American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

• College football national championship
  NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship
  A college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
  
   – Princeton Tigers
  Princeton Tigers football
  The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision...
  
   and Rutgers Scarlet Knights
  Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
  The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision play...
  
   (shared)

• 6 November — the first American intercollegiate football game
  1869 college football season
  The 1869 college football season was the first season of intercollegiate football. It is considered the inaugural college football season, and consisted of only two total games, both of which occurred between the and ; The first was played on November 6 at Rutgers' campus, and the second was...
  
   is played, between Princeton Tigers
  Princeton Tigers football
  The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision...
  
   and Rutgers Scarlet Knights
  Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
  The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision play...
  
  , although the rules are closer to modern Association football (soccer). Rutgers wins by 6 "runs" to 4.
• A second game is played a week later at Princeton who win this 8–0.

Association football

• It is about this time that tactics first become evident in football with the designation of positions to appropriate players. Fullbacks are recognised as distinct from forwards and halfbacks begin to emerge in a sort of "midfield role". Forwards, however, still play in a pack to support the man in possession. Dribbling is the key skill but there remains no sign of a passing game to use the full width of the field. Scottish club Queen's Park
  Queen's Park F.C.
  Queen's Park Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland. The club are currently the only amateur club in the Scottish League; their amateur status is reflected by their motto, Ludere Causa Ludendi – to play for the sake of playing.Queen's Park are the oldest...
  
   is the first team to use a passing game a few years later.

• Formation of Kilmarnock
  Kilmarnock F.C.
  Kilmarnock Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Founded in 1869, "Killie" is the oldest club currently in the Scottish Premier League. Home matches are played at Rugby Park...
  
  , the oldest professional club in Scotland and the second oldest club in the Scottish League after Queen's Park
  Queen's Park F.C.
  Queen's Park Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland. The club are currently the only amateur club in the Scottish League; their amateur status is reflected by their motto, Ludere Causa Ludendi – to play for the sake of playing.Queen's Park are the oldest...
  
  

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

• National Association of Base Ball Players
  National Association of Base Ball Players
  The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
  
   champion – Brooklyn Atlantics
  Brooklyn Atlantics
  The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
  
  

• The NABBP
  National Association of Base Ball Players
  The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
  
   permits professional clubs at its December 1868 meeting. Openly there are twelve pro teams in the field.
• The original Cincinnati Red Stockings
  Cincinnati Reds
  The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
  
   sign baseball's first all-professional team, ten men including player–manager Harry Wright
  Harry Wright
  William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
  
   on salary for eight months.
• Cincinnati tours from Boston to San Francisco and completes the season without defeat in at least 57 games. The entourage includes a local newspaper reporter. Continental tours do not fit the established method of determining a champion, which has limited credibility.

Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

• 15 June — Mike McCoole
  Mike McCoole
  Mike McCoole was a boxing champion.He claimed the Heavyweight Championship in 1866 after Joe Coburn retired. He lost the title to Tom Allen in 1873.-External links:*...
  
   defeats British challenger Tom Allen
  Tom Allen (boxer)
  Tom Allen was a boxing champion who claimed the Heavyweight Championship from 1873, when he defeated Mike McCoole, until 1876, when he lost to Joe Goss.-External links:*...
  
   on a ninth round disqualification near St. Louis, Missouri. McCoole continues to claim the disputed American Championship but his main rival Jimmy Elliott
  Jimmy Elliott
  For the English footballer of the same name see Jimmy Elliott Jimmy Elliot was an Irish-American boxer who was Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1865 to 1868. On December 12, 1870 Elliott was arrested and convicted of highway robbery and assault with intent to kill...
  
   is inactive this year.
• Future champion Allen is the most active fighter in 1869. Besides losing to McCoole, he defeats Bill Davis in the 43rd round; and has two fights against Charley Gallagher, losing the first in the second round and drawing the rematch. Meanwhile, the last English Champion Jem Mace
  Jem Mace
  Jem Mace was an English boxing champion. He was born at Beeston, Norfolk. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography...
  
   is touring America and giving sparring exhibitions only.

Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

• The demise of the original Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
  Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
  Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy.The club is based at The Avenue...
  
  , which had played first-class cricket since 1819. A team called Cambridgeshire will be formed to play in two specially arranged matches, one in 1869 v. Yorkshire and one in 1871 v. Surrey. After that, Cambridgeshire will cease to be a first-class team.

• Champion County – Yorkshire shared with Nottinghamshire
• Most runs – W G Grace 1320 @ 57.39 (HS 180)
• Most wickets – James Southerton
  James Southerton
  James Southerton was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1854 and 1879....
  
   136 @ 15.36 (BB 8–68)

Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

• British Open
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
   – Tom Morris junior
  Tom Morris, Jr.
  Tom Morris, Jr. , known as "Young Tom Morris", was one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodigy in golf history...
  
  

Horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

• Grand National
  Grand National
  The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
  
   – The Colonel (first of two consecutive wins)
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Scottish Queen
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Pretender
• Epsom Derby
  Epsom Derby
  The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
  
   – Cremorne
• Epsom Oaks
  Epsom Oaks
  The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 10 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in early June....
  
   – Brigantine
• St. Leger Stakes
  St. Leger Stakes
  The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...
  
   – Pero Gomez

• Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
   – Warrior

• Queen's Plate
  Queen's Plate
  The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
  
   – Bay Jack

• Irish Derby Stakes
  Irish Derby Stakes
  The Irish Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July.It is Ireland's equivalent of the Epsom Derby,...
  
   – The Scout

• Belmont Stakes
  Belmont Stakes
  The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
  
   – Fenian
  Fenian (horse)
  Fenian was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1869 Belmont Stakes.Fenian was bred in 1866 by August Belmont and was a chestnut stallion. His sire was Mickey Free. His dam was the imported mare Spiletta by Stockwell, and his second dam was Olivia Augusta by Cowl. Fenian was Spiletta's only stakes...
  
  

Rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

• 17 March — Oxford
  Oxford University Boat Club
  The Oxford University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded in the early 19th century....
  
   wins the 26th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
  The Boat Race
  The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
  
  

Rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

• Sydney University Football Club forms the first football club in Australia, playing Rugby rules.
• Foundation of Preston Grasshoppers