Sports Fun Facts Quiz

Question: Which sport is considered the national summer sport of England?

Answer: Cricket, England’s national summer sport, is believed to have begun, possibly as early as the 13th century, as a game in which country boys bowled at a tree stump or at the hurdle gate into a sheep pen. It is now played throughout the world, particularly in Australia, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, and the British Isles.

Question: Birling, a sport developed by North American lumberjacks, is also known by what other name?

Answer: Birling, also known as logrolling, traces its origin to the spring log drives of eastern Canada and the New England states during the early lumbering era in the 19th century, from which it moved westward to the Great Lakes region and then to the Pacific Northwest.

Question: In traditional Spanish bullfighting, what is the name given to the performer who both works the capes and kills the bull?

Answer: A matador is the principal performer in bullfighting, working the capes and killing the bull with a sword thrust between the shoulder blades. The techniques used by modern matadors date from about 1914, when Juan Belmonte revolutionized the ancient blood sport.

Question: What sport were “bodyline” tactics associated with?

Answer: The visit of the English cricket side to Australia in 1932–33 severely strained relations between the countries because of the use of “bodyline” bowling tactics, in which the ball was bowled close to or at the batsman. This involved fast, short-pitched deliveries bowled to the batsman’s body so that the batter would be hit on the upper body or head. Bodyline bowling tactics were banned soon after the series.

Question: What game evolved from the now-obsolete French game of paille-maille?

Answer: Croquet is played on a lawn or court, the players using long-handled mallets to hit balls through a series of wickets, or hoops. It evolved from paille-maille, which was played in France at least as early as the 13th century and introduced into England in the 16th century.

Question: Supercross is a form of what sport?

Answer: Supercross, which began in the United States in the early 1970s, is an indoor version of motocross, a form of motorcycle racing in which riders compete on a course marked out over open and often rough terrain.

Question: What game, which has been particularly popular in retirement communities, involves shoving disks so that they stop on or within scoring areas on a board or court?

Answer: Shuffleboard (originally called shoveboard) is a game in which disks are shoved by hand or with an implement so that they come to a stop on or within a scoring area marked on the board or court (on a table, floor, or outdoor hard surface such as concrete).

Question: In which sport do players use a cesta to catch and throw a ball?

Answer: Jai alai is a ball game of Basque origin played in a three-walled court with a hard rubber ball that is caught and thrown with a cesta, a long, curved wicker scoop strapped to one arm. Called pelota vasca in Spain, the game was given its Western Hemisphere name jai alai (Basque: “merry festival”) when it was imported to Cuba in 1900.

Question: What sport is the Ryder Cup associated with?

Answer: The Ryder Cup is a biennial professional team golf event first held in 1927.

Question: Which athletic contest originated in Scotland and includes events such as tossing the caber?

Answer: Highland Games was the original name for athletic meetings carried out in the Scottish Highlands. The name now denotes similar athletic competitions in any part of the world, usually conducted under the auspices of a local Caledonian society and held according to what are believed to be traditional customs.

Question: In what sport is a scrum used after the referee halts play for a minor infringement of the rules?

Answer: In rugby, a scrum (also called scrummage) is the packed formation of opposing forwards who, heads down, lock themselves against each other when the referee has halted play for a minor infringement of the rules.

Question: Chukkers are associated with which sport?

Answer: A game of polo consisted of six periods, called chukkers, chukkars, or chukkas, of seven and a half minutes each.

Question: The equipment for what sport was found in the tomb of an Egyptian child buried about 3200 BCE?

Answer: Articles found in the tomb of an Egyptian child buried about 3200 BCE included nine pieces of stone, to be set up as pins, at which a stone “ball” was rolled through an archway made of three pieces of marble. The modern sport of bowling at pins probably originated in ancient Germany, not as a sport but as a religious ceremony.

Question: Which sport was directly influenced by the Marquess of Queensberry rules?

Answer: The Marquess of Queensberry rules most directly influenced modern boxing. The rules were first published in 1867. Among other things, the code established an optimal ring size; prohibited wrestling or hugging; set three-minute rounds; provided that knocked-down boxers should have 10 seconds to get up unassisted; and ruled that a fighter on one knee was considered down and, if struck, was entitled to the stakes.

Question: The side horse is associated with which sport?

Answer: The side horse, or pommel horse, is an apparatus used in gymnastics that stems from a wooden horse introduced by the Romans and used to teach mounting and dismounting.

Question: The term pugilism is synonymous with what sport?

Answer: The term pugilism is synonymous with boxing, although it also indicates the ancient origins of the sport in its derivation from the Latin pugil, “a boxer,” related to the Latin pugnus, “fist,” and derived in turn from the Greek pyx, “with clenched fist.”

Question: Which of these sports features a contest called Puissance?

Answer: Show jumping is a competitive equestrian event in which horse and rider are required to jump, usually within a time limit, over a series of obstacles that have been designed for a particular show; the contest based on jumping ability alone is called Puissance.

Question: In which major sport is substitution allowed while the game is in play?

Answer: Ice hockey is the only major sport in which substitutions are permitted while the game is in play.

Question: Episkuros, calcio, and melees were early forms of which popular sport?

Answer: From antiquity, games have existed in which two teams, or sides, attempt to kick, push, or otherwise propel a ball in opposite directions toward the opponents’ goal. A football (soccer) game was played in China as early as 206 BCE, and by 500 CE round footballs stuffed with hair were in use. Episkuros, calcio, and melees were all early forms of football.

Question: What sport is played on a level surface of sand or clay enclosed with boarded ends and sides?

Answer: Bocce is an Italian bowling game that is usually played on a level surface of sand or clay enclosed with boarded ends and sides, though it can also be played on an open area of sand or grass.

Question: Which sport is thought to have developed from the 18th-century English game of rounders?

Answer: The old English game of rounders, referred to in print as early as 1744, never became a seriously competitive sport, although the distinctly American sport of baseball likely developed from it.

Question: Yokuzuna is the highest ranking attainable in which sport?

Answer: Sumo is a style of Japanese wrestling in which weight, size, and strength are of the greatest importance, though speed and suddenness of attack are also useful; yokuzuna is the highest ranking attainable.

Question: Which sport evolved as a combination of tennis and squash?

Answer: Platform tennis combines tennis and squash. Devised in 1928, the game is played on specially constructed platforms surrounded by back and side walls of tightly strung wire netting.

Question: Neurosurgeon Sir Ludwig Guttman introduced what sport as therapy for wounded World War II veterans?

Answer: One of fencing’s developments during the 20th century was the sport of wheelchair fencing, invented by neurosurgeon Sir Ludwig Guttman as therapy for wounded World War II veterans.

Question: What is the oldest professional sporting trophy in North America?

Answer: The Stanley Cup, awarded to the winner of the National Hockey League’s championship, is the oldest professional sporting trophy in North America.

Question: What stick-and-ball sport has long been recognized as the national pastime of Ireland?

Answer: Hurling, an outdoor stick-and-ball game somewhat akin to field hockey and lacrosse, has long been recognized as the national pastime of Ireland.

Question: Which is a court or lawn game played with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock?

Answer: Badminton is a court or lawn game played with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock. The game is named for Badminton, the country estate of the dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England, where it was reputedly first played about 1873, though it may have started much earlier in India.

Question: Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy) was instrumental in the founding of what sporting event?

Answer: Eunice Kennedy Shriver was instrumental in the founding of the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics is an international program providing year-round sports training and athletic competition in more than 20 Olympic-type summer and winter sports to individuals who have intellectual and physical disabilities and who are eight years of age or older.

Question: What game was invented for businessmen who found the new sport of basketball to be too vigorous?

Answer: Designed as an indoor sport for businessmen who found the new game of basketball too vigorous, volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, physical director of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Question: What is the term for offsetting the varying abilities or characteristics of competitors in order to equalize their chances of winning?

Answer: In sports and games, handicapping is the term for offsetting the varying abilities or characteristics of competitors in order to equalize their chances of winning. Handicapping takes many, often complicated, forms.

Question: Which sport, developed from a game called indoor baseball and common in the United States, has been variously called diamond ball, kitten ball, and mushball?

Answer: Softballis a popular participant sport that developed from a game called indoor baseball, first played in Chicago in 1887. It became known in the United States by various names, such as kittenball, mushball, diamond ball, indoor-outdoor, and playground ball.