An endurance sport is one in which the effort is not flat-out and the event is of long duration. But when it comes to defining long duration, there is a great deal of variation between sports.
What does endurance mean in terms of team games such as football? While the bursts of intense effort are very short, players cover many miles in the course of a game. For them, endurance means being able to carry on performing well right through the 80 or 90 minutes, and into injury time if necessary.
It also means having the ‘all-round fitness’ to turn out for two or more matches a week right through the season. Endurance is some times taken to mean ‘consistency’. In this context it means remaining fit, uninjured and enthusiastic year after year.