British Sports & Colonialism
- devanfernando
- Jul 30, 2022
- 3 min read
Welcome back to Athletic Anthropology! Today I am excited to return to a topic that we have touched on early: sports and colonialism. Today I want to discuss the reasons that sports were used by the British to push their imperialism objectives onto the peoples they controlled. With the increasing reliance of empires on global labor and resources, the role of football (soccer) in British colonies will be explained.
Sport was highly valued by British colonial rulers as it provided an opportunity to further exert control over the behaviors of natives. Since the sports that were promoted by British leadership were developed and codified in mainland Britain, native engagement in these activities was a way that leaders could push British culture onto their subjects. Targeting the younger generation of native peoples from the Americas and Australia, Sports were used to instill British values regarding class and race. Sport was one medium of choice for these rulers because participation in athletic activities would not be regarded as something that was countercultural or odd since these societies had engaged in sport before British rule. Thus, the British were able to use the familiarity of sports to integrate their own British culture and tradition in order to make the native culture more suitable for British goals and ideals. The main sports that were introduced in colonies were cricket, football, and rugby. Cricket was the first to be spread as it was played in by native peoples as early as 1744. While other sports were introduced by Britain such as card games, billiards, and tennis, these sports did not reach similar levels of popularity as football. Another reason that colonial leaders urged native participation into their colonies was due to British reliance of native populations for military reserves. British royalty wanted to encourage physical activity and exercise in colonies as it was necessary to maintain the abilities of native men in case of war. Due to the geographic distance between many colonies and mainland Britain, it was essential to develop local forces in case of invasion. The British dependence was especially clear in India. Throughout the 1940s more than 2 million Indian men volunteered to join British military forces despite revolutionary struggle against Britain. Sports were a valuable training tool for preparing soldiers in times of peace as many individuals participated in these activities with little incentive.
Sport was also encouraged by British colonial leaders as it was useful in maintaining the image of the empire. Widespread participation in sports helped to project Britain as a strong empire filled with prepared populations who could maintain their strength in the mainland as well as in the colonies. Since sports had a masculine connotation, the engagement of natives in these activities further emboldened sentiments which improved the imperialistic image of the British Empire.
The introduction of sports into British colonies was responsible for many cultural changes. The consequences of sports in these areas were both positive and negative as traditional cultures were discouraged but native peoples often used sport as a way of holding onto their roots by adapting games, which we examined in the globalization of sports.
I hope you have enjoyed our journey, I look forward to sharing more excerpts and knowledge from my upcoming book soon. Feel free to leave a question or comment below.
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