What is sport?

Question 1

What are the characteristics of pre-modern folk games?

Answer 1

. Functional
. Rural
. Aggressive and male dominated
. Basic rules
. Occasional
. wagering
. Local

Question 2

What social, economic and political processes account for the decline of folk games?

Answer 2

• folk games were thought to detract from archery practice (military preparation);
• folk games were rowdy and property was damaged;
• folk games clashed with puritan ideals;
• industrialization, reduced the time and space available for such games, and instilled a new type of discipline amongst labourers
• the ethos of ‘equality’ or fair play in sport became increasingly important

Question 3

What does historical study tell us about sport?

Answer 3

• sport has been PLAYED DIFFERENTLY in DIFFERENT SETTINGS across time
• ALL SPORTS are linked to the TIME/PLACE in which they are played
• DISPEL MYTHS of origins
  eg Webb Ellis
  eg Abner Doubleday
• we CAN’T ATTRIBUTE change to just ONE PROCESS (e.g. industrialization) BUT to MANY (military, law and order, religion, needs of business)

Question 4

What characteristics define a ‘modern’ sport? Alan Guttmann

Answer 4

Secularism
Equality
Specialisation
Bureaucratisation
Rationalisation
Quantification
Quest for Records