Publisher's Synopsis
The status of association football as "the people's game" has masked the continued success of other sports such as bowls or quoits, whilst the enormously popular northern cricket leagues have been virtually ignored. Little is known about how ordinary people joined clubs and what kinds of sociable activities they enjoyed "after the match", nor about the local authority support.;In trying to understand sport as an integral part of our popular heritage, this volume looks beyond the economics of professional spectator sport to find out how sportsmen came to embody the hopes and beliefs of whole communities. A Stanley Matthews, or a boxer like Tommy Farr, might become a "star", a new kind of hero who exemplified the values and hopes of an entire nation. Englishness, Scottishness and Welshness have all been defined and sustained through sport.;This collection draws upon material from newspapers, club records and conversations with former players to illuminate what sport has meant to the British working people. It is aimed at students and teachers of social and sports history.
