분야
doc It is well known that many traditional sports in the world such as football, dog racing, rugby, horse racing and golf are originated from Britain. The origins and the organization of these sports reflect the contemporary social context in Britain. There are many evidences which can prove this idea. For example, country sports such as horse racing, according to the book " British Culture" that was written by David Christopher, it pointed that hunting and shooting first became organised activities in the Eighteenth century of Britain. At that time, wool was a highly profitable commodity, so the landowners prefer to create space for sheep farming. Poor tenants had no houses to live in the countryside and majority of them went to the expending industrial centres. Then, the rich landowners owned the countryside. Hunting, as the origin of "National Hunt Racing" in horse racing which is traditionally called "steeplechase", appeared in that time. The wealthy aristocrats and landowners raced their horses around the countryside. "Riders jumped over hedges, walls and ditches in preparation for hunting trip, navigating they are using the pointed steeples of village churches as landmark." Nowadays the English Grand National in Britain is the most famous steeplechase in the world according to its difficult fences, its historical culture background. Meanwhile, poor people who had no land to live, had to race small animals such as dogs and birds. The strong tradition of sports that dog racing with greyhounds and pigeon racing began to be popular among them. Because of the movement of creating space in the countryside, poor people and rich people undertaked different subjects in different places, thereby produced different sports. (David, p.206-208)
Another example is the social context of sectarian rivalry in Scottish football in the nineteenth century. Referring to the book " British Culture", it shows that the organization of the two main football clubs that are "Glasgow Celtic" and "Rangers" in Scotland are the reflection of the contemporary historical culture background. At that time, because of the potato famine of the mid-nineteenth, thousands of Irish immigranted to Scotland. Among these immigranters, they have the two main sectarian which were based on their different religions. The two sectarians are the Catholics and the Protestants. "Glasgow Celtic" football club was founded by an Irish Catholic Priest and was only supported by the Catholics. In contrast, the Protestant Irish immigrants in Glasgow adopted Rangers as their team, however, they still supported the Ulster( Northern Ireland football club). Whats more, each club did not sign players who belong to the other religion until 1989. Nowadays, the strong sectarian traditions still existed. During the game, Celtic fans wave the Irish "tricolur" flag, and while ranger fans wave the flag of Ulster. Referring to the book, sectarian rivalry is not only happened in Scottish, it is also exited in Northern Ireland. It gives an example that " It was not untill 2005 that Derry City(Catholic) and Linfield(Protestant) agreed to play each other in a fixture which had been suspended since the troubles of the 1970s."(David, p.208-209)
In addition, sports reflect independent identities among the home countries in United Kingdom according to their distinctive cultures. Through creating the separate national leagues, the national identity is reflected.
First, fans accessaries and sports music are the most direct reflection of the national identities. During the international matches such as rugby and football games, it is easy to clarify fans supporting national leagues from their flags, tattoo, face painting, clothing, songs and rituals. In generally, England fans waved the red, white and blue of the "Union Jack"----the flag of union. However, "as the UK has been restruced through devolution in the 1990s, the flags of the home countries have gradually been adopted by many fans. Now Englands fans carry the flag of St Georges(a red cross on a white background)" while Scottish fans bear ST Andrews cross(two diagonal white stripes on a blue background, also know as "the Saltire"). Welsh flag carry a red dragon on a field of white and green. In Northern Ireland, there are several different flags, supporters carry the one which can reflect their political loyalties, s
