Do money and power matter in sports?
...maintain formal and informal activities while high-income groups have the money to run and maintain regular sporting activities and events as they please. People with power and money have the resources to spend money on expensive equipment and hire out professional facilities for their entertainment. Sports such as Golf, Polo, Lacrosse, that are played by the wealthy are often also available to the lower classes but are sub-standard. Golf club houses are often invite only, creating their own social differentiation and sports like Polo and Lacrosse where participation and equipment prices can be sky high can also automatically exclude middle and lower class people. Because of this, lower classed participants are forced into activities that don’t require as many resources. This is not always the case though, soccer, for example, was always a sport of the working class, but a season ticket at a top premiership club would now warrant a high salary – not usually associated with working class occupations. Similarly, horse racing has been described as the “sport of kings”, yet many working class people enjoy horse racing too, in a different way. Soccer is often referred to as the world game and is a great example of a sport that is played by all classes. In many aspects, soccer is a very simple game because the physical requirements of the game allow it to be played almost anywhere by anyone. This however does not mean it transcends social barriers. The vast majority of soccer games that are played by the lower class are not money making. The players aren’t getting paid big dollars and the games don’t draw large crowds. Those participants who do break through into the international leagues are highly skilled and make a lot of money but for those who do break through, there are many more that go unseen. Money creates opportunity and those without money are often without opportunity. Many of the upper class people involved in sport are on the business or administrative side of it, making their own participation an activity more of a leisurely event. Putting things into perspective, sport participants in a respected league might be making a good amount of money compared to the average family, but the person who is writing the cheques would most likely be on a salary that is many, many times the multiple of one players annual income and is a job that will be stable and last for a lot longer time period. Members of the upper class, use their sporting activities to support their ideas about how social life should be organised. By participating in exclusive clubs or expensive activities that are usually highly organised, they separate themselves from the rest of the community and pose themselves as special or above standard. Sports are generally a social activity, and in these sporting meets, the participants are amongst other people of sim...