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Publication date: 01.09.2023
DOI: 10.24412/2782-6570-2023_02_03_8
UDC 796
DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORTS IN THE UK
M.B. Salamatov
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
Annotation. The study’s main goal is to examine the development of physical culture and sports in the UK. Speaking about physical education and sports in the UK, it should first be noted that each of the regions of Britain has its own unique approaches to teaching, learning and practicing sports and other physical activities, so each of the main regions will have to be considered separately. The work is based on research related to such countries as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are quite a lot of sports that are popular in the UK, among them there are both world-famous, loved by people all over the world, and absolutely unique ones, which are not practiced almost anywhere except Britain.
Keywords: physical culture in the UK, sports development in the UK, netball, hurling, Gaelic football and Gaelic handball, cnapan, shinty, bando game.
Introduction. Development of physical culture and sports at the modern stage is the one of the most important tasks of any country in
order to support development of the nation, its health, as well as improvement of national well-being. In this regard, a study based on an analysis of around-the-world sources for obtaining up-to-date information is of relevance and interest [1].
The study’s objective – examine development of physical culture and sports in the UK.
The study’s task: to investigate regional differences in the development of sports and their causes, to reveal the features of the development of physical culture, to analyze the role of the development of physical culture and sports in the UK.
Methods and organization. The work included content analysis of research papers and materials of foreign authors presented in foreign databases. In total, 40 sources were analyzed, 20 were selected
Results and discussion. Development of physical culture and sports in Scotland. Sport play one of the key roles in Scottish culture. The most popular sports are golf and football.
However, other sports, such as curling (not to be confused with hurling), rugby, hockey, Highland games and water polo, are flourishing in Scotland as well.
History of development of football in Scotland is of high interest, since it goes back to 14-15 centuries. In Scottish archives, there are recordings on many variations of football, some of them are associated with carrying the ball in hands, others – with kicking and pushing the ball.
In the Scottish Highlands, the so-called traditional types of football, Ba games, as well as Kirkwall Games, which are held on Kirkwall Island and include various variations of ball games, are very popular.
In Scotland, as well as Ireland, rugby is very well developed. The region also has a number of rugby associations, and Scottish teams are traditionally the strongest ones in the kingdom.
Another peculiar fact is that American football also has a big following, although it is only played in an amateurish manner.
Cricket, however, is not so developed in Scotland; it is most popular in the south, in the region where Scotland borders England.
In the Scottish Highlands, such outdoor activity as cricket is considered as exclusively English sport, which is the reason why many Scottish professional cricket players play in the national team of England, not Scotland.
Few people know, but Scotland is the birthplace of golf. This sport is extremely old, because the first entries on matches on the fields in Scotland date back to the 15th century.
It is no surprise that Scotland is in the number of the best golf countries. The world-known fields are located here: Murfield, Carnoustie, St. Andrews [2].
Scotland is also famous for another traditional sport – shinty. This sport is extremely popular across the country, and shinty teams are participating in a great number of tournaments, the main of which is the Scotland Cup. The game is similar to bandy and is most related to the Irish hurling, but it has slightly different rules [3].
The rest popular sports are cycling and curling.
Curling also originated in Scotland. Despite the fact that is it not that popular in the present, and Canada has more professional teams than Scotland, the Scottish national team is the second best curling team in the world with more than 30 medals.
It should also be noted that the famous Scottish motorsport, which has a huge number of fans around the world, is widely represented in the international arena.
Formula-1, rally, races, endurance races and many others are highly developed in Scotland.
Development of physical culture and sports in England. England is considered as one of the most sportive nations, a number of sports is extremely popular, and coaching in these sports is a prestigious and well-paid job. There are three major sports, in which large investments are attracted every year and their development takes place at all levels.
The most popular sport in England is football. The ancestor of this sport and the country that set a trend for this game is considered to be England. Cricket takes the second place, followed by less popular rugby, golf, badminton, horse races etc. [4-5].
The first mention of football dates back to the second half of the 14th century, when the British began to associate the weather with the ball game. The oldest teams in the world are also English, founded in the second half of the 19th century, and the oldest football competition is the FA Cup, which has been held since 1871 [6].
Football is loved and respected here, the Premier league is considered as one of the best leagues of the world, as well as the most expensive. It is followed by Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany) and La Liga (Spain).
The English Football Association is the oldest football governing body in the world.
The English national tram is rightfully considered as one of the best in the world, since players from this country have won all possible medals and titles in professional football. England is home to hundreds and thousands of legendary players, whose names will forever be immortalized in the annals of history.
The second sport – rugby, main winter sport, although recently professional matches were held in summer.
The third one is cricket. England is a recognized cricket champion, English players are worth their weight in gold and have an unshakable authority.
Lacrosse is an interesting phenomenon in England. Along with basketball, it takes a secondary place, but it is also gaining popularity.
A special attention must be given to a development of martial arts in England. It is known that it was England that gave a great stimulus to the development of martial arts in the world. It was the first to prove that championships and fights can be extremely spectacular and profitable for investors [7-8].
The sports sector at universities and schools is also of great interest. It should be noted that training in sports and physical education in England is mandatory for all children up to the age of 16, and then on a voluntary basis.
Unfortunately, not enough finances are given for teaching sport and physical culture in educational institutions, but it does not prevent talented young athletes from making their way up to the top.
It is thanks to the high level of development of various specialized sports academies and schools that young talents find their place in the
world of sports. Many of them, obviously, prefer to engage in football as the most popular and developed sport in England, but young talents can still be found everywhere [9-11].
Development of sports and physical culture in Wales. In Wales, unlike Scotland and Ireland, the situation in sports is ambiguous, since the Welsh are the most loyal to the English.
Despite the fact that 90% of Wales residents participate in all international tournaments as part of the British national team, in some sports, such as football, the country has its own representatives and national teams.
Native Celtic sports are very popular in Wales and have some relation to Scotland, Ireland and other regions of Celtic settlement.
One of them is cnapan, which is a kind of an ancient football possessing some similarities with the modern rugby. It was actively played until the end of the 90s of the 20th century, and later recognized as a traditional sport.
Another interesting phenomenon is the bando game, which occurred in the 18th century and had a lot in common with shinty, field hockey and throwing. The players were divided into 2 teams, the number of which could reach up to thirty people, armed with clubs with a curved hook, as if in field hockey. The main goal was to get a ball into an improvised gate in a field. Despite the fact that in the 19th century the sport was officially recognized as nonexistent, to this day in some counties they continue to play it at Easter, paying tribute to the traditions of their ancestors.
Speaking of modern sports, in Wales, as in the whole of Britain, football, rugby, athletics (track-and-field), basketball and cycling are extremely popular.
The so-called Welsh baseball, the original sport of South Wales, which until recently was played in some counties of England, is of interest. This sport is extremely similar to lapta and is also traditional in Wales [12].
Development of physical culture and sports in Northern Ireland. Ireland is divided into two parts, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The first one is not included in the United Kingdom, but the second one is [13].
In this regard, there are some problems with holding various kinds of tournaments, organizing leagues and forming teams.
The sports that are taught in schools and practiced in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland include, for example, rugby, cricket and hockey.
Football and netball are arranged separately for Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. However, Northern Ireland does not have its own strong football teams, so the absolute majority of residents of the region prefer to support teams from England and Scotland.
However, despite the absence of strong teams in Northern Ireland itself, its national team shows relatively good results, since about 90% of the players come from one of the strongest football leagues in the world – the English Premier League.
The second in significance in rugby. Both parts of Ireland have their own rugby league and rugby association. The association has about two hundred rugby teams, in which over 20 thousand male players play.
In modern Ireland rugby becomes even more popular than football. Many young families encourage their children engage in this sport, and match broadcasts are gaining a lot of views.
The number of people who consistently attend matches is estimated in the tens of thousands, which has an extremely fruitful effect on the rugby financing in the region.
The other interesting sport in Northern Ireland is the Gaelic games. They include traditional sports and games, which go back in history: hurling, Gaelic football and Gaelic handball.
Hurling is a specific sport, which is played in the summer or other warm season on the grass. It is a team sport, the main task of each team is to score more points and goals than their opponent. Each player has a wooden club of a specific shape. Remotely, this sport resembles hockey or bandy, but it has its own rules.
Much attention is also paid to another sport – cricket, which is very popular throughout the territory of the UK. However, in Northern Ireland, throughout its history, cricket has not been a mass sport. Moreover, evidence suggests that cricket was considered as a sport for the lower classes and ethnic minorities.
The Ireland cricket team has been gaining and continues to gain popularity among fans and annually graduates elite professional players from their academies.
Other sports and physical activities are also popular in Northern Ireland: golf, boxing, wrestling, basketball and ice hockey.
Special attention should be paid to Irish motorsport, which is known all over the world thanks to motorcycle races held in two provincial districts. There are two Grand Prix events in Northern Ireland: Ulster and North-West Grand Prix 200.
History knows many names of Irish who have broken various records and gained fame and respect among racing fans, including Joey Dunlop, George Best, Philip McKellen et al [14-16].
Conclusion. Specifics of developing physical culture and sports in the UK at the regional level are identified by such factors as the national identification of individual regions and nationalities, traditions, the history of the formation and development of sports in the country, the economic component, as well as the climate and terrain of the country. Based on these laws, various sports stand out and develop at different levels, such as rugby, cricket, hockey, football, netball, hurling, Gaelic football and Gaelic handball, cnapan, shinty, English lacrosse, martial arts, bando game, track-and-field, basketball, cycling, Welsh baseball, golf, hockey [17-20].
Conflict of interest. The author declares no conflict of interest.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Mikhail Borisovich Salamatov – Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, e-mail:
For citation: Salamatov M.B. Development of physical culture and sports in the UK. Russian Journal of Sports Science: Medicine, Physiology, Training, 2023, vol. 2, no. 3. DOI: 10.24412/2782-6570-2023_02_03_8