---
title: "History of sport"
chunk: 3/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sport"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:00:25.327189+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

After the late middle ages, early modern sports became less of a violent or military training activity and more of an activity done for recreational benefit in Europe. During the Renaissance, educators, and medical surgeons promoted playing sports because of their numerous physical and psychological benefits to the human body. During this era, there was also support for moderating sports, as it was viewed as more for leisure than a strict procedure.
Open-air sporting events became an attraction for many and people of all different social hierarchies were involved in this new culture. These new radical ideas about sports made their way into books, and films, and eventually became part of the social culture during the Renaissance. As mentioned by Mike Huggins, Gargantua and Pantagruel written by François Rabelais was a well-known novel published in 1534 that mentioned sports and games as a unit, like many other renowned works of literature. All different types of sports became a functional unit in many people's routines and it brought refreshment into people's lives. As the popularity and involvement of sports increased, rules began to form and sports became more regulated so they could be fair.
Sports clubs and associations which provided a sense of unity also became more common, especially for elite sports such as horse racing, cockfighting, hunting, and tennis during the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries. For example, Charles II formed 20 rules for horse racing in 1665. Sports were a form of entertainment for spectators who did not play themselves. There were stake-money contests and prizes in these sports and racing competitions. These modern advancements and developments made about sporting life in the Renaissance in Europe eventually made their way to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

=== Inspiration from the classical world ===
Throughout the Renaissance inspiration was drawn from various historical time periods but especially Ancient Greece and Rome. Connected to this was the renewed belief in the concept of the interrelated health of the mind and body. This gave rise to a reestablishment of public interest in the gymnasium, a place where citizens could train their bodies and thereby improve themselves not just physically but also intellectually. This promotion of 'sound minds in sound bodies' was believed to have the related benefit of citizens becoming better able to support the communities and nations which they belonged to.
The neoclassical era stemmed from the renaissance and harboured a similar respect for the achievements of the classical world in regard to sport and athletics. This is represented by neoclassical art and especially in sculpture which sought to emulate that of Ancient Greece.

== Development of modern sports ==

Some historians – most notably Bernard Lewis – claim that team sports as we know them today are primarily an invention of Western culture. British Prime Minister John Major was more explicit in 1995:

We invented the majority of the world's great sports.... 19th century Britain was the cradle of a leisure revolution every bit as significant as the agricultural and industrial revolutions we launched in the century before.
The traditional team sports are seen as springing primarily from Britain, and subsequently exported across the vast British Empire. European colonialism helped spread particular games around the world, especially cricket (not directly related to baseball), football of various sorts, bowling in a number of forms, cue sports (like snooker, carom billiards, and pool), hockey and its derivatives, equestrian, tennis, and many winter sports. The originally European-dominated modern Olympic Games generally also ensured standardization in particularly European, especially British, directions when rules for similar games around the world were merged.
Regardless of game origins, the Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed more time to engage in playing or observing (and gambling upon) spectator sports, as well as less elitism in and greater accessibility of sports of many kinds. With the advent of mass media and global communication, professionalism became prevalent in sports, and this furthered sports popularity in general.
With the increasing values placed on those who won also came the increased desire to cheat. Some of the most common ways of cheating today involve the use of performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids. The use of these drugs has always been frowned on but in recent history there have also been agencies set up to monitor professional athletes and ensure fair play in the sport.

=== England ===