Sporting Life (newspaper)
Encyclopedia
The Sporting Life was a British
newspaper published between 1859 and 1998 that was best known for its coverage of horse racing
. Latterly it has continued as a multi-sports website.
Originally starting life in 1859, The Sporting Life became a daily newspaper in 1883, and then in 1886 it acquired its rival - Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle (est. 1822)
- dubbing itself "the oldest sporting paper in the world".
The paper continued publication until May 1998, when it was merged with Racing Post
. A proposed relaunch as a sports newspaper was aborted in 1999.
On 20 December 1996, before the newspaper arm closed, Sporting Life launched an online version of the paper - sportinglife.com. The site was run as a joint venture between Trinity Mirror
and The Press Association
until PA Sporting Life Ltd was sold to 365 Media Group
http://www.365mediagroup.co.uk (then known as ukbetting plc, now a division of British Sky Broadcasting
) on 14 October 2001.
Based in Leeds, the site continues to thrive to this day as part of 365 Media Group's sports content network. It is run by a dedicated team of sports journalists covering football
, racing
, cricket
, golf
, tennis
, rugby union
, rugby league
, F1, snooker
, greyhound racing
, boxing
and NFL. The site is known for the speed of delivery of sports news, scores and racing results.
The Sporting Life newspaper was said to be the late Queen Mother's
favourite paper. Eccentric racing pundit, John McCririck
was a journalist on the paper and later wrote a column for the website.
A US paper of the same name
ran from 1883 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1924.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper published between 1859 and 1998 that was best known for its coverage of 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...
. Latterly it has continued as a multi-sports website.
Originally starting life in 1859, The Sporting Life became a daily newspaper in 1883, and then in 1886 it acquired its rival - Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle (est. 1822)
Bell's Life in London
Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle was a British weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886.Bell's Life was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher....
- dubbing itself "the oldest sporting paper in the world".
The paper continued publication until May 1998, when it was merged with Racing Post
Racing Post
The Racing Post is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting newspaper, appearing in print form and online.From 30 May 2011 - 3 July 2011 it had a circulation of 56,507.-History:...
. A proposed relaunch as a sports newspaper was aborted in 1999.
On 20 December 1996, before the newspaper arm closed, Sporting Life launched an online version of the paper - sportinglife.com. The site was run as a joint venture between Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
and The Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...
until PA Sporting Life Ltd was sold to 365 Media Group
365 Media Group
365 Media Group is sports media company employing over 100 people in Leeds, England and Cape Town, South Africa.Between 2001 and October 2006, the company was known as ukbetting plc and grew through the acquisition of a number of businesses including: ukbetting.com Ltd, PA Sporting Life Ltd, the UK...
http://www.365mediagroup.co.uk (then known as ukbetting plc, now a division of British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
) on 14 October 2001.
Based in Leeds, the site continues to thrive to this day as part of 365 Media Group's sports content network. It is run by a dedicated team of sports journalists covering football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, 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...
, 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...
, 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....
, 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...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, F1, snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, greyhound racing
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
, 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...
and NFL. The site is known for the speed of delivery of sports news, scores and racing results.
The Sporting Life newspaper was said to be the late Queen Mother's
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
favourite paper. Eccentric racing pundit, John McCririck
John McCririck
John McCririck is an English television horse racing pundit. He is notable not only for his racing opinions but also for his old-fashioned style of dress and mannerisms...
was a journalist on the paper and later wrote a column for the website.
A US paper of the same name
Sporting Life (US sports journal)
The Sporting Life is a defunct US newspaper published in Philadelphia, PA, that ran from 1883 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1924.A British paper of the same name ran from 1859 to 1998....
ran from 1883 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1924.