London Olympics to have permanent showcase

A year on from the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, plans are underway to open a dedicated Olympic museum in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park next year.

Until then, Visit England has a list of sporting museums around the country that showcase the country’s sporting history. Among them:

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, South West London

Treasures from the first Championship in 1877 are on display here, alongside outfits and racquets from the champions of recent years, from Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova to Roger Federer and this year’s winner, Andy Murray.

From October, the new 3D art film Viewpoint will capture the sights, sounds and narrative of Wimbledon, opening on Centre Court during the final game of the 2012 tournament.

Museum costs £12 per adult, or £22 as part of a guided tour of Wimbledon.

Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum, Rugby

It was in Rugby in 1823 that William Webb Ellis snatched up the football, “with a fine disregard for the rules of the game”, and ran with it during a match at Rugby School.

Just down the road, The Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum houses a large collection of rugby memorabilia and artefacts gathered over the 160 years in which the building has been directly involved with the game.

Since 1842, the building has been at the centre of rugby ball manufacturing – originally the workshop of William and then James Gilbert, who began a tradition of rugby football manufacture on this site that is carried on by Webb Ellis Ltd. to this day.

Admission is free.

National Football Museum, Manchester

The National Football Museum opened in its Manchester location in July 2012. Setting out to introduce non-fans to the world of football, and to lay out the sport’s culture and history for existing fans, the museum received over 100,000 visitors in its first week.

Exhibits explain how football became ‘the people’s game’ and is a key part of England’s heritage and way of life.

The museum is home to the country’s most extensive football collection, housing more than 140,000 items, including the FIFA Collection.

Admission is free

River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames

On the banks of the Thames, just a few minutes’ walk from the centre of Henley-on-Thames, the River & Rowing Museum has three galleries, dedicated to the international sport of rowing, rivers and the history of Henley, and contains the largest and most comprehensive collection of oar-powered racing boats in the world, stretching from the Napoleonic Wars to the Olympics of 2004.

This summer, the museum’s major exhibition is Freedom of the River – The Story of Paralympic Rowing.

Adult tickets cost £8.50; children £6.50.

Marylebone Cricket Club Museum, Lord’s, London

The MCC Museum is one of the world’s oldest sporting museums. A wide range of cricketing memorabilia is on display, including its most famous artefact the original Ashes urn, a personal gift to England captain Ivo Bligh in 1883 and later donated to MCC by his widow in 1928.

The urn now rarely leaves Lord’s. The last time it did so, for the 2006/7 Ashes Exhibition in Australia, more than 100,000 people came to see it.

The MCC Museum is open year-round, and is a part of the Lord’s Tour, a 100-minute guided tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground with behind-the-scenes access.

Adult tickets cost £7.50.

The Donington Grand Prix Collection, Derby

Donington is home to the largest showcase of Grand Prix racing cars in the world. Offering four halls and more than 130 exhibits, the Donington Grand Prix Collection illustrates the history of motor sport from the turn of 20th century.

Get close to cars driven by the likes of Nuvolari, Mansell, Prost, Fangio and Stewart, plus the largest collection of McLaren and Williams racing cars in the world (outside of their factories) and the only complete collection of Vanwalls.

Adult tickets £10; children over 6, £4; children under 6, free.