Sports Occupying the Masses
... With all the options available to British Society during the industrialization period it was sports that become the occupier of time. It is a lazy assumption that sports grew out of the nineteenth century simply because the newly industrialized society had time that needed to be occupied. The creation of free time by developments in industry is true, but society could have easily taken up other areas of interest instead of one as meaningless as sports. ... Sports grew and became highly organized during the nineteenth century because people needed to be stimulated in an industrialized society and because they wealthy ruling elite promoted it. They promoted sports over other more important time occupying actives because sports allowed them to promote chauvinism, which society already has a propensity for, and thereby keeping the masses completely out of politics or affairs of state. Sports grew out of the nineteenth century not simply because society needed to be entertained but also because the ruling class promoted it so that the masses would be too pre-occupied to take in interest in more constructive activities. Sports began to play a major role in society during the nineteenth century. ... As the community began to grow sports became a more organized way in which the community could easily interact with each other. Although society had to get their cue that sports and games was the way to spend your free time and the way to interact with your neighbors from some place. From an early age kids were taught to play sports. Tony Mason states that “sports were an important part of the curriculum in grammar and public schools. ... It is obvious to see why as adults would choose sports as their pastime in an industrial age. ... When such a powerful institution that shapes the brains of children teaches that sports are entertaining and enjoyable it is more then likely going to play out in adulthood. ... Sports were able to grow and become important parts of society not only through education of the masses but also through commercialism and structure that the ruling elite provided. ... It was because of these two events that sports began to really take it shape. ... It also was due to the publication and sensationalism of sports continued and by the News of the World was using 14% of its space for sporting news (Mason 1989: 3). The nations newfound love of sports is what even led to the Saturday afternoon holiday, which was established in 1871 (Jones 1988: 19).