Sports and Leisure
The main local football club is Great Yarmouth Town, also known as the Bloaters, who play in the Eastern Counties League. Currently managed by Mike Derbyshire, their ground is at Wellesley Recreation Ground (named after Sir Arthur Wellesley). They have a strong East Anglian rivalry with Gorleston. The club has enjoyed limited success in the past. Local football clubs are served by the Great Yarmouth and District League.
Yarmouth has a horse-racing track which features a chute allowing races of one mile (1.6 km) on the straight.
Speedway racing was staged in Great Yarmouth before and after the Second World War. The meetings were staged at the greyhound stadium in Caister Road. The post war team were known as the Yarmouth Bloaters (after the smoked fish). Banger and Stock car racing is also staged at this stadium.
The main Leisure Centre is the Marina Centre. Built in 1981 the centre has a large swimming pool, conference facilities and live entertainment including their famous Summer Pantomimes and Summer Variety Shows produced by local entertainers Hanton & Dean. The centre is run by the Great Yarmouth Sport and leisure Trust. The Trust was set up in April 2006 to run the building as a charitable non profit making organisation.
At the beginning of the 2008 summer season a worlds first Segway Grand Prix was opened at the Pleasure Beach gardens.
The English Pool Association (EPA), the governing body for 8-Ball Pool in England, holds its National Finals Competitions (including Inter-County and Inter-League, singles and team competitions, and England trials) over several weekends through the year, at the Vauxhall Holiday Park on the outskirts of Great Yarmouth.
Read more about this topic: Great Yarmouth
Famous quotes containing the words sports and, sports and/or leisure:
“Sports and gallantries, the stage, the arts, the antics of dancers,
The exuberant voices of music,
Have charm for children but lack nobility; it is bitter earnestness
That makes beauty; the mind
Knows, grown adult.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)