Sport
Sports form a major part of many people's lives around the globe, whether playing or watching. They help keep people healthy, active and develop their skills. They also play an important social function, bringing people, countries and communities together, praticising activity together and sharing a common passion.
Some sports such as football are played throughout the world but each country has its own traditional games and activities, sometimes started centuries ago and confined to small areas. These games give an insight into the culture of different countries and an understanding of the people who live there. Meanwhile, new sporting pursuits develop all the time. Some of the largest growing activities of recent years have been extreme sports which take a step away from competitive, organised team sports towards expressive, individual activities often incorporating elements of danger and a lifestyle along with the physical activity.
Sports are also big business. Top sportsmen and women, idolised by millions around the globe are attractive to advertisers, commanding huge salaries and lucrative sponsorship deals. Meanwhile the relentless appetite for viewing sports ensures that more and more sport is available to watch on tv. .
LINKS (in alphabetical order)
Arsenal FC - the official website from one of Europe's best clubs based in London
Athens 2004 - The official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games in English, French and Greek
ATP Database of players and results, rankings and news from professional world tennis tour
BBC Football World Cup 2006 site
Chelsea FC - the official website from one of Europe's best clubs based in London
Deutschland 2006 - world football cup site in English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Arabic and Spanish
Euro 2004 Portugal - official website for the UEFA football competition in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish
FA.com Official site of English football team, giving news, fixtures and results from world cup campaign
Football Culture site run by BBC and British Council
Football Highlights from Virgin Media - some great video highlights of premier league clubs, but rather annoying adverts
Guardian football News from world of football from UKs most visited online football webzine
Liverpool FC - the official website from one of Europe's best clubs
Manchester United - the official website from one of Europe's best clubs
NBA Official basketball site
Official Website of the Football (Fifa) World Cup 2006
Official Website of the Rugby World Cup 2003
Ontheline Tennis magazine: results, news and coaching tips
Rugby Clubs Information and links to rugby clubs in the UK
Sportscom Very comprehensive american directory of links to every sport imaginable and every facet of sports
Sportal Sports news
Sports Directory Links to UK sports clubs' pages
Sports Vocab For learners of English and Vocab For Spanish learners of English
Sports.co.uk Sports headlines and comprehensive directory of sites covering more than 40 sports
Suite101.com - an online publishing community of writers, readers, and educators
Team talk Online magazine covering all major sports
The Football Association (UK) The home of English football.
UK Football Clubs Links to all major British teams official sites
UEFA European site in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian
Wimbledon - the official site for the Wimbledon tennis championships
