The Spirit of the Game – The Independent on Sunday review

The Independent on Sunday

by Simon Redfern

Those critical of modern society are fond of harking back to supposed golden pasts. Pre-industrial Merrie England and the imagined court of King Arthur have both been extolled as utopias.

Now Mihir Bose has chosen the Victorian era of Tom Brown's Schooldays as the sporting equivalent. His argument seems to be that Britain, and specifically England's public schools, championed the virtues of good sportsmanship, fair play and pluck, then exported them around the world. But in the 20th century this Corinthian ideal was steadily subverted by greed, commercialisation, politics and the cult of celebrity, leading to a morally bankrupt sporting present...Read the full review

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