1871 in sports

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

yp1=1868
yp2=1869
yp3=1870
year=1871
ya1=1872
ya2=1873
ya3=1874
dp3=1840s
dp2=1850s
dp1=1860s
d=1870s
da=0
dn1=1880s
dn2=1890s
dn3=1900s|

Baseball

*March - Ten NABBP clubs found the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the first professional sports league. (Today it is commonly considered the first major league and usually called simply the "National Association" or "NA".) Thirty-three clubs establish a parallel amateur NAABBP that withers away.
*There are nine NA teams in the field and Athletic of Philadelphia wins the championship

Football (rugby union)

*Rugby Football Union formed in England
* Scotland defeat England 4-1 in first rugby union international

Football (soccer)

*At a meeting in London, the eight-year old Football Association decide to hold a challenge cup competition the next year. The FA Cup is born with 15 entries.

=Rowing=

*Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Cambridge

Yacht racing

*The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as "Columbia" defeats British challenger "Livonia", of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club

Births

* February 16 — Richard Gunn, English boxer (d. 1961)
* April 11 — Gyula Kellner, Hungarian athlete (d. 1940)
* May 30 — Nándor Dáni, Hungarian athlete (d. 1949)
* June 19 — Fritz Hoffmann, German athlete (d. 1927)
* June 19 — Alojz Sokol, Slovak athlete from the Kingdom of Hungary (d. 1932)
* October 30 — Buck Freeman, American baseball player (d. 1949)