London

Sport

Sport in London is, in one word, plentiful. In more than one word, you can do pretty much any sport you want to in and around the capital including handgliding, keepy-uppie and chess (is that a sport?).

For the active person who wants to do all these activities, you can do most of them at your college. There's a strong inter-collegiate sport league where you can pit your strengths against your local rivals at whatever game you excel at. Most Colleges have all the bases covered, but if you can't find you preferred activity there, then London is chock full of clubs, leagues and centres where you can practise you desired discipline to your heart's content.

If you're more of a watcher than a player, then you'll be spoilt for choice in London. For cricket fans, encouraged and interested by England's recent upturn in fortunes, you can catch test match cricket at the Oval (or the Foster's Oval as it's now called) or at the home of cricket - Lord's. For other first class matches, both Surrey and Middlesex play in London, so you'll be able to drink whilst watching Stewart, Thorpe, Ramprakash and Hollioake strut their stuff.

Footie-wise, well I'm not a fan, but I'm reliably informed that there are over 12 teams in London who play regular league football at whatever level. The best rivalries are between Spurs and Arsenal in the North London derby, Chelsea and Fulham, West Ham and Charlton, QPR and Brentford, and Leyton Orient and anybody (Barnet probably). Although, having said that, whenever a team from London plays another, sparks are sure to fly. You will be able to catch England's internationals in the new "Wembley" if and when it ever gets built.

For the rugger-buggas, you can watch Sarries, Quins, London Irish and Scottish and Richmond playing in the city, and can always go down to Twickers to watch the French, Welsh, Scottish and Irish get beaten by England every year. The London Broncos are London's main rugby league team.

For the Tennis fan, you can watch Wimbledon (if you can be bothered to queue for 6 hours to watch Henman get beaten in straight sets) or go to Queens Club, where you can watch all the players who will play at Wimbledon, for much much cheaper and in much more comfort. For the tennis loving, poor student, Queens near Baron's Court tube is the best option.

For those of you who like a flutter, you can catch the Greyhounds at Wimbledon, White City, and Walthamstow (E17 - like the band). And of course, you all you toffs out there (myself included) Ascot is but a stone's throw away. For the more adventurous, there's speedway, rowing, sailing, bungee jumping, parasailing, and Chinese checkers. You'll never be short of sport to watch or play in "la capitale".