DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETICS

DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETICS

WE NEED TO KNOW…… CHANGES FROM RURAL FESTIVALS AND WAKES TO AMATEUR ATHLETIC SPORTS MEETINGS  EMERGENCE OF AMATEUR ATHLETICS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORKING CLASS INVOLVEMENT  SUMMARY OF MODERN OLYMPIC MOVEMENT  PARTICIPATION AND BARRIERS IN RELATION TO ATHLETICS 

YOUR TASK…….  MAKE

UP FLOW CHART TO SHOW THE MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETICS AS A RATIONAL ACTIVITY  BEFORE DOING SO, MAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING SLIDES

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETICS SHOULD INCLUDE:   

THE GROWTH OF URBANISATION LED TO THE DECLINE OF WAKES AND RURAL FAIRS. PROFESSIONAL ATHLETICS BECAME ESTABLISHED IN THE BIG INDUSTRIAL CITIES. THE LOWER CLASSES TOOK TO RUNNING AS A SOURCE OF INCOME, ALTHOUGH VERY SMALL AMOUNTS.

CHEATING AND TRACKS 

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EXPLOITATION WAS COMMON, JUST AS WITH PEDESTRIANISM (CHEATING), HOLDING BACK IN ORDER TO LOSE, RUNNING TO THE BOOK (DISGUISING ONE’S FORM TO KEEP A GENEROUS HANDICAP), RINGING IN (WHERE PROMOTERS CONSPIRED TO SIZE THE HANDICAPPING UNFAIRLY) WERE WIDESPREAD. PURPOSE BUILT TRACKS WERE MADE – 1830s AND BY THE 1850s MOST MAJOR CITIES HAD FACILITIES. THIS MEANT, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WOULD SPECTATE AND WAGER. ALSO, PROPER TRACKS INEVITABLY MEANT RECORDS WERE KEPT AND MORE STRINGENT TIME KEEPING.

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AMATEUR ATHLETICS CLUB IN 1866 WAS FORMED AS A RESULT OF EX-UNIVERSITY GENTLEMAN AMATEURS WHO WANTED TO COMPETE, BUT NOT ALONG SIDE PROFESSIONALS. THEY WERE DESPERATE TO KEEP IT SEPARATE FROM THE CORRUPTED PROFESSIONAL FORM. THEY ADOPTED THE EXCLUSION CLAUSE AND THE AMATEUR ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION (AAA) WAS ESTABLISHED IN SOCIETY WITHOUT COMPROMISING ITS UPRIGHT IMAGE. EVENTUALLY, THE EXCLUSION CLAUSE WAS WITHDRAWN AND A PROFESSIONAL BECAME SOMEONE WHO RAN FOR MONEY RATHER THAN SOMEONE FROM THE LOWER CLASS.

 LOOK

AT THE EXCLUSION CLAUSE P64, ESPECIALLY THE LAST TWO LINES.  IT NOW OPENED UP THE SPORT TO ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY WITHOUT COMPROMISING ITS UPRIGHT IMAGE.  DO TASK 8

REMEMBER:  AMATEURISM

AND PROFESSIONALISM WERE LINKED TO CLASS AND STATUS BEFORE THE TITLES WERE LINKED TO WHETHER A PERFORMER WAS PAID OR NOT

THE MODERN OLYMPIC MOVEMENT  BARON

PIERRE DE COUBERTIN (A FRENCH ARISTOCRAT STARTED THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES IN 1896)

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BY THE TIME THE GAMES COME TO LONDON IN 1908 THESE IDEALS HAD BEEN CRUSHED AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT HAD BECOME BOTH AN AGENT OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE IN A WORLD MOVING TOWARDS WAR AND A MEANS OF REVIVING NATIONAL MORALE. THIS WAS IN CONFLICT WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL IDEAL OF PLAYING SPORT FOR ITS OWN SAKE – INTRINSIC MOTIVATION. - THE GENLEMAN AMATEUR DID NOT COMPETE FOR NONESSENTIAL REWARDS, DID NOT TRAIN SERIOUSLY, NOR AIM TO WIN AT ALL COSTS.

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THIS CONFLICT OF IDEALS WAS CAPTURED IN THE FILM CHARIOTS OF FIRE 1981 – SETTING WAS PREPARATION OF TWO ATHLETES FOR THE 1924 PARIS GAMES. MAIN CHARACTERS: HAROLD ABRAHAMS FOR BEING TOO SINGLE MINDED IN HIS DESIRE TO WIN. LORD BURGHLEY, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAD THE CASUAL ATTITUDE OF THE GENTLEMAN AMATEUR. ERIC LIDDELL (SCOT) – WHOSE NEED TO WIN WAS BASED ON A CALVINIST BELIEF THAT ‘GOD MADE ME FAST’ – HE NEEDED TO USE HIS TALENT TO SATISFY GOD IN THE TRUEST SPIRIT OF MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY. SHOW COPY OF CHARIOTS OF FIRE . (THIS WILL BE SHOWN OVER THE NEXT 2 WEEKS)

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SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER: THE THINKING OF THE TIME WAS THAT IF THEY WERE NOT GENTLEMEN ,THEY COULD NOT BE AMATEURS HE HAD OPEN VIEWS ON CLASS AND SPORT. HOWEVER, BY DEFINITION, THOSE ABLE TO TRAVEL THE WORLD TO AN OLYMPIC VENUE WOULD CLEARLY HAVE NEEDED THE MEANS AND FREE TIME TO DO SO. IT WAS SOME TIME BEFORE De Coubertin’s dream truly embraced all classes, colours and creed.

REMEMBER: 

OVERALL HIS AIM WAS TO FOSTER PATRIOTISM, ATHLETICISM AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN NATIONS. HIS IDEAL WAS SET AGAINST THE PUBLIC SCHOOL IDEAL OF PLAYING SPORT HONOURABLY AND FOR ITS OWN SAKE – THE GENTLEMAN AMATEUR DID NOT COMPETE FOR EXTERNAL REWARDS, DID NOT TRAIN SERIOUSLY, NOR AIM TO WIN AT ALL COSTS. BY THE TIME THE GAMES CAME TO LONDON IN 1908, THOSE IDEALS HAD LARGELY BEEN CRUSHED AND INTERNATIONAL SPORT HAD BECOME BOTH AN AGENT OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE IN A WORLD MOVING TOWARDS WAR AND A MEANS OF REVIVING NATIONAL MORALE.

HOMEWORK:  WHAT

ARE THE MAIN ATHLETIC EVENTS TODAY?  WHAT FACTORS HAVE HELPED DEVELOP ATLETICS AND WHAT IMPACT HAVE THEY HAD ON PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE?  WHAT MIGHT THE BARRIERS BE THAT PREVENT PARTICIPATION?