Sport and society Week 2 Modernisation of sport: the 19th century. MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE GROUP, UTS BUSINESS SCHOOL business.uts.edu.

Transcription

1 Sport and society Week 2 Modernisation of sport: the 19th century

2 Government agency sources

3 Lecture Overview Britain: birthplace of global sport Sport in pre-modern Britain Sport and elite public schools Codifying sport Modernisation of sport Commercialisation of sport Amateurs vs Professionals Sport in the Antipodes Renovating the Olympic Games

4 Sport in pre-modern Britain Pre-modern sport in Britain Local varieties of various kinds of handling and kicking games with a ball Often between villages spatially! Matches could last days Violence against the person and animals very common

5 Sport and elite public schools From disorganised, impromptu and inherently violent games to organised games with agreed rules and controlled aggression. Sport part of the (elite) English public school curriculum during the mid 19 th century.

6 Codifying sport 1. Establishment of standard rules for different types of football. 2. Notion of teamwork, fair play, and competing for one s school. 3. Public school old boys established clubs for rugby, rowing, athletics, etc. Handling and Kicking styles of football evolved into codified Rugby (1871) and Association Football (1863) respectively.

7 Modernisation of sport The late period of the British Industrial Revolution (c ) wrought key socio-economic changes for labourers: 1. Saturday afternoon off work. 2. Rise in real wages for most male labourers (trade union pressure). 3. Improved transportation (railways) and communication (popular press). 4. Invention of leisure for the masses.

8 Commercialisation of sport 1. Enclosed sports grounds 2. Collection of gatemoney 3. Payment of players 4. Prizemoney and gambling 5. Commercial sponsors 6. Club shareholders

9 Amateurs vs Professionals Code of amateurism: a reaction against money and business in sport. If an athlete could be paid to win they could also be paid to lose. Extrinsic rewards thought to taint the purity of sport. Sport is a leisure pastime in which play and natural ability are intrinsic rewards. Sport for its own sake.

10 Amateurs vs Professionals Athletes were banned from amateur sport if: They had competed in sport for a monetary prize Discrimination against working-class athletes As labourers they were charged with being unnaturally physically fit. gambled on the outcome of an athletic contest.

11 Amateurs vs Professionals Cricket comprised gentlemen and players. In the same team but of very different social standing. Separate train travel; separate dressing rooms; separate entry to the ground. Gentlemen batted but normally did not bowl. Players were basically the servants of the game.

12 Sport in the Antipodes British Games and pastimes imported by colonists. Few local sporting innovations other than a local adaptation of football in 1858 (birth of Australian Rules football) Inferiority complex. Colonial athletes thought to be second rate. [see next slide] Ned Tricket, world sculling champion, Thames River, 1877 But 19C victories against the British in rowing, athletics, cycling and cricket suggested hope for the convicts. Anglo-Australian cricket: the Ashes (1882)

13 Sport in the Antipodes Local cricket captain to visiting English team in the 1860s: If we are to be beaten -- and I daresay we will be, the Australian player need feel no humiliation. In inviting you to visit us we had no idea of testing our skill against yours -- that would be simply absurd; but we were desirous of having you here to witness British skill in the noble game of cricket. It is a comfort to know that we are beaten by our own countrymen... our masters come from the old country. Dr W.G. Grace English cricket s 19C version of Ian Botham

14 Renovating the Olympics Fashioned by French aristocrat Baron Pierre de Coubertin, beginning in Educator, idealist, romantic. Visited Olympia where he became fascinated with Greek antiquity. Made 12 visits to England observing sport at the elite public schools. Both models emphasised a mind-body dualism that resonated with Coubertin s notion of cultivated masculinity.

15 Renovating the Olympics Coubertin claimed that the Olympic Games of ancient times had been revived in KEY DIFFERENCES AO - $ rewards MO amateur AO no women MO both genders AO religious MO secular Modern Olympics a showcase of amateur sport and the principle of sport for its own sake.

16 Conclusion Sport had evolved in the 19 th century from loosely organised, locally focused nonstandardised forms of play to formally organised, national (even international) competitions with agreed rules and evolving customs. Sport was also now firmly part of education and the commercial marketplace. It was an athletic pastime but also a form of income for professionals.

17 Tasks for Week 3 WEEK 3 19 th century modernisation of English sport: (1) Read Lincoln Allison: Batsman and bowler: the key relation in Victorian England (UTS Online Tutorial Activities) (2) You will discuss this in class