Sports during the Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution in England changed sports forever. Man had always played games -- many ancient societies had forms of soccer and the ancient Greeks had the Olympic Games. However, sports were for the elite, upper classes, not the masses. The industrial revolution changed this. Everyone had more free time, including the new middle class, and sports activities were one popular choice. Sports became more organized as teams and organizations formed, especially in the sports of rugby and soccer. The growth in participation and organization led to the launch of the modern Olympic Games in 1896. Sports in the 21st century have their roots in the developments of the mid-to-late 1800s.

As technology developed new ways of manufacturing, workers moved from the manual labor of farms to factories. At first, the workers faced hours equal to or longer than those on the farm, but eventually labor laws limited those hours and this led to free time that most workers had never experienced before. To fill up this new-found free time, workers developed new pastimes and games and changed traditional games. 
The large number of participants required more structure in the forms of organizations, teams, and sets of rules.

Factory owners, who once did all they could to prevent their workers playing sports like soccer, which they considered dangerous and low class, now changed their views as sport was more likely to keep their employees healthy. In fact, many employers encouraged the formation of factory teams to try to foster feelings of solidarity among the workforce.

The industrial revolution brought several other important changes. For example, new sports like speed walking and running became spectator sports. Some speed walking events in the mid-1800s attracted crowds of more than 10,000 spectators. Walter George, a mile runner, was one of the most famous athletes of his day and held the world record in the mile from 1886 to 1912. Interestingly, the stars of these sports weren’t wealthy people from the upper classes, as was true for sports in the past, but from the middle class. George was an apprentice for a chemist who started walking and running on weekends, first for the exercise and later for the money.

Once sports emerged as an option for the middle class, newspapers began to cover them, generating more interest. In addition, fans began to bet on the outcome of the events, particularly the walking and running races, creating another sports-related industry. Finally, once participation increased and more money came into sports, both participants and fans demanded consistent rules and safety measures to reduce injuries and deaths.

The development of rules, organizations, and teams in England helped spread small, local games to the British colonial empire. This led to sports developing on a global scale as non-British countries adopted many of the sports that originated in England.

Before the Industrial Revolution, sports like soccer and variations of rugby were played, but only by the upper class. When the Industrial Revolution began, and many workers started moving to the factories, this changed. As the workers started having more free time, they subsequently started playing sports and pursuing other pastimes.

Soccer was one of those pastimes. Although before the Industrial Revolution it was a much different game than the one we know today, the basic concept was the same. As factory owners realized that sports were keeping the workers healthy, they let them play. Many factory teams were created and they started some of the first soccer tournaments as they played nearby factories. Some of these teams created back in the Industrial revolution and the period following, are the teams that are now known as Manchester United, Arsenal and West Ham, all teams in the England’s top division, the Premier League.

The workers played soccer and other games similar to it. Soccer spread to universities and schools across the nation. One of these schools was The Rugby School in Rugby, England. At this School in the early 19th century, rugby, a sport that would soon shock the nation, was born. One day, as pupils at the school were playing a soccer match, one of the players, William Webb Ellis, caught a ball, which at the time was allowed, but then ran with it, which was not. This marked the start of rugby, and when the word got out it spread quickly. Rugby was one of the rougher sports of the latter Industrial Revolution, with more than 71 deaths reported in a span of three years during the middle of the 19th century. Due to the fact that many people were getting hurt, many factory owners were complaining because their workforce was being rapidly affected by these injuries. The Rugby Union was formed in 1871, and along with it a set of rules which drastically cut down on the number of deaths were adopted. These rules also helped spread the sport internationally, turning rugby into one of the most played games by the start of the 20th century. American football traces its origins to rugby.

Following the Industrial Revolution, new or changed games and sports continued to spread around the world. People all over the world absorbed them into their own cultures, and sports quickly became one of the most popular pastimes, to play, watch, bet on, or cover for the newspaper. Following this huge popularity burst in sports, Pierre de Coubertin, a French historian, created the International Olympic Committee, and led the movement for a modern Olympic Games. This movement was successful, and in 1896 the first Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in a modern interpretation of stadiums used to host the ancient Olympic Games. These games were the biggest international sports tournament yet, attracting hundreds of athletes from 14 nations and hundreds of thousands of spectators. This first Olympic Games led to more Games each four years that quickly turned into one of the most watched sporting events in the world.

The Industrial Revolution brought a time of great innovation, not only in the means of technology used in manufacturing but in sports. Not only wealthy people were able to play sports and other games, but poor people were able to play sports with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and their new-found free time. Factory workers and university students created new games as well as changed old ones. Along with the creation of these games came the importation creation of organizations and the subsequent rules that followed. These organizations and more structured games helped spread them all over the world, leading to a new found interest in sports, resulting in the Modern Olympic Games and other sports extravaganzas we know today.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/sport_01.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_George_(athlete)

http://angelpig.net/victorian/football.html

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Sports-In-Victorian-England-63687610.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution

http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution

http://prezi.com/51nwr0m74pua/victorian-england-sports-and-hobbies/