An Institutional History of Sport
This lecture is based on
•
McComb, David G. 2004. Sports in World History. Taylor and
Francis.
What is a sport?
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What separates sports from recreation, competitive games, and
physical activity? Most scholars argue it must include all of the following:
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Physical prowess
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Rules
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Competition
Good first social theory and
sports question: Why are many people attracted to sports?
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Hard wired to physical action?
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Movement is a major early instinctual goal of most humans, and
children are “wiggly” (for a lack of a better word)
•
But a desire to move (that fades for many when reaching maturity)
is not equivalent to sports
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Some people get a “high” off a peak physical performance (being
“in the zone”, “runners high”, etc.)
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Non-representational theory (NRT) would be careful not to discount
this (where as many other social theories would look for other rewards (such as
achievement, separation, community) as more important).
Why (cont.)?
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More from NRT perspectives on what is attractive about sports:
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Primal enjoyment of winning/making others lose?
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The adrenaline rush of the unknown outcomes; of big stakes
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Even watching sports can make people happy vicariously (or sad,
if you are a fan of the Cleveland Browns)
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Basically, they can make you “feel something”.
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But, of course, there are also cultural/communitarian motives,
enhanced by the stakes:
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Sports can serve as a theater, to work through the narratives in
society (good vs. evil, us vs them, rich vs poor, North vs. South)
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It is also an occupation, a “craft” (as a lot of NFL players call
the technical side of what they do) that is fulfilling through improvement and
refinement
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It can makes one feel like part of team (or representative of some
place), a bonding of shared experience. Belonging + admiration.
Why? (cont.)
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Religion
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Catholic monks invented tennis; Buddhist monks were said to be
keepers and developers of martial arts
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Despite their supposedly secular nature, in the United States at
least, religion is very much connected to sports
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Prayer on teams existed (and still exists) long after prayer in
schools shut down.
–
Olympics itself has “pageantry” that would have once had religious
implications
Why (cont.)?
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More critical theories also have ideas…
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Sports were strongly supported in schools as a disciplinary
mechanism
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Both taught discipline through specialized roles on teams; and
threat of taking it away kept physically active students in line
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Similarly, they were often part of the “civilizing” mission of
colonialism
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It is a way of dividing “us” from “them”
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The Olympics was a (mostly) non-lethal battleground of the Cold
War
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Differences between physical performance in men and women’s games
often used to justify pay discrepancies for athletes; talking about sports is
also a way for men to display “manliness”
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Some sports are seen as “respectable” (those with rules and
stadiums) others are considered lower/working class
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Tool of capitalist control and distraction
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Most major professional sports are incredibly lucrative for
owners, thanks to media and product licensing
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Some argue that the amount of coverage devoted to them in media
crowds out time to cover other topics that more important to everyday survival
(like the content of legislation) – essentially the wool pooled over the eyes
of the people
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Some argue that their essential non-meaningfulness makes them
quintessentially post modern.
Usually many things mixed together
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“Lacrosse”
There is a Geography to Sports
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Whatever sports first developed in a place had a lot to do with
physical geography
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Islands developed aquatic sports; Scandinavia cold sports, etc…
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In fact, most modern swimming strokes were observed among
coastal/island persons by Europeans, who brought back the knowledge and fed it
into institutions.
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Sports were incorporated in town planning
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Greeks had gymnasion which was a kind of park with some
meeting rooms, where you would work to improve both mind and body
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Socrates, Plato and Aristotle established their schools at or near
these places.
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Before 1960, most sporting institutions and the major tournaments
mostly in the Global North; have been more broadly inclusive since then
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Boxing was one of the first to internationalize, with major
matches held all over the world
In the beginning…
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There were games all over the world
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The earliest piece of literature (The Epic of Gilgamesh, from 2300
BCE Babylon) contains a long passage about a wrestling match through which the
two main characters become friends.
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The ancient sports of wrestling, boxing and pankration (which is
kind of like ancient MMA) – along with hunting, horse racing (at first with
chariots) and archery (and later fencing/kendo, jousting, rifle shooting, and
most modern martial arts) – were combat sports.
–
Thus sports and the interest of the state (in this case in war)
have long been aligned.
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Only Greeks, Romans and Etruscans built stadiums for mass viewing
among ancient civilizations
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Mayans, for example, had no seating for their “ball game” courts.
Olympics (Ancient)
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This was the largest sporting held prior to the 1800s.
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Lasted 1100 years (until Christianized Rome finally banned the
games)
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Held every four years (a period of time that came to be known as
an Olympiad)
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Held to honor Zeus, near a holy place in Olympia
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During the Olympics, the various city states held to an Olympic
Truce, to allow safe passage of athletes
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During the games, people from different territories met to shift
economic and political alliance
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Only men could watch, except for one priestess
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Probably the first event held in Olympia was a footrace among
young women to be head priestess at a temple to Hera
»
This also established a long pattern of women playing sports until
men ban them from it.
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At some point, all the athletes decided it was best to be nude.
Modernization
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Obviously the idea of “modernity” touched all walks of life in
Europe (and ultimately, the world) in the 19th century.
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Compared to sports that existed prior to the 19th
century, “modern” sports were defined by being/having:
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Non-religious
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Equal rules for all participants
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Most sports also tended to streamline the rules over time, to
shorten game time and/or make it less opaque
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Institutions that watch over the sport
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Specialization in positions
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Rationalization/routinization of training
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Quantification
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Record Keeping
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Accompanied by media publicity
Modernization (cont.)
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Having sports like this presupposed a wide spread change in
society
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Industrialization was the origin of this change, which meant:
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Urbanization (more people living in cities)
– With such
densities, land use had to be set aside specifically for sports (unlike the
country, where there was always plenty of land)
– People also
needed things to do
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Eventually, the idea of regular free time, separate from work time
and home time, emerged
– For farmers
and craftspeople, this all blended together
– It took
unions to get “the weekend” created as an ideal
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Mass production of sporting equipment, which began to make the
game the same everywhere (this is very Latourian, that society could not have
changed without the presence of non humans)
– Around
1900, bicycle racers were the highest paid athletes, moving at unthought of
speed on fancy machines
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Mass media to spread the word
First modern sport…
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Horse racing
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For as long as people had horses, people tried to race them
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For almost as long, people also gambled or placed stakes on
the outcome of these races
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As this became more popular, betters wanted assurances that races
were fair and standardized
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The Jockey Club of London “took the reigns” in 1750, to begin
supervising the sport. Eventually get The Racing Calendar to track and
publicize major races. Also, they began keeping track of thoroughbred
parentage.
– Jockey Club
got further powers in 1850 after a scandal in the 1844 Epson Derby (a race
meant for three year olds), where one four year old horse racing under a false
name, kicked and killed another four year old horse racing under another false
name.
» In the
investigation afterwards, it was found out that the man who took the bets of
the syndicate that hatched the scheme had died the morning of the race (which
made the bets invalid), but was dressed in work clothes and propped in his
chair so as to appear alive until after the race was over.
First Modern Team Sport
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Cricket
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First mentioned in 1598 (although bat and ball games are common
world wide and quite old); became popular in SE of England (where London is) in
1600s.
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As it became more popular in the 1700s, betters wanted standard
rules, standard equipment, etc…
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In 1787, this job falls to then 50 year old cricket club called
Marylebone Cricket Club, which came to govern cricket world-wide from its home
ground, Lord’s
»
Fun fact: overhand bowling (pitching) was first allowed in 1864
and pitchers liked to bounce throws off the turf.
•
Thus predictable ground was needed, and MCC hired the first sports
groundskeeper
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Cricket also produced the first national sports hero: 19th
century England’s W.G. Grace .
»
Played 40 years and scored 55,000 runs (baseball’s all time leader
scored 2295)
»
Also known for wild beard and poor hygiene
First Modern American Team Sport
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Baseball
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Like cricket, evolved from other bat and ball games from England
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In 1845, the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball club formed and made
rules for a version of a batted ball game. They played for the first time in
Hoboken, NJ.
– It soon
grew in popularity around New York, and then spread to rest of the country
– Hall of
Fame is in Cooperstown, because early equipment manufacturer Albert Spalding
made up a myth about Abner Doubleday inventing it there. (ie Corporate Power)
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Game’s popularity spread during Civil War
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First fully professional team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings of
1869.
– The oldest
continually operating America team in one city is the Cincinnati Reds of 1881
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Had two “leagues” which each set rules (National in 1869, American
1899, “merged” in 1903, Creating “World Series” – which is very American to
imagine world stops at US border)
– Cheap seats
called “Bleachers” because they were uncovered and exposed to sun.
Country Club Sports
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Golf
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Based on Scottish field hockey-like game of “shinty,” but could be
played by older men.
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1603 James IV builds a course at Blackheath near London
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1754 The Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews gets to set
the rules
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The course was developed on “linksland” near the Scottish coast.
The wind made it an undulating series of grass passes and sand pits. Grazing
animals kept the grass short. Few trees which allowed for long shots
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Basically, most courses contain some imitation of this Scottish
environment whatever environment they were in
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By the early 1910’s, the “county golf club” became a staple in
Britain and the US; in the US there was a big golf/country club boom in the
1950s along with suburbanization
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Tennis
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Patented in 1874; rules got taken over by a combination of the All
England Croquet Club (located in the London Suburb of Wimbledon); and the Lawn
Tennis Association
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Both games get more publicly oriented in the 1960s, as you get
municipal and publicly accessible golf courses; as well as much cheaper cement
court tennis in public parks.
Foot Ball Games
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China had a foot-ball game as early as 600. Many societies did –
not a particularly hard concept to invent.
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It was particularly common in England and France, where matches
were played on Shrove Tuesday (aka Fat Tuesday)
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Most famous of which was at Derby, England, where, while drunk on
Shrovetide Ale, the commoners of two neighboring parishes kicked, carried, and
threw a ball across a three mile “field” in an event with no rules
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The likely origins of the term “Derby” – ie when two football
clubs that share the same city play each other
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Football games such as this were so disruptive, it was banned 4
times during the 15th century (a ban that was ignored)
Football Games (cont.)
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Eton boys school (an super elite school in England) developed a
game where a ball was kicked and shoved along a wall towards a goal on either
end; Rugby boys school developed one where you could not only kick, but carry
the ball, push opponents, kick their shins and pile in scrums
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The Football Association (shortened later to Assoc [a sock], which
watched over the game of soccer) formed in 1863 among several boys schools to
establish rules to play each other; they went with the Eaton rules
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Rugby left and made its own rules for “Rugby;” it eventually
makes its way to France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand
– Americans
are aware of both games; in 1876, 4 Ivy League schools form the Intercollegiate
Football Association. They stopped the clock whenever a player is declared
down; that linemen have to be “set” to start plays; and eventually the forward
pass (which changes the ball shape to more oblong)
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Big moment that made football a working class game is when
workmen’s team Blackburn Olympic beat upper class team, the Old Eatonians, in
1883.
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The first professional league formed soon after in 1885.
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It was the simplicity of football and its affordability that made
it catch on wherever it was played
Gym Games
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Both Volleyball and Basketball are American games, both are
invented by instructors at the Young Men’s Christian Association
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Started in London in 1844, the Y meant to help young men stay away
from dark side of urban life (mostly drinking).
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Had dorms, cafeterias, gyms, swimming pools, and meeting rooms.
Popular in US and Canada, eventually with dozens of branches in major cities
world wide
– Although
Christian, it was non-denominational
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Basically, during the winter, the only thing they did in the gym
was calisthenics, which was very boring. Also, with hard wood floors, there
needed to be games without tackling.
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First basketball game was two peach baskets hung ten foot high,
played with a soccer ball
– The baskets
had no holes, so the janitor had to use a ladder to get the ball down after
every basket.
•
Volleyball was designed a few years later, but to be less strenuous
so middle aged men could play. It was based on badminton.
– Turns out,
round ball can travel faster than a shuttlecock, and volleyball required work,
too.
Boxing
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While many sports had their roots in the upper class, schools or
in community institutions like YMCA – and thus in amateurism – boxing (or
similar contests) has a long history of “prize fighting”
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In the UK, the idea of fighting in a ring (a raised platform) was
pioneered by James Figg, who ran a school in “the manly art of self defense”
(although he had women fighters and couple’s team fighting). He taught bare
knuckle boxing, sword play, and cudgels.
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He lost only one match
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Jack Broughton, one of Figg’s pupils, after killing a man during a
boxing match, included rules like no hitting a down man, no hitting below the
belt, and a 30 second rest after a knockdown
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After a major transnational match between a 6’1’’ , 190 lb
American and a 5’9”, 160 brit during which time the Brit lost the use of his
right arm but continued the bloodbath until a draw was declared, the Marquis
de Queensberry established his rules for boxing: three minute rounds, ten
second KO’s, weight classes, gloves and defined illegal blows
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It was also the first sport in which the color barrier broke down
(with fighters like Jack Johnson, Joe Lewis, and – one of the first truly
global, post-colonial sports stars– Muhammad Ali.
Global Sports
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The truly global sports are with large numbers of both fans and
participants are:
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Soccer, basketball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, boxing
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The sports that are multiple places (or extremely popular in some
large places) include
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American football, cricket, baseball, rugby, skiing/snowboarding,
MMA, martial arts, car racing, cycling, swimming, ice hockey, figure skating,
and table tennis.
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Of course, there are many other sports that are extremely popular
in certain places
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In the Netherlands, for example, velodrome cycling and long track
speed skating are very popular
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Water polo is very popular in the former Eastern bloc; sailing in
New Zealand
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Baseball and hockey are the most international of the major
American sports in terms of foreign athletes, and even basketball is catching
up
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Distance running is thoroughly dominated by East and North Africa
Some more globalization notes…
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The first World Cup was actually in Uruguay; Latin America has
always been very good in football
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Brazil’s Pele, along with Ali, was a global superstar in a
post-colonial era. He was the star of the first televised world cup, and was
so much more fun to watch than European players of his era.
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The first big international team defeat of a colonizer by the
colonized (albeit a settler colony) was Australia over England at Lord’s in
1878 and then again in 1882, after which, a newspaper wrote that it represented
the death of English cricket “whose demise was deeply lamented and the body
would be cremated and taken to Australia”
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Thus, every couple of years, Australia and England play each other
for “The Ashes” . One of the longest running international sports series
(along with America’s Cup in sailing).
•
The non-settler colonies turned cricket against England too; the
Indians used terms like “not cricket” and “fair play” to argue for self-rule;
in the 1960s, the combined teams of the British West Indies were nearly
unstoppable.
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Cricket is the most popular sport in South Asia, because it can be
played in a hot climate with little exertion.
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In China, table tennis and badminton are extremely popular
Conclusions
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What this shows is the importance of institutions, numbers, money
and rules to the emergence of sports as we know it
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Most of that is the focus of the two readings on Thursday
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There is a huge gender component to sports in terms of
participation and spectatorship
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At the beginning, or before rules, lots of sports had women
players (some place the origin of baseball and cricket in stool ball, played by
milk maids).
•
It was when rules came that women got excluded