Very few sports were ever mass participation events. Mass participation sports were often quite brutal games when they were played, c.f. football before there were association rules for the game. Sport was more often to be played by the few and watched by the many which was half okay since all sport was enjoyed live and it rarely attracted the attention of statisticians, outside of cricket. In the age of television 'television sport' is much more about television than it is about sport, and that is the first of several levels of stupefaction with it. The less said about sport in schools the better; at best it assists schools in forming hierarchies and justifying inequality.
Very few sports were ever mass participation events. Mass participation sports were often quite brutal games when they were played, c.f. football before there were association rules for the game. Sport was more often to be played by the few and watched by the many which was half okay since all sport was enjoyed live and it rarely attracted the attention of statisticians, outside of cricket. In the age of television 'television sport' is much more about television than it is about sport, and that is the first of several levels of stupefaction with it. The less said about sport in schools the better; at best it assists schools in forming hierarchies and justifying inequality.
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