Sports are the reflection of British cultures.doc

Page 6 of 6Feini DaiThe Research EssayBritish Life and CultureDr Philip Woods4/28/2010 Sports are the reflection of British culturesBritain, as a traditional and strong country in the area of sport, has a long history for playing sports. Many branches of sports are originated from. Because of its distinctive culture background that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales together constitute the island of Great Britain. Sports are used to help to unite the home countries, but it has also exhibited independent identities among the four home nations.Meanwhile, the origin and organisation of spots in Britain eflect the contemporary social context. Sports, as a reflection of cultures, is an important view to understand British life and culture.It is well known that many traditional sports in the world such as football, dog racing, rugby, horse racing and golf are originated from Britain. The origins and the organization of these sports reflect the contemporary social context in Britain. There are many evidences which can prove this idea. For example, country sports such as horse racing, according to the book “ British Culture” that was written by David Christopher, it pointed that hunting and shooting first became organised activities in the Eighteenth century of Britain. At that time, wool was a highly profitable commodity, so the landowners prefer to create space for sheep farming. Poor tenants had no houses to live in the countryside and majority of them went to the expending industrial centres. Then, the rich landowners owned the countryside. Hunting, as the origin of “National Hunt Racing” in horse racing which is traditionally called “steeplechase”, appeared in that time. The wealthy aristocrats and landowners raced their horses around the countryside. “Riders jumped over hedges, walls and ditches in preparation for hunting trip, navigating they are using the pointed steeples of village churches as landmark.” Nowadays the English Grand National in Britain is the most famous steeplechase in the world according to its difficult fences, its historical culture background. Meanwhile, poor people who had no land to live, had to race small animals such as dogs and birds. The strong tradition of sports that dog racing with greyhounds and pigeon racing began to be popular among them. Because of the movement of creating space in the countryside, poor people and rich people undertaked different subjects in different places, thereby produced different sports. (David, p.206-208)Another example is the social context of sectarian rivalry in Scottish football in the nineteenth century. Referring to the book “ British Culture”, it shows that the organization of the two main football clubs that are “Glasgow Celtic” and “Rangers” in Scotland are the reflection of the contemporary historical culture background. At that time, because of the potato famine of the mid-nineteenth, thousands of Irish immigranted to Scotland. Among these immigranters, they have the two main sectarian which were based on their different religions. The two sectarians are the Catholics and the Protestants. “Glasgow Celtic” football club was founded by an Irish Catholic Priest and was only supported by the Catholics. In contrast, the Protestant Irish immigrants in Glasgow adopted Rangers as their team, however, they still supported the Ulster( Northern Ireland football club). Whats more, each club did not sign players who belong to the other religion until 1989. Nowadays, the strong sectarian traditions still existed. During the game, Celtic fans wave the Irish “tricolur” flag, and while ranger fans wave the flag of Ulster. Referring to the book, sectarian rivalry is not only happened in Scottish, it is also exited in Northern Ireland. It gives an example that “ It was not untill 2005 that Derry City(Catholic) and Linfield(Protestant) agreed to play each other in a fixture which had been suspended since the troubles of the 1970s.”(David, p.208-209)In addition, sports reflect independent identities among the home countries in United Kingdom according to their distinctive cultures. Through creating the separate national leagues, the national identity is reflected. First, fans accessaries and sports music are the most direct reflection of the national identities. During the international matches such as rugby and football games, it is easy to clarify fans supporting national leagues from their flags, tattoo, face painting, clothing, songs and rituals. In generally, England fans waved the red, white and blue of the “Union Jack”-the flag of union. However, “as the UK has been restruced through devolution in the 1990s, the flags of the home countries have gradually been adopted by many fans. Now Englands fans carry the flag of St Georges(a red cross on a white background)” while Scottish fans bear ST Andrews cross(two diagonal white stripes on a blue background, also know as “the Saltire”). Welsh flag carry a red dragon on a field of white and green. In Northern Ireland, there are several different flags, supporters carry the one which can reflect their political loyalties, such like the Irish Nationalists and the Ulster loyalists, or other sectarian groups.(David, p.211-212) England Scotland Wales IrelandWhats more, sports music is also reflected the independent identities among the four home nations. Before the 1990s, at sporting occasions of all the home countries, “God Save the Queen” which is the UK national anthem was played before the games began, however with the gradual trend towards devolution, this situation is changed. Each nation prefers to perform their representative hymns. For example, at football and rugby games, before the game begins, each home nation will perform their meaningful folk music. In Scotland, the music is normally “Flower of Scotland”, a song celebrates the defeat of the English of the battle of Bannockbure in 1314 in Scotland, which is written by a Scottish folk band. In Wales, the anthem before the game begins is “ Land of my father”, a folk elegy of Wales that written in the nineteenth century. In Northern Ireland, “A Land Oh Derry air” is sung, a traditional Irish folk song of the 1850s. Different sport musics show fans and players loyalities to their home country and are proud of their history and traditional culture. Thus, supporters symbolic accessories and the local music that performed before the games begin reflect the independent identities and unique folk culture among the home nationals.(David, P.212)On the other aspect, in generally,each home nations pupular sports are different. Referring to the passage “Sports in United Kingdom” on the website of Answers.Com, it said that the most popular sports is association football, however, in northern Ireland Gaelic games are the most popular sports. Wales, Rugby Union is perceived from outside as being the national sport. Meanwhile, criket is pupular in England and Wales, but is less popular in the other home nations.furthermore, even in Football World Cup and Olympic Football match which are the most important sports events in the world, each home nation has its own team. From the news “Gordon Browns British Olmpic football tem dream is kill off” on the website of Telegraph, it says that “Gordon Browns dream of British Olmoic football team at London 2012 has been formally killed off after three of the four home nationas said they wounld not take part.” The main reason why they refused this proposal is that they think that creating a British Olmoic football team will directly threaten their status as independent football nation. Thus, not only each home nations popular sports are different, but also in the world area of sports, their national identities are also very strong.In Britain, an estimated 3 million people take part in some sorts of sporting activities every week, which are included walking, swimming, snooker, cycling, football and angling are the most popular sports. Furthermore, watching sports games, listening to it and reading about it through the local newspapers are also English peoples major leisure time activities. Britain is a traditional sport country where people enjoy various sports games. Sport is a part of British life and culture, and shows their energetic spirit and amb