Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport

by Steen, Rob

• ISBN13: 9781408152157
• ISBN10: 1408152150
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-07-31
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport

Summary

Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2014
Spectator sport is living, breathing, non-stop theatre for all.
Focusing on spectator sports and their accompanying issues, tracing their origins, evolution and impact, inside the lines and beyond the boundary, this book offers a thematic history of professional sport and the ingredients that magnetise millions around the globe.

It tells the stories that matter: from the gladiators of Rome to the runners of Rift Valley via the innovator-missionaries of Rugby School; from multi-faceted British exports to the Americanisation of professionalism and the Indianisation of cricket. Rob Steen traces the development of these sports which captivate the turnstile millions and the mouse-clicking masses, addressing their key themes and commonalities, from creation myths to match fixing via race, politics, sexuality and internationalism.

Insightful and revelatory, this is an entertaining exploration of spectator sports' intrinsic place in culture and how sport imitates life – and life imitates sport.

Author Biography

Rob Steen is a sportswriter and senior lecturer in sports journalism at the University of Brighton. He has written for the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Melbourne Age, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times, where he was deputy sports editor. He has published over a dozen books and written for a multitude of magazines, including the Observer Sports Monthly, and is also a longstanding columnist for Cricinfo, the world's leading cricket website.

Table of Contents

Introduction: It’s Only Bats And Balls (But We Like It) - Why Spectator Sport Matters More Than It Did (And More Than It Should)
1.The Sound (And Fury) Of The Crowd: Sport and Spectators
2.Class Wars: How Spectator Sport Began
3.Odds and Sods: Sport and Gambling
4.Ringmasters Inc: Sport and Governance
5.Sport and Professionalism
I From “Gentlemen” to Shamateurs
II Pride and Prejudice
6.Well-Paid Slaves: Sport and Players’ Rights
7.The Us Syndrome: Sport and Internationalism
8.Reluctant Partners: Sport and Politics
9.No Normal Sport In An Abnormal Society: Sport and Race
I – Disunited States
II - For the Common Wealth
10.The Grass Ceiling: Sport and Sexuality