socio-cultural influences on development on rational recreation

Question 1

what were the negative effects during the 1st half of the 19th century

Answer 1

• migration of lower classes into urban areas - looking for work in new factories, led to loss of space to play traditional mob games and overcrowing
• lack of leisure time - long 12 hour days, 6 days a week
• lack of income - low wages and poverty, little spare money for leisure pastimes
• poor health - poor working and living condition led to pollution, lack of hygiene meant little energy to play sports
• loss of rights - restrictions placed on mob games
• lack of public provision - no access to private facilities or no personal equipment for lower classes

Question 2

what does HITFOR stand for

Answer 2

H - poor health and hygeine
I - lack of income
T - lack of time
F - facility provision was lacking
O - overcrowding and lack of space
R - loss of rights

Question 3

what were the improvements in the 2nd half of the 19th century

Answer 3

• health and hygiene - gradual improvements of living conditions and local council provisons of public baths, more energy
• increase in wages and more time - the Factory Acts and Saturday half-days for workers
• new middle class - sport became more acceptable and respectable, played to high moral code, strict rules, leagues and competitions
• influence of ex-public schoolboys
• values of athleticism - moral integrity, always trying hard spread to lower class
• industrial patronage - (factory teams set up by factory owners) led to provision
• transport and communications - development of steam trains meant spectators could travel, leagues established, newspapers
• cheaper to travel -

Question 4

what is urbanisation

Answer 4

large number of people moving from rural areas into towns and cities, seeking regular work in the factories

Question 5

key features of urbanisation that helped develop sport

Answer 5

• lack of space - led toe development of purpose built facilities (e.g football grounds)
• large working-class population - needed entertaining, resulted in mass spectator numbers at football and rugby matches
• loss of traditional sports - mob games banned in civilised urban society so need for new games
• change in working condition - as working class got more free time and increased wages, sports attendance and participation went up

Question 6

how did railways contribute to the development of sport

Answer 6

• movement of teams/spectators - enabled faster and further travel, led to nationwide fixtures on a regular basis
• improved access to different parts of country - allowed sport to develop from local to regional to national, with leagues forming, including clubs from around the country (e.g Football League)
• cheaper train travel - working class able to follow their teams home and away
• improved access to countryside - ramblin became popular as rural areas were reachable and affordable to get there

Question 7

how did the improvement of communications help develop sport

Answer 7

• improvement in educational provision for working class which led to improvements in their literacy skills
• communications (via newspapers) improved as society became more literate - increased knowledge and awareness of sport (e.g when fixtures took place, results etc)
• led to emergence of sporting heroes and role models

Question 8

why did the Church promote sport

Answer 8

• encouraged social control (improved behaviour) through ‘civilised’ activites diverting people away from ‘less socially acceptable activies’ such as drinking and gambling
• viewed as a good way of promoting christian values
• development of YMCA promoted healthy body/healthy mind link
• clergy viewed sport as a good way to increase church attendance

Question 9

how did the Church help provide more sporting opportunities

Answer 9

• provided venues
• approval and active involvement of clergy gave encouragement for working classes to participate in rationalised sporting activities (e.g association football)
• organised teams, sey up clubs and organised competitions

Question 10

why did the new middle class emerge

Answer 10

because of urbanisation and industrialisation

Question 11

how did members of the middle class help the development of sport

Answer 11

• codification - development of strict rules as public school and university old boys played key role in formation of NGBs, controlled sport and became key organisers via their administration experience which enabled them to form and run clubs/NGBs ( Football Association set up in 1888)
• competitions - development of leagues and competitions
• public provisions - public facilities (e.g. parks and public baths) via middle class ‘philanthropists’, factory owners, church
• increased leisure time - factroy owners gave working class more leisure time
• move to ‘professionalisms’ -helped in development of early commercial/professional sport

Question 12

what are the ways in which public school boys and university old boys influenced the development of sport in britain and the British Empire

Answer 12

• as teachers - devloped teams and taught traditional sporting values in schools throughout Empire
• as industrialists/factory owners - set up teams and gave wokers time off to play competitive sport nationally and internationally
• as clergy - developed church teams or became missionaries and took sport abroad
• as officers in British army - used sport with armed services and spread sport throughout Empire
• as diplomats - travelled the world and took sport with them (e.g rugby and cricket)
• set up NGBs

Question 13

why did NGBs begin to form in mid-to-late 19th century

Answer 13

• sport became increasingly popular
• more teams and clubs forming
• more national and international fixtures organised
• leagues and competitions needed for teams to compete in
• nationally agreed rules and codification for different sports required - single set of rules to make it a ‘fair competition’
• maintenance of ‘amateur ideal’ to deal with professionalism and early commercialisation of sport

Question 14

what is rational recreation

Answer 14

involves the post-industrial development of sport

Question 15

what are the characteristics of rational recreation

Answer 15

• respectability - non-violent in nature and emphasis on fair play
• regionally/nationally/regularly played - competitions played regionally, nationally, internationally, watching saturday-afternoon football for masses was popular
• stringent administration and codification - strict, complex written rules set down by NGBs for conduct of sport
• referees/officials - present to enforce newly developed rules
• purpose built facilities - specially constructed grounds, pitches or tracks often around urban areas with large populations to draw on for spectators
• skills/tactics based - players had positional rules they became ‘specialist’ in, trained to improve their techniques and fitness levels