Sports are naturally competitive and most sports have prizes for triumphing competitively.
In ancient sports around the globe winners would get financial prizes or presents. The resurgence of organised sports within the 19th century saw competition organisers instead hand out honours which were unique to the event. common types of sporting prize is the medal. This typically takes the shape of a metal design attached to a ribbon allowing it to be used as a necklace. Nonetheless, on rare occasions these medals are presented in a package like a piece of jewellery. For individuals in lots of individual sports, particularly athletics, medals are the ultimate award they can receive. Even second and third place medals are an honour. In team sports like soccer, however, medals are often treated similar to a souvenir in comparison to the actual reward, which can be raising a trophy. The Raith Rovers former Scottish owner as well as the AC Milan former US owner will know that trophies can be found in numerous designs, such as cups, shields, and statuettes. Also, they are used in place of medals in many individual sports, like tennis and golf.
Some sports want to emphasise their differences compared to other sports by undertaking their own traditions. Combat sports really are a specific branch of sports being very different from all other sports. This distinction is emphasised by their usage of championship belts as the go-to reward for champions. These can be worn for photoshoots but in many cases are too heavy to be used as a real accessory. Part of the reason why belts are the award of preference could be because of the unique historical ownership practice, where the champion would keep the belt until a fresh champion is crowned, upon which they would get the belt. This made them less personalised than rings or medals. However, nowadays the practice is for champions to keep their belt regardless of defeat, with new winners having new belts created for them.
Various areas of the entire world develop their own sporting traditions that manifest themselves in different ways. The Reading FC former English owner is going to be well aware that is what typical in European sports can be completely alien to those on different continents. One famous example is that in parts of North America the individual prizes that get awarded to players on championship winning clubs tend to be not the medals used across most of the world. Instead, championship rings are the common practice, and therefore a receiver can wear the reward on a daily basis if they so wish. In most competitions that present medals, the competition organiser manufactures the medals and distributes them according to their rules. In sports that present rings, the winning teams design and produce them themselves and hand them out to whoever they see fit.