Home > The Development and Growth of Sport
Gymnastic displays are probably the oldest form of sport, although the earliest recorded form of sport is bull leaping fom\ Minoan Crete whereby slaves would leap over the horns of bulls. Other sports that are at least two thousand years old include hurling in Ireland, harpastum in Rome, cuju in China, and polo in Persia. For at least seven hundred years, entire villages have competed with each other in rough, and sometimes violent, ballgames in England (Shrovetide football) and Ireland (caid). In contrast, the game of calcio Fiorentino, in Florence, Italy, was originally reserved for the aristocracy. Horse racing was also a favourite of the upper class in Great Britain, with Queen Anne founding the Ascot Racecourse.
Modern sport may be seen to have passed through four stages of development:
1. Popular recreation (before 1790)
2. Public school athleticism (1800-1860)
3. Rationalisation of sport (1860-1919)
4. Twentieth century sport (1920 onwards)
Popular recreation
There were two main types of sport, the sports of aristocracy which were complex and refined such as real tennis and the sports of peasants known as the 'mob games'.
The 'mob games' were closely associated to the church calendar of holy days. They were a chance for people to meet as a community and 'let off steam'. they had very few rules, if any.Sports involving animals were also popular. For the upper class it was hunting, for instance in the royal deer forests where rules were enforced to stop the common people from hunting animals on that land. For the lower class it was the spectacle fo animal baiting fulfilled this hunting drive. Cock-fighting and bull baiting and dog fighting were huge gambling sports.