Games People Played: A Global History of Sport

455 Pages·2021·13.668 MB·English

by  Wray Vamplew

GAMES
PEOPLE PLAYED

GAMES
PEOPLE PL AYED
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF SPORT
WRAY VAMPLEW
REAKTION BOOKS
To Janice, who continues to appreciate how much sport means to me,
Peter, who learned to play soccer from a book, and Ailsa, who has
inherited both my hairy legs and my love of large databases.
Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
Unit 32, Waterside
44–48 Wharf Road
London n1 7ux, uk
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2021
Copyright © Wray Vamplew 2021
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the publishers
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain, Glasgow
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
isbn 978 1 78914 457 4
CONTENTS
Introduction: Pre-match Instructions 7
PART ONE SPORTS HISTORY: FIRING BOTH BARRELS
1 Know the Score: Understanding Sports History 12
2 Walk the Walk: Practising Sports History 24
PART TWO SPORT THROUGH THE AGES
3 Sport before the Industrial Age 40
4 The Industrial Age (and Slightly Beyond) 65
5 The Past Century or So 88
PART THREE SPORTS
6 Fighting Talk: Combat Sports 108
7 The Killing Fields: Hunting, Shooting and Fishing 122
8 Horses for Courses: Equestrian Sports 137
9 Taking Speed: From Foot Power to Wheel Power 152
10 Out Clubbing: Bat and Ball Sports 167
11 Moving the Goalposts: The Football Codes 183
12 . . . Nor Any Drop to Drink: Water Sports 194
13 Slipping and Sliding: Winter Sports 209
14 Across the Pond: American Sports 219
PART FOUR SPORTING LIFE:
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS
15 Pushing the Mind and Body: Emotion, Pain and Violence 236
16 Open and Closed Doors: Discrimination in Sport 253
17 Playing Together: Sports Clubs and Associativity 268
PART FIVE MIXING OIL AND WATER:
SPORT, POLITICS AND POWER
18 Political Football: Nationalism, Propaganda and Protest 279
19 Human Rights (and Wrongs) 301
20 Running or Ruining the Game: Rules and Rule-makers 314
PART SIX SHOW US THE MONEY:
THE BUSINESS OF SPORT
21 Selling the Game: Sports Entrepreneurs and the Products
They Marketed 332
22 Citius, Altius, Fortius et Multo Maiores: Mega Events 351
23 Playing for Pay: The Professional Athlete 366
PART SEVEN THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY:
THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF SPORT
24 Charity Begins at Home . . . and Away 387
25 How Green Was my Volley: Sport and the Environment 400
26 Selling Out the Game: Match-fixing and Drug-taking 412
Stoppage Time 436
Recommended Reading 441
Acknowledgements 446
Photo Acknowledgements 447
Index 449
INTRODUCTION:
PRE-MATCH INSTRUCTIONS
Sport is more than mere games. It can promote socialization, moral
education and, occasionally, political indoctrination, all preparing
citizens for duties and responsibilities beyond the playing arenas. The
inference in the title of this book is that it will consider not just physical
performance but also other reasons for involvement in the watching and
playing of sport. Why sport was and is practised is a major theme that
runs through the book, although with different motives emphasized at
different times to reflect historical shifts in mentality. The analysis will not
ignore the ludic aspect of sport: that sport could be an end in itself, with
people participating simply for personal fun and enjoyment. However,
additionally – or alternatively – it will show that play could be a means
of displaying masculinity (or femininity), or of affirming social status
by demonstrating that one had the time, money and energy to devote to
activities other than work. Sport could be undertaken to promote health
and welfare, to create loyalty to a group or nation, or for a plethora of
other reasons. It can also be associated with carnival, where the normal
goals of society are set aside and individuals are free to use their time in
displays of non-utilitarian activities, often with the roles of authority and
social position reversed.
Sport is an immensely important part of any serious attempt to re-
construct a nation’s collective life. Although sport exists outside the daily
urgency of livelihood and sustenance, it is simultaneously highly popular,
compulsive and a compelling stage for national, local and community
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GAMES PEOPLE PLAYED
drama and glory: a narrative that is hard to resist. It is important to mil-
lions of people across the globe, and the arena (I would suggest) of more
male voluntary activity than any other. It can be big business or family
recreation; be discriminatory but also integrative; produce triumphs and
tragedies as well as heroes and villains; and encourage the best and worst
of nationalism. Such cultural, political, social and economic significance
warrants a study to add to our historical understanding of society and the
individuals and communities within it. Indeed, the analysis of the history
of sport and sporting traditions can offer rewarding insights that are not
available from other sources. While acknowledging that sport can be fun,
any attempt at sports history should also look at more than the ludic
and contextualize events in wider social, political, economic and cultural
scenarios. It gains relevance when it does not focus solely on past results
but looks at how sport was associated historically with class, gender and
other socio-cultural indicators.
Playing or watching sport was influenced by age, social and economic
status, gender, time and locality. This book shows how sport was practised,
experienced and made meaningful by a variety of groups and individuals
in different historical periods. There is significant generalization, since
space does not allow for a full discussion of differences and outliers.
Nor are there chapters on sport in specific countries, although global
examples will be used to illustrate the arguments. We will reference not
only the privileged but also those people whose lives did not generate
much documentation. The focus is not on elite sportspeople, but some
such individuals will be mentioned, although a few of them may not be
that well known to a British audience.
A wide definition of sport is taken. But obviously the line must be
drawn somewhere, and while I can admire the athletic performance of
contemporary dancers such as the BalletBoyz and the gymnastic skills of
circus artists, I would not class them as sportspeople. (I still cannot quite
comprehend that one of the books in the British Sports and Sportsmen
series on my shelves is titled Industry and Commerce!) Sport for the pur-
poses of this history is what people at the time considered it to be. This, of
course, raises the question of translating various terms and deciding that
they mean sport, a problem that applies as much to nineteenth-century
Europe as it does to classical Rome (incidentally, there is no Latin word
for sport). Not all sports will have their history outlined. Some are looked
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Introduction: Pre-match Instructions
at in Part Two, which deals with various categories of sport; others may
be covered elsewhere, such as in the chapters dealing with time periods
and political and social effects on and of sport; some scarcely feature;
and several are not mentioned at all. This is not a comprehensive en-
cyclopaedia of sports but an analytical history of sport in various societies
at varying times.
Recent revisions in our knowledge of sports history are assessed, and
explanations are made of the abuse of sports history and the creation of
sporting myths. There is an acknowledgement of our historical ignorance
in some areas, noting that it is sometimes as important to say what we do
not know as to state what we do know.
All book introductions should include a personal statement by the
author to enlighten readers about where they are coming from and what
baggage they are carrying. So here goes. I like sport and have participated
in it throughout my life. I played my last game aged 69, scoring 20 not out
and taking 5 wickets for 11 runs. It took all those intervening years for me
to realize that as a bowler I should pitch the ball where I would not like
it as a batsman. Now in my seventies, I play golf, confusing my partners
by switching from my right to my left hand for putting and chipping,
and amazing myself by achieving a hole-in-one – but one unseen by
anyone, including myself, because of the layout of the course. My other
sport is lawn bowls, which I took up with my wife as two of the youngest
members of the group at a local rink, where after twelve ends we up and
off to enjoy drinks and cakes.
I hope this book will show that I am a fan of sport, but not an un-
critical one. What about my sporting prejudices? I support Hibernian
and Barnsley football clubs (fortunately, they never have to play each
other) and Yorkshire County cricket team, but I prefer watching sport on
television to being there. I enjoy following the Tour de France (despite the
drugs) but have given up on athletics (because of the drugs). I do not like
(or perhaps do not understand) American sports. The scores in basketball
are too high and I cannot fathom why in baseball a hit over the fence can
score 1, 2, 3 or 4 rather than the undisputed 6 in cricket. However, I am
ambivalent about gridiron, admiring the strategies but wondering why
a ‘touchdown’ doesn’t actually involve touching down. I am not a fan of
Rangers or Celtic, corrupt and incompetent sporting officialdom (that
doesn’t leave many unscathed) or the claimed ‘Olympic spirit’.
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