Sports in History

The Industrial Revolution of the late eigteenth and early nineteenth centuries is often cited as the conventional stating point for studies of sports. It was at this time that the organisational structure of sports began to distinguish these activities from simple play. However, the origins of these principal elements can be traced even further back in history, to primitive times of the hunter-gather lifestyle, when existence depended on the success of strategic methods for gaining nutrition.

The 'hunting' model of sports can easily be discerned in many contemporary sporting pursuits. Track and field events hone athletes' skills in chasing and stunning prey with missiles; the five events of riding, fencing, shooting, swimming and running in the modern pentathalon test the competitors' stamina and aptitude in undertaking lengthy hunting expeditions.

It appears, therefore, that the hunter-gatherer mode of life is central to our understanding of how sports began. As long as 3 million years ago, Neanderthals and their successive Homo sapiens allocated roles to each other in social arrangements, used tools in groups and formed parties to hunt for food. Covering ground in the pursuit of prey required mobility and endurance; speed in catching the quarry unawares from close quarters required speed and explosive energy. We see these same talents today in marathon runners, middle-distance runners, triathletes and sprinters.

Risk-taking was also a significant feature of the hunter-gatherer way of life. Courage in the face of danger from carnivorous animals and close combat was essential to reproductive success. Similarly, a willingness to develop aqautic skills in diving and hunting for fish helped procure a wider nutritional supply for survival. The ability to create a food supply was therefore closely linked to the develoment of abilities that are associated with success in modern-day sports.

The practice of farming and land cultivation, together with the domestication of animals, paved the way for the development of hunting as a recreational pursuit. Divorced from necessity, the thrill and excitement of the chase was recreated in killing for its own sake. This new motivation of pure pleasurable thrill underlies the drive or impulse in sporting activities today. Failure is no longer essentially life-threatening: the excitement it engenders is a means in itself.

Social Developments and the Growth of Sports in Britain: An increased availability of leisure time and holidays played a key role in the popularisation and development of sports in Britain during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Hohokam ballplayers made the bleachers at Yankee Stadium seem tame by comparison: The sports culture that existed among the Hohokam people of prehistoric Arizona included pampered players, worshipping fans and a high-stakes mentality.