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L'Hombre is a card game that was developed in Spain in the early 17th century, as a variation of an earlier four player game, also called Hombre. The three player version, which in Spain was originally called Hombre Renegado spread rapidly across Europe and during the 17th and 18th centuries became the premier card game, occupying a position of prestige similar to Bridge today. It was variously known as Hombre, Ombre or L'Hombre, and over the years it acquired many variations, of increasing complexity. Its popularity was eclipsed in the late 18th century by a new four player variant Quadrille, which was in turn displaced by Whist, Boston and eventually Bridge. Although L'Hombre died out in other parts of Europe, it remained popular in Denmark right up to the 20th century, and is still played there today. The game is organized with a L'Hombre union in Jutland, the western part of Denmark.
L'Hombre was one of the first games to introduce bidding, through which one player becomes the declarer, trying to make a contract, with the other players co-operating to prevent him. The declarer was originally called Hombre (i.e. the man). It was from L'Hombre that the idea of bidding was adopted into other card games such as Tarot, Skat and Boston.
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Lacrosse is a ball-game originally played by North American Indians with twelve players on each side, in which the ball is flung by and carried in the crosse, the object being to throw the ball through the opponents' goal.
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The Lakeland Games are a British professional athletics meeting held in the Lake District.
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Last One is a variation of the card game Crazy Eights which originated in Walla Walla prison in Washington State, USA in the 1980's.
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Laugh and Lie Down is a rather unusual fishing game for five players, that was played in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Lawn Bowls (flat green bowls) is an ancient game played on a flat lawn or 'green' at least 40 by 40 yards in size. The green is surrounded by a ditch approximately two inches deep and twelve inches wide and enclosed by a bank sloping at 35 degrees from the perpendicular. Matches may be played by one, two, three or four players on each of two sides who bowl balls, known as 'bowls' or 'woods' at a smaller white ball, known as 'the jack'. The winner of the game being the player whose ball finishes closest to the target ball, the jack.
In the crown green bowls variation, the game is played on a green with a slight slope.
The oldest bowling green is thought to be that of the Southampton Town Bowling Club, which was founded in 1299. During the 14th century bowls was so popular in England that in 1366 the king, Edward III, passed a law forbidding the playing of bowls as he feared it may be distracting men from their archery practice. The law was subsequently renewed in 1386 by the new king, Richard II, and the laws
were further reasserted by Henry VIII in 1541.
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The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the governing body of lawn tennis in England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in 1888 as a result of the initiative of Scrivener, president of the Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club, and Hillyard of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
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Le Mans is a motor racing circuit in the Sarthe district of France.
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The Leander Club is the oldest amateur rowing club in the world. It was originally a London club, founded in 1818, by the end of the nineteenth century it had moved to Henley-on-Thames.
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The Leautey Coupe was a cup formerly awarded annually by the FIH to the national hockey association that had done the most to serve the game.
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Leeds Rugby League Club is a Rugby football club founded in 1890 and a founder member of the English Northern Union.
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Leeds United FC is an Association Football club, founded in 1904 as Leeds City, it played in the Football League Second Division from 1905 until 1919 when the club was ordered to disband over irregularities in its administration. Almost immediately - in 1920 - a new club was formed under the name of Leeds United. The club plays in white shirt and white shorts at Elland Road. In 1972 Leeds United won the FA Cup.
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Leningrad SC is a Russian ice skating club. It was formed as the St Petersburg SC by British residents in 1864 and staged the first world ice figure-skating championships in 1866.
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The Leonard Trophy is the trophy presented in the world championships of lawn bowls.
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The Lifeguard Games are a competitive exercise in the practical skills practised by beach lifeguards first developed as an international championship at Carpenteria, California in 1967. Events vary, but centre on swimming, rowing, paddling through surf and sprinting on sand.
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Liffey Descent is an international long-distance canoeing event held in Ireland. It was first raced in 1959.
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The Lincoln Handicap is the first big horse race of the English 'flat' season, run at Doncaster over a straight mile course as the end of March. It is the first leg of the 'Spring Double', the other being the Grand National.
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Linfield FC is an Association Football club in Belfast. It was founded in 1886.
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The Lions is the nickname of the British Rugby Union overseas touring sides. The name was first given to them in 1924 during their visit to South Africa, from the symbol on their official tie.
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Liverpool FC is an Association Football club in Liverpool, England. They were founded in 1892 after a majority of shareholders in Everton FC decided to leave their ground at Anfield Road following a dispute over rent.
Liverpool FC were elected to the Second Division of the Football League in 1893 and went on to win the League in 1901 and the UEFA cup in 1973. Liverpool FC won the FA Cup in 1986, 1989 and 1992.
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Llanelli RFC is a first class Welsh rugby union football club founded in 1872.
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Central American Loba is a card game requiring two ordinary 52-card decks plus four jokers, making 108 cards in all. It is usually played with from two to four players, but can be played with as many as five.
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Logrolling is a sport in which tow competitors stand astride a large floating log and try to dislodge the other by rolling the log different directions with their feet.
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The London Fencing Club was founded in 1848 and was the first English fencing club.
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London Irish RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1898.
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London Rowing Club was formed in 1856 and has had a magnificent history of rowing competition wins.
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London SC is an ice skating club formed in 1842.
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London Scottish RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1878.
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London Welsh RFC is a Rugby Union football club founded in 1885.
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The Londonderry Cup is one of the chief as well as the oldest tournaments in the squash rackets calendar. The cup was presented in 1934 by the International Sportsmen's Club and named after its then president, Lord Londonderry.
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The Long Jump is a standard field event in the programme of all major athletic championships and is one of the events in the decathlon and pentathlon. The first record of long-jumping contests dates from the ancient Greek Olympic games in 708 BC.
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Long-distance Running is races over 3 miles or 5000 meters and include the 10,000 meters and the marathon events.
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Longwood Cricket Club was founded in 1877 by three cricket players at Longwood in the USA. In 1878 lawn tennis was played at the club, and today
Longwood Cricket Club is the oldest lawn tennis club in America.
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Lonsdale Belts are boxing awards for British champions. They were created in 1909 when the Earl of Lonsdale presented a belt to Welsh for winning the British lightweight title at the National Sporting Club, of which Lord Lonsdale was president.
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Looking for Friends is a Chinese trick taking card game for between six and twelve or more players and is an expanded version of the well known four player card game of Hundred (Da Bai Fen). Looking for Friends is played with multiple decks and has several extra features: at any time there are two teams but the partnerships are variable and unknown at the start of the play (hence the name of the game), and there are extra opportunities to play several cards at once to a trick. Looking for Friends is one of the most successful games for six or more people, and is almost the only trick-taking game of this size that works well.
Looking for Friends is played with two or more identical standard decks shuffled together. Six or seven players use two decks, between eight and eleven players use three decks, and twelve or more players use four decks of cards. Sufficient red and black jokers are included so that all the cards can be distributed equally to the players, with a 'kitty' of six cards left over.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team. They joined the National League in 1958.
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The Los Angeles Kings are an American ice hockey club of Los Angeles. They were formed in 1967 as one of six teams in the new West Division of the expanded National Hockey League of North America.
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The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team playing in the National Basketball Association. They started as the Minneapolis Lakers at the formation of the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and moved to Los Angeles in 1962.
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The Los Angeles Rams are an American professional football team. They joined the NFL in 1937 as the Cleveland Rams and moved to Los Angeles after winning their first league title in 1945.
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The Lugano 100 km is a road walking race held in Switzerland and ending at Lugano. It was inaugurated in 1965 and is held annually in late October.
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The Lugano Cup is the world championship for race walking. It was first held in 1961 at Lugano, Switzerland, the home town of the prime instigator of the event, Libotte.
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The lutz is a difficult toe-jump standard movement in figure skating. The skater takes-off from a back outside edge, helped by the toe point of the free foot, rotating clockwise in mid-air before landing on the back outside edge of the original free foot.
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