1823 in sports

1823 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Centuries:	18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades:	1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s
Years:	1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826

Boxing

• 20 May – Tom Spring is finally able to defend his English Championship title when he receives a challenge from Bill Neat. The two meet on Hinckley Downs and the fight ends in the eighth round when Neat is forced to retire, having sustained a broken arm in the sixth round.

Cricket

Honours

• Champion County – no inter-county matches held
• Most runs – William Ward with 328 @ 32.80
• Most wickets – William Ashby with 23

Football

• The traditional date of the William Webb Ellis legend. He is the Rugby School pupil who, it is said, "with a fine disregard for the rules of football, took the ball in his hands and ran with it". Even if the tale is true, the game will have been a version of folk football with rules that had been verbally agreed by the Rugby School pupils. Such rules are always open to challenge and it may be that an incident like this did occur with the result that a "dribbling" game became primarily a handling game.

Horse racing

Flat races

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Nicolo
  2. Epsom Derby – Emilius
  3. St. Leger Stakes – Barefoot