Many sports originated as isolated folk customs and were diffused like other folk culture, through the migration of individuals. The contemporary diffusion of organized sports, however, displays characteristics of popular culture.

Folk Culture: Origin of Soccer

Soccer, the world’s most popular sport—known in most of the world as football—originated as a folk custom in England during the eleventh century. It was transformed into a part of global popular culture beginning in the nineteenth century.

As with other folk customs, soccer’s origin is obscure. The earliest documented contest took place in England in the eleventh century. According to football historians, after the Danish invasion of England between 1018 and 1042, workers excavating a building site encountered a Danish soldier’s head, which they began to kick. “Kick the Dane’s head” was imitated by boys, one of whom got the idea of using an inflated cow bladder. Early football games resembled mob scenes. A large number of people from two villages would gather to kick the ball. The winning side was the one that kicked the ball into the center of the rival village.

Popular Culture: Diffusion of Soccer

The transformation of football from an English folk custom to global popular culture began in the 1800s. Football and other recreation clubs were founded in the United Kingdom, frequently by churches, to provide factory workers with organized recreation during leisure hours. Sport became a subject that was taught in school as physical fitness.

Increasing leisure time permitted people not only to participate in sporting events but also to view them. With higher incomes, spectators paid to see first-class events. To meet public demand, football clubs began to hire professional players. Several British football clubs formed the Football Association in 1863 to standardize the rules and to organize professional leagues. The word soccer originated when the word Association was shortened to assoc, which ultimately became twisted around into the word soccer. Organization of the sport into a formal structure in the United Kingdom marks the transition of football from folk to popular culture.

Beginning in the late 1800s, the British exported association football around the world, first to continental Europe and then to other countries. For example, Dutch students returning from studies in the United Kingdom were the first to play football in continental Europe in the late 1870s. In Bilbao, Spain, miners adopted the sport in 1893, after seeing it played by English engineers working there. British citizens further diffused the game throughout the worldwide British Empire. In the twentieth century, soccer, like other sports, was further diffused by new communication systems, especially TV.

The global popularity of soccer is seen in the World Cup, in which national soccer teams compete every four years, including in Russia in 2018 for men and in France in 2019 for women (Figure 4-17). Thanks to TV, each men’s final breaks the record for the most spectators of any event in world history.

Popular Sports: World Cup Soccer

Participating countries and hosts for (a) men and (b) women.

Figure 4-17 Full Alternative Text

Olympic Sports

To be included in the Summer Olympics, a sport must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries and on four continents (50 countries for women). The 2020 Summer Olympics included competition in 34 sports: aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing/kayaking, cycling, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, football (soccer), golf, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, skateboarding, softball, sport climbing, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.

Regionally Distinctive Sports

Most other sports have diffused less widely than soccer. Cultural groups still have their own preferred sports, which are often unintelligible to people elsewhere. Consider the following:

• Cricket is popular primarily in the United Kingdom and former British colonies, especially in Africa, South Asia, the South Pacific, and Caribbean islands.

• Ice hockey prevails, logically, in colder climates, especially in Canada, the northern United States, northern Europe, and Russia.

• Wushu, martial arts that combine forms such as kicking and jumping with combat such as striking and wrestling, are especially popular in China.

• Baseball, once confined to North America and the Caribbean, became popular in Japan in the late nineteenth century after it was introduced by American Japanese returning from studies in the United States, as well as Americans working in Japan. It was added to the 2020 Olympics.

• Australia rules football is a sport distinct from soccer and the football played in North America. Distinctive forms of football developed in Australia, as well as the United States and Canada, as a result of lack of interaction among sporting nations during the nineteenth century.

• Lacrosse was traditionally played by the Iroquois, who called it guhchigwaha, which means “bump hips.” European colonists in Canada picked up the game from the Iroquois and diffused it to a handful of U.S. communities, especially in Maryland, upstate New York, and Long Island.

Despite the diversity in distribution of sports across Earth’s surface and the anonymous origin of some games, organized spectator sports today are part of popular culture. The common element in professional sports is the willingness of people throughout the world to pay for the privilege of viewing, in person or on TV, events played by professional athletes.

At the same time, sports can be a strong force for cultural and regional identity. For example, Major League Baseball teams have strong regional identities (Figure 4-18). Lacrosse has fostered cultural identity among the Iroquois Confederation of Six Nations (Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras) because they have been invited by the International Lacrosse Federation to participate in the World Lacrosse Championships, along with teams from sovereign states such as Australia, Canada, and the United States (Figure 4-19).

Regions of Baseball Fans

The area of support for a baseball team is an example of a functional region. The Yankees and Red Sox have support in regions of the country outside the Northeast.

Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse

Pause & Reflect 4.2.2

How many of the Olympic sports are played at your school?