Preparing the Boys for War Compulsion or Coercion? Physical Education and Training, 1919-1939
Post 1919 saw an emerging organisation of national resources as anticipation of a potential second major war became more widespread. One prime resource was the youth of the nation – and much was achieved through massive investment in physical activity. This paper demonstrates how – through the mechanisms of sport, physical education and outdoor activities – such changing perceptions initiated major developments in schools from curricula to the establishment of school medical services. Evidence is collated from academic research, personal testimonies and records of schools. In the past the widespread view was that fascist and communist states coerced their young men, whilst UK developments were purely voluntary. This paper seeks to challenge that, demonstrating that whilst UK changes might not have been overly directed by law, the full machinery of the state was extensively and actively involved in changing attitudes, beliefs and pursuits.
Building a British Superman: Physical Culture in Interwar Britain
The celebration of the 'body beautiful' in the 1920s and 1930s is commonly associated with fascist Italy or nazi Germany. Focusing on the physical culture movement, this article argues that the endeavour to build a 'superman' was not confined to fascist dictatorships or Britain's small fascist parties. The physical culture movement played an important role in cementing the link between manliness, physical fitness and patriotism in interwar Britain. Stimulated by the Edwardian 'national efficiency' campaign, physical culturalists represented physical fitness as an obligation of citizenship and a patriotic response to the needs of the British Empire. This aspiration acquired a renewed sense of urgency after the first world war. Despite a penchant for rituals and displays which some might read as fascist, the relationship between fascism and the physical culture movement was complex and contested. During the early 1930s, some physical culturalists championed fascist leaders and ideology and parts of the physical culture press moved to the extreme right. The effort to align British physical culturalists with fascism was unsuccessful, however, and in the late 1930s the physical culture press backed the centre-right National Government which launched a National Fitness Campaign in the face of a growing threat from nazi Germany.
Soccer and Society: South Wales, 1900-1939
In 1927, Welsh football reached a peak when Cardiff City beat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final. The game's popularity had grown at a notable rate in early twentieth-century south Wales and by 1939 football was an integral part of the region's popular culture. Rugby's claim to be the national sport looked tenuous when measured against the equally large crowds that football attracted and the significantly larger numbers who played the 'dribbling code' across the region. Soccer and Society surveys soccer's early history in south Wales. Through an exploration of the entire spectrum of the game, from international matches and professional clubs to schoolboy games, this fascinating book illustrates how soccer was shaped by wider social, cultural and economic forces. Drawing on a broad range of primary sources, Martin Johnes places football in its wider historical context. He shows how soccer was incorporated into a redefined national identity that emerged from the depression and political realignment in inter-war south Wales, and demonstrates the significance of the sport for twentieth-century Welsh history and culture.