Editing Hartlepool (section)

==Sport==
===Football===
[[File:Hartlepool United Football Club - geograph.org.uk - 3243112.jpg|thumb|[[Victoria Park, Hartlepool|Victoria Park]]]]
[[Hartlepool United]] is the town's professional football club and they play at [[Victoria Park, Hartlepool|Victoria Park]]. The club's most notable moment was in 2005 when, with 8 minutes left in the [[2005 Football League One play-off final]], the team conceded a penalty, allowing [[Sheffield Wednesday]] to equalise and eventually beat Hartlepool to a place in the [[Championship]]. The club currently play in the [[National League (division)|National League]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/|title=Hartlepool United F.C.|access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>

Pools are affiliated with a women's team called [[Hartlepool United F.C. Women|Hartlepool United FC Women]]. They were formed in 2015 and currently play in the [[North East Regional Women's Football League]].

Supporters of Hartlepool United bear the nickname of [[Monkey Hangers]]. This is based upon a legend that during the Napoleonic wars a monkey, which had been a ship's mascot, was taken for a French spy and hanged. Hartlepool has also produced football presenter [[Jeff Stelling]], who has a renowned partnership with [[Chris Kamara]] who was born in nearby [[Middlesbrough]]. [[Jeff Stelling]] is a keen supporter of Hartlepool and often refers to them when presenting [[Sky Sports News]]. It is also the birthplace and childhood home of [[Pete Donaldson]], one of the co-hosts of the Football Ramble [[podcast]] as well as co-host of the [[Abroad in Japan]] podcast, and a prominent radio DJ.

The town also has a semi-professional football club called [[FC Hartlepool]] who play in [[Northern Football League|Northern League]] Division Two.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/football/fc-hartlepool-in-bid-to-claim-towns-first-northern-league-spot-in-decades-4107013 |title=FC Hartlepool in bid to claim town's first Northern League spot in decades |publisher=Hartlepool Mail |date=20 April 2023 |accessdate=17 July 2023}}</ref>

===Rugby union===
Hartlepool is something of an anomaly in England having historically maintained a disproportionate number of clubs in a town of only c.90,000 inhabitants.  These include(d) [[West Hartlepool R.F.C.|West Hartlepool]], [[Hartlepool Rovers]], Hartlepool Athletic RFC, Hartlepool Boys Brigade Old Boys RFC (BBOB), Seaton Carew RUFC (formerly Hartlepool Grammar School Old Boys), West Hartlepool Technical Day School Old Boys RUFC (TDSOB or Tech) and Hartlepool Old Boys' RFC (Hartlepool). Starting in 1904 clubs within {{convert|8|mi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} of the headland were eligible to compete for the Pyman Cup which has been contested regularly since and that the Hartlepool & District Union continue to organise.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hhtandn.org/venues/4136/pyman-cup-and-league-and-lormor-cup-competitions |title=Pyman Cup and Lormor Cup Competitions |website=Hartlepool History Then and Now}}</ref>

Perhaps the best known club outside the town is [[West Hartlepool R.F.C.]] who in 1992 achieved promotion to what is now the [[Premiership Rugby|Premiership]] competing in 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. This success came at a price as soon after West was then hit by bankruptcy and controversially sold their Brierton Lane stadium and pitch to former sponsor Yuills Homes. There then followed a succession of relegations before the club stabilised in the Durham/Northumberland leagues. West and Rovers continue to play one another in a popular Boxing Day fixture which traditionally draws a large crowd.

[[Hartlepool Rovers]], formed in 1879, who played at the Old Friarage in the Headland area of Hartlepool before moving to West View Road. In the 1890s Rovers supplied numerous county, divisional and international players. The club itself hosted many high-profile matches including the inaugural [[Barbarians F.C.]] match in 1890, the [[Māori All Blacks|New Zealand Maoris]] in 1888 and the legendary [[All Blacks]] who played against a combined Hartlepool Club team in 1905. In the 1911–12 season, Hartlepool Rovers broke the world record for the number of points scored in a season racking up 860 points including 122 tries, 87 conversions, five penalties and eleven drop goals.

Although they ceased competing in the RFU leagues in 2008–09, West Hartlepool TDSOB (Tech) continues to support town and County rugby with several of the town's other clubs having played at Grayfields when their own pitches were unavailable. Grayfields has also hosted a number of Durham County cup finals as well as County Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20 age group games.

===Cricket===
Hartlepool Cricket Club play at Park Drive.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hartlepoolcricketclub.com/|title=Hartlepool CC|access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>

===Field hockey===
Hartlepool Caledonians & Billingham Hockey Club is a [[field hockey]] club that competes in the [[Yorkshire Hockey Association|Yorkshire and North East Hockey League]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/17523712840/|title=Facebook - Hartlepool Caledonians & Billingham Hockey Club |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/clubs/hartlepool-caledonians---billingham-hc|title=England Hockey - Hartlepool Caledonians & Billingham Hockey Club |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>

===Olympics===

====Boxing====
At the [[2012 Summer Olympics]], 21-year-old [[Savannah Marshall]], who attended [[English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College]] in the town of Hartlepool, competed in the Women's boxing tournament of the 2012 Olympic Games. She was defeated 12–6 by [[Marina Volnova]] of [[Kazakhstan]] in her opening, quarter-final bout. [[Savannah Marshall]] is now a professional boxer, currently unbeaten as a pro and on 31 October 2020 in her 9th professional fight Marshall became the WBO female middleweight champion with a TKO victory over opponent [[Hannah Rankin]] at [[Wembley Arena]].{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

====Swimming====
In August 2012 [[Jemma Lowe]], a British record holder who attended [[High Tunstall College of Science]] in the town of Hartlepool, competed in the 2012 Olympic Games. She finished sixth in the 200-metre butterfly final with a time of 58.06 seconds. She was also a member of the eighth-place British team in the [[400m]] [[Medley swimming|Medley relay]].