Manly and Muscular Diversions: Public Schools and the Nineteenth-Century Sporting Revival

by Tony Money

Modern sports and games are widely regarded as Britain’s gift to the world. In the late nineteenth century British expatriates revived football throughout continental Europe and introduced the game in the Americas, while British Army garrisons introduced cricket and football wherever the map was pink. As Tony Money argues in this fascinating, lavishly illustrated book, this revival and export of team games was a consequence of the stable political and economic circumstances in upper-class Britain during the period, and also of the enthusiasm of boys at English public schools. While on the continent political and religious upheaval spelled the end of games, these English public schoolboys, in their ample leisure time, played cricket, football and rowed, and later - in university and the wider world - spread the cult of games wherever they went.

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2002