On battleships, behind the trenches of the Western Front and in the midst of the Desert War, British servicemen and women have played sport in the least promising circumstances. When 400 soldiers were asked in Burma in 1946 what they liked about the Army, 108 put sport in first place - well ahead of comradeship and leave - and this book explores the fascinating history of organised sport in the life of officers and other ranks of all three British services from 1880–1960. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book examines how organised sport developed in the Victorian army and navy, became the focus of criticism for Edwardian army reformers, and was officially adopted during the Great War to boost morale and esprit de corps. It shows how service sport adapted to the influx of professional sportsmen, especially footballers, during the Second World War and the National Service years.

The institutional relationship between sport and the military appears to be intensifying. In the US for example, which faced global criticism for its foreign policy during the "war on terror," militaristic images are commonplace at sporting events. The growing global phenomenon of conflating sport with war calls for closer analysis. This critical, interdisciplinary and international book seeks to identify intersections of sport and militarism as a means to interrogate, interrupt and intervene on behalf of democratic, peaceful politics. Viewing sport as a crucial site in which militarism is made visible and legitimate, the book explores the connections between sport, the military and the state, and their consequent impact on wider culture. Featuring case studies on sports such as association football, baseball and athletics from countries including the US, UK, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Brazil and Japan, each chapter sheds new light on the shifting significance of sport in our society. This book is fascinating reading for all those interested in sport and politics, the sociology of sport, communication studies, the ethics and philosophy of sport, or military sociology.

In an often violent and dangerous world military defense systems exercise a major role in the ways societies and nations function, develop their aspirations, protect themselves, promote their identities and shape their destinies. As we are only too aware at this time in global history, conflict, war and peace are deeply entangled and often morally ambiguous. This timely volume of essays offers contributions from Europe, Africa and Australia. It raises fundamental issues about the indispensability of the virtues in the military; the relationship between military and the public good; the nature of combatants and a soldier's responsibilities for humanity and peace; moral and spiritual injury; and new challenges for pastoral care in the armed forces.

This book looks at sport not just as recreation, but as an integral part of contemporary culture, with connections to industry, commerce and politics. It explores the history and theories of sport, and touches on more controversial issues.

Sport is frequently considered to be an aspect of popular culture that is, or should be, untainted by the political. However, there is a broad consensus among academics that sport is often at the heart of the political and the political is often central to sport. From the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany to the civil unrest that preceded the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, sport and politics have remained symbiotic bedfellows. The Routledge Handbook of Sport and Politics goes further than any other book in surveying the complex, embedded relationships between sport and politics. With sections addressing ideologies, nation and statehood, corporate politics, political activism, social justice, and the politics of sports events, it introduces the conceptual foundations that underpin our understanding of the sport-politics nexus and examines emergent issues in this field of study. Including in-depth case studies from North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, this is an essential reference for anybody with an interest in the social scientific study of sport.

Sports development has become a prominent concern within both the academic study of sport and within the organisation and administration of sport. Now available in paperback, the Routledge Handbook of Sports Development is the first book to comprehensively map the wide-ranging territory of sports development as an activity and as a policy field, and to offer a definitive survey of current academic knowledge and professional practice. Spanning the whole spectrum of activity in sports development, from youth sport and mass participation to the development of elite athletes, the book identifies and defines the core functions of sports development, exploring the interface between sports development and cognate fields such as education, coaching, community welfare and policy. The book presents important new studies of sports development around the world, illustrating the breadth of practice within and between countries, and examines the most important issues facing practitioners within sports development today, from child protection to partnership working. With unparalleled depth and breadth of coverage, the Routledge Handbook of Sports Development is the definitive guide to policy, practice and research in sports development. It is essential reading for all students, researchers and professionals with an interest in this important and rapidly evolving discipline.

The Italian love affair with sport is passionate, voracious, all-consuming. It provides a backdrop and a narrative to almost every aspect of daily life in Italy and the distinctively pink-coloured newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is devoured by almost half a million readers every day. Narrating the history of modern Italy through its national passion for sport, Sport Italia provides a completely new portrayal of one of Europe's most alluring, yet contradictory countries, tracing the highs and lows of Italy's sporting history from its Liberal pioneers through Mussolini and the 1960 Rome Olympics to the Berlusconi era. By interweaving essential themes of Italian history, its politics, society and economy with a history of the passion for sport in the country, Simon Martin tells the story of modern Italy in a fresh and colourful way, illustrating how and why sport is so strongly embedded in both politics and society, and how it is inseparable from the concept of Italian national identity. Showing sport's capacity to both unite and deeply divide, this book reveals a novel and previously unexplored element of the history of a society and its state, which will be an essential read for sports fans, historians and students alike.

This book covers the most relevant issues of sports law in Russia, describes the main legal and regulatory rules in the field of physical culture and sport. The monograph consists of 5 chapters and systematically renders the following issues: sport as an area of legal regulation, the peculiarities of the regulation of sport elements, the subject of sports, the regulation of the arrangement of sport events, and the offenses and the responsibility in the field of sport. Legislation updated on March 2016. The book will be interesting to lawyers, attorneys, heads of common Russian and regional sport federations, sport clubs, managers, athletes, coaches, sports physicians, as well as all those who are interested in the legal regulation of physical culture and sports in Russia.