Give the Sports Scene a Go

Give the Sports Scene a Go

London will host the 2012 Olympics, but don't expect to see many city inhabitants practicing their javelin throws in Hyde Park.

Sport in the capital comes into its own when it's watched, rather than participated in. You'll most easily witness London's fervent sporting passions in front of a screen in a pub with a pint in hand. And those passions run deep.

If you're lucky enough to score a ticket for a big football match, you'll experience a seething, jeering mass of mockery and rude chants, especially if the opposition happens to be another London team. Amid all the aggression you might also catch a glimpse of why the excitement of English football makes it world sport's hottest media property right now.

And sport does mainly mean football (refer to it as "soccer" at your mortal peril). David Beckham is not alone in being overpaid for kicking a ball around—a generation of footballers live the high life in London, their status somewhere between sporting rock stars and royalty. Cricket, rugby, and tennis briefly impinge on Londoners' sporting horizons at certain times of year, but you're unlikely to see grown men crying at the outcome of matches at Wimbledon, or beating each other up about the Ashes.

Football

The English are actually not particularly good at football, despite it being the national obsession. In fact, there is a self-deprecating expectation of failure that perpetually accompanies the national team's performances. Some of London's 13 professional-league football teams are rather more successful, but often because they employ Continental European players.

It's unlikely you'll be able to get tickets for anything except the least popular Premier League games during the August-May season, despite absurdly high ticket prices (as much as £50 for a standard seat). Lower down football's hierarchical ladder, you'll have a much better chance of seeing a match. If you're engaging the locals in sporting conversation, though, it's imperative to know something about the big teams.

Arsenal is historically London's most successful club, and under the managerial reign of Arsene Wenger they have shed their boring image to become proponents of attractive, free-flowing football while hardly ever employing any English players. Emirates Stadium, Ashburton Grove, Islington, N5. 020/7704-4040. www.arsenal.com. Tube: Arsenal.

A longtime underachiever, Chelsea is owned by one of Russia's richest men, and the extra cash has brought in new players and success on a par with the other big teams in the land. Stamford Bridge, Fulham Rd., Fulham, SW6 1HS. 0871/984-1905. www.chelseafc.co.uk. Tube: Fulham Broadway.

Tottenham Hotspur,or "Spurs," bitter North London rival of Arsenal, has underperformed for many years, but there are signs of a revival. White Hart La., 748 High Rd., Tottenham, N17 0AP. 0844/499-5000. www.tottenhamhotspur.com. Tube: National Rail: White Hart La.

West Ham,despite the name, is the team of the East End. After a long period of failing to match their past success, the Hammers have created a more consistent team, but one unlikely to claim too many trophies. Boleyn Ground, Green St., Upton Park, E13 9AZ. 0871/222-2700. www.whufc.com. Tube: Upton Park.

Cricket

Nominally still the nation's summer sport, cricket has suffered from an unwillingness to drop its stuffy, upper-class traditions. Nevertheless, when the Australians come to play for the Ashes, everyone in the city rediscovers their interest in the game. Postcolonial tensions continue to fester under the surface of the games.

At its best, cricket can be a slow-build of smoldering tension and excitement. At its worst, though, it can be unbearably tedious, as five-day games crawl toward a draw, or as the English weather interferes and rain stops play.

Lord's has been hallowed cricketing turf since 1811. Tickets are hard to come by: obtain an application form and enter the ballot (lottery) to purchase tickets. Forms are sent out in early December or you can apply online. Test Match tickets cost between £25 and £95. County matches (Middlesex plays here) can usually be seen by standing in line on match day. St. John's Wood Rd., St. John's Wood, NW8 8QN. 020/7432-1000. www.lords.org. Tube: St. John's Wood.

Horse Racing

The main events of "the Season," as much social as sporting, occur just outside the city.

The Queen attends Royal Ascot (Grand Stand, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7JX. 0870/460-1238. www.ascot.co.uk) in mid-June, driving from Windsor in an open carriage for a procession before the plebs. Grandstand tickets, which go on sale in November, cost £56, although some tickets can usually be bought on the day of the race (generally on Tuesday or Wednesday) for £16. The real spectacle is the crowd itself, and those who arrive dressed inappropriately (jeans, shorts, sneakers) will be turned away from their grandstand seats.

Derby Day (The Grandstand, Epsom Downs, Surrey, KT18 5LQ. 0844/579-3004. www.epsomderby.co.uk), usually held on the first Saturday in June, is the second-biggest social event of the racing calendar. It's also one of the world's greatest horse races, first run in 1780. Tickets are between £20 and £100.

Tennis

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships are famous for the green grass of Centre Court; for an old-fashioned insistence on players wearing white; and for rain, which always falls, despite the last-week-of-June-first-week-of-July high-summer timing. Whether you can get grandstand tickets is literally down to the luck of the draw, because there's a ballot system (lottery) for advance purchase. For more information, see their Web site.

You can also buy entry to roam matches on the outside courts, where even the top-seeded players compete early. Get to Southfields or Wimbledon Tube station as early as possible and get in line. Five hundred show court tickets are also sold, but these usually go to those prepared to stand in line all night. Ticket Office, All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Box 98, Church Rd., Wimbledon, SW19 5AE. 020/8944-1066. www.wimbledon.org.