Baseboll för anarkister

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the emergence and establishment of the ball game ‘brännboll’ (lit. burnball) in Sweden. In doing so, it contributes to the knowledge of how sports have spread historically and how they have changed when established in new places. First of all, the existence of the concept of brännboll throughout history is examined. Although it can be traced back to the 17th century, the game we now commonly call brännboll is a modified form of the English game of rounders that was introduced to Sweden at the end of the 19th century. Unlike the closely related game of baseball, brännboll never developed into a modern sport with standardised rules, organisations and bureaucracy. This is seen in the study as a consequence of the fact that brännboll gained a foothold in the ‘play movement’ rather than in the modern sports movement, and that physical education was considered more important in brännboll than performance and results. As a result of this process of pedagogisation, the game developed into a simplified, stripped-down and more static game compared to its English predecessor.