The Origins of Football Debate: The Evidence Mounts, 1841–1851

In response to recent articles by Eric Dunning and Graham Curry, this article presents a wide range of new material from the period 1841 to 1851 in the ‘Origins of Football Debate’, using evidence gleaned from the British Library's digitisation of nineteenth-century newspapers. It responds to the charge that the works of ‘revisionist historians’, John Goulstone, Adrian Harvey and Peter Swain, are misleading and have led to hasty conclusions, and rejects their analysis that argues they are part of an academic community seemingly frantic for working-class influence to the detriment of public schoolboys. The article adds extensive evidence that records a much broader footballing culture across the country in mid-century than previously thought. In so doing, it addresses concerns, which have troubled many scholars, of the alleged disappearance of football in the wider community in the mid-nineteenth century, not least because of the sport's rapid expansion amongst the working and middle classes in the 1870s. The evidence presented does suggest that many forms of football other than folk football or games under the influence of public schools or public schoolboys were played, challenging ‘orthodox’ historian's views surrounding the influence of public schools and public schoolboys on the development of the game.     

‘The Best Football Team,The Best Platoon’: The Role of Football in the Proletarianization of the British Expeditionary Force, 1914–1918

This article examines the role of football, alongside other working-class pastimes, in engendering the proletarianization of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the Great War. The article details how the nature and longevity of the Great War, allied to the associated need to raise a predominantly working-class ‘civilian army’, stimulated new approaches to sustaining morale which embraced working-class-derived values and customs. The raison d’être of the BEF's combat motivation (why a soldier should fight) increasingly depended upon workplace-centred notions of solidarity and mutuality. In military terms, these proletarian set of motivational influences became known as ‘loyalty to the primary group’, and the proletarian sport of football became one of the major vehicles for their diffusion. Concurrently, troop entertainments and recreations became dominated by some of the temporary escapes of proletarian culture – most notably organized football tournaments, but also music hall, cinema, fairs and trips to the seaside. By 1918 the BEF was decidedly proletarian, not just in its composition but also in its values and customs.     

The Origins of Football Debate: The Continuing Demise of the Dominant Paradigm, 1852–1856

This article presents original and compelling new material in ‘the origins of football debate’, this time from the period 1852–1856, using the British Library's digitisation project of nineteenth-century newspapers. In so doing, it addresses the alleged disappearance of football in the wider community in mid-century, a problem that has troubled a number of scholars, not least because of the rapid expansion in the game amongst the working and lower middle classes from the 1870s onwards. In addressing this allegation it outlines a much broader and more stable footballing culture across the country than hitherto thought, based on games played at church, work and school outings, rural fetes and galas, alongside those played at celebrations and as street football or casual games in meadows, fields or greens, arguing that those historians who have simply looked for formal games were looking for the wrong forms of football in the wrong places, based on twentieth-century notions of what constitutes a ‘game’ of football. Overall, the article has added yet more evidence of the cultural continuity of football across the mid-century and contributed to the continuing demise of the so-called ‘dominant paradigm’ in the ‘origins of football’ debate.     

The Best Of The World

世界冠军(4月11日至5月10日)4月22日至4月25日2004年玛诺—仅升杯现代五项世界杯赛暨奥运会预选赛在北京举行,匈牙利的加博尔和俄罗斯的塔提亚娜分获个人项目男、女冠军。4月22日至4月30日在雅典举行的世界杯射击赛中,悉尼奥运会冠军、法国名将弗兰克·迪穆兰以687.5环夺得男子     

The governance of professional soccer: Five case studies – Algeria,China, England,France and Japan

Abstract

Although there has been a rapid growth in the globalisation of sport and its delivery to world markets, nevertheless there is a variety of models of sport-business whose characteristics are the product of local histories, local political and sporting cultures, local economic conditions and so on. This paper does not seek to deny the increasingly obvious impact of globalisation on professional sport, but rather it seeks to articulate the ways in which such global phenomena are locally mediated in professional soccer systems in five countries, to identify and to explain local responses to global pressures. The five examples include the oldest professional football system, that of England, and a second contrasting European system, France, together with three relatively recently established professional football systems in Japan a developed capitalist economy, Algeria, which is developing a post-socialist sports economy, and China which is experimenting in sport as in other areas with a ‘socialist market economy’. The resultant evolution of professional sporting systems represents distinctive configurations of stakeholders in what are in effect contrasting business models, and reflects a situation of ‘diminishing varieties and increasing contrasts’, in contrast to the claims made by Elias in relation to global cultural phenomena.     

‘The East’ strikes back. Ultras Dynamo,hyper-stylization,and regimes of truth

Abstract

This case study deals with Ultras Dynamo, the leading group in the active fan scene of Eastern German (the term Eastern Germany is used within this paper to refer to the territory on which the GDR existed from 1949 to 1990; it entails the federal states Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thuringia and the eastern part of Berlin) side SG Dynamo Dresden (throughout the paper, the club’s full name ‘Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden’ will be shortened using either Dynamo Dresden or simply Dynamo. Among the fans, the club is mostly called SGD (abbreviation of Sport[G]emeinschaft Dynamo) which is also used on flags, banners and in fan chants). The paper analyses styles of self-representation of the active fan scene at Dynamo and critically analyses the claim made by the group to being apolitical. The process of collective identity construction is linked to media images of the group and a ‘regime of truth’ is identified: a self-sustaining and interdependent cycle which overarches the process of image- and identity-construction at Dynamo Dresden and which can be traced back to processes of labelling, stigmatization and secondary deviance.     

The parent-coach/child-athlete relationship in youth sport: cordial, contentious, or conundrum?

The roles of coach and parent are often synonymous in youth sport, but little data-based research has been conducted on the parent-coach/child-athlete relationship. Six boys in U-12 competitive soccer were interviewed regarding positive and negative aspects about playing for their father-coach. Similar questions were posed to father-coaches and two teammates. Inductive content analysis indicated that, among the benefits, sons identified perks, praise, technical instruction, understanding of ability level, insider information, involvement in decision making, special attention, quality time, and motivation. Costs of being coached by one's father included negative emotional responses, pressure/expectations, conflict, lack of understanding/empathy, criticism for mistakes, and unfair behavior. For father-coaches, positive themes included taking pride in son's achievements, reason for coaching, positive social interactions, opportunity to teach skills and values, enjoying coaching son, and quality time. Negatives included inability to separate parent-child from coach-player role, placing greater expectations and pressure on son, and showing differential attention toward son. While teammates perceived some favoritism by the parent-coach, they cited mostly positive instructional experiences. Results are discussed within motivational theories that highlight the influence of significant adults on children's psychosocial development in the physical domain.     

The Junals

1.真实版的"史密斯一家"贝克汉姆、维多利亚夫妇2.洛杉矶市长Antonio Villaraigosa 3.拜伦·戴维斯和喜剧明星亚当·桑德勒4.宝拉·阿巴杜美国超级Billboard劲舞天后,著名舞蹈编排家。5.魔术师好大一张脸!6.花样滑冰最优美的舞者、冬奥会的无冕之王关颖珊7.老牌影帝达斯汀·霍夫曼8.又一位丹     

The One

这是谁的球队？《ＥＳＰＮ杂志》以冷笑的科比为封面人物，深层次地报道了科比奥尼尔矛盾的根源。     

The Composition and Geography of Bulgarian Olympic Medals, 1952–2016

Abstract

Bulgaria was one of the leading sport nations of the second half of the twentieth century; however, the Bulgarian national anthem has not been played at Olympic Games since 2008. In the current article, historical records on planning are compared to the results of athletes to determine the factors behind the remarkable rise and decline of Bulgarian sport during the last six decades. Historical geographical information systems (GISs) are used to analyze the spatial distribution of Olympic medals in each of the successfully developed sports. The data reveal that often the central Bulgarian planners failed to achieve the goals set in the ambitious programme of the totalitarian communist state. In spite of the efforts for diversification, Bulgaria’s success came from only seven sports mainly: less than any other of the leading sport nations during the 1970s and the 1980s. At the same time, the victories of Bulgarian athletes had little impact on the sport activity of the common Bulgarian.     

The Governance of Sport in Australia: Centralization,Politics and Public Diplomacy, 1860–2000

For Australia and most of its people, international sporting contests have long been a marker of the nation’s identity, psyche and international standing. Now in the era of global mediasport, the geopolitical role and the economic impact of elite sport has assumed far wider implications. As a consequence, the need for strong, effective and appropriate governance of all sport, particularly at the elite level has become of critical importance. This paper presents an overview and an analysis of the policy shifts that impacted the development of the Australian Sport Commission, its structure and administration from its colonial roots up to the period leading to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. This discussion will look at the development of the centralized governance of elite and community sport in Australia and will be reflected upon through a consideration of the sportization–globalization processes, with sport in the first instance being established as an element of the cultural diffusion of British imperialism to its significant geopolitical role in late twentieth-century Australia.     

The Structural Adjustment of Football in Zambia: Politics,Decline and Dispersal, 1991–1994

Abstract

This paper explores multiple and complex relationships between football (soccer), politics, and the economy in postcolonial Zambia. Based on archival and oral sources collected in Zambia, the paper argues that President Frederick Chiluba’s government failed to support football development when it came into power in 1991 because it was elected on a platform of liberalizing the collapsing national economy. Chiluba privatized state-owned companies that were sponsoring the game resulting in the plummeting of the local standards and migration of talented footballers abroad in search of better livelihoods. Furthermore, the paper argues that while the exodus of talented footballers led to the deterioration of the standards of the local league, their transnational experience boosted the performance of the Zambia national football team. This led to the emergence of one of the best national teams the country has ever had. Unfortunately, this particular team perished in the Gabon air disaster in 1993 following the government’s disinvestment in the game. However, a few months after the disaster, the country managed to rebuild a national football team, which emerged as runners up to Nigeria in the 1994 African Cup of Nations final as a result of a large pool of local and foreign-based football players.     

The great Indian Willow Trick: Cricket,nationalism and India's TV news revolution, 1998–2005

The emergence of India as the financial and spiritual heart of world cricket in the 1990s is intrinsically linked to India's satellite TV revolution in the same period. The 1990s began with just one Indian television channel – the state owned Doordarshan – but by 2006, Indian viewers were remote-controlling their way through more than 300 private satellite television channels. While the reasons for this phenomenal growth of the television industry are varied and complex, cricket has played a central role in the story. This paper will outline Indian satellite television's linkages with cricket and what they mean for notions of identity and expressions of Indian nationhood. In particular, it focuses on India's 24-hour television news networks – there are more than 50 in 14 languages. Unlike any other country in the world, the Indian television news industry has consciously ridden on cricket's shoulders to such an extent that by 2006, cricket-oriented programming accounted for the greatest expenditure in news gathering and the greatest visibility across most news channels. Television producers looked towards cricket because of its indelible link with what might be called Indian-ness, but their focus on the game, in turn, substantially redefined and reinforced these linkages.     

The Nature of Leisure in the Manyeleti Game Reserve for Africans,South Africa, 1967–1985

Almost all studies of national parks, game reserves or wilderness areas in Africa have concentrated upon their use by wealthy European or American visitors. The African experience of these spaces has been overlooked. This article focuses on a South African state-run game reserve on the western fringes of the Kruger National Park, which opened in 1967 for the exclusive use of African visitors. The Manyeleti game reserve became one of very few resorts available to black South Africans that could afford to take a holiday during the apartheid period. While initially established to encourage conservationist ideals within the growing black middle class, the game reserve had to adapt to the preferences of its visitors in order to make the project a paying concern. As such, alternative means of enjoying nature began to evolve that ran counter to initial expectations and intentions. This article explores the objectives and ideas of the venture's originators and managers, and then compares those expectations with the actual experiences of the visitors to the game reserve. By being open to both the official and unofficial means of engaging with nature, activities such as eating, drinking and football become as important to the story as the nature trails, film shows and game drives. The article makes use of Michel de Certeau's theory of ‘strategy' and ‘tactics' to argue that while a moralised ideal of Manyeleti was formulated at its genesis, the practicality of running the reserve created a space for urban Africans to temporarily escape many aspects of apartheid oppression. To contextualise this development, Manyeleti is contrasted with the other state-managed holiday resort at Umgababa, 40 km south of Durban.