Sports
Most sports are played competitively and a number of hours are set aside for them daily. Rugby is the major sport of the Michaelmas (Autumn) Term. The 1st XV team and their pitch is known as 'Bigside' while the first years' sports teams are known as 'Midgets'. The school fields 21 rugby teams on most Saturdays of the Michaelmas term. Radley is widely recognised for its rowing reputation. In the Lent (Spring) term hockey and football are the main sports, alongside fives, for those not choosing to row, with cricket, tennis and athletics all popular in the Summer term. Some recent Old Radleians have progressed to play cricket for England or captain county level cricket teams. The cricket grounds have been described as 'one of the best in the country' while the sporting facilities have been described as world class.
Recently in rowing, Radley has competed at Henley Royal Regatta, having reached the semi-final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup twice in the last two years, reaching the final in 2012 and winning it in 1998. The boathouse is located on a stretch of the river Isis about one mile (1.6 km) away from the main college campus.
Sports such as fives, rackets, sailing, badminton and polo are all represented. A real tennis court opened in July 2008, which made Radley College the only school in the world to have fives, squash, badminton, tennis, racquets and real tennis courts all on campus.
Despite such strong competition in so many sports, Rugby (Union) remains the most popular, and most competitive sport for boys at Radley.
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Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“I looked so much like a guy you couldn’t tell if I was a boy or a girl. I had no hair, I wore guys’ clothes, I walked like a guy ... [ellipsis in source] I didn’t do anything right except sports. I was a social dropout, but sports was a way I could be acceptable to other kids and to my family.”
—Karen Logan (b. 1949)
“There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his Neighbour.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)