1859 in sports
1859 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Australian rules football[edit]
Events
- 14 May — Melbourne Football Club is founded
- 17 May — Australian rules football is codified
- 15 June — Castlemaine Football Club is founded
- 18 July — Geelong Football Club is founded
Baseball[edit]
National championship
Events
- A group in southern Ontario adopts the New York rules in place of the Canadian rules. The Niagara club of Buffalo, New York joins the National Association (by participating in the meeting) although it plays only locally.[1]
- In Brooklyn, Jim Creighton moves from the local Niagara club to Star at midseason and on to Excelsior for next year, perhaps for monetary reward.
Boxing[edit]
Events
- John Morrissey announces his retirement and relinquishes the Championship of America, which is awarded to his nearest challenger John C. Heenan.[2]
- English champion Tom Sayers defends his title twice, defeating Bill Benjamin in 11 rounds and Bob Brettle in seven.[3]
Cricket[edit]
Events
- 1 March — reorganisation of Kent County Cricket Club into the present club.
- 21, 22 & 23 July — in a remarkable all-round performance, V. E. Walker of Middlesex, playing for All-England Eleven versus Surrey at The Oval, takes all ten wickets in the Surrey first innings and follows by scoring 108 in the All-England second innings, having been the not out batsman in the first with 20. He takes a further four wickets in Surrey's second innings. All-England win by 392 runs.
- 7 September — departure of cricket's first-ever touring team. The team of English professionals went to North America and played five matches, winning them all. There were no first-class fixtures. A famous photograph was taken on board ship before they sailed from Liverpool (see above).
England
- Most runs – James Grundy 530 at 17.09 (HS 67)
- Most wickets – John Jackson 83 at 11.07 (BB 8–32)
Horse racing[edit]
Events
- The Queen's Plate is initiated by the Toronto Turf Club and will be run for the first time in June 1860. The Queen's Plate is run over 11⁄4 miles by 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada and is the oldest race for thoroughbreds in Canada.
England
- Grand National – Half Caste
- 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Mayonaise
- 2,000 Guineas Stakes – The Promised Land
- The Derby – Musjid[4]
- The Oaks – Summerside
- St. Leger Stakes – Gamester
Lacrosse[edit]
Events
- Lacrosse is elected Canada's national sport by the Parliament of Canada.
Rowing[edit]
The Boat Race
- 15 April — Oxford wins the 16th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
Other events
- 26 July — The third Harvard–Yale Regatta (a single race) is Harvard's third win, following 1852 and 1855. Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester, Massachusetts is the third site but it will be used exclusively through 1870. The event will now be annual with occasional interruptions, primarily during major wars.[5]
Tennis[edit]
Events
- The first game of lawn tennis is played by Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera, using a croquet lawn at 8 Ampton Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
References[edit]
- ^ The next two members by distance from the New York City meeting — the Union and Liberty clubs merely in Trenton and New Brunswick, New Jersey— also played no matches within the association. The other 47 of 50 members were from Jersey City and Hoboken, New Jersey and from modern New York City. Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000, 31–40 (1859 data).
- ^ Cyber Boxing Zone – John Morrissey. Retrieved on 8 November 2009.
- ^ Cyber Boxing Zone – Tom Sayers. Retrieved on 8 November 2009.
- ^ "Epsom Derby | History, Winners, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
- ^ "Harvard–Yale Regatta – 150 Years of Tradition" Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. Harvard Men's Heavyweight Crew. Retrieved 2013-05-10.