Rational Recreation

• Why - Industrial Revolution.

• When - 1800’s.

• Who - new middle classes affected the working or lower classes.

• Where - move from the country to the town, rural to urban.

Rational recreation Characteristics

• Respectable - middle class influence.

• Regular - increased free time & transport.

• Rules (codification) - increased literacy and business skills.

• Regional, national, international - improved transport & communication.

• Fair Play - public school influence.

• Purpose built facilities - technological advances.

Characteristics continued

• Control of gambling - increased law and order.

• Exclusive, elitist - social class and gender discrimination.

• Amateurism/Professionalism - class structure.

• Urban/suburban - industrial revolution.

SPORT AFTER 1800SOCIAL CHANGES

• The industrial revolution started in the middle of the C18th and continued through the C19th.

• Because of industry the population shifted to the towns and cities and England moved from being an Agricultural economy to an Industrial one.

• The structure of society also changed which influenced recreational patterns across the classes.

• The move to Towns meant recreation for the Labouring classes changed drastically, they lost space.

• This resulted in some Social disorder.

THE URBAN REVOLUTIONS

THE PACE OF INDUSTRIAL CHANGE

•Some working class people refused to be denied their leisure activities, and “Saint Monday” appeared.

•Many workers were paid by the “piece”- doing “piece work” as it became widely known.

•They took the day off- often on Mondays- to attend the Prize fights, baiting contests, race meetings and pedestrian races held in the locality- just as they always had.

•To make up for lost pay they just worked harder later in the week.

•When steam power became widespread the lower classes worked for 60 or more hours per week.

•As the towns grew, the former recreation spaces disappeared to make way for factories, workshops and cheap housing.

•Municipal parks or private pleasure gardens were often strategically placed to provide a screen between slums areas and more genteel ones, allowing the middle classes pleasant walks.

•These were shut on Sundays (the only day off for workers).

Steam Power

Effect on the Working Class

• A - Acceptance of their traditional activities

• S - Space to play, due to urbanisation

• H - Health due to slaving in the factories

• I - Independence due to being controlled by their social superiors

• R - Rights due to law changes, RSPCA

• T - Time due to long working hours & reduction in Saints Day holidays

They lost : A S H I R T

•The nature of sport, controlled by the new middle classes, became codified (standardised into rules).

•It also embodied the principles of fair play and Christian endeavour espoused in the country’s PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

•With the gaining of the Saturday half day and shorter working hours that resulted from the factories act of 1867 and the industrial relations act of 1871, it gradually became possible for ordinary working men to return to their former recreations.

•These sports were,of course, much changed by the new middle class guardians of morality.

Changes in the nature of sport

Effect of Mass Transport

• Sport could be played more regularly• Players could travel further to matches (internationals)• Spectatorism - working classes could travel to watch

games.• Cheap rail fares meant the working classes could travel

to the countryside and seaside (much to the annoyance of gentry)

• Greater circulation of publicity about sport

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH

• In towns many recreations were either banned or severely curtailed through the zealousness of church men. They were seen to go against constraining social values of the church.Those that survived were either adapted or went “underground”.

• As a result , unruly and riotous behaviour was removed from view. Consequently the back room or cellar of the ale house became the place where people could spend their leisure time in the way they chose to.

The move towards rational recreation

pre industrial post industrial

•Feudal (2 classes) Industrial (3 classes)

•Feudalism Capitalism

•Rural Urban

•Cottage Industry Manufacturing Coal/Iron

•Free Time Machine Time

•Church Constraints Church Support

•Horse Drawn Railways

•Word of Mouth Popular Press

Exam Question

Compare and contrast mob football and association football.

• Think of the W questions:

• Who?

• When?

• Where?

• Why?

• Make comparisons as you go along, rather than talk about one then the other.