1859 in sports

yearbox
in?=in sports
cp=18th century
c=19th century
cf=20th century

yp1=1856
yp2=1857
yp3=1858
year=1859
ya1=1860
ya2=1861
ya3=1862
dp3=1820s
dp2=1830s
dp1=1840s
d=1850s
da=0
dn1=1860s
dn2=1870s
dn3=1880s|

Baseball

*A group in southern Ontario adopts the New York rules in place of the Canadian. The Niagara club of Buffalo, New York joins the National Association (by participating in the meeting) although it plays only locally. [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).]
*In Brooklyn, Jim Creighton moves from the local Niagara club, to Star at midseason, on to Excelsior for next year, perhaps for monetary reward.

Australian rules football

*Australian rules football codified
*Melbourne Football Club is founded in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
*Geelong Football Club is founded in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Horse racing

*Queen's Plate thoroughbred race organized in Australia

Lacrosse

*Lacrosse is elected Canada's national sport by the Parliament of Canada.

=Rowing=

*The third Harvard-Yale Regatta following 1855 and 1852 (and Harvard's third win). Contested again in 1860 and 1864, the event from 1859 "might" be called annual with war-time interruptions.
*Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Oxford

Notes