Understanding Sport Culture traces and analyzes the development of the modernfield of sport from its ancient and medieval precursors the festivals ofGreece and ... » 

Understanding Sport Culture traces and analyzes the development of the modernfield of sport from its ancient and medieval precursors the festivals ofGreece and Rome and games such as folk football through to its inception inthe midnineteenth century as a set of activities designed to instill characterand discipline in students in exclusive British public schools up to itstransformation into a global institution and popular spectacle. The narrativealso focuses on and provides a detailed account of the gradual coming togetherof sport and the media. It explains how this relationship has accentuatedsports status as one of the most important sites in contemporary culturewhile simultaneously threatening its existence.As part of the Understanding Contemporary Culture series this book is aimed ata broad range of students from undergraduate to graduate level who want toknow more and be fully informed on sport its relationship to the media andits cultural dynamics. «