History of PE (Sport and Society)
Pre Industrial Britain,
The Era of Popular Recreation.
Learning Objectives
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To understand the way people spent their leisure time
before the industrial revolution
To be able to relate how sport of pre-industrial
Britain reflected the society of the time.
To be able to give examples of popular recreations.
Detailed knowledge of 3 games (football, cricket,
tennis) and 3 individual activities (athletics, rowing,
swimming).
Popular Recreation – Pre Industrial Britain
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Not much information about the nature of sport and recreation
before medieval times.
1086 -1400 – Medieval time
1400 – 1750 - Middle ages.
1750 – 1836 - Industrialisation
1837 – 1901 - Victorian
1901 – 1910 - Edwardian.
1911 – present day - Modern Britain.
We can pick up the development of sport during middle ages
where we find the roots of many of our modern sports, which
were played by the peasants in their villages.
Task One - Do you know the 9 characteristics of popular
recreation?
Local
Occasional
Simple
rules/limited
codification
Rural
Key features
Natural/
Simple
POPULAR
RECREATION
Cruel/
Violent
Courtly/
Popular
Wagering
Occupational
Popular recreation reflected the society of the time which was harsh and agrarian in nature.
S – Simple rules
C – Courtly/popular
O - Occupational
W - Wagering
L - Local
C – Cruel/violent
O – Occasional
R – Rural
N – Natural/simple
Just remember the
ridiculous anagram
SCOWL CORN
Or maybe develop
one of your own!!
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The activities undertaken by most of the population up until the
late 19th century were influenced by social and cultural factors:
Task Two
 Why were there only a few very simple rules for the sports
of this time?
Illiterate peasant population.
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Why did sport only take part locally?
Limited travel and communications.
Why did people take part in violent/cruel sports?
Was a reflection of society at the time.
Why did the peasants have limited leisure time?
Long working week so recreations played on Festivals and Holy
Days.
Classifying popular recreation activities
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Popular recreation can be classified into different
categories.
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Individual Activities
Games Activities
Sports Festivals
You need to be aware 6 sports within these
categories.
Bathing/Swimming
Towns built on Rivers – WHY?
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Supply of goods by boat
Natural playground,
Mode of transport,
Place to wash
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As important to learn to swim as it was to run!!
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Survival
Recreation/Health
Survival
Health
Link Bathing
with
Recreation,
Health and
Survival.
Aristocracy believed bathing was part of there CHIVALRIC CODE. Sometimes
sponsor lower classes swimmers who may later become swimming masters
Riverside land was ideal for sports and pastimes – WHY?
Flat land,
No crops (fear of flooding and wiping them out)
No trees,
Frozen rivers may provide opportunities for frost fairs
Rowing
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Functional activity vital for fishing, warfare, travel and
commerce.
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Ferrymen – Huge demand when bridges were few are far
between.
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Most famous rowing race of pre industrial Britain was?
Doggett Coat and Badge Race.
Task Three
How does rowing fit into our characteristics of
popular recreation?
Rowing was probably the best example of an
occupation that became a recreation.
Development of Sports Festivals - Athletics
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Very occasional – wakes, annual religious occasions.
A range of different events such as wrestling, gurning, shin
kicking, grinning contests and whistling matches.
Cotswold Olympick Games,
Chipping Campden,
Gloucestershire.
Violent, Few rules, Wagering, Local, Natural, Occasional!!
Development of Sports Festivals - Athletics
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The Much Wenlock Games – emerged from a rural sports festival.
Dr Penny Brookes added more refined forms of athletics from
1850.
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Pedestrianism – Forerunner to athletics.
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Task Four
How does Athletics fit the model
of Popular Recreation?
Task Five
Interpret what you see in the picture
relating it to what you know about
popular recreation?
Football
Task Six
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Identify 5 characteristics of mob football and explain how each characteristic
was a reflection of Pre-industrial society? (5 Marks)
Localised – Communications, free time,
income limited.
Limited rules – Low literacy, minimal communication
Violent – Harsh society,
Festival – Held on Religious days,
Lower Class – Two class society,
Rural – Most lived in villages/small towns,
Occasional – Limited time,
Wagering – Desire to go from ‘rags to riches’
As a rowdy, violent, locally coded, occasional encounter between
neighbouring villages, mob football is without doubt the best example of a
popular recreation.
Violent
Local
Variations
Few rules
Played on
occasional
days
Key features
Mob Games
Unlimited
number of
players
Lower
class
males
Whole
village
participation
Limited
equipment/
facilities
Real Tennis
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Real or Royal Tennis originated in France and became
popular in Britain from as early as the 14th Century.
Various other types of ‘Tennis’ copied
by the lower class.
Racquets – “Rags to Riches”
Fleet Street Prison
Public Schools/Universities
Complex
rules
Free time
Non violent
Key features
REAL TENNIS
Upper
Class
High levels
of skill
Purpose built
facilities
Be prepared to compare two popular recreations!
WHAT?
WHEN?
WHY?
WHO?
WHERE?
Cricket – 3 Key Elements
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1. Bat and Ball Inn – Hambledon.
Game was encouraged and developed from 1750’s outside the Inn
on Broadhalfpenny Down.
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Marylebone Cricket Club – MCC
Gentlemen who formalised the game in 1744 formed the MCC in
1788. MCC became the main club in England. Hambledon CC
declined as MCC employed their players as coaches!
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The William Clarke XI – Localised sport to national success.
The patronage by the gentry declined and cricketers went off to
university and public schools while others joined touring sides like
William Clarke XI from 1840’s onwards.
Task Seven
Identify four characteristics of Popular Recreation and explain how
they describe early Cricket?
(4 marks)
Describe 3 ways in which Cricket did not follow the characteristics
of Popular Recreation?
(3 marks)
Characteristics of Popular Recreation
However…
Wagering
Non-violent
Male/Female
Early rule structure - 1744
Rural
National touring sides by 1840’s
Festival days
Locally coded
S
Popular Recreation
Anagram!!
– Simple Rules
C
– Cruel/Violent
O
SCOWL CORN
– Occasional
W
– Wagering
L
– Local
C
– Courtly/Popular
O
– Occupational
R
– Rural
N
– Natural
Exam Questions
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Name one sport that has developed about of a functional need? (1 mark)
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Name 6 characteristics of popular recreation?
(6 marks)
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Why was bathing popular in the 1800’s?
(3 marks)
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Why was Real Tennis such an exclusive sport in pre-industrial Britain?
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What games, based on the courtly game of real tennis, were adapted by the
lower classes?
(3 marks)
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What do the following words mean?
(4 marks)
Courtly
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Spartan
(3 marks)
Patron
To what extent did swimming show the characteristics of popular recreation?
(3 marks)