Shoreditch, a small part of the Hackney Borough, may not be home to many sports clubs or teams, but there’s certainly a love of sports embedded in the local area. London Lionhearts Volleyball Club highlights the sports offering, but as everything is so well-connected in London, clubs are never too far away.
Regardless of this, Shoreditch certainly boasts a strong sports fan base that spans many different competitions. While football is inevitably the major draw, you’ll also see big turnouts for the likes of boxing and cricket.
Given the past and present sports stars of Hackney Borough, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s plenty of local support from Shoreditch, but this is furthered when you consider the actual sports spectator scene of the area.
Sports stars representing for Hackney Borough
Hackney Borough is home to some all-time greats, cult-heroes, and current stars of many different sports. The only place to start is with the late Eric Bristow, who won the BDO World Championship five times to then became a founding member of the PDC. Bristow was widely considered to be the best darts player ever, until a talent that he spotted and mentored, one Phil Taylor, usurped him.
Further afield, playing for Reading, Newcastle United, and then establishing himself as a top-flight goalkeeper for West Ham United and Portsmouth, Shaka Hislop became a cult hero for English football fans. And, in athletics, Phillips Idowu notched himself in British athletics history with gold medals in the triple jump at almost all major international competitions, but came up just short in a thrilling Berlin 2008 Olympics contest against Nelson Evora of Portugal.
Hackney Borough has a few sports stars applying their trade right now as well, including Kieran Dixon in his second-leg with the London Broncos, and Bellator main attraction Michael ‘Venom’ Page. While the mixed martial arts star’s foray into boxing was met with criticism for his blasé style, and has since been halted, Anthony Yarde is looking to become a major name in the sport.
Yarde is one of the most exciting up-and-coming talents in boxing, but he jumped up a little too soon in pursuit of World Championship glory. Last time out, he put in a spirited performance against the champion, Sergey Kovalev, in Russia, but was ultimately beaten by the experience of ‘Krusher.’ Now, Yarde has thrown his name into the hat to face Kovalev’s conqueror, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
The sports experience in Shoreditch
There are two key components that fans enjoy when it comes to the Shoreditch sports viewing experience: going to a great bar, and having a flutter on the match.
Across the UK, fans use sports betting to back their favourite team, star, or just to see if their predictions can pay off. You can bet that, if there’s a major sporting event on, be it football, darts, boxing, horse racing, or the increasingly popular American football, there’ll be a bunch of people with some money down.
Of course, to also enhance the viewing experience, people of Hackney Borough regularly make their way over the Shoreditch High Street to get themselves into one of the two sports bars. Yes, Shoreditch has two sports bars on the same street.
Bar Kick is more sports-orientated, with flags, memorabilia, and table football available, but Matchbox also puts on a good occasion for live sports. When there’s a major event on, such as the recent Andy Ruiz Jr vs Anthony Joshua II bout, you know that people of the area will come to swarm these sports bars.
Shoreditch, as a part of Hackney Borough, boasts a grand history with sports and continues to be a hotbed for those who want to enjoy the action in the local area.
