Sport and the British: A Modern History

by Richard Holt

The first book of its kind, this lively history of British sport since 1800 goes beyond a few great names and moments to explain how sports have changed, what they have meant to ordinary people, and reveals what is especially distinctive about British sport in particular. The British were
innovators in abandoning traditional, often brutal, sports, an in establishing a code of "fair play," which spread throughout the late Victorian Empire. They were also pioneers in popular sports and in the promotion of organized commercial spectator events, with the accompanying rise of
professionalism.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

410 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 1989

Reviews

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

For research:

- sports before Victorian Era (some during): football, wrestling, cricket, fighting (boxing/pugilism), bear and bull baiting, throwing at cocks, cudgels, quoits, horse racing, hunting, rowing, fishing etc.;

- sports like cricket, rowing, horse racing had middle and upper class appeal and thus rules were consolidated faster than for sports like boxing

- "For the most part there were no national games in the modern sense, although the Cotswold Games, revived by Robert Dover in 1604, attracted huge crowds to watch contests of leaping, shin-kicking, wrestling as well as coursing and jousting. These games survived into the mid-nineteenth century on 'Dover's Hill' near Chipping Camden as a kind of proto-national event. Yet most people still played only amongst themselves or with a neighbouring parish and had no need of written codes of practice" (Holt 13).

- 18th century: decrease in interest in sports to to focus on cultivating "national languages, courtly dances, more sophisticated and complex kinds of music as an exclusive 'polite' culture" (Holt 45). "there was enormous scope for the creation of a more refined domestic way of life" (Holt 45); appearance of The Grand Tour and emphasis on reading as opposed to physical activity

- latter half of Victorian England + Edwardian Period: popularity of sports "amongst the middle and upper classes" (Holt 74); this is due to: the growth/emergence of public schools, which shaped "the rise of the gentleman-amateur" (Holt 74) - school teams, establishment of clubs where school and university graduates continued playing their sports of choice;

- "Many worked so that few could play. There were more affluent young people with more time on their hands than ever before, and in that sense it is hardly surprising that so much effort should have been spent having fun. Yet the study of urban conditions and of rising middle-class incomes cannot alone explain the character of Victorian sport and sportmanship, which involved a shift away from gambling and spectating towards hard team-work, fair play, and physical exertion. The gratuitous expenditure of energy in organized groups according to carefully crafted laws is a very special way of having fun" (Holt 87).

Cultural influences in the emergence of amateur sport:

- "the redefinition of masculinity and the new concept of 'manliness'; divisions within the Church of England and the desire to promote active religion; the influence of the biological and evolutionary theories of Spencer and Darwin; the poweful ethic of commercial competition and imperial endeavour linked to the equally strong traditions of elite solidarity and the assimilation of new wealth" (Holt 87)

- "The idea of the healthy mind and body merged into a garbled Darwinism that was itself often intermingled with notions of Christian and imperial duty" (Holt 87)

- individualism for economic prosperity balanced with need for political stability and the Victorians being preoccupied with health and the achievements in the field of medicine, anxieties about polluted cities and lack of cleanliness;

- diseases and the need to contain them led to the growth of seaside resorts: "sea bathing was thought not only pleasant but beneficial for general health" (Holt 88); also need for proper exercise after a long day of work;

- "The eighteenth-century ideal of cultivated leisure was giving way to the gospel of energetic outdoor pursuits" (Hold 88)

- concept of 'Muscular Christianity'

- character formation in schools and churches and "producing healthy boys" (Holt 89) in body and soul; preventing sexual promiscuity;

- providing definitions of manliness as "strong of body and pure of heart" (Holt 89); not to be confused with sexuality;

- emphasis on moral and physical strength: "Man was neither a thinking machine nor was he governed by an unrestrained sexuality as animals were thought to be. He was loyal, brave, and active and as such the natural counterpart of woman who was spiritual, sensitive, and vulnerable" (Holt 90)

- "this redefinition of gender comprised both sexes, establishing new standards of psychological and social normality based on the nuclear family and a firm division of roles between man the master and provider and woman as a kind of exclusively domestic creature whose life was regulated by her reproductive role and the caring duties it entailed" (qtd. in Holt 90) - J. Weeks "Sex, Poltics and Society", 1981, pp. 38-40;

- "At precisely the moment when the new norms of maleness were coming into force, the incarnation of the opposite of 'manliness' was defined" (Holt 90) - here is where they intersect and sexuality comes into play (see photographed page on phone)

- women seen as too fragile/vulnerable to take up sports and intruding upon what was viewed as a masculine domain/area


Holt, Richard. Sport and the British: A Modern History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Print

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Sport and the British, Richard Holt surveys the history of “modern” sport in Britain (which he distinguishes explicitly from “England”) from the pre-Victorian era to the contemporary one, although his book is organized more thematically than chronologically. While a significant aspect of this work’s value lies in the broadness with which it approaches its topic, the author also manages to identify several important concerns that tie the history together. Most notable is Holt’s eschewing of a simple dichotomy between continuity and change or traditional and modern. Instead, the story of British sport evolves into one where the interplay between these forces becomes the defining characteristic.

Holt wastes no time in presenting this thematic paradigm shift: his first chapter rejects the idea of pre-Victorian sport being primitive or juvenile and instead presents a complex picture of the relationship between sport, ritual, and the emerging gentry. While sport was often characterized by violence towards animals and people, forces from above and below were already working towards eradicating this trend in many sports. With the demise of paternalistic laws, the relationship between classes was severed, while the growth of a professional stratum made the upper-class less secure in their position and drove them towards exclusivity in sport. Efforts to eliminate violent sports were never completely successful and traditional sports managed to survive, although in most cases only by adapting to the organizational requirements of modern sport and the needs of a new middle class.

The second chapter engages the traditional story of the emergence of modern sport, from its origins in the public schools through its journey to the universities and, eventually, gentleman clubs. In the public school, sport was meant to teach one how to lose as much as how to win, and the notion of amateurism as encompassing “fair play” and “effortless style” (in the sense of eschewing overly competitive impulses such as training) was paramount. The popularity of several of these sports, most notably football, led to commercialization and a drive for victory that was incompatible with amateurism, and soon the upper-class sought to secure their social position by distancing themselves from the professionals of the lower classes. Holt concludes this section by examining the status of women’s sport, wherein an emerging movement in this area had to be reconciled with the traditional views of women as vulnerable and emotional.

Holt next examines working-class sport, which he sees as having coalesced in the streets and pubs around a tradition of fighting. This followed an uneasy earlier relationship with the middle- and upper-classes, who began to pay more attention to the poorer segments of society as fears of urban radicalism grew. Attempts were made to keep lower-class children “off the street”, but the forces of capitalism, which drove the classes apart, and socialism, which discouraged sports as idle frivolities or “bread and circuses”, meant that the sporting culture of the working class was not imposed from above. Instead, local football teams sprung up in urban centers and recreated the feeling of village solidarity, while spectators were attracted to the game’s reflection of society. Not only did the division of work in football mirror that of capitalism, but the drive of the players “to work hard, to take punishment, and to play [their] required role in the team performance” solidified the working class’ identification with the sport. Football became a means of forging an urban identity, a representation of a lost “masculinity” of traditional life, and a simple conversation starter, functions that cricket could not fulfill because of its all-day fixtures that were too time consuming and expensive for the working class to attend.

Holt then tackles sport and empire, two concepts bonded by the migration of public school graduates to the civil service. Across the globe a connection, whether real or imagined, was made between Britain’s sporting prowess and the success of its colonial enterprise. Sports were used as a cultural bridge to integrate local notables and protect against cooption at the hands of other imperial powers. The “white dominions”, meanwhile, used sport as a way of “reconciling nationalism with membership of the Empire”, with each nation adapting (or in the case of Ireland, rejecting) British influence within their cultural context.

The book concludes with a chapter exploring commercialism and violence in sport. Holt argues that spectator sports “may have been partially commercialized but it never became a capitalist leisure enterprise”, and that it took a long time before sports clubs operated as true businesses. He also laments the lot of the early professional footballer: most did not make much money, were heavily restricted, worked for clubs that could not afford to pay them “under the table” to surpass maximum wage restrictions, and had few opportunities after retirement. It was not until the advent of television, which saw sport as programming with mass appeal that was cheap to produce, that athletes were transformed into stars on a regular basis; prior to this, the mass media often paid little attention to sport. The author concludes by examining hooliganism in football, arguing that it was prevalent long before the media attention it received in the 1960s, and then identifies a handful of factors that have led to its expansion since then.

Overall, Holt succeeds in the difficult task of presenting a broad survey of British sporting culture in the modern era and also manages to inject some interesting insights and new perspectives. Despite its length and breadth, he manages to strike a nice balance between accessibility and scholarly merit, even if his conclusions are occasionally broad in consideration of the evidence. Nonetheless, Sport and the British is essential reading for anyone interested, whether for academic or personal reasons, in the history of the nation’s sport.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the classic social history of sport in British society – scholarly, insightful, and now 20 years after it was written still the best introduction to British sports history. I spoke in 2010 at a conference exploring the book - a copy of the paper is at http://glos.academia.edu/MalcolmMacLe...