3.1 - Globalisation of sport in 21st century Flashcards
What years was pre-industrial Britain?
Pre-1780.
What was recreation like in pre-industrial Britain?
Popular recreation.
What are the features of what life was like in pre-industrial Britain?
- Limited communications and transports.
- There was widespread literacy: the lower classes were uneducated, with little ability to read or write.
- Cruel or violent existences were the norm for the lower class, the upper class lived in comfort and luxury.
- There was very limited free time as work was based on the land; free time was dictated by the agricultural calendar/seasons; the lower class worked very long hours.
- Class divisions clearly existed; there was a two-tier clearly divided society in existence (upper class and lower class) based on a feudal system.
- People lived in the countryside/rural areas.
What was the feudal system?
Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around a relationship derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.
What is popular recreation?
The sport and pastimes of people in pre-industrial Britain.
What were the characteristics of popular recreation in pre-1780?
Long hours of work meant popular recreation was occasional and therefore restricted to annual events when breaks in the agricultural calendar allowed their participation - festivals/holy days.
With limited transport available, popular recreation activities were local and specific to each community and the area they lived in the countryside.
Activities used natural resources available to them.
Literacy was low among the lower classes so any rules were very basic and applied to a particular community.
Activities were aggressive and male dominated reflecting a harsh society - lots of damage to property and injuries to the participants themselves were evident when participation in mob games occurred.
Wagers were placed by the upper class as part of sporting contests.
Sometimes, the activities participated in by the lower class were ‘functional’ as they were linked to their work requirements (e.g. when employed as footmen which led to race walking as an athletic activity).
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the limited transport/communications in pre-industrial Britain?
Popular recreation activities were local and specific to each community and the area they lived in the countryside.
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the Illiteracy/uneducation in pre-industrial Britain?
Literacy was low among the lower classes so any rules were very basic and applied to a particular community.
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the harsh society in pre-industrial Britain?
Activities were aggressive and male dominated reflecting a harsh society - lots of damage to property and injuries to the participants themselves were evident when participation in mob games occurred.
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the seasonal time/long working hours in pre-industrial Britain?
Long hours of work meant popular recreation was occasional and therefore restricted to annual events when breaks in the agricultural calendar allowed their participation - festivals/holy days.
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the pre-industrial/pre-urban revolutions in pre-industrial Britain?
Activities used natural resources available to them.
What is a characteristic of popular recreation that reflects the two-tier society/feudal system in pre-industrial Britain?
Wagers were placed by the upper class as part of sporting contests.
Sometimes, the activities participated in by the lower class were ‘functional’ as they were linked to their work requirements (e.g. when employed as footmen which led to race walking as an athletic activity).
What are 3 examples of sports in pre-industrial Britain?
Mob football
Real tennis
Pedestrianism/foot racing
What are the characteristics of popular recreation displayed in mob football?
Played by lower class reflecting two-tier divide.
Local - due to limited transport/communications.
Rural - as population at the time lived in villages in the countryside.
Natural resources such as pigs bladder used as society was simple.
Long working hours meant it was only played occasionally - on holy days such as shrove Tuesday.
Male dominated and highly violent and often unruly in nature - reflects conditions at the time.
Illiteracy in lower class - little rules and regulations.
Who did mob football become increasingly unpopular with?
Local authorities.
Why did mob football get banned?
- They were violent or unruly in nature.
- They led to damage of property.
- They led to injury or death in extreme cases.
- They involved gambling/wagering.
- They were linked to alcohol consumption/drunken behaviour.
What was real tennis also called?
‘Royal Tennis’ or ‘the sport of kings’.
What were the characteristics of real tennis?
Played by upper classes.
Complex rules as the upper class were educated and highly literate.
They played it to a high moral code so it lacked violence and was instead played in a civilised manner, with opponents mutually respectful of one another.
Plenty of leisure time so they played on a regular basis in expensive, purpose-built facilities using expensive specialist equipment e.g. racquets.
They also had the ability to travel to play real tennis so it was non-local.
It was a skillful game with difficult technical demands, which enabled the upper class to show their ‘superiority’ over the lower class.
What was pedestrianism/footracing?
It consisted of footmen (i.e. hired servants) competing as messengers by the upper class/gentry for their speed of movement across open land. The foot racers were allowed to compete against one another, with the gentry wagering on how many miles they could cover in a specified time period.
Racing developed with running/walking allowed and some ‘challenge rules’ introduced.
Success in athletics meant increased social status for a ‘gentleman’ so the upper class were happy to act as patrons to the working-class performers.
The gentry acted as ‘patrons’ of the lower-class runners by setting up races and providing prize money for success.
Early athletics in pre-industrial Britain took what form (apart from pedestrianism)?
A festival occasion with individuals organising rural, community festivals containing ‘athletic events’.
An example of this is the ‘Much Wenlock Olympian Games’ with events such as running, hurdles, football and cycling.
Prizes were awarded by upper-class patrons for successful ppts who were mainly from lower class.
What were the characteristics of popular recreation linked to Much Wenlock?
Rules were simple/unwritten.
Events were local with people from neighbouring villages joining in with the festivities and competitions which occurred annually once a year.
Set in a rural location.
Betting occured, with wagers placed on the outcomes of races etc.
Define foot racing:
A form of competitive running/walking in the 17th and 18 centuries involving feats of endurance. As time progressed, it evolved into pedestrianism/race walking.
Define patron:
A member of the gentry who looked after a lower-class performer, e.g. by arranging competitions for them to participate in, putting up prize money and generally looking after the welfare of the performer.
Why was the Olympian Class set up by the Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society (WARS)?
To promote moral, physical and intellectual improvements especially in the lower-class people of Wenlock - Participation in outdoor recreation was an important means of doing so with prizes offered for successful ppts to encourage taking part.