Why does England form part of the UK in some sports and not others?

Question

In some sports such as the tennis and the Olympics, England forms part of the UK and in others such as soccer and cricket they compete on their own. Why is that?

Answer 1

Good question, I guess it depends in each sport how popular it is in each country. E.G. footie is really popular so there are plenty of teams all over the UK for the countries to compete against each other.

Plus they're all run by different associations so it's probably just a preference by the guy in charge of each one.

Answer 2

Its the same principle as parents see.

When theyre good its 'my' children

When theyre bad its 'your' children!

So as we are good at cricket and footie - or so we think - we do that as an individual - not going to share the glory and all that and all the other stuff we let them take part in.

Answer 3

Sports with yearly established leagues are in England and when international they are an England team. Sports which are not made into annual leagues ie athletics etc they simply represent the UK as a team