Premier League
Overview
The Premier League is the top tier of England’s football pyramid, with 20 teams battling it out for the honour of being crowned English champions.
Home to some of the most famous clubs, players, managers and stadiums in world football, the Premier League is the most-watched league on the planet with one billion homes watching the action in 188 countries.
The league takes place between August and May and involves the teams playing each other home and away across the season, a total of 380 matches.
Three points are awarded for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat, with the team with the most points at the end of the season winning the Premier League title.
The teams that finish in the bottom three of the league table at the end of the campaign are relegated to the Championship, the second tier of English football.
Those teams are replaced by three clubs promoted from the Championship; the sides that finish in first and second place and the third via the end-of-season playoffs.
Six Nations
Overview
Every year in the months of February and March, the six strongest rugby union teams in the northern hemisphere rally to compete in the 6 Nations Championship.
Originally a competition between the ‘home nations’, England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, its name today stems from the inclusion of France and Italy. The cup is played across all six countries, and each of the teams will play the other nations only once. Because of this, nations take turns hosting each other for their annual game.
The highest scoring team on the table will win the Championship Trophy. If one of the home nations wins all three of its matches against the other home nations, it will win the Triple Crown Trophy. And while there is no actual physical trophy for it, the team finishing lowest on the table is said to have won ‘The Wooden Spoon’.
England emerged as one of the strongest teams in the new, 6 Nation format. To catch one of their games in Twickenham Stadium check here for the upcoming fixtures.
Wimbledon
Overview
Wimbledon (officially “The Championships, Wimbledon”) is one of the four Grand Slam Tennis tournaments with the others in Australia, France, and the United States respectively. However, Wimbledon is not only the first of the four, dating back to 1877 but also the only one still being played on grass. This inspiring history and the traditional grass courts, combined with its half-million spectators and 13-million broadcasting viewership the finals in 2015, Wimbledon is regarded as the most prestigious Grand Slam.
Held over the course of two weeks in late June or early July, Wimbledon buzzes with excitement as players compete for titles in singles, doubles or other categories, through best-of-five or best-of-three sets. Most categories are single-elimination style tournaments, with the most popular ones (the singles) featuring 128 ladies and an equal number of gentlemen.
Wimbledon is one of the few top sports events that still has tickets available on the individual days of the tournament (the exception being the last four days, where all tickets are sold in advance). If you plan to visit, check out their website for more information.
The Wimbledon venue itself holds 39,000 spectators at a time, who, over the course of the 14 days will consume 140,000 servings of English strawberries (with cream!) and 320,000 cups of Pimm’s (a typical English alcoholic, but refreshing beverage). If you do attend, do not miss out on this delicious tradition.
Things to bring yourself include some snacks (strawberries only feed you so much, and munchies will be expensive on the grounds), sunscreen and some plastic water bottles. If it is sunny, do bring a hat but make sure it has a small brim. Larger brims obstruct the view of people around you and are considered poor manners. For the same reason, a lightweight rain poncho will be your go to if it is raining, leave the umbrella at home. ‘No-Nos’ include free things that might be given away outside the venue (advertising companies trying to get the strongly branded items in the view of the TV-cameras). Adjusting to the 21st century, Wimbledon also banned the use selfie-sticks on the grounds.