Sport evolved
in various ways during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It became more
organized. Associations sprang up for various sports from archery to swimming
and everything in between. There was a need for overseeing bodies to organize
to agree on rules and organize matches and meets. These associations also
helped some sports became commercially viable. A prime example of this is the
game of Football in Britain. Those amateur pub teams were the beginning of many
of today's teams.
With the
growth in leisure time, more of the population was able to participate in sports.
At least this was true for the male population. It took a while longer for
females to over come the idea that exercise was injurious to their fertility. The
change in attitude can perhaps be best illustrated by the dress worn by women
engaged in sport. The woman tennis player of the 1880s would be decked out in a
dress with bustle and, of course, a hat. The sport minded woman of the 1890s
could wear bloomers with a tailored jacket, a look more in keeping with the
power some women were then seeking through the suffrage movement.
As sport
evolved its commercial possibilities were realized, not solely by
professional teams, but also by other companies; those manufacturers and outfitters
who saw the profits to be made in making and selling the equipment and clothing
needed for these new activities. And, with profits to be made, the growth and
promotion of sporting activities was a given.
Sources
Flanders,
Judith. Consuming Passions: Leisure and
Pleasure in Victorian Britain. Harper Perennial, London, 2007
Huggins,
Mike. The Victorians and Sport. Hambledon
and London, London, 2004
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