History of sport

An Egyptian burial chamber mural, approximately 4,000 years old, showing wrestlers in action.

The history of sports probably extends as far back as the existence of people as purposive sportive and active beings. Sport has been a useful way for people to increase their mastery of nature and the environment. The history of sport can teach us a great deal about social changes and about the nature of sport itself. Sport seems to involve basic human skills being developed and exercised for their own sake, in parallel with being exercised for their usefulness. It also shows how society has changed its beliefs and therefore there are changes in the rules. Of course, as we go further back in history the dwindling evidence makes the theories of the origins and purposes of sport difficult to support. Nonetheless, its importance in human history is undeniable.

Sports that are at least two and a half thousand years old include hurling (similar to field hockey) in Ireland, harpastum (similar to rugby) in Rome, cuju (similar to association football) in China, and polo in Persia. The Mesoamerican ballgame originated over three thousand years ago.

There are artifacts and structures that suggest that the Chinese engaged in sporting activities as early as 2000 BC. Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China's ancient past. Monuments to the Pharaohs indicate that a number of sports, including wrestling, weightlifting, long jump, swimming, rowing, shooting, fishing and athletics, as well as various kinds of ball games, were well-developed and regulated several thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt.^{[citation needed]} Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing, high jump, and wrestling. Ancient Persian sports such as the traditional Iranian martial art of Zourkhaneh. Among other sports that originated in Persia are polo and jousting.

Ancient Greece

Hermes, one of Olympian gods and patron of athletics

Depictions of ritual sporting events are seen in the Minoan art of Bronze Age Crete (from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC), mainly involving religious bull-leaping and possibly bullfighting. Homer tells us that sport was practiced in Mycenaean times, between 1600 BC and ca. 1100 BC. In the Iliad there are extensive descriptions of funeral games held in honour of deceased warriors, and engaging in sport is described as the occupation of the noble and wealthy, who have no need to do manual labour themselves. In the Odyssey, king Odysseus of Ithaca proves his royal status to king Alkinoös of the Phaiakes by showing his proficiency in throwing the javelin. It was predictably in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 AD. Initially a single sprinting event, the Olympics gradually expanded to include several footraces, run in the nude or in armor, boxing, wrestling, pankration, chariot racing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw. A variety of informal and formal games were popular in Ancient Greece, with the most prestigious ones achieving Panhellenic status. Some games, e.g. the Panathenaia of Athens, included musical, reading and other non-athletic contests in addition to regular sports events. High-profile athletes were major celebrities in ancient Greece.

Middle Ages

For at least seven hundred years, entire villages have competed with each other in rough, and sometimes violent, ballgames in England (Shrovetide football) and Ireland (caid). In contrast, the game of calcio Fiorentino, in Florence, Italy, was originally reserved for the aristocracy. The aristocracy throughout Europe favoured sports as patrons as well as player. Horse racing, in particular, was a favourite of the upper class in Great Britain, with Queen Anne founding the Ascot Racecourse.

Development of modern sports

Some historians – most notably Bernard Lewis – claim that team sports as we know them today are primarily an invention of Western culture. The traditional teams sports are seen as springing from Europe, primarily England through its British Empire. This can be seen as discounting some of the ancient games of cooperation from Asia (e.g. polo, numerous martial arts forms, and various, now assimilated football varieties) and even from the Americas (e.g. lacrosse). European colonialism certainly helped spread particular games around the world, especially cricket (related to baseball), football of various sorts, bowling in a number of forms, cue sports (like snooker, carom billiards and pool), hockey and its derivatives, equestrian (originally of Middle Eastern origin), and tennis (and related games deriving from jeu de paume), and many winter sports, while the originally Europe-dominated modern Olympic Games generally also ensured standardization in particularly European directions when rules for similar games around the world were merged. Regardless of game origins, the Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed more time to engage in playing or observing (and gambling upon) spectator sports, as well as less elitism in and greater accessibility of sports of many kinds. With the advent of mass media and global communication, professionalism became prevalent in sports, and this furthered sports popularity in general.

England

Writing about cricket in particular, John Leech (2005a) has explained the role of Puritan power, the English Civil War, and the Restoration of the monarchy in England. The Long Parliament in 1642 "banned theatres, which had met with Puritan disapproval. Although similar action would be taken against certain sports, it is not clear if cricket was in any way prohibited, except that players must not break the Sabbath". In 1660, "the Restoration of the monarchy in England was immediately followed by the reopening of the theatres and so any sanctions that had been imposed by the Puritans on cricket would also have been lifted." He goes on to make the key point that political, social and economic conditions in the aftermath of the Restoration encouraged excessive gambling, so much so that a Gambling Act was deemed necessary in 1664. It is certain that cricket, horse racing and boxing (i.e., prizefighting) were financed by gambling interests. Leach explains that it was the habit of cricket patrons, all of whom were gamblers, to form strong teams through the 18th century to represent their interests. He defines a strong team as one representative of more than one parish and he is certain that such teams were first assembled in or immediately after 1660. Prior to the English Civil War and the Commonwealth, all available evidence concludes that cricket had evolved to the level of village cricket only where teams that are strictly representative of individual parishes compete. The "strong teams" of the post-Restoration mark the evolution of cricket (and, indeed of professional team sport, for cricket is the oldest professional team sport) from the parish standard to the county standard. This was the point of origin for major, or first-class, cricket. The year 1660 also marks the origin of professional team sport.

A number of the English public schools, and colleges and universities such as Winchester and Eton, introduced variants of football and other sports for their pupils. These were described at the time as "innocent and lawful", certainly in comparison with the rougher rural games. With the coming of the industrial revolution and the movement of the populace from the country to the cities, the rural games moved to the new urban centres and came under the influence of the middle and upper classes. The rules and regulations devised at English institutions began to be applied to the wider game, with governing bodies in England being set up for a number of sports by the end of the 19th century. The rising influence of the upper class also produced an emphasis on the amateur, and the spirit of "fair play". The industrial revolution also brought with it increasing mobility, and created the opportunity for universities in Britain and elsewhere to compete with one another. This sparked increasing attempts to unify and reconcile various games in England, leading to the establishment of the Football Association in London, the first official governing body in football.

The British Empire and post-colonial sports

The influence of British sports and their codified rules began to spread across the world in the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly association football. A number of major teams elsewhere in the world still show these British origins in their names, such as AC [Athletic Club] Milan in Italy, Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense in Brazil, and Athletic Bilbao in Spain. Cricket became popular in several of the nations of the then British Empire, such as Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan, and remain popular in and beyond today's Commonwealth of Nations. The revival of the Olympic Games by Baron Pierre de Coubertin was also heavily influenced by the amateur ethos of the English public schools.

Baseball (closely related to English rounders and French la soule, and less clearly connected to cricket) became established in the urban Northeastern United States, with the first rules being codified in the 1840s, while American football was very popular in the south-east, with baseball spreading to the south, and American football spreading to the north after the Civil War. In the 1870s the game split between the professionals and amateurs; the professional game rapidly gained dominance, and marked a shift in the focus from the player to the club. The rise of baseball also helped squeeze out other sports such as cricket, which had been popular in Philadelphia prior to the rise of baseball.

American football (and gridiron football more generally) also has its origins in the English variants of the game, with the first set of intercollegiate football rules based directly on the rules of the Football Association in London. However, Harvard chose to play a game based on the rules of Rugby football. Walter Camp would then heavily modify this variant in the 1880s, with the modifications also heavily influencing the rules of Canadian football.

Today

There are many sports whose modern rules were formulated during the mid- or late- 19th century. World-wide, this certainly includes many different football codes, lawn bowls, lawn tennis and others. The major impetus for this was the patenting of the world's first lawnmower in 1830. This allowed for the preparation of modern ovals, playing fields, pitches, grass courts, etc.

Perhaps in a reaction to the demands of contemporary life, there have been developments in sport that are best described as post-modern,^{[citation needed]} extreme ironing being a notable example. There is also a move towards adventure sports as a form of escapism, transcending the routines of life,^{[citation needed]} examples being white water rafting, paragliding, canyoning, base jumping, parkour/free running and more genteelly, orienteering.

Women's sport history

Women's competition in sports has been frowned upon by many societies in the past. The English public-school background of organised sport in the 19th and early 20th century led to a paternalism that tended to discourage women's involvement in sports, with, for example, no women officially competing in the 1896 Olympic Games. The 20th century saw major advances in the participation of women in sports, although women's participation as fans, administrators, officials, coaches, journalists, and athletes remains in general less than men's. Mass involvement tends to favour sports such as swimming and aerobics, and tends to stress the competitive aspects less than men. The increase has been partly related to the drive for more women's rights. In the United States, female students participation in sports was significantly boosted by the Title 9 Act in 1972, preventing gender discrimination and equal opportunity for women to participate in sport at all levels.Pressure from sports funding bodies has also improved gender equality in sports. For example the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Leander Rowing Club in England had both been male-only establishments since their founding in 1787 and 1818, respectively, but both opened their doors to female members at the end of the 20th century at least partially due to the requirements of the United Kingdom Lottery Sports Fund.

See also

• Nationalism and sport
• Sociology of sport

Further reading

Books

• Allen Guttmann, Women's Sports: A History, Columbia University Press 1992
• Allen Guttmann, Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism, Columbia Univ Press, 1996
• Gleyse, Jacques (1995, reed. 2006). Archéologie de l'Education physique au XXe siècle en France. Paris: P.U.F.. 
• Gleyse, Jacques (1997.). L'Instrumentalisation du corps. Une archéologie de la rationalisation instrumentale du corps de l'Age Classique à l'époque hypermoderne. Paris, Montréal: L'harmattan. 
• Mangan, J.A. (1996). Militarism, Sport, Europe: War Without Weapons. Routledge. 
• Martin Polley, 'Sports History: a practical guide', Palgrave, 2007.
• Scott A.G.M. Crawford (Hrg.), Serious sport : J.A. Mangan's contribution to the history of sport, Portland, OR : Frank Cass, 2004
• The new American sport history : recent approaches and perspectives, ed. by S.W. Pope, Urbana [u.a.] : Univ. of Illinois Press, 1997

Journals

• STAPS. International Journal of Sport science and physical education, Bruxelles, De Boeck.
• Sport History Journal
• The International Journal of the History of Sport
• Sport in History
• STADION International Journal of Sport History
• European Studies in Sport History