In the
twentieth century attitudes towards sporting activities underwent many changes.
But, then again, there were many events which had an overreaching effect on
western society during this time. Through it all sporting organizations grew
into institutions although there were years of privation during the depression
and the world wars.
The wars,
especially WWI, underlined the need for a fit population ready for the
military. Britain in particular had difficulty finding fit recruits, no doubt a
result of poor nutrition and straightened living conditions in some areas.
Physical training and sports became a part of the military arsenal even for the
more mechanized forces if books like The
Royal Canadian Air Force: Exercise Plans for Physical Fitness are anything
to go by.
The role of
women changed. The suffragette movement eventually got them the vote and more
of a say in how things were run. More changes came about as less restrictive
clothing and less restrictive attitudes about what women could and couldn’t do were
accepted. Women and girls were able and encouraged to take part in fitness and
sporting activities more and more as the century unfolded. Until the present in
the western world, where we take it for granted that women will play sports as
amateurs and professionals.
Not only
were more activities available for the average person, but there were also more
opportunities to be a spectator. These spectator sports, in turn ramped up interest
in watching and perhaps emulating sports heroes.
Sources
Royal Canadian Air Force: Exercise
Plans for Physical Fitness. Information Canada, Ottawa, 1962.
Wiggins,
David K. Sport in America: From Colonial
Leisure to Celebrity Figures and Globalization. Human Kinetics, Champaign,
Il. 2010
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