The Victorians and SportMany of the sports that have spread across the world, from athletics and boxing to golf and tennis, had their origins in nineteenth-century Britain. They were exported around the world by the British Empire, and Britain's influence in the world led to many of its sports being adopted in other countries. (Americans, however, liked to show their independence by rejecting cricket for baseball.) The Victorians and Sport is a highly readable account of the role sport played in both Victorian Britain and its empire. Major sports attracted mass followings and were widely reported in the press. Great sporting celebrities, such as the cricketer Dr W.G. Grace, were the best-known people in the country, and sporting rivalries provoked strong loyalties and passionate emotions. Mike Huggins provides fascinating details of individual sports and sportsmen. He also shows how sport was an important part of society and of many people's lives. |
Contents
Class and Sport | 19 |
Amateurs and Professionals | 51 |
Sporting Pleasures | 85 |
Rugby in the 1880s | 95 |
Money | 111 |
Cricket and Football Times advertisements in 1880 | 135 |
The Media | 141 |
Stars | 167 |
Mr H J Barron a local amateur in 1880 | 171 |
Loyalties | 191 |
The Wider World | 219 |
Notes | 249 |
Bibliography | 279 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
amateur amongst Association Association Football Athletic attracted Australian became began Bell's betting Blackburn Rovers Blackheath Britain British sports Cambridge celebrated championship classes colonies competition coverage Cricket Club crowds cultural cycling Derby Derek Birley dominated early elite England English example FA Cup Flat Racing Frank Cass grounds heroes History of Sport horse hunting identity Illustrated Sporting imperial increasingly International Journal J. A. Mangan jockeys John Lancashire leading League leisure London loyalty Manchester University Press matches membership middle middle-class Middlesbrough Midland Sporting Mike Huggins music hall nineteenth century Northern numbers organised Oxford papers pedestrianism played players popular Preston North End professional profit public schools publicans pugilists regional role rowing rugby Rugby Football Rugby Union Scotland Scottish sides soccer social Society spectators sporting press sports clubs sportsmen success touring town Turf urban W. G. Grace Wales women working-class Yorkshire
Popular passages
Page 290 - Sport and the masculine hegemony of the modern nation: Welsh rugby, culture and society, 1890-1914', in John Nauright and Timothy JL Chandler (eds), Making Men: Rugby and Masculine Identity (London, 1996), 50-69.