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1a. Pre- Industrial Britian

  • Period in history before the Industrial Revolution - 1850

Social Class

Upper Class

Lower Class

  • land owners

  • rich

  • cockfighting

  • real tennis

  • fox hunting

  • worked the land

  • little money

  • bare knuckle fighting

  • mob games

  • mob football

Lower Class

Mob Sports:

  • Played by peasants

  • Played between villages

  • Usually like football or rugby

  • Physical force

  • Little skill

  • Mass numbers

  • Only on holy days or festivals

Mob Football:

  • whole villages work together to try to get a ball to a target

  • only rule is no murder

  • win by hitting the ball against the wall 3 times

  • played by everyone - male dominated

Upper Class

Cockfighting:

  • upper class would bet large sums of money

  • made illegal in 1849

Real Tennis

  • complex and sophisticated laws

  • legally restricted to the upper class

  • required expensive equipment and large amounts of space

Activities for Both Classes

Upper Class

Lower Class

Pedestrianism

  • sponsored the working class to make money

  • often gamble on the races

  • competed in walking races

  • often the footmen who competed

Cricket

  • amateur

  • compete for fun

  • professional

  • compete for money

amateur - played for fun, not financial gain

professional - played for financial gain and to earn sponsors

Gender

  • Females were seen as weaker, and so could not participate in dangerous or strenuous activities

    • Male dominated sports - upper class = fox hunting

    • Male dominated sports - lower class = mob football

    • Female sports - upper class = archery

    • Female sports - lower class = frock races

Law and Order

  • Very little law and order - reflected in games played

    • lower class played violent and sometimes fatal activities

  • Few, if any, rules

  • Cruelty to animals - fox hunting and cockfighting

Education and Literacy

Time Availability

Money Availability

Transport Availability