How social and cultural factors shaped sports - pre-industrial Britain

Question 1

Social class - upper class

Answer 1

1. Upper class (landowners)

• real tennis and fox hunting = sophisticated activities with complex rules which required money to participate
• pedestrianism = as sponsors for the lower-class
• cricket = played as gentleman amateurs

Question 2

Social class - lower class

Answer 2

2. Lower class (worked manually on the land)

• mob football, dog fighting, prize fighting = simple activities, often violent with few rules
• pedestrianism = as competitors, racing (walking or running)
• cricket = played as player lower class professionals

Question 3

Gender

Answer 3

1. Upper and lower class

• women participated in very different activities to men
• women seen as the weaker sex
• activities women participated in were not too strenuous or dangerous

2. Upper class

• women could take part in archery

3. Lower class

• during country fairs, women were allowed to take part in smock races

Question 4

Law and order

Answer 4

1. Upper and lower

• there was little law and order, reflected in the activities undertaken

2. Lower

• involved bare knuckle fighting or animal baiting, reflected lack of order and animal cruelty
• games like mob football had few rules

Question 5

Education and literacy

Answer 5

1. Upper class

• educated and literate
• could read and write and understand written rules of sophisticated activities like real tennis

2. Lower class

• uneducated and illiterate
• could understand simple activities with few rules like mob football

Question 6

Availability of time

Answer 6

1. Upper class

• had more time and could be involved in longer lasting activities eg fox hunting

2. Lower class

• worked long, exhausting hours so has little time or energy for physical activities
• the few activities they participated in were confined to festivals or holy day fairs based around pubs eg bare knuckle fighting

Question 7

Availability of money

Answer 7

1. Upper class

• more money therefore more opportunities to be involved in physical activity of their choice
• could afford horses, loathing and equipment eg hunting and real tennis
• had access to specialist facilities eg real tennis courts

2. Lower

• had no spare money to spend on physical activities

Question 8

Types of transport available

Answer 8

1. Upper and lower class

• activities were local, transport was generally horse and cart or walking

2. Upper class

• had more opportunity to travel further by horse and carriage but this was often limited to the state of the roads
• could get to facilities such as real tennis courts, some where even built on the grounds of their homes

3. Lower class

• roads were in poor states preventing people from leaving their villages
• this influenced the simple, local and unwritten rules varying from village to village