Nowadays, the media can either make or break someone. Every day, millions of people buy a newspaper, so if those newspapers are criticising a sports-person, a vast majority of people will hear about it.
For example, the media gave David Beckham a hard time when he kicked an Argentine player, and got sent off. This effected him in his game. He had to prove that he wasn’t the bad player that he was being portrayed as. Another example of this would be how the media has focused on Jonny Wilkinson after the Rugby World Cup. He has had a very positive effect from this. Television and newspapers have promoted Jonny as a role model – he is now thought to be earning millions of pounds through sponsorships because of the good image that the media have given him.
A lot of money has been brought into sport through the media. For example, David Beckham’s television adverts have earnt him millions of pounds. Some football clubs now even have their own TV channels. In 1998, Manchester United was the first club to own a TV channel (MUTV). Sport has also moved from terrestrial to satellite TV, and lots of sports channels are now available. People can now watch football every day of the week form the comfort of their own homes. Sky had an increase from 1.5million people subscribed to 3million people in the last 5years. Premiership clubs receive £300,000 TV rights per game, and non-premiership clubs receive £40,000 - £50,000 per game.
Sport and Media characteristics:
The media has made sport more popular as it opens itself to a wider audience. It creates documentaries about the personal background/lives of sports men/women. However, the media has sensationalism – it can blow things out of proportion.
The use of experts can make diagrammatic explanations in documentaries.
Sponsorship/endorsements.
The media can show/report on lesser-known sports. It also gives us knowledge of other countries and promotes ethos and ideals of sport.
What impact has education had on sport?
In the early 1900’s there was no such thing as a PE lesson. It was preparation for war – so instructors were appointed to deliver drills such as marching and static exercises with the use of dummy rifles and staves. Pupils worked in lines when these drills were being delivered. It wasn’t until 1st August 1992 that physical education became a compulsory element of the national curriculum. Since then, funding for schools has become available from governing bodies such as Sport England. This meant that new equipment and better facilities were available for schools to develop their physical education programme. Nowadays, 75% of 5-16 year-olds are spending two hours a weeks on PE and school sport, whereas in 1904 teachers only delivered 2-3 sessions a week. This increased slightly in 1933 when teachers lead 2x15min lessons daily.
So education has had a big impact on sport as it is compulsory for pupils to take part, making the community fitter from a younger age.
What impact has funding had on sport?
Funding has made a huge impact on sport, as without it, sport can’t take place.
Funding didn’t become available until the 1970’s when the Sports Council was set up. This later became Sport England, which concentrates it’s resources on developing and promoting sport for young people, and developing services in support of sporting excellence. There are now many different governing bodies that help to fund, develop and promote sport for people of all ages.
Sponsorship became available, which brought lots of money into sport. In the UK in 1981, sponsorship brought £50million into sport and in 2002, approximately £450million was gained through sponsorship.
To make an overall conclusion, the impact of education, media and sport funding has increased over the years. This has intern helped sport develop to a world class standard, creating sporting professionals who are able to compete on the world stage, in events such as the Olympics/Rugby World Cup etc.
