1931 in sports

[Alpine skiing]

• Men's Downhill – Walter Prager
• Men's Slalom – David Zogg
• Women's Downhill – Esme Mackinnon
• Women's Slalom – Esme Mackinnon

  [American football]

• Green Bay Packers win the NFL title with a 13–2 record
• Rose Bowl :
• * The Alabama Crimson Tide won 24-0 over the Washington State Cougars to share the college football national championship

  [Association football]

• The Football League – Arsenal 66 points, Aston Villa 59, Sheffield Wednesday 52, Portsmouth 49, Huddersfield Town 48, Derby County 46
• FA Cup final – West Bromwich Albion 2–1 Birmingham City at Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

• National Championship – Hertha BSC 3–2 TSV 1860 München at Köln

• La Liga won by Athletic Bilbao

• Serie A won by Juventus

• Foundation of Botafogo Rio

  [Australian rules football]

• May 9: Richmond beat South Melbourne’s 12 year record for the highest score when they kick 30.19 to North Melbourne’s 4.7. Doug Strang, in his second game, and Jack Titus kick 22 goals between them – still an equal record for two players on one side.

• Geelong wins the 35th VFL Premiership: defeating Richmond 9.14 to 7.6 at Melbourne Cricket Ground
• The annual Brownlow Medal is awarded to Haydn Bunton senior

• 3 October: North Adelaide 17.13 defeat Sturt 11.11 to win their sixth SANFL premiership.
• Magarey Medal won by Jack Sexton

• 1 June: East Fremantle’s 4.28 against South Fremantle’s 5.8 is the second most inaccurate score in WAFL history by excess of behinds over goals and the most until 1957.
• 17 October: East Fremantle win their fourth consecutive WAFL premiership, beating Subiaco 9.13 to 7.7 in the 1931 WANFL Grand Final.
• Sandover Medal won by Lin Richards

  [Bandy]

• Championship final – AIK 4–3 IF Karlstad-Göta

  [Baseball]

• 1–10 October — St. Louis Cardinals defeats Philadelphia Athletics to win the 1931 World Series by four games to three

• MVP awards to Frankie Frisch and Lefty Grove

• The Negro National League disbands. St. Louis Stars win the last championship.

  [Basketball]

• Brooklyn Visitations win four games to two over the Fort Wayne Hoosiers

• Northwestern University wins the men's college basketball title

• The ABL suspends operations after the 1930–1931 season. This is also the last year it operates as a major professional league.

  [Bobsleigh]

• 2nd FIBT World Championships 1931 are held in Oberhof, Germany and St Moritz, Switzerland. Both gold medals are won by Germany.

  [Boxing]

• World Middleweight Champion Mickey Walker vacates his title to campaign as a heavyweight. The middleweight championship remains vacant until 1941.

• World Heavyweight Championship – Max Schmeling
• World Light Heavyweight Championship – Maxie Rosenbloom
• World Middleweight Championship – Mickey Walker → vacant
• World Welterweight Championship – Tommy Freeman → "Young" Jack Thompson → Lou Brouillard
• World Lightweight Championship – Tony Canzoneri
• World Featherweight Championship – Bat Battalino
• World Bantamweight Championship – Panama Al Brown
• World Flyweight Championship – vacant

  [Canadian football]

• 19th Grey Cup in the Canadian Football League – Montreal AAA defeats Regina Roughriders 22–0

  [Cricket]

• New Zealand plays its first Test series in England. England wins the series 1–0 with two matches drawn.

• County Championship – Yorkshire
• Minor Counties Championship – Leicestershire II
• Most runs – Herbert Sutcliffe 3006 @ 96.96
• Most wickets – Tich Freeman 276 @ 15.60
• Wisden Cricketers of the Year – Bill Bowes, Stewie Dempster, James Langridge, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, Hedley Verity

• Sheffield Shield – Victoria
• Most runs – Don Bradman 1422 @ 79.00
• Most wickets – Clarrie Grimmett 74 @ 19.14

• Bombay Quadrangular – not contested

• Plunket Shield – Canterbury

• Currie Cup – not contested

• Inter-Colonial Tournament – not contested

  [Cycling]

• Antonin Magne wins the 25th Tour de France

• Giro d'Italia is won by Francesco Camusso
• World Cycling Championship is won by Learco Guerra

  [Figure skating]

• World Men's Champion – Karl Schäfer
• World Women's Champion – Sonja Henie
• World Pairs Champions – Emília Rotter and László Szollás

  [Golf]

• British Open – Tommy Armour
• U.S. Open – Billy Burke
• PGA Championship – Tom Creavy

• British Amateur – Eric Martin-Smith
• U.S. Amateur – Francis Ouimet
• Women's Western Open – June Beebe

  [Harness racing]

• Hambletonian – Calumet Butler
• Kentucky Futurity – The Protector

  [Horse racing]

• Champion Hurdle – not contested due to frost
• Cheltenham Gold Cup – not contested due to frost
• Grand National – Grakle
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Four Course
• 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Cameronian
• The Derby – Cameronian
• The Oaks – Brulette
• St. Leger Stakes – Sandwich

• Melbourne Cup – White Nose

• Queen's Plate – Froth Blower

• Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – Pearl Cap

• Irish Grand National – Impudent Barney
• Irish Derby Stakes – Sea Serpent

• Kentucky Derby – Twenty Grand
• Preakness Stakes – Mate
• Belmont Stakes – Twenty Grand

  [Ice hockey]

• Montreal Canadiens defeats Chicago Black Hawks by 3 games to 2

• Gold Medal – Canada
• Silver Medal – United States
• Bronze Medal – Austria

• Hockey Night in Canada, now the oldest sports-related television program still on air, debuts as a radio program known as the General Motors Hockey Broadcast. The TV series begins in 1952.

  [Motorsport]

[Nordic skiing]

• 6th FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1931 are held at Oberhof, Germany

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• 21 March — Cambridge wins the 83rd Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

  [Rugby league]

• Championship – Swinton
• Challenge Cup final – Halifax 22–8 York at Empire Stadium, Wembley, London
• Lancashire League Championship – Swinton
• Yorkshire League Championship – Leeds
• Lancashire County Cup – St Helens Recs 18–3 Wigan
• Yorkshire County Cup – Leeds 10–2 Huddersfield

• NSW Premiership – South Sydney 12–7 Eastern Suburbs

  [Rugby union]

• 44th Five Nations Championship series is won by Wales
• Shortly after the 1931 Five Nations Championship is completed, France is banned from the competition due to allegations of professionalism and administrative deficiencies. France will be readmitted after the 1939 competition but will not be able to play until 1947 because of the suspension of international rugby during World War II. In the meantime, the competition reverts to its original title of Home Nations Championship.

  [Snooker]

• 5th World Snooker Championship is won by Joe Davis who defeats Tom Dennis 25–21

  [Speed skating]

• Men's All-round Champion – Clas Thunberg

  [Tennis]

• Australian Men's Singles Championship – Jack Crawford defeats Harry Hopman 6–4 6–2 2–6 6–1
• Australian Women's Singles Championship – Coral Buttsworth defeats Marjorie Cox Crawford 1–6 6–3 6–4

• Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – Sidney Wood by a walkover after Frank Shields withdraws from the final due to an ankle injury
• Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship – Cilly Aussem defeats Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling 6–2 7–5

• French Men's Singles Championship – Jean Borotra defeats Christian Boussus 2–6 6–4 7–5 6–4
• French Women's Singles Championship – Cilly Aussem defeats Betty Nuthall 8–6 6–1

• American Men's Singles Championship – Ellsworth Vines defeats George Lott 7–9 6–3 9–7 7–5
• American Women's Singles Championship – Helen Wills Moody defeats Eileen Bennett Whittingstall 6–4 6–1

• 1931 International Lawn Tennis Challenge – 3–2 at Stade Roland Garros Paris, France

  Awards

• Inauguration of the Athlete of the Year award in the United States by the Associated Press. The AP offers a male and a female athlete of the year award to either a professional or amateur athlete, the awards being voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States. The first winners are:
• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Pepper Martin
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Helene Madison