Sports and Recreation
Old Central School, situated in the south west of Wimbledon Common, provided a former pupils football team in the late 19th century which played on the common and used the "Fox and Grapes" public house as a changing room. At first called "The Old Centrals", this club later became Wimbledon F.C.
Putney Lower Common hosted Fulham F.C.'s home games in the 1885/1886 season.
The Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields, which form part of the Commons and are situated in Kingston Vale, provide football and rugby pitches for local schools and clubs. The grounds are currently home to London Cornish RFC, and is the training ground for Harlequins Rugby League. It also hosts the annual National Schoolboy 7s rugby tournament. The grounds can also accommodate many different sports such as Australian Rules Football and Ultimate Frisbee.
Hampton and Richmond Borough Juniors FC (Colts section of Hampton and Richmond Borough FC of the Conference League) play their home matches at the Richmond Park entrance/Robin Hood roundabout corner of the common on Sunday mornings.
A parkrun is held on the common every Saturday morning which usually sees in excess of 300 runners complete 5 kilometres. The course starts and finishes at the Windmill.
Today, as well as being a fine place for cycling, jogging and walking, the Common is home to The Wimbledon Common Golf Club (Jeff Jukes, General Manager and Professional) and London Scottish Golf Club (Steve Barr, Secretary and Professional). The first University Golf Match was played on Wimbledon Common in 1878, courtesy of the LSGC. It also is the base for Thames Hare and Hounds, the oldest cross country running club in the world. Annually Thames Hare and Hounds host the 1st team (Blues) Varsity cross-country match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The Commons also provide some 16 miles of horse rides.
Read more about this topic: Wimbledon Common
Famous quotes containing the words sports and, sports and/or recreation:
“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)
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)