A Study Of The Development Of British Sport In The 19th Century And Its Spread In The Empire

Modern sports originated in Britain.As an important symbol of cultural imperialism in the long and complex 19th century,spread throughout the empire with the expansion of British colonization,and became a most common and enduring theme in the history of the British Empire.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the development of British sports in the 19th century and the history of its dissemination within the Empire.With the perspective of history and physical education,this thesis mainly discusses the transformation and development of British traditional sports into modern sports,which is based on a large number of documents and materials,and focuses on sports as a research object.This thesis outlines the spread of sports in the British Empire,gives an analysis of its characteristics of stages and motivation of dissemination and describes the specific path,focusing on its role in the”Britishness”and the Empire.Next,the resistance and struggle of British colonies among other independent countries,which took place during the spreading process,are examined.The thesis is divided into three parts:introduction,body and conclusion.The body part includes five chapters.The first chapter mainly discusses the transformation and development of British traditional sports into modern sports.Before the Industrial Revolution,sports had been widely embedded in the British society.Not only was it a part of royal routine,the sports was also attached to religious ceremonies and church life,thus extending into the life of ordinary people.In a long period,British sports developed a tradition characterized by blood and cruelty,barbarous disorder,gambling,class differentiation and hierarchy.With the expansion of British industrial economy and the proceeding of urbanization,the subsequent profound and extensive social changes began to transform traditional sports towards standardization,order and civilization.At the same time,the technological innovation,the traffic reform,the increasing leisure time of the working class and the lifting in real wages and commercialization further promoted the development of modern sports.As a consequence,sports became an important part of British society and culture,which laid a solid foundation for its dissemination in the British Empire.The second chapter examines the general history of the spread of modern sports in the British Empire.In terms of the stage of horizontal and vertical development,the transformation and development of traditional sports into modern sports was almost consistent with the colonial expansion of the empire.As a significant cultural symbol,sports was spread to various colonies with cultural expansion and colonialism.Temporally speaking,before the 19th century,the spread of sports should be considered as an unconscious process,mainly through the immigration of British people,whose"Britishness" played a major role.Entering the]9th century,the spread had gradually developed into a kind of scheduled action,which was more powerful,geographically wider and more purposeful.Many kinds of sports in Britain had gradually become a worldwide sport.The spread of sports within the British Empire has many dynamics,including not only an endogenous force,but also the expansion outwards.In addition,there was also the mission of civilization on the basis of the theory called "white superiority".The third chapter expounds the concrete path in which modern sports spread within the British Empire.Firstly,there was a kind of sports originating in British public schools.It is an important part of the education system in Victorian era.Following the public school model,British colonists similarly took physical education into the curriculum of the colonial schools they established,which promoted the spread of sports in the colonial societies.Secondly,in the propaganda of the gospel and imperial ideology,the English religion,primarily "strong Christians",drew on sports and gradually formed four modes to promote the spreading process.Finally,the British army also helped.In the medium and late 19th century,the development of military sports enabled the defenders of the Empire to bring it to the colonies,not only as an entertainment,but also as a military training system.In some sites and coastal cities of strategic significance,it was more obvious that the army played a disseminating role.They are the main tools for Britain to establish cultural hegemony in the colonies to control and stabilize the order of the Empire,and are essential to maintaining the influence of the British Empire.The fourth chapter focuses on the role of modern sports in the British Empire.As an icon of cultural imperialism,the spread and dissemination of modern sports has played an irreplaceable role in the British national concept and imperialism.It is regarded as a moral metaphor,a political symbol and a cultural bond as well as a type of spiritual output.For Britain,sports is an important source of its cultural identity.It has underpinned the common identity of "British people" and helped to shape the"Britishness".By the end of the 19th century,sports had become an important part of the "national tradition".In the range of the British Empire,sports was regarded as an important cornerstone,which,in terms of military significance and administration,cultivated the future leader of the colonial world,thus ensuring and maintaining the empire's expansion and prosperity.In addition,sports is the key cultural elements that united the Empire closely.It constructed the concept of the British Empire,connected the British diaspora,and functioned as the cultural link between the Empire and the colonies.Therefore,the unity and condensation were strengthened.The fifth chapter examines the colonial resistance and struggle against sports as well as the game played by western powers in the dissemination.Within the range of the British Empire,on the basis of the broad contexts of nationalism and decolonization,the Gayle Movement Association in Ireland was established immediately to resist the spread of British sports and cultural aggression in order to collaborate with Ireland's opposition to British colonial rule.India,on the other hand,localized British sports as a non-violent means of challenging British and competing with the rulers.Australia was more likely to use sports as a tool for mediation with its home country and a way to express national awareness,in order to get rid of the hypocrisy and gracious attitude of the British.They are representatives of colonial societies against British rule and seek national independence or autonomy by resisting sports.Internationally speaking,as far as European colonial countries were concerned,France and Germany regarded sports as one of the fields of power control and competition,which buried a strong political implication into the development and participation of sports.On the other side of Atlantic,Americans who had gone through the Civil War and the Golden Age rejected symbolic English cricket and constructed the myth of baseball in an attempt to establish American cultural hegemony.Modern sports is an important component of British society and culture.It has played an irreplaceable role in the colonial rule of the British Empire,which was closely related to the cultural dissemination and expansion.From a heuristic perspective,taking the development of British modern sports and its spread around the British Empire as the observation horizon can be regarded as a new approach to study the history of Britain and the British Empire,to advance the understanding of the relevant history on the basis of the literature to date,and to enrich the overall study of the subject of history.Last but not least,the inclusive historical data collection,the in-depth exploration and detailed analysis can provide more historical resources for the research of British imperial history.