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...
  
   – Yale Bulldogs
  Yale Bulldogs football
  The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1872...
  
  

• The rules are changed so that gametime is set at two halves of 45 minutes each (as in Association football). Two paid officials, a referee and an umpire, are mandated for each game.

Association football

• FA Cup final
  FA Cup Final
  The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
  
   – Aston Villa
  Aston Villa F.C.
  Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
  
   2–0 West Bromwich Albion
  West Bromwich Albion F.C.
  West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
  
   at The Oval
  The Oval
  The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
  
  
• Barnsley FC
  Barnsley F.C.
  Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...
  
   and Blackpool FC
  Blackpool F.C.
  Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
  
   are founded

• Scottish Cup final – Hibernian
  Hibernian F.C.
  Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
  
   2–1 Dumbarton
  Dumbarton F.C.
  Dumbarton Football Club is Scotland's 4th oldest football club – founded in 1872, just after Queen's Park , Kilmarnock and Stranraer...
  
  

• Hamburger SV
  Hamburger SV
  Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
  
   founded as one of the oldest clubs in Germany

Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

• Carlton Football Club
  Carlton Football Club
  The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
  
   wins the Victorian Football Association
  Victorian Football League
  The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
  
   premiership
• Norwood Football Club
  Norwood Football Club
  Norwood Football Club, nicknamed, Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club belonging to the South Australian National Football League in the state of South Australia...
  
   wins the South Australian Football Association
  South Australian National Football League
  The South Australian National Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in South Australia....
  
   premiership
• Unions Football Club wins the Western Australian Football Association
  West Australian Football League
  The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
  
   premiership

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 League
  National League
  The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
  
   v. American Association
  American Association (19th century)
  The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
  
   – Detroit Wolverines
  Detroit Wolverines
  The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th century baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant in 1887. The team was disbanded following the 1888 season.-Franchise...
  
   (NL) defeats Saint Louis Cardinals (AA) 10 games to 5

• The two major leagues agree to a unified set of rules.
• The National Colored Base Ball League
  National Colored Base Ball League
  The National Colored Base Ball League or the League of Colored Baseball Clubs was the first attempt to have a league consisting of all-black teams, predating Rube Foster's Negro National League by over three decades. The league president was Walter S. Brown, who was also manager of the Pittsburgh...
  
   plays for a few weeks before folding.
• Five black men play in the International League
  International League
  The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
  
  , the highest minor league, the high-water mark in racial integration of professional baseball.

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...

• World Heavyweight Championship – John L. Sullivan
  John L. Sullivan
  John Lawrence Sullivan , also known as the Boston Strong Boy, was recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing from February 7, 1881 to 1892, and is generally recognized as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring rules...
  
  
• World Middleweight Championship – Jack Nonpareil Dempsey
• World Lightweight Championship – Jack McAuliffe
  Jack McAuliffe
  Jack McAuliffe was an Irish-American boxer. Nicknamed 'The Napolean of the Ring', and fighting mostly out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he was one of only nine boxers to remain undefeated throughout his entire career. He was the Lightweight Champion of the World from 1886 to 1893...
  
  

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 English cricket team in Australia in 1886–87
  English cricket team in Australia in 1886–87
  The England cricket team in Australia in 1886–87, generally known as Alfred Shaw's XI, was described by Wisden as "one of the strongest that ever left England for the Colonies"...
  
  , generally known as Alfred Shaw
  Alfred Shaw
  Alfred Shaw was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings . He who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888...
  
  's XI, is described by Wisden as "one of the strongest that ever left England for the Colonies". The team plays 10 first-class matches, winning 6 with 2 draws and 2 defeats (both against New South Wales). England win both Test matches
  Test cricket
  Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
  
   played by 13 runs and 71 runs respectively.

• Champion County – Surrey
• Most runs – W G Grace 2062 @ 54.26 (HS 183*)
• Most wickets – George Lohmann
  George Lohmann
  George Alfred Lohmann is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time...
  
   154 @ 15.61 (BB 8–36)

• Most runs – Arthur Shrewsbury
  Arthur Shrewsbury
  Arthur Shrewsbury was an English cricketer, and rugby football administrator, who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888, and who was widely rated as competing with W. G...
  
   721 @ 48.06 (HS 236)
• Most wickets – Charlie Turner 70 @ 7.68 (BB 8–32)

Gaelic football

Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...

• 7 February — Irish forms of football are formally arranged into an organised playing code by the Gaelic Athletic Association
  Gaelic Athletic Association
  The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
  
  , the rules being drawn up by Maurice Davin
  Maurice Davin
  Maurice Davin was an Irish farmer who became co-founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was also the first President of the GAA and the only man ever to serve two terms as president.He was born in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary...
  
   and published in the United Ireland magazine. The GAA seeks to promote traditional Irish sports, such as hurling
  Hurling
  Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
  
   and to reject "foreign" (particularly English) imports.
• Limerick GAA
  Limerick GAA
  The Limerick County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Limerick GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Limerick...
  
   wins the inaugural All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
  All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
  The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in Gaelic football, is a series of games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and played during the summer and early autumn...
  
  .

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...
  
   – Willie Park junior
  Willie Park, Jnr.
  Willie Park, Jr. was one of the top professional golfers of his era, winning The Open Championship twice. Park was also a successful golf equipment maker and golf writer...
  
  

• British Amateur
  The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
  
   – Horace Hutchinson

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...
  
   – Gamecock
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Reve d'Or
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Enterprise
• 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...
  
   – Merry Hampton
  Merry Hampton
  Merry Hampton was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1887 to 1888 he ran four times and won once in a career which was restricted by injuries and training difficulties. His sole victory came on his racecourse debut when he won the 1887 Epsom Derby as an 11/1...
  
  
• 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....
  
   – Reve d'Or
• 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...
  
   – Kilwarlin

• 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...
  
   – Dunlop

• 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...
  
   – Bonnie Duke

• Irish Grand National
  Irish Grand National
  The Irish Grand National is a National Hunt chase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of about 3 miles and 5 furlongs , and during its running there are twenty-four fences to be jumped...
  
   – Eglentine
• 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,...
  
   – Pet Fox

• Kentucky Derby
  Kentucky Derby
  The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
  
   – Montrose
• Preakness Stakes
  Preakness Stakes
  The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
  
   – Dunboyne
• 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...
  
   – Hanover

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...

• 26 March — Cambridge
  Cambridge University Boat Club
  The Cambridge University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England, located on the River Cam at Cambridge, although training primarily takes place on the River Great Ouse at Ely. The club was founded in 1828...
  
   wins the 44th 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:...

• Scotland wins the 1887 Home Nations Championship
  1887 Home Nations Championship
  The 1887 Home Nations Championship was the fifth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 8 January and 12 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales....
  
  , which is the 5th series

Softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

• George Hancock
  George Hancock (softball)
  George Hancock, at the time a reporter for Chicago Board of Trade, invented the game of softball in 1887. The first game was played indoors, inside the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago. Someone found a boxing glove and threw it and someone else hit it with a stick. George Hancock shouted "Let's play...
  
   invents an indoor baseball game that would become known as softball in Chicago, Illinois (USA) on November 24.

Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

• American champion Richard D. Sears
  Richard Sears (tennis player)
  Richard Dudley "Dick" Sears – was an American male tennis player. He was the son of Frederic Richard Sears and Albertina Homer Shelton. He married Eleanor M Cochrane on Nov 24, 1891 and they had Richard Dudley Sears, Jr. and Miriam Sears.Sears was undefeated in the U.S...
  
   retires from the sport after winning the US singles title for the seventh successive time, a record that still stands

• Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship
  The Championships, Wimbledon
  The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
  
   – Herbert Lawford
  Herbert Lawford
  Herbert Lawford was a tennis player from Great Britain who won the men's singles championship at Wimbledon in 1887, and was runner-up five times....
  
   (GB) defeats Ernest Renshaw
  Ernest Renshaw
  Ernest Renshaw was an English tennis player.Together with his twin brother William Renshaw, Ernest won the men's doubles at Wimbledon five times. He also won the singles championship at Wimbledon once, in 1888 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983...
  
   (GB) 1–6 6–3 3–6 6–4 6–4
• Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship
  The Championships, Wimbledon
  The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
  
   – Lottie Dod
  Lottie Dod
  Charlotte "Lottie" Dod was an English sportswoman best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only fifteen, in the summer of 1887...
  
   (GB) defeats Blanche Bingley
  Blanche Bingley
  Blanche Bingley was an English tennis player.Born in Greenford in the London Borough of Ealing, Blanche Bingley was a member of the "Ealing Lawn Tennis & Archery Club." In 1884, she competed in the first ever Wimbledon championships for women and two years later captured the first of her six...
  
   (GB) 6–2 6–0

• American Men's Singles Championship – Richard D. Sears
  Richard Sears (tennis player)
  Richard Dudley "Dick" Sears – was an American male tennis player. He was the son of Frederic Richard Sears and Albertina Homer Shelton. He married Eleanor M Cochrane on Nov 24, 1891 and they had Richard Dudley Sears, Jr. and Miriam Sears.Sears was undefeated in the U.S...
  
   (USA) defeats Henry Slocum
  Henry Slocum (tennis player)
  Henry Warner Slocum, Jr. was an American male tennis player. He was the son of the American politician and Union general Henry Warner Slocum....
  
   (USA) 6–1 6–3 6–2
• American Women's Singles Championship – Ellen Hansell
  Ellen Hansell
  Ellen Forde Hansell Alderdice was a female tennis player from the United States who is best known for being the first women's singles champion of the U.S. Championships in 1887. She was also a losing finalist to Bertha Townsend the next year.-Win :-Runner-up :-External links:*...
  
   (USA) defeats Laura Knight (USA) 6–1 6–0

Yacht racing

Yacht racing

Yacht racing is the sport of competitive yachting.While sailing groups organize the most active and popular competitive yachting, other boating events are also held world-wide: speed motorboat racing; competitive canoeing, kayaking, and rowing; model yachting; and navigational contests Yacht racing...

• The New York Yacht Club
  New York Yacht Club
  The New York Yacht Club is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. The organization has over 3,000 members as of 2011. ...
  
   retains the America's Cup
  America's Cup
  The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
  
   as Volunteer
  Volunteer (yacht)
  "Volunteer" was the victorious American defender of the seventh America's Cup race in 1887 against Scottish challenger "Thistle".-Design:"Volunteer," a centerboard compromise sloop, was designed by Edward Burgess and built by Pusey & Jones Shipbuilding Company at Wilmington, Delaware in 1887 for...
  
   defeats British challenger Thistle
  Thistle (yacht)
  Thistle was the unsuccessful Scottish challenger of the seventh America's Cup in 1887 against American defender Volunteer.-Design:The cutter Thistle was designed by George Lennox Watson, with interiors by his brother Thomas Lennox Watson, and built at the D&W Henderson shipyard in Partick on the...
  
  , of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club, 2 races to 0