Religion and the Rise of Sport in England

Abstract

Abstract Sport is everywhere—whether on television, social media, or press, and even in politics. This modern sporting world has been a long time in the making, and at each stage religion has played a part. In the early nineteenth century this was largely negative. Evangelicals led campaigns to suppress sports based on gambling and those deemed cruel, brutal, or disorderly. But in the second half of the century there was a reconciliation between religion and sport. Religious campaigners turned from attacking ‘bad’ sports to promoting ‘good’ sports. ‘Muscular Christians’ and later ‘muscular Jews’ strove for a balance between ‘Body, Mind, and Spirit’. They founded clubs, first for boys and young men, but from the 1890s increasingly for girls and young women also. In the first half of the twentieth century churchgoing was gradually declining. But churches continued to act as centres of the community. Church-based sport reached a peak in the interwar years. Saturday was still the main day for sport, and professional sport on Sunday was taboo. The years since the 1960s have seen dramatic changes in both religion and sport. The commercialization of sport has reached previously unimagined levels. Religion has seen contradictory trends, including accelerating secularization, the multi-faith society, and a resurgent Evangelicalism. There has been the death of the ‘English Sunday’, the formation of Muslim Cricket Leagues and Christian Football Leagues, and Muslim and Christian stars who are outspoken about their faith. Meanwhile, others claim that sport is the new religion.