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


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.

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WITHDRAWN AND A PROFESSIONAL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)



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.






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)




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?