We Gave Sport to The World - Social Aspects

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Social Aspects

Assignment 1

We Gave Sport to The World

The industrial revolution began in the 1700's and continued for 100 years into the 1800's. These times signified a massive change in everyone's lives; large populations moved from rural areas to towns, farms were taken over by large land owner and many unskilled people were employed to work in factories six days a week. As a result any sporting or leisure activities they participated in before became increasingly more difficult to carry on. For example, towns expanded and it became harder to accommodate certain games such as, 'mob football'. With lack of space and facilities the emphasis of participating in sport soon shifted to purely spectator based. It also became apparent that due to long working days and hours the opportunity to play sport became rare.

During the time some sports began to develop and upper classes started to draw up rules and organisations. This was largely influenced by the 'old boys' who had left university, yet still wanted to carry on playing their sport. In order to do this Governing Bodies developed, such as the Jockey Club in 1752 and the rules for cricket being drawn up in 1727. However, it wasn't until later in the nineteenth century that sport became so popular that it was necessary to set rules and laws in sports; this is when the majority of Governing Bodies were set up. The Governing Bodies discussed and agreed upon common laws and rules in order to make it possible for clubs and individuals from all over the country to compete against each other on equal terms. Like with the Cricket and Jockey, the other Governing Bodies that were set up in the 1800s were also done by the middle and upper classes as they were still tending to dominate the sporting world.

The structure of the Governing Bodies tends to vary quite a lot due to some being more wealthy than others; for example, Football was so popular that the Football Association had quite a bit of money compared to the Badminton Association. However, there are some similarities, which include:

Executive boards and officers
Elected by clubs through local, regional and county representatives
May have separate organisations in the four home nations (England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland
Many still have separate organisations for men and women

Within the UK alone there is around 300 governing bodies some of which are well known E.g. The Football Association and The Lawn Tennis Association and some of which are not, E.g. The British Korfball Association and The British Sub Aqua Association. A lot of the Governing Bodies tend to be set up by unpaid volunteers which rely on grants and funding to run. However, the Government have tried to start bringing in paid adminstrators depending upon the size of the organisation.

All of the Governing Bodies have political control over their organisation however, do come together to form Sport England which has several roles:

Establish rules and regulations (which now must be the same internationally and therefore are in accordance with International Sports Federation ISF)
Organise Competitions
Develop coaching awards and leadership schemes
Select Teams for country or UK at international sporting events
To communicate with relevant organisations such as the CCPR, Sports Council, Local Clubs, British Olympic Association and the ISF.

Whilst these main roles have remained the same for a long time there are other aspects the governing bodies which are constantly developing due to the social changes occurring within the country. For example new sports have been developed such as Bossaball, which require rules and regulations to be set up etc. There has also bee a recent decline in the amount of extra-curricular sport children participate in after school and therefore it has been given to the governing bodies to try and fill this gap. Another recent change has been with the blurring of the definition of amateur and professional sport.

With Governing Bodies being able to receive money from a variety of sources it has been possible for them to grown and develop. They can get money from their sports members and associations, grants from Sport England, lottery funding and the most increasingly popular, Commercial Sponsorship. With the introduction of sport onto television it became possible to advertise brands during a sporting event which could generate money for the club or organisation. A particularly good example of commercial sponsorship is found in Tennis where a business sponsors a particular event like the 'Stella Artois Championships'.

Another major change occurred in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to throne, it was then that a dramatic change socially and in the development of sports came about. During her reign many laws and reforms were passed through parliament in order to better the working conditions people had to endure. In 1847 the Ten Hours act was passed, which limited employees to working a maximum of ten hours a day, in 1878 the Factory Act was passed which consolidated a lot of factors including, increasing the minimum age of which children could work in textile factories and introducing holidays and breaks during the working day. Queen Victoria also introduced the custom of having half-working days on Saturdays and early closing for shop workers on a Wednesday.

With the extra time that factory employees now had they started to develop factory sports facilities and have sponsored work teams. Factory owners realised that increasing the morale of their workers meant they would be happier at work and perform better. Therefore, with the development of railways, they would send their workers on recreational trips to the seaside and sponsor them to play team sports to encourage the moral benefits gained from them doing so. By doing this sport started to become an extremely important part of working life for the lower classes and by the 1900's were heavily involved with sporting activities.

During this time the Upper classes were still heavily dominating the sporting world, however had started to participate in sporting affairs in the form of patronage of prize fights (early form of boxing) and pedestrianism (road walking). The aristocracy tended to bet on sport rather than compete in it; they would use people from lower working classes as a form of entertainment and social interaction. During the Victorian era, the upper classes liked to be associated with the current trends and new styles and would therefore spend huge amounts of money betting or supporting certain athletes in order to ...

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the Duke of Cumberland's association with racing and prize fighting
Lord Orford and coursing (hunting -usually of a hare)
the Earl of Derby and Cock-Fighting

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Pubs and Inns were also extremely important in the development and enthusiasm for sport, as the majority of the regulars were associated with sport. Some sports traditions began in pubs which were encouraged by the owners as it helped bring them business; sports such as fives, rackets, boxing, coursing and quoits were made popular in pubs and inns. There were many other benefits of sports clubs and pubs having a partnership, these included:

the village cricket team would often use the field next to the pub
the hunt would have their first drink at the pub and then finish there for dinner
drinking tents were provided by the landlords at sporting events
bowling greens and boxing rings were usually built onto the pub
the pubs usually had a football team

The pubs and inns were also responsible for the decline in some sports such as cock fighting and ratting, as boxing became increasingly popular.

Another major development which influenced sport was the Transport Revolution. During the nineteenth century the canals and road systems were vastly improved meaning that people, services and goods could be moved around the country easily. It meant that areas of the country that were hardly impacted by the outside world before were now open to be influenced. With regards to sport it meant that events and fixtures could be played in other areas of the country, against new teams and opponents. The opportunity to travel also allowed spectators to go and watch their local teams wherever they were playing. Later on in the nineteenth century the advent of railways made it even more possible to travel around the country to play and watch sport.

The transport revolution changed sport in many ways including:

Animals and people could easily be transported and therefore sports such as hare, fox and stag hunting could be played around the country; meaning that competitions changed from a local event to a national event.
Cyclists, ramblers and mountaineers could travel to more remote and isolated areas which had not yet been discovered.
Fishing as a sport was revolutionised as it allowed people to travel to other fishing hot spots.

Sports which were extremely popular with spectators, such as football, cricket and racing, soon became national sports, where special excursion trains would carry the spectators to the event. Transport made it possible for cricket to flourish as a sport; William Clarke of Nottingham organised the first All England Cricket XI, where they travelled around the country playing at least 30 games a year. The railway system made it possible for the XI to play against a variety of clubs of different levels and experience; it also meant people who had not yet experienced such a sport could get involved and enjoy the event.

Football also started to prosper with the development of rail travel and in particular the newly industrialised areas such as Lancashire and Yorkshire. The teams and supporters could travel by rail all over the country and now had the opportunity to join the football league which had begun in 1888. This meant that the football league started to increase in popularity and size and consisted of; Aston Villa, Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn Rovers, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Notts County, Derby County, Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sunderland. It wasn't until the first decade of the twentieth century that Arsenal, Clapton Orient, Chelsea and Tottenham were elected into the football league.

Within national sporting events taking off it soon moved onto international events and foreign competitions, such as the rebirth of the Olympic Games in 1896.

Sport in the 19th Century soon travelled across the world due to the British Empire taking it upon themselves to spread their forms of government, religion and culture to nations which they considered to be less privileged. When British soldiers and missionaries were sent to other countries they usually imported and exported sports:

Croquet was transferred to India
British Soldiers were taught how to play Polo by the Indians
British colonies took their thoroughbred horses with them and the English style of racing
Football, however did not spread so easily throughout the world and is believed to be due to the colonial staff preferring other activities.

Sport had been based around social class for many years, however as time went on the definition of amateurism and professionalism began to change and was more based around money. Originally amateurs were considered to be Gentlemen who played sports fairly and in good spirit of the competition. However this soon changed and you would only be considered amateur if you did not receive money for your participation in sport.

Amateurism used to be based around fair play, by which a player would discipline themselves rather than leaving it up to a referee or an official. An example of this was recorded back in 1882, where if one of the players for the Corinthian Casuals committed a foul they would award the opposition a penalty kick and remove their goalkeeper based on the principle that the opposition accepted the consequences of the foul. The Corinthians were the epitome of amateurism and always followed the code; 'not everyone can win but those that do should do so according to the rules and spirit of the game'.

Amateurism began to change when the gentlemen amateurs started to dislike being beaten by their social inferiors. This is extremely apparent in the sport of rowing, whereby the gentlemen involved in the Amateur Rowing Association instigated the 'Manual Labour Clause' which stated that, 'anyone who was a mechanic, artisan or labourer' could not particpate in the sport. This helped retain a social distinction in the sport and prevented the gentlemen amateurs from being beaten by the lower class professionals.

Rugby Football began in the 19th Century however, developed differently in the north from the south. Whilst the south remained amateur the northern players needed to be paid to play sport or at least receive broken time payments which compensated for a loss of earnings whilst playing sport. In 1896 this lead to a North/South split where the northern players turned professional, this was frowned upon by the gentlemen amateurs, and the southerners remained amateur. The northerners continued to play rugby football league, where the southerners played rugby football union. It was only in 1996 that the Union game moved over to the professionalism as a result of the players needing to earn money.

Cricket continued to have both professionals and amateurs whereby the gentlemen remained amateur as they did not need to earn money from sport and the lower classes/players were the professionals. They would not mix teams but play against each other.

During the 20th Century many other changes occurred in amateurism and led to other terms known as:

Shamateurism, whereby the amateurs receive 'under the table' payments.

Stamateur – state sponsored amateurs.

In today's society amateurs may receive financial aid through sponsorship, lottery, sport aid, trust finds and organisations, however the money may only be spent on helping them with their sport, e.g. Training and travel costs.

Professionalism has developed very differently to amateurism and has different concepts all together. Professionalism is defined as 'engaging in sporting activity for financial gain or as a means of livelihood means training is synonymous with improving standards and specialising in an activity'. One of the earliest professionals within sport was the Gladiator who provided entertainment in Ancient Greece/Rome. By comparing a Gladiator to a professional footballer it is possible to see the similarities and what denotes professional:

both involved in physical, contact sport
both could get injured which may result in the early end of their career
hired and fired
bought and sold through transfer deals
paid by their results
very little control as they are owned by a coach/manager/club
have a very high media status and treated as heroes/role models

In order for a sport to become professional there are certain requirements, these include a large population within close proximity, a large number of people in the population to have a disposable income and enough time to spend on leisure activities, the need for excitement and the commercialism of the sport.

The earliest forms of professionalism were in the forms of pedestrianism and prize fighting. Pedestrianism was a very early form of race walking and gentlemen would pay a member of the lower class to race for them so that bets could be placed and the gentlemen could socialise with a bit of entertainment. Prize fighting was the forerunner to boxing; where the wealthy would wage bets on the outcome of a fight and employ certain people to right in regular circuits.

There was still a very social distinction within professionalism where by the lower classes would be the performers, the middle classes the agents, promoters and managers with the upper class being the patrons.

The next major change socially and in regards to sport came about when Queen Victoria died. The lower, working classes began to realise that if they all came together they would would be able to generate a powerful force and remove social distinctions. This is when the Labour party put its power into affect and made many changes including:

decreasing the price of transport so it became easier for people to travel, especially by railway
Sport was budgeted for, for the working class
International sporting competitions were properly organised which saw the London Games in 1908, World Series Baseball, the first Grand Prix in Le Mans 1906 and the Tour de France in 1903 all brought about.
Spectator facilities were bettered, due to two serious incidents occuring. The wooden stand collapsing at Ibrox in 1902 and the riot at Hampden in 1909.

However, these changes were halted once more when the break out of the first world war began. A lot of sport during this time was stopped as the people were required to fight in the war and stadiums etc. were required for recruiting people and making weapons/bombs.

After the war, between the years 1919 and 1939, the people wanted to learn from the conflict and begin to have fun again. This meant that the upper classes started to have many parties, attended their tennis, golf and cricket clubs regularly and took many holidays abroad. The lower social classes also picked up their sport again, usually participating in leisure activities on a Saturday afternoon. Football soon started to attract huge crowds and other sports also began to popularise, such as dog racing where the first race was held at Belle Vue in Manchester in 1926.

Whilst sport began to boom again, economically Britain was not doing very well. With the rise of Hitler came high unemployment levels and social discontent. During this time the Government began to realise that the need for recreation and leisure was extremely important in order to have some sort of social control over the masses. As a result the Central Council of Physical Recreation was formed in 1935 which soon led onto the Physical Training and Recreation Act of 1937. This resulted in sports club memberships increasing, new interests in activities such as walking, bicycling and rambling, it also saw the decline in interest over county cricket and the increase in club cricket due to players having more time off work to be able to play.

Again during the second world war, sport struggled however, there were many dramatic changes post the war, these included:

there was no longer a distinction between gentlemen and players
travel was possible for all classes
the development of the motor car enable mobility for even the lower classes
air travel allowed for teams to travel worldwide to play their sport. This increased the number of international competitions and event, especially in the world of football.
Entertainment outside the house became increasingly important
media coverage over sport increased, creating role models and generating more interest into sport
local authorities supplied more recreational activities such as swimming pools and playgrounds
National Parks developed
People were more free to choose their leisure and recreation activities

Both wars have impacted on the interest in sport and it now seems ironic that teams and individuals now compete against each other in competitions from the countries we were at war with in a more civil and appropriate way.

The development of individual sports have been influenced by many factors such as politics, economics, geography, educational and social/cultural aspects; all of which have been reported on above.

There are many sports that used to be played which are not around today due to their violence, these were known as the 'blood sports' which were very much a part of British life up until the end of the 19th century. Blood sports had many characteristics such as, physical violence, gambling, interest in the infliction of pain, involved all social classes and was extremely popular in both rural and urban areas. Blood sports were deemed as very exciting and allowed people to win money through gambling, they were also very easy to put on and stage, the animals used were merely seen as a resource for humans to use and therefore there was nothing wrong with it.

Particular blood sports included:

Bull & Bear Baiting – the animal would be tied up and the a group of terrier dogs would be let loose at it. The aim was for the dogs to hang on as long as possible without be thrown off through the animals movements. Betting would take place on the performance of the dogs as the animal would always lose due to becoming tired and weak through injury.
Bull Running – this would be where a bull was set loose in a town and the spectators would chase it with objects, like sticks. They would chase the bull to a bridge where they would try and throw it off, if they could not do so the bull would be spared. This sport took place in places such as Tutbury and Stamford and was more common in urban areas.
Cock Fighting – This was the most popular blood sport which comprised of an animal vs. animal fight. Due to cocks natural agression it was thought fighting them against each other would be fair and exciting. All social classes enjoyed cock fighting due to the entertainment factor and the ability to gamble on the sport. Large towns used to have specially built cock pits where regular fights would take place.
Throwing at Cocks – this was a sport played only on Shrove Tuesday, where the birds would be tied up and people would pay to throw stones and sticks at them until they were dead.

In the 19th Century blood sports began to be banned for many reasons. This included humanitarian concern and the development of an evangelical era. There was also an increase in the concern over how such sports promoted a civilised society when there was so much violence about. Blood sports also tended to gather large, very loud crowds which meant that some people would complain about the news and inconvenience. Blood sports were also banned due to the increasing number of employers that were discriminating against employees due to their love for violent pursuits which may cause them injury. As a result of all these factors many legislations were brought in to ban any blood sports, including:

1822 to Prevent ill treatment of Horses and Cattle (excl. Bull)
1824 RSPCA
1835 baiting sports banned (incl. Bull)
1840 Cruelty to Animals (cock fighting banned)

Racket sports have changed dramatically over the years and have included many different sports such as, Real Tennis, Rackets, Fives and the most commonly known and popular – Lawn Tennis.

Lawn Tennis was an adaptation of Real Tennis which was commonly played by royalty and aristocrats. During Queen Victoria's reign, the middle classed were striving to separate themselves from the lower classes and whilst Real Tennis was not conducive to their middle class lives they developed the game known as Lawn Tennis which became very popular. At first Lawn Tennis was played on an hour shaped glass court but this was changed to an oblong shaped one when the Marylebone Cricket Club adapted it further. Due to there being very few recreational activities that both genders could play together during this era, Lawn Tennis soon became increasingly popular with the middle classes. It enabled women to play the sport without an audience and they could wear less restrictive clothing. Due to the sport being non-contact and had developed a decent set of rules it was quickly introduced into schools. The middle classes ensured that Lawn Tennis was very much a club you had to be part of in order to play it; seeing as the majority of courts were in people's gardens the ability for the lower classes to participate was restricted – just how the middle classes wanted it.

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Football is the most commonly known developed sport. It originates from a sport known as Mob Football whereby the male population of two villages would play against each other. There would be two set goals, e.g. The church at one end of the village and the Public house at the other end. Mob Football would only be played a few times a year due to people not having a lot of time, therefore it would be played a public holidays or during Wakes. As it was not a commonly practised sport there were very few rules and regulations which meant that there was a lot of violence and many injuries – death was not uncommon in Mob Football. Mob football was usually played by the uneducated and rural people who lived in a harsh way.

This sport was soon taken in to schools where certain rules began to emerge. However, due to very little interaction and communication between different schools the game of 'football' developed differently in every case. The shape and size of goals, pitch size, boundaries and size of team all varied in each school however, this began to change when inter-school matches became popular. In order to combat the different rules set by each school, the game of 'football' would consist of two halves, during the first half one set of rules would be played and for the second half the other rules would be used. Hence the reason we have half time in modern day games. As time went on these differences from school to school began to vanish and similar rules were played, however certain schools remained playing their versions of 'football' some of which are still played today. For example, Eton School developed the Eton Wall game which is still annually played.

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When university students graduated and entered the world or work they took football with them and encouraged other to play. This bought about the establishment of the Football Association in 1863. Workers were encouraged to play the sport as it boosted their morale and loyalty whilst teaching them discipline and instilling middle class values.

Whilst lower, working classes grabbed every opportunity to play football on the streets etc. with factories and towns being built they had limited space to play. As a result, the working class became more spectator based and with the development of transport it made it possible for them to follow their team.

Football took many different routes, where it was first developed by the working class, taken into public schools and made a very gentry sport. This occurred mainly in the south whereas in the north the industrial revolution meant a lot of football teams were created from factory workers. A good example of this is Sheffield Wednesday who formed and played on a Wednesday when it was only a half day at the factory. This north/south divide soon collided when the Football League developed in 1885.

Cricket is one of the oldest, most established sports which was played by all social classes. There were very few sports which all social classes would play together, however the players would have certain roles to determine the status within the game. Cricket first developed in rural areas where the lower classes would participate in the sport and the gentry would act as patron. It would usually take place in the summer months as it meant there was enough light for the workers to participate after work, due to the gently nature of the game it meant that the gentry could participate without feeling under threat from the peasants. The early rules introduced into the game helped to ensure people had a good behaviour with a great deal of respect.

Although cricket was played between upper, middle and lower social classes, the county cricket games remained for only the higher classes. In order to keep it this way they played the games midweek where they knew the peasants would be at work, they also started to build grounds meaning the smaller and more portable fixtures were no longer used. In order to cater for the working classes a league similar to the football league developed which is known as the Lancashire League. This is the reason why most cricket teams today are from the north rather than the south.

Cricket, like Lawn Tennis, was quickly accepted into schools due to the control the social masters had over the sport and the athleticism it upheld for the boys. The rules created by the Duke of Richmond in 1727 ensured that the participants played in a gentlemanly fashion and in the spirit of the game. Everyone would be involved, with the young boy's helping the older ones to practise.

Cricket really accelerated during the transport revolution as it provided teams with a way of being able to play each other. Since then many forms have cricket have been developed such as Test Cricket, 20twenty, indoor cricket, one-day cricket and even Blind cricket.

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All other information taken from:

Sport and PE, A complete Guide to A Level Study, 3rd Edition, Wesson, James, Thompson and Hartigan, 2005