State Intervention in Sport and Leisure in Britain between the Wars

Abstract

Anyone writing about sport at the present time can hardly escape the political nature of the subject matter. The obvious example of the interaction of sport and politics is, of course, the recent Olympic boycotts by Black Africa, the USA, and most recently the Soviet Union. Given this politicization of sport, it is hardly surprising that a number of scholarly studies of popular culture have stressed that leisure is a political question, where struggles over spare time, facilities and ideological meanings are continually taking place. Indeed, to the Marxist, sport is an integral part of the superstructure of society and something closely connected to political life. Hence, according to John Hargreaves, sport provides 'surrogate satisfactions for an alienated mass audience, while at the same time perpetuating its alienation and functioning as a means of political socialization into the hegemonic culture. Sport in its organized form is a microcosm of society.&dquo; Although many social scientists would disagree with this view, even those with a liberal democratic notion of the state would find it difficult to refute the fact that sport and leisure are now firmly situated in the political domain. Clearly, the influence of the stateby which is meant central and sub-central government, the administration, the police and the judiciary, and parliamentary assembliesis brought to bear on a vast range of sporting questions.' For some time now, historians of capitalist society have been unearthing material revealing that in the past the state has sought to use leisure for its own ends. Most accounts have stressed leisure as a form of social control, contributing to the formation of a temperate, disciplined workforce. A great deal has also been written about the aim of the authorities to provide improved, reformed recreations to wean the working class away from the alleged degenerations of their own culture. They were not always successful in doing this, for

Sport and UK soft power: The case of Mount Everest

“…In this context, sport started trespassing on the fringes of the FCO’s terrain. Most officials considered sport ‘no business of ours’ (Polley, 1996), but, from the turn of the century, the FCO was dabbling in sport diplomacy (Jones, 1987; Polley, 1992). These interventions were spasmodic, but there was a dawning perception that international sporting competition could embellish a nation’s image and credibility abroad.…”

“…These interventions were spasmodic, but there was a dawning perception that international sporting competition could embellish a nation’s image and credibility abroad. For instance, England’s football team became an essential component of the FCO’s bid ‘to portray Britain as a nation of justice and fair play and to support diplomatic objectives’ (Jones, 1987: 170; see also Beck, 1999). The spectacle of others, most notoriously Nazi Germany’s manipulation of the 1936 Olympics, seizing upon sport to advertise the qualities of their political models further sensitised the FCO to its soft power properties.…”

Naked in nature: naturism, nature and the senses in early 20th century Britain

“…98 Man and sunlight was published in Britain in a period when the expansion of leisure and recreation in the natural environment was being welcomed as an opportunity for the culture of citizenship, and celebrated as a powerful antidote to the harmful impact urban life was perceived to have on the human body. 99 Particular emphasis was placed on personal development through outdoor pursuits and on the latent citizenship of the individual, whilst the natural environment was constructed as the primary locus within which to nurture mentally alert, physically fit and spiritually whole citizens. Paradoxically, although naturism was a healthy outdoor pursuit ideologically presumed to generate strength of character and physical fitness alongside an appreciation of the natural environment, it was (and still is) con sidered by many to be a fairly eccentric or comical activity, which transgressed many moral sensibilities, and effectively made naturists 'anti-citizens'.…”