The document discusses the origins and history of sport. It describes how the ancient Olympic Games in Greece originated in 776 BC in Olympia as sacred festivals honoring Zeus that required a cessation of wars. Winning athletes were considered national heroes and received gifts for life. Sport was also a central part of Greek education. The modern origins of sport involved its use in the 19th century in British public schools to educate and control bourgeois children through leisure activities. Football rules became standardized in 1863 with the creation of the Football Association in London.

1. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
In 776 BC the city of Olympia inaugurated the tradition of reuniting all
the city-states within Greece. Olympics were sacred festivals honoring
Zeus and therefore wars had to stop for the duration of the games. A
safe passage was guaranteed to every athlete in their journey home.

2. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
The truce imposed by the Olympic Games served the purpose of
reducing the hostilities in the Mediterranean Sea. And that was good
for business.

3. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
Greeks had wide acceptance of violence

5. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
A prize-winner athlete was considered a national
hero and could return home and live the rest of his
life out of the gifts he received

7. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
Sport was a central part
of the Greek education.
We regard Socrates or
Plato as great thinkers
but they were also
considered great
athletes by their
contemporaries
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/platos-body-and-mine.html

8. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
In 393 AD the Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the
Olympic Games. As pagans festivals, they were believed to
contradict the teachings of the Christian Faith

9. The meaning of
sport
Origins of sport
In 1896 Baron de Coubertin reinstated the Olympic Games

10. The meaning of
sport
Sport as a
religion
1. the stadium as the Sacred land
2. Social groups stratified in the terrace
3. Sacred calendar
4. Sacred numbers and tokens
5. Superstition
6. Trophies, cups: elevation
7. Offering the victory to God
Origins of sport
Sport and
Religion

11. 1. the stadium as the Sacred land

12. 2. Social groups stratified in the terrace

13. 3. Sacred calendar

14. 4. Sacred numbers and tokens

15. 5. Superstition

16. 6. Trophies, cups: elevation

18. 7. Offering the victory to God

19. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Modern
Sport
Some scholars (Brohm, Bourdieu, Dunning) point out that,
contrary to common thinking, sport is not “as old as the world”

20. 19th Century 21st Century

21. “Sports restore to mankind some of the functions which
machines have taken away from him”
Adorno (circa 1972)

22. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Modern
Sport
In the UK, public (boarding) schools designed a method to
educate the children of the bourgeoisie
http://www.amazon.com/Quest-Excitement-Leisure-Civilizing-Process/dp/0631146547

23. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Modern
Sport
Sport was a leisure activity for social control. Insurrection and
sexuality in adolescents were to be uprooted.

24. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Football
Before the 19th century some games already resembled the game
of football

26. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Football
In 1848 the Cambridge Rules were redacted. By that time,
each town had its own set of rules for playing football

27. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Football
In 1863 Ebenezer Morley, an English solicitor, wrote a letter to a
newspaper, The Bell’s Life, proposing a meeting in order to
negotiate a common set of rules

28. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Football
On 26 October 1863 representatives of a number of football clubs
gathered at the Freemason’s Tavern in Covent Garden, London.
They created the Football Association (FA).

29. The meaning of
sport
Origins of Football
Many clubs originated in the workplace. Workers from the factories
team up to form football clubs
Arsenal FC (Royal Arsenal)- 1886 Manchester United FC (Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway)- 1878

30. The meaning of
sport
Can we draw a
parallel between sport
values and current
society?
1. Success through effort
2. Meritocracy
3. Healthy life
4. Competitiveness
5. Regulated violence
6. Progress
7. Star system, “the best suited ones”
8. The “allowed” emotions
9. Everything can be quantified
Why Sport
Matters

31. 1. Success through effort

32. 2. Meritocracy

33. 3. Healthy life

34. 4. Competitiveness
Enemy  Rival

35. “Sport is the capitalistically distorted form of play”
Allen Guttman (1978)

36. Would you rather support a winning team or an amusing team?

37. 5. Regulated violence

38. “The first laws ever to be voluntarily embraced by men from a
variety of cultures and backgrounds are the laws of sports”
Ali Mazrui (1976)

39. “Sport works as a legitimating tool of the establishment. Sport is
always conciliatory, never rebellious. The legitimating function
comes from its optimistic ideology which believes in an
uninterrupted, ascending and lineal progress”
JM Brohm (1993)

40. “Sport is one of the strongest factors removing the element of
play from bodily activity. A child which practices a sport is no
longer playing but is taking his place in a world of serious
matters, sanctioned by authority”
JM Brohm (1976)

41. 6. Progress

42. 7. Star system

43. 8. The ‘allowed’ emotions

44. “Pleasure is, so to speak, nature’s vengeance. In pleasure men
disavow thought and escape civilization”
Horkheimer and Adorno (1972)

45. 9. Everything can be quantified

46. The meaning of
sport
Why Sport
Matters
Final
questions

47. Can we talk about the ‘sportivization’ of our society?

48. “Claims to identify among football fans are often charged with
moral imperatives about “true”, “life-long”, “real”, “genuine”
support. Football fans like to see themselves as active
participants in the drama of elite-level performances. Perhaps
this is one of the reasons why football has, in our time, evolved
into a dominant embodiment of civic pride and identity in
Europe, South America, Africa and large part of Asia”
Thore Roksvold and Roy KrØvel (2012)

49. Do you think FC Barcelona supporters would claim Barça to be their
‘primary social identity’? Rather than “being Catalan”?
Do you think Green Bay Packers’ supporters would claim “being a
Packer” their ‘primary social identity’? Rather than “being American”?

50. “The sports spectacle is a key factor for the “fascistization” of the
masses (parades, flags, anthems, salutes…). People get used to
the military and police repressive apparatus, always present in
sports contests”
JM Brohm (1993)

51. Sport: “A quest for excitement in unexciting societies”
Norbert Elias and Eric Dunning (1970)