The Olympic ideal and modern sport

2. Objectives:
• Describe the stages of how sports developed from the 18th
and 19th Centuries to the recognisable forms we have today – to
include: popular recreation, industrialisation, rational recreation
and post-industrialisation
• Explain how the British way of playing fair and to the letter of
the law (i.e. the ethics of sport came about)
• Explain Olympism and the intentions of the modern Olympics
• Explain the contract to compete and relate to recent times

3. •Popular recreation = recreation for the
populace
•Feature of life way before industrialisation
•Different classes – different forms of
recreation
•Upper classes – real tennis, fencing
•Working classes (peasants) – mob-games
• Peasants – rural life – dictated to by
seasons
•Time for recreation came from holy days
and religious festivals
•Result – popular recreation were occasional
happenings
•Early games had no clear rules – free for all!
Pre-
industrialisation

4. •For 1860 onwards – society started to change as did sport
•Industrial Revolution in full swing – machines carrying out work previously done by people
•Factories – employing 1000s – need to live close to work – terrace housing built in cities
•Terraces – little or no space for recreation
•Long shifts – 12hrs – 6 days a week (Up to 72hr working weeks to start with)
•Leisure time scarce – only Sunday and this was a day of rest – Church had big influence
•Only effects working class – upper and middle classes continued to play their sport –
unaffected by URBANISATION (Development of cities caused by movement of population
from rural areas (where jobs were disappearing because of mechanisation) to towns
(where new jobs created in factories)).
Urbanisation affected sport
Rural life – seasons – space – local rivalry.
Move to towns – no space – sport had to change
Participation in sport expensive – working class poorly paid
Lack of facilities for working classes
Factory owners established sports clubs to raise morale & loyalty improve
health and social control – some provided land to play on
6 day week reduced to 5.5days eventually – Saturday pm sport
Space premium only a few could play – spectators main involvement
Church – imp provider of land and organiser of teams
Industrialisation

5. As wages increased – more could
afford to watch or play sport
Railway developed – travel easier
Communication also developed
Fixtures, leagues, cups competitions
– easier to organise
Est. more and more clubs – spectator
sport grew and grew
Comps grew in size – more
spectators – leading to
professionalism and more media
interest
Middle classes controlled sport
They dictated hours – long and tiring
Women and children used as cheap labour – malnutrition and disease
common
Working classes – very little disposable income if any
Initially no parks – street games declared illegal (damage to shops and
onlookers)
Pubs were central to culture – sports developed to suit

6. o In Victorian era – traditional aspects of popular sport (revelry, debauchery, gambling
and drunkenness) became less of a force
oDue to moralising influence of middle classes – via traditions of public school
education
oMiddle classes – added fair play to their sport – strict regulation of rules and strict
amateur ethos
oMiddle classes played sport for pleasure – character building
oThree major contributions to emergence of rational recreation:
oCodification
oCompetitions
oOrganisations
Emergence
of rational
recreation
Fair play – allowing
equal chance of
success and treating
other performers
with respect

7. Task – Invent a game
Equipment: Tennis ball – 2 bins
Choose an area to play
Discuss with other players –
limits to playing area – method
of scoring, the limitations of
movement with a ball – what
constitutes a foul
Now play!
You have just been through the process of
CODIFICATION
CODIFICATION – the gradual organisation
and defining of rules for the actual playing
of the sport and the conduct and
behaviour of participants

8. Without rules – sport could not exist
Rules allow participants to compete on equal terms and apply to all levels of
involvement
Major influence – public schools
Public schools – sport provided discipline to boys
Schools encouraged formation of a code of conduct for such activities
Boys took their rules to university and armed forces and established clubs
Influential members of these clubs – agreed standardised set of rules
Led to development of NGBs
NGBs development regional and local organisations - with comps to allow more
teams to play matches

10. Public School influence of sport and the
gentleman amateur
o Victorian society – class orientated –
reflected in education system
oPublic school – fee paying – middle/upper
classes
oAimed at producing future leaders to guide
UK and the Empire - captains of industry!
oQualities such as
leadership, loyalty, courage, discipline and
commitment were encourages
oSchools saw potential in developing these
characteristics through sport
oThe cult of athleticism developed
oMany public school sportsmen went to
universities and following graduation many
returned to teach or enter clergy
oThey encourages more to play sport
oBy 1890 most sports were played in an
organised way
Athleticism – a
fanatical
devotion to
sport that
developed the
physical, social
and moral
aspects of
young men

11. Amateurs – a
person who
plays sport for
fun and for no
financial gain
Professional –
sports
performer who
is paid to play
their sport
Gentleman Amateur – a
sportsman who, because of his
social position and financial
situation, had no need for
monetary reward from
participation in sport
Professional or amateur?
Some keen to maintain class divide
And use sport as a means of social
control – maintaining a clear difference
between amateurs and professionals
‘Not playing the game’ – expression
describing spirit played
Professionals paid to play – working
class – talented
Some sports remained amateur –
refused to change – exclude working
classes – rowing, athletics
Cricket maintained its amateur and
profession divide until the 1960s
Upper classes manage to play the way
they wanted and keep working classes
out

12. Football was slightly different:
1. Early administrators had to
admit better players couldn’t
get time off to play
2. Also – enough spectators so
could afford to pay them to
play
3. Amateur football
administrators accepted
professionalism in 1885
4. Football league established!

13. From church teams:
Fulham St Andrew’s Sunday School
Villa Cross Methodist Chapel
Christ Church Sunday School
Trinity Church, Bordsley
They became:
Fulham
Aston Villa
Bolton Wanderers
Birmingham City
Workplaces:
Yorkshire and Lancashire Railway Company
Thames Ironworks
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich
Salters Spring Works
They became:
Man Utd
West Ham Utd
Arsenal
West Bromwich Albion
Old boys associations:
Blackburn Grammar School
St John’s Presbyterian and Tottenham
Grammar School
Sunderland and District Teachers Assoc
Wyggeston School
They became:
Blackburn Rovers
Tottenham Hotspur
Sunderland
Leicester City

14. In this period……
1. Difference between classes never
more apparent – middle/upper
classes were increasing in
affluence but working class
becoming more impoverished
2. Professional performer in 19th
century had limited earnings but
better than normal wage (working
class)
3. Middle/upper remained
entrenched in amateur ways
4. Until late in 20th Century – broad
generalisation –
• players – working class
• Agents, managers and
promoters – middle class
• Sponsors and patrons – upper
5. Increased media interest in sport
and different income streams –
most sports can support
professionals
6. Nowadays a professional plays at a
higher level than an amateur
7. Increased status of professionals now
8. Young people aspire to be
professionals
9. Allows more social mobility now than
in the 19th Century

15. Olympism – competing in the spirit
of sportsmanship with the
emphasis on taking part rather than
winning

16. More recently –
•More money involved
(TV rights – large
audiences)
•More importance on
sporting successHost city – potential for
substantial revenue –
tourism, employment, pres
tige, facilities Media increased
earning potential of
successful athletes
Millions of pounds
now spent on getting
athletes to their peak!
Olympics now elitist.
Olympics - originally established by
Baron Pierre de Coubertin – 1896
To – bring nations together – allow
youth from across the world to
compete across national boundaries –
increasing cross-cultural tolerances
Gradually overtime –
there has been an
erosion of the amateur
ideals and the ideal of
competing fairly – For
example: succeed from
own efforts – money
available to support
athletes across the
world different – not
equal!

17. Contract to compete
An unwritten code
governing how to strive to
play fairly, within the rules
Sportsmanship
Conforming to the rules, spirit and
etiquette of a sport
Based on the C to C we expect
performers to:
1. Try their best
2. Show sportsmanship
3. Respect rules and officials
The spirit of the
contest Concept based on a deep
UK culture – the Victorian
ideas of fair play,
amateurism, athleticism,
respect for opponent,
taking part not winning etc

18. Fair play
Character
Sportsmanship
Three components of morality in
sport
Allowing all participants an
equal chance – acting towards
other performers in an
honest, straightforward, dignifie
d manner – assumes respect of
team mates, opponents and
officials
Refers to values and habits that
determine the way a person
reacts to fears, challenges, failures
and success – typically seen as
polite behaviours – helping an
opponent up, shaking hands

19. Overtime a more
negative ethic has
invaded sport
involving for example:
1. prize money,
2. Gamesmanship
3. The idea that
winning is
everything
4. The use of drugs
Gamesmanship – bending the rules – often seen as time wasting in some
sports
1. Pressure to win increased in modern
times – pressures can lead to deviant
behaviour
2. Sometimes performer lacks morals or
ethical restraints that might govern
their behaviour
3. Pressure increase as the importance of
the occasion increases
4. Will also increase with age potentially
Some pressures are external –
outside control of performer –
demands from sponsors, the
intrusion of media, expectations
of organisers/crowd, demand
from coach/team mates

20. Functional actions in sport – within the contract to compete:
1. Returning the ball to the opposition after an
injury break
2. Clapping the opposition after losing
3. ‘walking’ in cricket
4. Clapping the opposition’s century
5. Exhausting yourself in the attempt to win
6. Lending the opposition a player if they are
short
7. Admitting fouls

21. Dysfunctional actions in sport
1. Arguing with the referee
2. Appealing for a throw when you know it’s not
yours
3. Deliberately fouling to prevent good performance
4. Diving in a game to gain a foul
5. Tying laces to get a rest
6. Using drugs
Reasons why this behaviour is contrary to the contract to compete:
•Acts of violence is outside the rules of the activity and outside the
characteristics, etiquette and ethics of the activity
•In general violence will deprive the victim of free and fair opportunity to win
•Violence is often against the law
•Some games will allow violence if mutually agreed, accepted limits, and in some
sports within the rules – e.g. boxing

22. Question 10 – June 2012
Many of the sporting values and technical developments that underpin modern
sport were established in the 19th century.
15 How might a performer break the contract to compete during a sporting
contest?(3 marks)
16 Explain the social factors that contributed to the emergence of mass spectator
sport in the 19th century. (4 marks)

24. Watching elite sport has become easier due to increased
media coverage and
commercialisation.
In 2009, the Deputy Leader of the Secondary Headteachers
Association suggested that football should only be shown
on television after the 9 o’clock watershed because of the
bad example that it sets to children.
1 4 Discuss the suggestion that there has been a decline
in sportsmanship since the late 19th Century and outline
strategies that the sporting authorities have used in an
attempt to maintain high standards of behaviour. (14
marks)