Racket sports have changed dramatically over the years and have included many different sports such as, Real Tennis, Rackets, Fives and the most commonly known and popular – Lawn Tennis. Lawn Tennis was an adaptation of Real Tennis which was commonly played by royalty and aristocrats. During Queen Victoria’s reign, the middle classed were striving to separate themselves from the lower classes and whilst Real Tennis was not conducive to their middle class lives they developed the game known as Lawn Tennis which became very popular.
At first Lawn Tennis was played on an hour shaped glass court but this was changed to an oblong shaped one when the Marylebone Cricket Club adapted it further. Due to there being very few recreational activities that both genders could play together during this era, Lawn Tennis soon became increasingly popular with the middle classes. It enabled women to play the sport without an audience and they could wear less restrictive clothing. Due to the sport being non-contact and had developed a decent set of rules it was quickly introduced into schools.
The middle classes ensured that Lawn Tennis was very much a club you had to be part of in order to play it; seeing as the majority of courts were in people’s gardens the ability for the lower classes to participate was restricted – just how the middle classes wanted it. http://www. sc. edu/library/spcollimages/tennis/leaming2. jpg 10th June 2008 Football is the most commonly known developed sport. It originates from a sport known as Mob Football whereby the male population of two villages would play against each other. There would be two set goals, e. g.
The church at one end of the village and the Public house at the other end. Mob Football would only be played a few times a year due to people not having a lot of time, therefore it would be played a public holidays or during Wakes. As it was not a commonly practised sport there were very few rules and regulations which meant that there was a lot of violence and many injuries – death was not uncommon in Mob Football. Mob football was usually played by the uneducated and rural people who lived in a harsh way. This sport was soon taken in to schools where certain rules began to emerge.
However, due to very little interaction and communication between different schools the game of ‘football’ developed differently in every case. The shape and size of goals, pitch size, boundaries and size of team all varied in each school however, this began to change when inter-school matches became popular. In order to combat the different rules set by each school, the game of ‘football’ would consist of two halves, during the first half one set of rules would be played and for the second half the other rules would be used.
Hence the reason we have half time in modern day games. As time went on these differences from school to school began to vanish and similar rules were played, however certain schools remained playing their versions of ‘football’ some of which are still played today. For example, Eton School developed the Eton Wall game which is still annually played. http://upload. wikimedia. org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/66/Wallgame. jpg/300px-Wallgame. jpg 10th June 2008 When university students graduated and entered the world or work they took football with them and encouraged other to play.
This bought about the establishment of the Football Association in 1863. Workers were encouraged to play the sport as it boosted their morale and loyalty whilst teaching them discipline and instilling middle class values. Whilst lower, working classes grabbed every opportunity to play football on the streets etc. with factories and towns being built they had limited space to play. As a result, the working class became more spectator based and with the development of transport it made it possible for them to follow their team.
Football took many different routes, where it was first developed by the working class, taken into public schools and made a very gentry sport. This occurred mainly in the south whereas in the north the industrial revolution meant a lot of football teams were created from factory workers. A good example of this is Sheffield Wednesday who formed and played on a Wednesday when it was only a half day at the factory. This north/south divide soon collided when the Football League developed in 1885. Cricket is one of the oldest, most established sports which was played by all social classes.
There were very few sports which all social classes would play together, however the players would have certain roles to determine the status within the game. Cricket first developed in rural areas where the lower classes would participate in the sport and the gentry would act as patron. It would usually take place in the summer months as it meant there was enough light for the workers to participate after work, due to the gently nature of the game it meant that the gentry could participate without feeling under threat from the peasants.
The early rules introduced into the game helped to ensure people had a good behaviour with a great deal of respect. Although cricket was played between upper, middle and lower social classes, the county cricket games remained for only the higher classes. In order to keep it this way they played the games midweek where they knew the peasants would be at work, they also started to build grounds meaning the smaller and more portable fixtures were no longer used.
In order to cater for the working classes a league similar to the football league developed which is known as the Lancashire League. This is the reason why most cricket teams today are from the north rather than the south. Cricket, like Lawn Tennis, was quickly accepted into schools due to the control the social masters had over the sport and the athleticism it upheld for the boys. The rules created by the Duke of Richmond in 1727 ensured that the participants played in a gentlemanly fashion and in the spirit of the game.
Everyone would be involved, with the young boy’s helping the older ones to practise. Cricket really accelerated during the transport revolution as it provided teams with a way of being able to play each other. Since then many forms have cricket have been developed such as Test Cricket, 20twenty, indoor cricket, one-day cricket and even Blind cricket. http://www. cricketscorelive. com/types-of-cricket/ 10th June 2008 All other information taken from: Sport and PE, A complete Guide to A Level Study, 3rd Edition, Wesson, James, Thompson and Hartigan, 2005