‘Tri-ang Strong Toys’: Lines Brothers and British Motor Sport in the Inter-War Period

This article explores the confluence of British motor sport, toy car manufacture and leisure during the period from 1919 to 1939. Mass-production toy-making had been bound up with the manufacture of sporting and fancy goods from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards. Motorised transport benefitted from many of the same practices and light engineering techniques honed in cycle manufacture. The fashionable Brooklands circuit was established before the First World War as a proving ground for aeronautical and motorised transport. However, as motor racing resumed during peacetime, especially at Brooklands, a certain upper-class glamour attached to car ownership, whether for racing, leisure or pleasure. The most significant producer of a range of toy vehicles, Lines Brothers, began as family woodworking firm in the 1870s and could legitimately claim to be the largest toy multinational in the world by 1950. Its ‘Tri-ang’ brand of ‘strong toys’ were engineered using similar principles to the mass-produced automotive industry. By the 1930s the toy pedal car would become the ultimate child's accessory, with models of racing marques and other leisure vehicles available at a range of price points. The vehicles allowed children to sit inside and pedal their way around, allowing a degree of freedom and exploration. Manufacturers therefore referenced the sport and leisure practices of adults in creating aspirational pedal cars for child consumers. This raises the question of the extent to which these objects socialised children into ‘adult’ worlds, not just of sport and leisure but also urban and suburban consumer culture and how this, in turn, affected notions of play.     

‘Being in your body’ and ‘being in the moment’: the dancing body-subject and inhabited transcendence

Sports studies is currently dominated by the intellectualist approach to understanding skill and expertise, meaning that questions about the phenomenological nature of skilled performance in sport have generally been overshadowed by the emphasis on the cognitive. By contrast, this article responds to calls for a phenomenology of sporting embodiment by opening up a philosophical exploration of the nature of athletic being-in-the-world. In particular, the paper explores the conceptualisation of immanence and transcendence in relation to the embodied practice of dance, engaging with Merleau-Ponty’s important insight that the body can be a source of transcendence. I also draw on data from in-depth qualitative interviews with professional contemporary dancers to explore dancers’ concepts of ‘being in your body’ and ‘being in the moment’, and to suggest that during the actual embodied practice of dance, dancers do not experience transcendence and immanence as they are conceptualised in philosophy. Rather, I argue, dancers experience a third mode of being that is somehow in-between these two binary terms. I have called this ‘inhabited transcendence’.     

Physical education cultures in Sweden: fitness,sports, dancing … learning?

In a significant article from 1993, Crum describes the purpose of physical education (PE) as a ‘planned introduction into movement culture’. In broad terms, this purpose is tantamount to the stated purpose of Swedish PE in national steering documents. Crum contends, however, that physical educators do not prioritise learning, which is largely due to the different ‘movement cultures’ that constitute the PE lessons. This article explores how practice unfolds in movement cultures that are included in Swedish PE and their implications for teaching and learning in the subject. Some 30 (indoor) PE lessons in eight secondary schools in four cities throughout Sweden were video recorded. At ‘first glance’ these lessons indicated the prevalence of four logics of practice: a physical training logic, a sports logic, a sport technique logic and a dance logic. However, further analysis revealed that the teachers' and students' actions were not entirely in line with a logic of practice of training the body, winning the game, learning sporting skills or learning to dance. Instead, the PE practice largely unfolded as a ‘looks-like-practice’, where the purpose of teaching was blurred, and where any ‘planned introduction into movement culture’ was difficult to identify. In the final section, the authors discuss how physical activity logics can be recontextualised in a PE setting in order to emphasise the educational contribution of PE.     

‘Strong mothers make strong children’: sports,eugenics and nationalism in Brazil at the beginning of the twentieth century

Based on post-structural feminist and gender studies, the present article analyses the importance given to the practice of physical education, sports and exercise as part of the national policy to strengthen the Caucasian-Brazilian population at the beginning of the twentieth century, emphasising the priority made of the White female body as the most important instrument in strengthening the so called ‘White race’. All the editions of the Revista Educação Physica, the first magazine published specifically for physical education and sport in Brazil, was the primary research source. Other books, manuals, reviews from scientific congresses and official publications from the Brazilian Government at the time were also examined. Via the technical analysis of the contents of the aforementioned publications, it was possible to conclude that the Brazilian nationalist discourse at the time sought what was called the ‘refinement of the White race’ by strengthening its women while, at the same time, systematically ignoring Black women.     

‘The Master is the Mistress’: women and fox hunting as sports coaching in Britain

This paper explores the relationship between equestrianism and sport coaching at the turn of the twentieth century. Women were avid and admired participants in fox hunting and other mounted field sports by the mid-nineteenth century, and they expanded on this success by attaining positions of leadership in many hunts throughout Britain, specifically as Masters of Hounds. Women thus attained positions of supreme authority over, and therefore equality with, peers of both sexes well before they obtained wartime jobs after 1914 or achieved the vote in 1918. As Masters, women were teachers, trainers, mentors, managers and bosses; they were some of the first female sport coaches, advancing and revolutionising sport in a variety of ways, though such participation has yet to be fully studied or recognised. By examining the position of Master of Hounds and women’s involvement in these leadership roles, we can see how advances in sport shaped changes in social, cultural, and gender perceptions before and after the First World War.     

Why ‘the best way of learning to coach the game is playing the game’: conceptualising ‘fast-tracked’ high-performance coaching pathways

At the beginning of the 2013/2014 season in England and Wales, 90 head coaches of the 92 men's national professional football league clubs and 20 of the 22 men's professional rugby union clubs had tenure as a professional elite player in their respective sports. Moreover, Rynne [(2014). ‘Fast track’ and ‘traditional path’ coaches: Affordances, agency and social capital. Sport, Education and Society, 19, 299–313] has claimed that many former elite athletes are ‘fast-tracked’ through formal accreditation structures into these high-performance coaching roles. The reasons why former elite athletes dominate head coaching roles in professional sports clubs and why a ‘fast-track’ pathway from elite athlete to high-performance coach is supported remain unclear. Thereby the present study sought to address this issue by investigating the basis for ‘fast-tracked’ head coaching appointments. Eight male directors of men's professional football and rugby union clubs in England were interviewed to examine how particular coaching skills and sources of knowledge were valorised. Drawing upon Bourdieu's conceptual framework, the results suggested that head coaching appointments were often based upon the perceived ability of head coaches gaining player ‘respect’. Experiences gained during earlier athletic careers were assumed to provide head coaches with the ability to develop practical sense and an elite sporting habitus commensurate with the requirements of the field of elite sports coaching. This included leadership and practical coaching skills to develop technical and tactical astuteness, from which, ‘respect’ could be quickly gained and maintained. The development of coaching skills was rarely associated with only formal coaching qualifications. The ‘fast-tracking’ of former athletes for high-performance coaching roles was promoted by directors to ensure the perpetuation of specific playing and coaching philosophies. Consequently, this may exclude groups from coaching roles in elite men's sport. The paper concludes by outlining how these findings might imply a disjuncture between the skills promoted during formal coaching qualifications and the expectations club directors have of elite coaches in these sports.     

‘Let’s work on your weaknesses’: Australian CrossFit coaching,masculinity and neoliberal framings of ‘health’ and ‘fitness’

CrossFit (CF) is one of the fastest growing exercise regimens in the world. However, sociologists have been relatively slow in examining the place of CF coaches in contemporary CF fitness culture. CF coaches are key figures in the production, promotion and consumption of CF fitness services. Therefore, coaches are a sociologically compelling group to examine. Drawing on interviews with male CF coaches in Tasmania, Australia, this paper argues that the way that CF coaches become qualified, interact with clients and understand ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ is shaped by the confluence of masculinity and neoliberalism. As CF grows in Australia alongside other fitness regimens, these findings pose a unique set of concerns for the Australian fitness industry, especially in relation to the ways that CF coaches translate the meaning and practice of ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ to their athletes.     

Why Zico is called the ‘God of Soccer’ in Japan: the legacy of Zico to Japanese soccer

This essay will shed light on the reasons why Brazilian football player Zico has become the ‘God of Soccer’ in Japan by discussing Zico’s unique character and actions and the social condition surrounding him, as well as the role played by the image of a hero held by the Japanese. The study uses the existing literature on Zico’s tenure in Japan along with Zico’s own writings and anecdotes to reflect upon his legacies from various angles. While it emphasizes the ability of an interpreter in constructing Zico’s image, it also encapsulates the key moments and images Zico elicited in Japan, including his brilliant style of play, his memorable hat-trick in his opening J-League match and his figure as a father of Japanese football. The essay will try to show that Zico’s emphasis on the importance of family, as in building a ‘Zico Family’, as well as his strong sense of obligation, professionalism and integrity contributed to creating his image as a legendary human being in Japan.     

If sport's the solution then what's the problem? The social significance of sport in the moral governing of ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ citizens in Sweden, 1922–1998

All over the westernised world, sport has been promoted as a ‘solution’ to many of the social ‘problems’ and challenges that face modern societies. This study draw on Foucault's concept of governmentality to examine the ways in which Swedish Government Official Reports on sport, from 1922 to 1998, define social problems and legitimate governing, and sport as a solution, in the name of benefiting Swedish society. The analysis shows that citizens' ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ behaviour and bodies are in focus of problematisation throughout the studied period. In relation to this, sport is seen as an important tool and solution. Parallel with increased critique of sport in contemporary times, a neo-liberal governmentality is embraced which in turn affect how ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ are thought of in individualistic and rational ways.     

‘Getting fit basically just means,like, nonfat’: children's lessons in fitness and fatness

Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an ‘ideal’ (skinny or muscular) body. The conflation of fitness with thinness, however, is complex and problematic. In this paper, we draw from research conducted with a class of primary school children in New Zealand. Drawing on the theoretical tools of Foucault and utilizing a visual methods approach, we examine how children experience school fitness lessons and construct notions of fitness, health and body. The children's responses illustrated that obesity discourses and body pedagogies ‘collided’ in a way that shaped understandings of fitness lessons in ways inextricably connected with the avoidance of being fat. The children assumed that fitness lessons increased fitness and that being fit was demonstrated by a ‘correct’ corporeal appearance. We argue that body pedagogies inside and outside the school gates shape children's ideas about the body in ways which exclude other understandings of bodies, health, and physical activity.     

‘Being’ in the coaching world: new insights on youth performance coaching from an interpretative phenomenological approach

Since Heidegger's influential text; Being and time (1927/2005), the phenomenological question of what it means to ‘be’ has generated a vast body of work. This paper reports data from a phenomenological study that investigated what it means to ‘be’ a youth performance coach. An overview of the interpretive phenomenological methods used is followed by presentation of coaches and data. Data analysis resulted in the identification of three constituent ‘essences’ of youth performance coaching: (i) care; (ii) a commitment to educate athletes authentically for corporeal challenges to come; and (iii) working with others to achieve a specialised corporeal excellence. The three identified essences manifest themselves in a broad lifeworld that includes settings on and off the field of play (FOP). Given the very different insights into the practice of coaching that emerge from this study, we argue it would be useful for future studies of coaching practice and coach education to extend their focus to take into account coaches' wider lives both on and off the FOP. We also argue for further exploration of coaching by drawing on phenomenological concepts such as care and relationality.     

‘How do you feel? What is your heart doing?’ … ‘It’s jumping’: the body and health in Early Years Education

Policy agendas for early childhood education in the UK as in many countries elsewhere are driven by expectations that play will impact positively on a child’s educational attainment, health and well-being. This paper focuses on health knowledge, social class and cultural reproduction within early year education in England, looking specifically at how health discourse is framed by Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) policy imperatives and subsequently by practitioners as they re-contextualise health knowledge through play across three socially and culturally different early years education (EYE) settings within England. Across the three settings, 15 practitioners and 80 children, aged 3–4 years old, participated in the research. Drawing on the theoretical work of Basil Bernstein particularly his concepts, ‘pedagogic device’ and ‘classification’ (c) and ‘framing’ (f), the paper documents how health is designed, defined, constructed and experienced through play pedagogy within each of these EYE settings. The analyses illustrate how the different organisational and curriculum structures, pedagogical interactions and transactions of each setting cultivate distinctive relationships to health knowledge. These relationships, in turn, play their part in the reproduction of social class and cultural inequalities, despite the best intentions of EYE policy to address these matters.     

‘You can tell kind of about the body’: young children,health, fitness and fatness

Fears of an ‘obesity epidemic’ in New Zealand and elsewhere have led to a growing focus on children’s weight, diet and activities. The aim of this research project was to highlight children’s voices, stepping back from obesity interventions to explore how health and obesity discourses are taken up by young primary school children. Nine 6 and 7-year-olds took part in individual semi-structured interviews which involved play and craft activities to focus discussion. Discourse analysis was used to explore how children talked about bodies, health, fitness and fatness. Children primarily drew on a series of clear-cut dichotomies around good foods and bad foods, and being active, able and fit, as well as constructing health in relation to the body in two distinct ways: fat vs. thin, and big-and-strong vs. small-and-weak. These findings support previous research suggesting that children, from a young age, are taking up narrow corporeal constructions of health in relation to food and fitness ‘choices’, and additionally children assume that these constructions can be ‘read’ off the body. On the other hand, children were also often hesitant, and at times resisted or problematised these straight-forward constructions, occasionally drawing on alternate understandings, including notions of pleasure and practicality, moderation, and being happy and healthy. Future research could explore these ideas further, investigating how children and adults utilise alternate meanings to negotiate the complexity of bodies, health, fitness and fatness.     

Before the ‘Black Ferns’: Tracing the Beginnings of Women’s Rugby in New Zealand

Abstract

Women’s rugby union in New Zealand has increased in popularity over the past decade, preceded by two decades of dominance at the international level and much activism to have the women’s game recognized and supported, nationally and provincially. However, as this paper reveals, women’s engagement with the game, as players, began more than 100 years before the Black Ferns won their first international tournament. Through an examination of several fleeting ‘episodes’ of women’s attempts to play in earnest, as represented in digitized newspapers from Papers Past, it becomes apparent that women’s foray into the hyper-masculinized team sport of rugby challenged dominant sensibilities but was not wholly resisted. The ‘events’ investigated here suggest that gender roles may have been more porous than traditionally invoked by the categories of ‘Victorian’ and ‘New Woman’, contested, albeit intermittently, by the actions of Pākehā and Māori women around the colony.     

‘He is Father Christmas when Man-U wins’: EUFA league and the dynamics of spousal relations in Nigeria

The European Champions League and Premiership have become infectious to Nigerian families. As a patriarchal society, husband fanship influences and alters social interactions before, during and after UEFA matches. Against this background, this paper examines the influence of husbands’ sports fandom on social relations in families and opportunity for deviant behaviour. Findings show that husbands’ identification with European clubs is redefining social relationships at the family level. Families were labelled as: couple as fans of same club, couple as fans of rival clubs and families with one soccer-loving partner. Loss of matches may lead to refusal to eat food, aggressive behaviour, conflict, lack of communication, while victory brings joy, gifts and better bonding and communication. Watching matches outside the home increases the opportunity of husbands to associate with deviant peers and, consequently, deviant behaviour. To keep their marriages, women have converted to soccer lovers to enhance communication and check their husbands’ association with deviant peers.     

‘Notwithstanding the Discomfort Involved’: Fordson's Cup Win in 1926 and How ‘the Old Contemptible’ Were Represented in Ireland's Public Sphere During the 1920s

In the new Irish Free State, soccer, a game that had previously been popular mainly in the metropolitan centres of Dublin and Belfast, was growing rapidly in the southern province of Munster. Simultaneously, there was a push among the grass roots of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to rid itself of the ban on participation in foreign games. Many writing in columns and letters pages of the press at the time felt that this push within the GAA to remove the ban was a sign of a complacency that came from the granting of independence. Throughout the remainder of the decade a continuous debate surrounding Irish national identity and the place of soccer in the new state was played out in the national, provincial and radical presses. All the while, the popularity of soccer in Munster continued apace, and the victory of Fordson FC in the Football Association of the Irish Free State (FAIFS) Senior Challenge Cup final of 1926 cemented the popularity of both that club and the game in Cork for the period. By examining this particular victory and setting it against the wider backdrop of the debate on soccer, it is my contention that it displays strongly the gap between the Irish people's conception of their own sense of ‘Irishness’ and the Irish identity being promoted by many journalists, GAA and Gaelic League enthusiasts and many of the new political élite.