Small Nation,Big Sport: Basque Ball – Its Past and Present Cultural Meanings for the Basques

Abstract

The Basques are a nation living in the Basque Country – a territory that is divided between two states – France and Spain. Isolated in the mountainous terrain they have preserved their original culture and collective identity. However, they still need to struggle for recognition, using some elements of their own culture to promote their identity and reject their status as a peripheral region of Spain or France. One of such elements is sport, especially so-called ‘traditional sports’ which this nation has preserved over centuries. The aim of this paper is thus to analyze one example of such a sport – Basque ball and its historical and present situation, connections with other elements of culture and its socio-cultural importance for the Basques.     

Interactions between the Mississippi Choctaw and European Americans through the sport of Toli

Toli or stickball is a Native American sport with pre-Columbian roots that remains an important sport for many Native American groups, especially the Mississippi Choctaw. In 1989 a toli team was created at the University of Georgia, which subsequently established regular matches with a Choctaw team. This paper offers an analysis of matches staged in the late 1990s. Despite the ritualized violence, this study finds that the shared experience of playing toli acts as a catalyst for integration. It is suggested, moreover, that the sport serves an integrative function on several levels: cross-gender, intra-group and cross-cultural. Exploring the nature of toli and ethnic identity, it makes suggestions for increased interaction between Native Americans and non-Native Americans through sport.     

‘Vél’ d’Hiv’ six-day race: the spirit of Paris during the twenties

The Vélodrome d’Hiver, known colloquially as ‘Vél’ d’Hiv’, was a major sports venue located in Paris, not far from the Eiffel Tower. Used for ice hockey, boxing, wrestling and other events, it was above all the scene of a famous cycling competition: the Six-Day Race. It enjoyed such success that it became a source of artistic inspiration, both in painting, literature and film. La Ronde infernale (Infernal Circle), a feature film released in French cinemas in 1928, for example, shows how writer and director Henri Decoin and producer Luitz-Morat, captured the venue, race and popular fervour to depict, with precision and empathy, a typical scene of Parisian life in the 1920s. However, far from being a mere portrait of a bygone era, this film, in the same way as all subsequent figurative portrayals, helped to immortalise this site and establish it in the collective memory, to such an extent that it became a ‘living metaphor’ in Paris. In short, by adopting the principles related to the social history of representations, this paper aims to identify the importance of figurative space in general, and cinema in particular, in the historical, memorial and heritage construction of an ancient temple of French sport.     

The inextricable link between sport and the press in the Victorian era: the example of the ‘Sentinel Cup’

During the Victorian era sport underwent what has been described by academics as a ‘revolution’. What began the nineteenth century as largely informal, recreational pastimes with few written rules and a small commercial fringe was transformed into a codified, commercialised, mass-spectator entertainment industry. During this period an inextricable link developed between sport and the press and both became mutually beneficial; sport provided a continuous conveyor belt of content for journalists to report whilst newspapers provided enhanced publicity and exposure in return. However, the press were not merely commentators and observers of sport and several publications took a more central role in its development and organisation. This is exemplified by the Staffordshire Sentinel, a regional newspaper that circulated across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire, which established the self-titled ‘Sentinel Cup’ in 1892. The competition was officially created to develop junior association football in the region, although key stakeholders also had other alternative motives, and it has been contested for 125 consecutive years, making it the longest continuous football cup in Britain. This paper uses the ‘Sentinel Cup’ as an exemplar of how the press became increasingly involved in sport during the Victorian era and explores the competition’s inauguration.     

De-emphasizing Competition in Organized Youth Sport: Misdirected Reforms and Misled Children

In 1972 I attended the Pre-Olympic Scientific Congress in Munich. For the first time science and sport were brought together in connection with the Olympic Games. The organizers presented a book Sport in Blickpunkt der Wissenschaften (Sport from a Scientific Point of View) that summarized history and state of the art of the main sport scientific approaches (41). The German philosopher Hans Lenk gave a presentation of a broad array of past and present interpretations of sport from a philosophic viewpoint (49). The congress in Munch and Hans Lenk's presentation of sport as a suitable philosophic topic became decisive for my own lifelong interest in philosophy of sport. Soon after the Munich conference some American philosophers convened to launch the Philosophic Society for the Study of Sport. In 1973 the first issue of Journal of Philosophy of Sport was published (35). In several ways 1972 was a turning point for philosophy of sport as a serious academic discipline and for my own interest in sport philosophy. From here sport philosophy found its way to Norway and through this and along several other roads to other Nordic countries.     

The Birth of the Sports Press in Spain Within the Regenerationist Context of the Late Nineteenth Century

This study tackles the birth and development of the sports press in Spain from 1865 to 1899, linked to the need of a bourgeois society to emulate the English lifestyle, characterised by the sports craze. The sports press in Spain fitted extremely well in the late nineteenth century, encouraged by the Regenerationist movement. This is clear by the growth in number of sports publications, by the promotion of physical culture by Regenerationism and by the use of such publications to spread Regenerationism's approach to sport. Both primary and secondary sources were used in the research process. With regard to primary sources, archives containing specific documentation on the origins and early years of the sports press in Spain were examined. A total of 85 sports publications were counted in 18 different towns, but mostly concentrated in Madrid (28) and Barcelona (24). The most widely represented sports in these were cycling (25) and hunting (18). Among those publications that were not specific to one sport, 13 titles included the English-language term ‘sport’, and only two incorporated the newly coined Spanish word, ‘deporte’. Los Deportes (1897–1910) is the most important publication of this period and the foundation stone of modern sports journalism in Spain.     

Between sport and tragedy: Hemingway's passion for bullfighting

ABSTRACT

‘It is a sport’ writes Hemingway on the subject of bullfights in public places, ‘a very wild and primitive sport and, mainly, a true sport of amateurs. I fear however that because of danger of death which it implies, it never has great success among the sporting-men of America and England’ (Death in the afternoon, Gallimard, 1938, p. 27). Hemingway was interested in sport since his young age: athletic, a follower of sports at Oak Park's High School, fascinated by horse racing and later an enthusiast for deep sea fishing, hunting, boxing etc, in other words what we would call today the ‘extreme sports’, he had a passion for bullfighting in Spain, which he tested, although unsuccessfully. In his papers for the Toronto Weekly Star, his novel The Sun also rises published in 1926, and especially in his essay Death in the afternoon, a true treaty of bullfighting, he undertakes a close study of the specific techniques of this very particular sport; yet what interests him most of all is its artistic value. Art or sport? Such is the key question that he poses throughout the pages of this work, which are actually a deep reflection on the origins of the sport and the finality of art; the relations between sport and art are quite complex and, according to him, have to be reconsidered, since writing for him is also linked to moral and physical effort, and is even a kind of ‘intimate bullfighting’.     

The Chinese Government and the Globalization of Table Tennis: A Case Study in Local Responses to the Globalization of Sport

This study aims to explore the relationship between the Chinese government and the globalization of sport. The analysis looks at how the Chinese government has developed and managed its national sport, table tennis, as the sport became more and more globalized. This research developed a theoretical framework and an analytical tool based on Houlihan's model for analyzing ‘global reach and local response in sport’ and adopted a qualitative approach of content analysis and semi-structured interviews. A total of 16 interviewees contributed to this study, consisting of officials from Chinese sports administrations and Chinese scholars specializing in sports studies. This study found that the Chinese government has responded to the challenges associated with the globalization of table tennis in the dimensions of ‘participating in international organizations’ and ‘commercialization’ in two and five different ways, respectively. As this case study of China shows, a country's response to the globalization of sport is not limited to just one of the three types of responses described by Houlihan: passive, participative, or conflictual. In fact, a combination of two types is also possible. In China's case, the response has been both participativeand conflictual, but never passive. This study concludes that since the Chinese government habitually prioritizes the interests of the state ahead of everything else, it has never loosened its grip on the development of table tennis. It has so far demonstrated its ability to control resources when dealing with the impacts associated with the globalization of table tennis. China's socialist market economy model, which features a ‘dual-track system’ and ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’, has generated a unique set of values that serves to rationalize whatever conflicts arise between capitalism and socialism. Although the Chinese government currently handles its relationship with globalization effectively and flexibly, the reform and opening up policies in China are expanding and may expose conflicts of interest between the Communist regime, enterprises, and professional players in the foreseeable future.     

Sport Versus Bullfighting: The New Civilizing Sensitivity of Regenerationism and its Effect on the Leisure Pursuits of the Spanish at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This article analyzes the influence of the new civilizing sensitivity of the Spanish regenerationists in the introduction of sport, in place of bullfighting, during the first third of the twentieth century. Following the colonial collapse of the late nineteenth century and the subsequent demoralization of the country, the regenerationists saw in physical education and sport a way to reform the broken Spanish population. Sport had arrived in Spain in the mid-nineteenth century by way of the aristocracy and would then spread to the urban middle classes, imbued with the reformist sense of the regenerationists. It came in the form of amateur sport, with values of modernity and a civilizing sensitivity which were diametrically opposed to activities such as bullfighting that had such great support from the Spanish public. Amongst the urban middle classes, sport developed as a kind of amateur practice, used for the formation of a more civilized character and the expression of individuality; on the contrary, amongst the working classes, sport spread primarily in its professional form, by way of mass spectator sports (football and boxing), representing a civilizing spurt in severing the link between entertainment and death which was central to bullfighting.     

Developing a winning sport team culture: organizational culture in theory and practice

Abstract

This case study reviews strategies for identifying, establishing and influencing sport team culture and leadership, based on Edgar Schein’s three-level theoretical model of organizational culture integrating artefacts, values and beliefs and core assumptions. Specifically, we examine the success of a professional rugby team in New Zealand, the 2014 ITM Cup champions, the Manawatu Turbos. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with past and present coaches (N = 3) and captains (N = 3). Key findings include the need to formally recognize culture, including establishing and reinforcing values, as a tangible element of sport team management practice. A flat organization structure has helped facilitate a suitable environment for collective leadership to flourish. Implications for sport and business teams are the need to acknowledge culture as a core component, and conduct a culture audit to establish the current and desired culture through an aligned combination of informal and formal transformational leadership.     

From the Baedeker to the bull ring and the boxing ring: spaces of sport in Death in the Afternoon (1932)

ABSTRACT

Through his work, Death in the Afternoon (1932), Ernest Hemingway provides access to international cultural heritage that States-side readers might not have otherwise. In crossing inquiries regarding space and sports together, the intimate relationship between the two comes to the forefront, emphasising Hemingway’s passion for both. Readers may ask themselves if Hemingway uses sports to write about Spain, or if he uses Spain to write about sports: the two topics are intrinsically linked, especially in this work of non-fiction dedicated to the sport of bullfighting. In this analysis based on a geocritical approach and literary cartography, I am going to study the relationship between narrative spaces and sports to pinpoint how and to what extent Hemingway exploits Spanish geography and the sport of bullfighting as representative of a system of sportsmanship values. More precisely, this analysis will identify Hemingway’s spatial intertextuality of bullfighting Spain, the multiplicity of geographic scales, and the stratification of sports spaces. By aligning the Spanish ‘art’ with athletics known to the American audience, Hemingway renders the unknown ‘knowable’, without requiring readers to be ‘always looking at map’.     

试论职业联赛表演业产业链的构成要素特点

随着我国提出从＂体育大国＂迈向＂体育强国＂的发展方针,联赛表演业的发展已成为引领我国迈向＂体育强国＂的关键之一。本文从联赛表演业的产业链视角出发,在找准其产业链构成要素的基础上,重点对产业链构成要素的特点进行分析,以求为联赛表演业产业链的良好运转提供理论依据。     

The Olimpiada Popular: Barcelona 1936, Sport and Politics in an Age of War,Dictatorship and Revolution

In an attempt to undermine the IOC Games of 1936, organisations linked to the international worker sport movement responded to an invitation from the Comité Organizador de la Olimpiada Popular (COOP) to take part in an alternative Olympics, the Olimpiada Popular, in Barcelona in July 1936. It is estimated that some 10,000 athletes and 25,000 visitors were in Barcelona to celebrate the Olimpiada. Following the Fascist rising, which began in Spanish Morocco on 17 July, and reached mainland Spain the following day, the games had to be abandoned, despite attempts by the organisers to go ahead with a truncated programme. This article will assess the importance of the Olimpiada Popular in the context of the worker sport movement during the inter-war years and its significance with regard to the international campaign to boycott the Berlin Olympics.     

Leadership in governance: Exploring collective board leadership in sport governance systems

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and explore a working conceptualisation of collective board leadership in a federal sport network. In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between collective leadership and governance systems specifically within the non-profit sport organisation context, bringing together notions of collective board leadership and collaborative governance. Neither concept has yet been presented in tandem for the benefit of developing sport governance knowledge and practice. As an outcome of the conceptualising, the authors make explicit the multiple levels of the sport governance system and pose two broad research directions that will help advance theory and drive a better understanding of collective board leadership within these types of governance systems. A central premise of this paper is that the sport management field is lacking literature that brings together leadership and governance, and that collective leadership is a topic where the intersection of leadership and governance renders advancement for both bodies of work. The authors offer implications for future work in collective leadership for sport governance.     

The Beginnings of Hockey in 1930s Galicia (Spain): A Female Phenomenon

This article considers the early days of field hockey in Galicia from the perspective of a female phenomenon, as in this region women's teams emerged before those of their male counterparts. The fact that women were the first to play field hockey in Galicia, and formed the driving force behind this sport in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula offers an interesting insight into the phenomenon of sport in 1930s Spain. The prevalence of Galician hockey teams and the presence of Galician players in international competitions provide ample evidence for this research. This article discusses the history of field hockey in Galicia, taking into account the influences of precursors. It also analyses the socialising aspect for women of participation in clubs and other activities related to hockey, as well as the role of sport in the creation of female sporting identities and the initiatives led by the women themselves. The text includes images with the objective of making the protagonists of the dissemination of women's sport in Spain more visible.     

Migration,Knowledge Transfer,and the Emergence of Australian Post-War Skiing: The Story of Charles William Anton

Skiing underwent substantial changes during the post-war years when the sport turned into a multi-billion dollar industry and a leisure activity for the masses. Despite its global nature and popularity, skiing in academic writing has not gained much recognition. This paper explores the role of knowledge transfer during the pioneering phase of post-war skiing in Australia. It describes the life of Charles William Anton, an Austrian refugee from the Anschluss who migrated to Sydney and subsequently became one of the founding fathers of Australian post-war skiing. The following pages show the multi-layered nature of skiing as a global sport by exemplifying how ideas spread from pre-war Europe to post-war Australia. The paper will also provide a case study about refugee knowledge transfer and the ‘productive process of absorption, adoption or rejection of knowledge’ that takes place once an idea has been introduced into a new environment.     

Public policy,physical education and sport in English-speaking Africa

Background: Physicality in human movement characteristic of indigenous sporting forms in Africa is grounded in a multitude of cultures. During the period of colonial Africa, there was the introduction of British sporting forms, policies, and practices in schools and society. It was through schools and missions that the colonists introduced sport activities, with colonial administrators and officers prioritizing athleticism over other activities, evident in after-school sports and games. Thus, schools along with Christian missions served as the instruments of colonial education, culture, and sport, with resources allocated selectively to advance racialized and classist education.

Purpose: This paper explores how colonialism, particularly British forms of sport physicality, impacted African people and deconstructs how curriculum and teaching in physical education (PE) during the post-colonial era is lost to the politics of knowledge in the school–society nexus, revealing how the school curriculum serves as a contested terrain. This contestation discloses how colonial and post-colonial narratives intertwine to influence public policy and school practices in the development and implementation of PE curriculum.

Themes: Examination of the literature produced themes associated with stratification of school subjects and marginalization of PE in particular – the exam-oriented and elitist-oriented education – which characterized British Africa, and made British education part and parcel of policy development and implementation, influencing the nature of education, and PE in particular. The elitist education influenced public policy initiatives, frameworks, and corresponding reforms resulting in stratification of school subjects, the use of public school expenditure, and in the type of teacher training followed. In addition, negative school-wide practices became apparent with public policy, rules, and regulations being loosely coupled with school realities, leading PE to be considered as a ‘toothless subject' in the school curriculum. Besides physicality and learning in PE are not distinguishable from sporting forms and practices, bringing out the emphasis on competitive school sport that has been used to promote nation's prestige, social engineering, and economic development.

Conclusion: A development of way forward for PE in British Africa is considered critical and warranted for adequate development of children and youth and for promotion of the health welfare of society. PE plays a critical part in the nexus between education and development; including meeting individual and social welfare goals of post-colonial British Africa; and as such the needs of all children should be at the forefront of policy development and implementation. What is warranted is a development of a standard-based reform that is grounded in a strong formulated public policy that acknowledges diversity in the centralized system of education; with its implementation showing a balance of PE with after-school sport programs and incorporation of indigenous sporting forms.     

Rugby,Modernity and Controversy: Le P'tit Parigot (1926) by René Le Somptier

The history of sports literature has enjoyed renewed interest over the last few years, with a noticeable increase in the number of Anglo-Saxon works and the revival of French research. Through fiction, it is possible to understand the processes whereby ideas spread and collective imaginaries are constructed. In this regard, this article revisits the history of rugby union through the prism of a cine-novel, Le P'tit Parigot (1926), which was presented in serialised form via the newspaper L'Intransigeant and as a six-episode film in cinemas. It depicts the misfortunes of Georges Grigny-Latour, also known as the ‘P'tit Parigot’, son of an academic and captain of the French rugby union football team. This sport serial is a historical source of precious and useful information enabling us to address the representations of rugby at the time. The article aims to characterise the ambiguous identity of the sport during the Roaring Twenties, an identity that was torn between a Parisian spirit cultivating the idea of rugby as the inheritance of Anglo-Saxon values, and a provincial vision using it as a means of territorial expression.     

藏族传统体育俄尔多的社会功能及文化内涵研究

运用田野调查法、专家访谈法以及文献资料法,对藏族少数民族传统体育项目俄尔多的社会功能及文化内涵进行研究,结果表明:俄尔多集实用性、工艺性、体育性为一体,是藏族文化的重要元素,是我国藏族同胞集体智慧的结晶,应该调动多方力量对其进行有效的保护和合理开发,使其更好地延续下去。而开发的重点应放在其工艺性和体育竞技性上,从制作工艺技术和使用技能两方面进行保护与传承。