How did sport change from pre-industrial popular recreation to the rationalised sport of today?
The characteristics of pre-industrial popular recreation, the social factors that shaped it, and the rationalisation of sport through urbanisation, public schools and the development of national governing bodies.
A focused answer to OCR A-Level PE on the emergence of modern sport: the characteristics of pre-industrial popular recreation, the social factors that shaped it, and how urbanisation, the public schools and the development of national governing bodies rationalised and codified sport into its modern form.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR wants you to describe the characteristics of pre-industrial popular recreation, explain the social factors that shaped it, and explain how urbanisation, the public schools and the national governing bodies rationalised sport into its modern form.
Pre-industrial popular recreation
The social factors that shaped it
Urbanisation and rationalisation
The public schools and national governing bodies
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR 20184 marksDescribe the characteristics of pre-industrial popular recreation, using a named activity such as mob football.Show worked answer →
A Component 03 Section A knowledge question. Marks for several accurate characteristics applied to the activity.
Award marks for: pre-industrial popular recreation (mob football) was local and based on the village or parish, with few and simple rules that varied from place to place and were passed on by word of mouth. It was occasional, tied to holy days and festivals because the working class had little free time. It was violent and unruly, with large numbers and few limits, reflecting a harsh, rural society. It was largely male and class-divided, with the gentry playing different (often individual) activities. Wagering was common, and the activity was simple, using natural spaces and basic equipment.
Markers reward characteristics such as local, simple and varied rules, occasional (festival-linked), violent, male-dominated and class-divided, applied to mob football.
OCR 20218 marksAnalyse how urbanisation and the public schools rationalised sport in the nineteenth century.Show worked answer →
A Component 03 extended-response (levels of response) question. Markers reward accurate factors (AO1), application (AO2) and a reasoned account of rationalisation (AO3).
Award credit for: rationalisation is the process by which sport became ordered, codified and regular. Urbanisation moved people from the countryside into crowded towns, where there was no space for mob games, so activities were confined to purpose-built spaces with set boundaries and standard rules; the loss of space, plus public-order concerns, ended the old violent games. Industrialisation also brought set working hours and eventually a free Saturday afternoon, allowing regular fixtures. The public schools were central: they took rough games, gave them written, agreed rules to make them safe and fair, used sport to instil athleticism and muscular Christianity (character, teamwork, leadership), and their old boys spread the codified games through universities, the army, the church and the empire. From these came the national governing bodies that standardised rules and ran competitions nationally. A reasoned answer judges that urbanisation forced the change while the public schools provided the codified, moral model that shaped modern sport.
A top answer links urbanisation (loss of space, set hours) and the public schools (codification, athleticism, the spread by old boys) to the rationalised sport of today.
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Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Physical Education (H555) specification — OCR (2016)