<P> Radio sports coverage is also important . The BBC's Radio Five Live broadcasts almost all major sports events . It now has a commercial rival called TalkSport, but this has not acquired anywhere near as many exclusive contracts as Sky Sports . BBC Local Radio also provides extensive coverage of sport, giving more exposure to second - tier clubs which get limited national coverage . </P> <P> The United Kingdom does not have an extant tradition of sports newspapers in the mould of L'Equipe, Gazetta dello Sport and Marca - although publications such as Bell's Life in London, The Sporting Times and The Sportsman, all featuring a particular emphasis on horse racing, were popular during the 19th century and into the early 20th century, whilst Sporting Life and the Sports Argus continued publication until the 1990s and 2000s, and live on as a website and a supplement to the Birmingham Mail respectively . All of the national newspapers except the Financial Times devote many pages to sport every day . Local newspapers cover local clubs at all levels and there are hundreds of weekly and monthly sports magazines . </P> <P> Four sports in the United Kingdom operate high - profile professional leagues . Football is the most popular sport and is played from August to May . Rugby league is traditionally a winter sport, but since the late 1990s the elite competition has been played in the summer to minimise competition for attention with football . Rugby union is also a winter sport . Cricket is played in the Summer, from April to September . There is also a professional Ice Hockey league operating in Great Britain called the Elite Ice Hockey League . </P> <P> The modern global game of football evolved out of traditional football games played in England in the 19th century and today is the highest profile sport in England and Scotland by a very wide margin . This has been the case for generations, but the gap is widely perceived to have increased since the early 1990s, and football's dominance is often seen as a threat to other sports . Football is also very popular in Wales and Northern Ireland, though Rugby Union and Gaelic Games respectively attract much larger crowds and television audiences . </P>

What is the most popular sport in the united kingdom