Figure 1.--We notice Japanese boys in a variety of athletic uniforms, but we are not always sure just what sport is involved. Notice the caps have chin straps, but not all the boyswear them. |
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Some sports like football (soccer) seem almost universal. Other sports are very specific to certain countries. Many athletic competitions were developed by the ancient Greeks in the Olympic competitions. No country is more important to the development of modern sports than England. Many sports have English origins (rugby footbal, soccer, cricket, and hockey). These sports were spread around the world because of the importance of the British Empire so that now England often looses international competitions to its former colonies. Cricket is very popular in South Asia and the Caribbean, Rugby is very popular in Ne Zealand and Fiji. American has developed some important sports, some based on English influences (baseball and football) and others entirely unique (basketball). Canada originated ice hockey, based on the English sport of hockey. France played an important role in tennis. Scotland played a major role in golf. Only Australians play Australian rules football or "footy". We are developing country sports pages in the activity area of each country section. Currently we only have separate pages on America and Canada, but we are working on several other country sports pages.
We do not have a lot of information on Australia yet. We know that both football (soccer) and rugby are popular there. Only Australians play Australian rules football or "footy". Another popular sport is tennis.
The most popular sport in Canada is ice hockey and many Canadian boys play the sport. The Canadians maintain that ice hockey actually originated in Canada. Despite the fact that Canada was a British colony, Canadians appear to have pursued American sports like baseball, basketball, and football more than British sports like cricket and soccer. We notice both French-Canandian as well as nglish-Canadian boys playing sports like baseball. A Canadian reader writes, "Notice, that even at the height of the British Empire, Canada had North American sports." We do not know if there was any difference between the French and English community as to sports. We do not know if experiences such as Little League Baseball and beginning in the 1970s soccer leagues were also common in Canada.
We have very limited information about sport in Czech Republic or before the creation of the Czech Republic, the former Czechoslovakia. As in most countries, football (soccer) is by large margins the most important sport. We see youth teams playing games with other Czech teams as well as foreign teams, especially Germany. We are not sure how these teams are organized. They appear to sports clubs rather than school teams. We also notice that gumnastics is very popular in the Czech Republic. Agains it seems to be organized primarily through sports clubs.
No country is more important to the development of modern sports than England. Many sports have English origins (rugby footbal, soccer, cricket, and hockey). These sports were spread around the world because of the importance of the British Empire so that now England often looses international competitions to its former colonies. Cricket is very popular in South Asia and the Caribbean, Rugby is very popular in New Zealand and Fiji. Cricket may well be the most destinctively English sport. The leisuely way in which a match is played make in more of an event than a game. as in most of Europe, however, it is football soccer that has captured the imagination of English boys. Unlike America, girls do not seem nearly s captivatd by it. Rugby is much less widely played. Social class has had a major impact on sport in Britain. Football was one seen as a working class sport. ome public (exclusive private) schools once banned football in favor of rugby.
France played an important role in tennis.
We have very little information on German sports until after World War II. We have no information on organized youth sports in Germany during the first hslf of the 20th century. We do not boys engaged in athletics, track and field. As far as we can tell this was not widely organized through the schools. German schools seem to have tsaken a very scademic approch with little emphadsis on sports. We have no indication yet that there were inter-scool or intra-mural sports competitions in Germany. We do believe that there were sports clubs. I'm not sure but I believe that before World War II this involved youths and not boys. Even in the 1950s, most photogrsaphs show German boyds playing sports in their regular clothes rather than uniforms. In term of sports, we not many images of German boys playing football (soccer), but few playing other sports.
Some sports like football (soccer) seem almost universal. Other sports are very specific to certain countries. Many athletic competitions were developed by the ancient Greeks in the Olympic competitions.
We have only limited information on sports in Japan. We know that baseball is very popular. But we have little information on other sports. Japanese scgools have a very academic focus, thus sports are not promoted in the school as is the case for America. We notice Japanese boys in a variety of athletic uniforms, but we are not always sure just what sport is involved. Hopefully our Japanese readers will povide us some insights on sports in Japan.
A HBC reader tells us, "I can't resist mentioning the game of korball that originated in the Netherlands just one hundred years ago. I have never seen a game and I didn't even know it existed until a recent television documentary on the occasion of the game's centenary.
We do not know a great deal about Russian sports at this time. We do nknow that the Russians have a passion for hockey. This is, however, a game that can not be played without expensive to maintain arenas making it difficult for children to partipate. Rather soccer appears to be the game most popular with Russian children. There are many clubs that
the children can join to play sports for. Some of the popular sports for Russisn children are hockey, soccer, skiing, skating, chess, and gymnastics. We have little acrual information, but it seems that the opportunities for children to engage in sports are far more limited uin Russia than in the West. Certainly the resources once lavished on sports have been subtantially reduced. The Soviet Union was a sports giant at international competitions. Russian newspapers today lament the lack of success of Russian athletes in international competitions. Even during Soviet times, the demphasis of sports were to demonstrate the glories of the state and thus focused on identifying and training superior atheletes no on providing recreational activities for the average child. We have little information on current trends in Russian sports, but hopefully our Russian leaders will provide some insights.
Scotland played a major role in golf.
We know very little about sporys in Tajikistan. We have no information at this time about traditional sports. We do notice that football appears to be a passion among Tajik boys. No matter where you go, you can always observes boys playing football or at least kicking a fooball around. As soon as boys get hoime from school the footballs come out. We rarely see them playing any other
sport. This seems to be almost entirely a boy activity. Rately do you see girls with soccer balls.
American has developed some important sports, some based on English influences (baseball and football) and others entirely unique (basketball). Canada originated ice hockey, based on the English sport of hockey. Sports are probably more important in America than in
other country. American sports like sports all over the world have been influenced by the sports developed in Britain, in part at public (exclusive private) schools. American sports, reflecting the relative isolation of the United States in the 19th century, developed in a different direction than in most other countries. As a result, soccer
is not a major proffessional sport in the United States--although since the 1970s it is commonly played by children. The principal sports played in America Baseball, basketball, and football) are exclisuively played in America or in a small number of other countruies. The one important American professional team sport played internationally is Canada. American teams, however, mostly play other American teams or Canadian teams.
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