1881 in sports

[American football]

• College football national championship – Yale Bulldogs

• Michigan Wolverines is the first "western" team to travel east and play against the established teams at Harvard Crimson, Yale Bulldogs and Princeton Tigers.

  [Association football]

• FA Cup final – Old Carthusians 3–0 Old Etonians at The Oval in the last final to be played between two southern amateur sides.
• Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers both change their venues to enclosed grounds where gate money can be charged, an increasing practice among clubs that are openly professional.
• Preston North End is founded and plays from the start at Deepdale, which holds the world record for the length of time a venue has been in continuous use by one major league club.
• Burnley FC founded as Burnley Rovers RUFC which decides in May 1882 to switch codes. The Rovers suffix is dropped two years later and the club renamed as Burnley AFC.
• Newcastle United, which has a complicated early history, is founded as Stanley FC by a cricket club in the Byker area of Newcastle.

• Foundation of FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

• Moyola Park F.C. wins the inaugural Irish Cup final

• 12 March — Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut, becoming the world's first black international football player
• Scottish Cup final – Queen's Park 3–1 Dumbarton at Hampden Park

  [Baseball]

• National League champions – Chicago White Stockings

• Detroit replaces Cincinnati leaving Cleveland and Providence the southerly cities on the National League circuit. Four others lie on the northerly rail line from stalwart Chicago to stalwart Boston: Detroit, Buffalo, Troy, and Worcester.
• In autumn, for the first time, all eight National League clubs prepare to continue next season.

  [Boxing]

• Paddy Ryan takes part in a number of exhibition bouts but does not defend his Heavyweight Championship of America title.
• John L. Sullivan continues his rise to the championship with a series of knockout victories, none of them lasting longer than eight rounds.

  [Cricket]

• Lancashire County Cricket Club wins its first outright title. At the end of the season, an English team led by Alfred Shaw goes to Australia for the 1881–82 Test series.

• Champion County – Lancashire
• Most runs – A. N. Hornby 1,534 @ 40.36
• Most wickets – Ted Peate 173 @ 12.68

• Most runs – Tom Horan 318 @ 35.33
• Most wickets – Edwin Evans 32 @ 11.25

  [Golf]

• British Open – Bob Ferguson

  [Gymnastics]

• 23 July — the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, the world's oldest international sport federation, is founded.

  [Horse racing]

• Grand National – Woodbrook
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Thebais
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Peregrine
• The Derby – Iroquois
• The Oaks – Thebais
• St. Leger Stakes – Iroquois

• Melbourne Cup – Zulu

• Queen's Plate – Vice Chancellor

• Irish Grand National – Antoinette
• Irish Derby Stakes – Master Ned

• Kentucky Derby – Hindoo
• Preakness Stakes – Saunterer
• Belmont Stakes – Saunterer

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• 8 April — Oxford wins the 38th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

  [Rugby football]

• Wales plays its first international match but is well beaten by England

  [Tennis]

• Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – William Renshaw defeated John Hartley 6–0 6–1 6–1

• First U.S. National Singles Championship, precursor of the US Open, won by Richard D. Sears who defeats William E. Glyn 6–0 6–3 6–2

• The 5th pre-open era 1881 Men's Tennis season gets underway 27 tournaments are staged this year from 23 May to 10 November.

  [Yacht racing]

• The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as Mischief defeats Canadian challenger Atalanta, of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club