Sport


Defining sport is a very complex matter; the term constantly evolves to
cover new ranges of human endeavour. Indeed, the well-known philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein argues that sports are defined, not by a set of common
characteristics, but by new activities sharing some common aspects with
existing sports, but not necessarily sharing any common characteristics with
all. Credence to this comment may be taken from the ever-more-diverse set of
activities that are at least claimed by some as sports - from chess to
cheerleading, from sheepdog trials to ballroom dancing. What do all of those
activities have in common?

However, many of the above would not be recognised as sports by fans of more
traditionally-recognised sports, and using Wittgenstein's "extension"
approach it would be quite reasonable to claim a "battle of the bands"
competition as a sporting event and thus playing rock and roll as a sport, a
definition which makes "sport" so broad as to be potentially useless and
quite different to the common understanding, fuzzy though that may be.

Attempts to define sport

A more pragmatic approach to defining sport may be to look at common usage
of the term. It was originally used to describe the animal and bird-killing
activities (such as shooting, fishing and fox hunting) of the English
aristocracy, whereas the precursors of modern team sports played by the
lower classes were termed "games". However, as time progressed, perhaps with
the beginnings of the modern Olympic movement in the late 19th century,
"sport" began to be used to describe a wide range of athletic pursuits.
However, sport retained, and still retains an implication of respectability
and seriousness that a mere "game" or "hobby" does not, and organizations
responsible for leisure activities continually seek recognition as sports by
joining sports federations such as the IOC. These bodies are seemingly
fairly inclusive as to what they are prepared to accept as sports, and thus
the activities listed above, amongst others, have been accepted.

However, it is possible to make a reasonable operational definition of sport
using characteristics most sports do have in common. Such an operational
definition can be found below:

   * Sports are activities based around physical activity, involving use of
     characteristics such as strength, stamina, speed, dexterity and other
     physical skills.
   * A sport has codified rules known to all players. These vary somewhat
     depending on the location, timing, and specific event (for instances,
     golf courses have specific local bylaws, and each tournament may have
     its own special conditions), but there are a core of relatively
     invariant, agreed rules.
   * A sport involves a competitive aspect, either explicitly by competing
     against other participants, or by means of an ordinal (usually numeric)
     scoring system. There are organised competitions for the sport, rather
     than purely ad-hoc, casual competitions.
   * Sport is performed primarily for the enjoyment of either or both of the
     participants and/or any audience watching.
   * A sport is defined as a physical and/or mental activity, played
     individually or in a team, with or without an opponent to win (e.g.
     football) or to achieve a target (e.g. mountaineering) or just for
     recreation and well being (e.g. swimming).
   * The primary goal of competition is to win according to the rules of the
     competition, rather than as a subsidiary to aesthetic, artistic, or
     financial achievements in the performance of the sport (thus excluding
     the "battle of the bands" or a sheep-shearing competition).
   * Sport is unscripted and the results of competitions not prearranged.
     Sports such as gymnastics involve set routines, but the scoring of
     those routines is judged entirely on the performance of that day.
   * Paleontological evidence for prehistoric sports (is there any)?
   * Medieval sports - the aristocracy and the plebs
   * The great rule codification of the 19th century and the rise of
     spectator sports
   * 20th century and the electronic media and the growth of professional
     sport
   * The recent rise in "extreme"/adventure sports, growth of divergent
     participant and spectator sports.