page_title: Reading, Berkshire
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Reading, Berkshire / Sport
caption_attribution_description: Reading Football Club, Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 0FL. Aerial
context_page_description: Reading is a large, historic market town in Berkshire, South East England. Situated in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, it is on the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 70 miles east of Bristol, 25 miles south of Oxford, 40 miles west of London, 14 miles north of Basingstoke, 12 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 15 miles east of Newbury.
  The first evidence for Reading as a town dates from the 8th century. It was an important trading and ecclesiastical centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with strong royal connections, of which the 12th-century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. The medieval town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town.
context_section_description: Reading is the home of Reading Football Club, an association football club nicknamed The Royals, formed in 1871. Formerly based at Elm Park, the club plays at the 24,161 capacity Madejski Stadium, named after chairman Sir John Madejski, and which opened in 1998. After winning the 2005–06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points, Reading spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship. For the 2012–2013 season, the club again competed in the Premier League, after securing first place in the Championship in the 2011–2012 season, but were relegated back down to the Championship at season's end.
  Reading Town Football Club, formed in 1966, played at Scours Lane and were playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division but were dissolved in 2016, while fellow non-league football club Reading City Football Club now play at Scours Lane after moving from Palmer Park Stadium at the end of the 2015–16 season.
  Reading is a centre for rugby union in the area, with the Aviva Premiership team London Irish as tenants at the Madejski Stadium. Reading is also home to another three senior semi-professional rugby clubs: Reading Abbey RFC, Redingensians RFC and Reading RFC.
  The Reading Rockets are the town's professional basketball team. They compete in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1, though they have tried several times in recent years to move up to the top tier British Basketball League. They play home games at the Rivermead Leisure Complex, and are coached by Manuel Peña Garces. In 2016–17 the club embarked on an 18-game winning streak.
  The town hosts Australian Rules football team Reading Kangaroos and American football team Berkshire Renegades. Palmer Park Stadium has a velodrome and athletics track. It is used by Reading Athletic Club and the Berkshire Renegades for training. Reading Hockey Club enter teams in both the Men's and Women's England Hockey Leagues. The Reading Rockets basketball club plays in the English Basketball League.
  Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club and the Reading University Boat Club, both next to Caversham Bridge, whilst Reading Blue Coat School trains at Sonning adjacent to the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, which provides training facilities for the GB National Squad. However almost all club rowing is done on the River Thames. The annual Reading Town Regatta takes place near Thames Valley Park, with the Reading Amateur Regatta taking place in June, usually two weeks before the Henley Royal Regatta.
  The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team, Reading Racers. Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium, until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley, which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which was once hoped to be completed in 2012.
  The Reading Half Marathon is held on the streets of Reading in March of each year, with 16,000 competitors from elite to fun runners. It was first run in 1983 and has taken place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, and 2018, when it was cancelled on the morning of the race due to heavy overnight snowfall.
  The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club on 11 December 1982. Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director. Thames Valley Triathletes, based in the town, is Britain's oldest triathlon club, having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield, when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club.
  The Hexagon theatre was home to snooker's Grand Prix tournament, one of the sport's ’Big Four’, from 1984 to 1994.
caption: The Madejski Stadium, home of Reading Football Club and London Irish Rugby Football Club
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