to the Nottingham Outlaws RLFC who were recently added to the National conference league which is the fourth tier of English rugby league. They train regularly throughout the summer at Lady Bay (also known as 'the Bay') and have a number of junior teams.
Nottingham is the home town of two time former WBC Supermiddleweight Champion and current Unified WBA And IBF Supermiddleweight World Champion Carl "the Cobra" Froch. [ citation needed ] A fan of Nottingham Forest, Froch will often attend games at the City Ground, walking out onto the pitch after he has won a fight.
Beeston Hockey Club is based at Nottingham Hockey Centre.
There is a large tennis centre, where the annual Nottingham Open was held in the weeks immediately prior to Wimbledon until 2008 and has been used as warm-up practice by various tennis stars. After 2008 the tournament was replaced with the less important Aegon Nottingham Challenge.
Nottingham Squash Rackets Club can trace its roots back to 1909 - when it was formed in The Park, Nottingham. The club was significantly extended in 2000 - when 10 courts were created - 6 of which are glass back. The club has over 500 members and has a team in the Professional Squash League. Since 2013/14 the team have been sponsored by Air-IT and narrowly missed out on the play-offs in that season. The club will host the European Club Championships between 3–6 September 2014. The current club Chairman is Tim Garratt FRICS. The club announced a new manager to start from 1 August 2014 - Stuart Harding. Fantasy Squash operate an office and fully stocked shop out of the club.
The National Water Sports Centre is based at Holme Pierrepont, with a 2000-metre regatta lake for rowing, canoeing and sailing, and a white water slalom canoe course fed from the river. A number of other sailing, rowing and canoeing clubs are also based along the River Trent, as is the boatbuilder Raymond Sims. The centre hosted the 1981 ICF Canoe Sprint and 1995 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships and was the training base for the highly successful Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association.
Every year since 1981 Nottingham has played host to the 'Robin Hood Marathon' taking in many of the city's historic and scenic sights. The race is run alongside a half marathon and a fun run among other events. The 2009 event took place on Sunday 13 September. [2]
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Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located 110 miles (180 km) north-west of London, 33 miles (53 km) south-east of Sheffield and 45 miles (72 km) north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham is the legendary home of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and tobacco industries. The city is also the county town of Nottinghamshire and the settlement was granted its city charter in 1897, as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Nottinghamshire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county borders South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Nottingham (323,632).
A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team compete in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called the Notts Outlaws.
West Bridgford is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent. It is also southwest of Colwick and southeast of Beeston which are on the opposite bank of the River Trent. The town is part of the Nottingham Urban Area and had a population of 36,487 in a 2021-census.
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as international cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of the Twenty20 Cup twice and will host the final of the One-Day Cup between 2020 and 2024.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport.
Meadow Lane is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 to 2017.
The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C. since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455.
Sheffield has a long history of involvement in sport. Although cricket was the first organised sport, it has gradually been supplanted by football. Both the main two local football teams grew out of cricket teams. Sheffield can claim many firsts in football the most famous one being Sheffield F.C. being the world's first and oldest football club. Today it has a club in every major team sport in England. Sheffield became the first UK National City of Sport in 1995 and is now home to the English Institute of Sport (EIS).
Henry Alfred Cursham was an English footballer and cricketer. He played football mostly for Notts County, with spells at Corinthian, Grantham Town and Thursday Wanderers. In cricket, he played two first class games for Nottinghamshire.
Manchester City and Manchester United are popular Premier League football clubs in Greater Manchester. United's ground is in Old Trafford; Manchester City's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Fixtures between the clubs are referred to as the Manchester Derby. Manchester United are historically the second most successful football club in England with 67 elite honours won and was the first team in England to achieve the Continental treble. Manchester United's revenue was the fifth highest of a football club in the world in the 2022–23 season at €745.8 million. In 2023, Forbes estimated the club was the second most valuable in the world at $6 billion.
Harry Butler Daft was an English footballer who played for Notts County, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1894, as well as making five appearances as a left winger for the national side. He was also an accomplished first-class cricketer, playing 200 matches for Nottinghamshire between 1885 and 1899.
The Varsity Series, or the Charity Varsity Series, comprises a number of sports events pitching Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham against each other in a university rivalry. It has been organised for the benefit of charity since 2004. The university that wins the most events is declared winner. One point and half a point are awarded for winning and drawing an event, respectively. The two institutions are based in Nottingham in the United Kingdom and the rivalry is contested in a variety of sports, although ice hockey is seen as the premier event and is the second most attended university ice hockey match outside of North America, selling out the 7,500-seat National Ice Centre since 2009. The winner takes home the Varsity Trophy, which they hold until the conclusion of the following year's series. The University of Nottingham currently leads Nottingham Trent in total series wins by 8-4 since 2004, one series has been drawn, in 2011. The University of Nottingham has won the last 5 series.
Thomas Widdowson was an English footballer who played in The Football League for Notts County.
The Trent Bridge Inn is a pub in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The Trent Bridge Cricket Ground began in a field behind this pub, and the land was also the first home of the Notts County Football Club. The pub is now operated by Wetherspoons.
The Castle Ground was a cricket and football sports ground in the Meadows area of Nottingham, England. The ground was used by Nottingham Forest between 1879 and 1881, and by Notts County between 1880 and 1894.
Nottingham Wanderers F.C. was an English association football club from Nottinghamshire.
Mellors Limited Football Club, also variously given as Mellors' or Mellor's Limited, was an English football club from Nottingham.
