PUBLIC SCHOOL ATHLETICISM WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW.. PUBLIC SCHOOL ATHLETICISM AND STAGE (1790 TO 1828 – BULLYING AND BRUTALITY) INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘CLARENDON’ SCHOOLS EFFECTS OF CHARACTERISTICS E.G. BOARDING AND TIME AVAILABLE INTRODUCTION TO TOM BROWN’S SCHOOLDAYS – THE FOOTBALL MATCH.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

We are going to look at the development of sport, through the public schools, and to see how they developed into regulated rationalised activities. We are going to clarify the changing nature and aims of public school sport throughout the nineteenth century.

THE CHANGE IN ATTITUDETO SPORTS AND GAMES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS DURING THE NINTEENTH CENTURY IS BEST VIEWED AS A THREE-STAGE PROGRESSION: THE BARBARIAN PHASE, 1790-1830 THE ARNOLDIAN/ATHLETICISM PHASE THE GAMES CULT

THE CLARENDON SCHOOLS: WINCHESTER – 1382 ETON – 1440 ST PAUL’S - 1509 SHREWSBURY - 1552 WESTMIMNSTER - 1560 MERCHANT TAYLOR’S - 1561 RUGBY - 1567 HARROW - 1571 CHARTERHOUSE – 1611

WHY CLARENDON? - These were investigated by the Earl of Clarendon and his team of commissioners in 1864. Queen Victoria appointed the commission to examine all aspects of public school life. The result was two huge volumes, which included criticisms of many aspects of school life and both general and specific advice for each school. In order to help us understand what it was like in these schools we will be looking at extracts from Tom Brown’s Schooldays. – Written by Thomas Hughes in 1857. It reflected the life at Rugby School under Dr Thomas Arnold. ( the reforming headmaster of Rugby School-1828 – 1842. he was a Doctor of Divinity and an ordained clergyman.

THIS WAS A TIME OF ‘INSTITUTIONALISED POPULAR RECREATION’ WITH ACTIVITIES RANGING FROM THE CHILDLIKE TO THE BARBARIC

TASK…… WHAT WERE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT THIS TIME? DESCRIBE WHAT WENT ON IN THESE SCHOOLS AT STAGE 1

CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS INCLUDE: BOARDING EXPANDING AS A RESULT OF INCREASE IN NUMBERS NON-LOCAL – REGIONAL GAMES WERE ADOPTED AND ADAPTED BY INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS SPARTAN – HARSH TREATMENT AND LIVING CONDITIONS CONTROLLED BY TRUSTEES – TRUSTEES WERE INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE KEEN TO PROMOTE THE SCHOOL AND THEREFORE INVESTED INTO SPORTING SUCCESS ENDOWED – THEY RECEIVED LARGE GIFTS OF MONEY, THERFORE COULD AFFORD RESOURCES, FACILITIES ETC. FEE-PAYING GENTRY- INFLUENCED THE TYPES OF ACTIVITIES THAT DEVELOPED BOYS – CHANELLED ENERGY INTO GAMES

WRITE A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WHAT EARLY PULIC SCHOOLS WERE REALLY LIKE AND HOW DID THEY REFLECT SOCIETY AT THIS TIME? (DETAILED MIND MAP) PLEASE INCLUDE: BULLYING AND BRUTALITY A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY INSTITUTIONALISED POPULAR RECREATION ACTIVITIES ORGANISED BY, AND FOR, THE BOYS THEMSELVES. RANGED FROM THE CHILDLIKE TO THE BARBARIC NO MASTER INVOLVEMENT OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM SIMPLE, NATURALLY OCCURRING FACILITIES USED.

EXTRA INFORMATION FROM TEXT PUBLIC SCHOOL HAS BEEN DEFINED AS: AN ENDOWED PLACE OF EDUCATION OF OLD STANDING TO WHICH THE SONS OF GENTLEMEN RESORT IN LARGE NUMBERS AND WHERE THEY CONTIUE TO RESIDE FROM EIGHT OR NINE TO EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE. THE SCHOOLS WERE TERMED ‘PUBLIC’ BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT CONFINED BY LOCALALITY: PUPILS TRAVELLED TO THEM FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. ALSO, TUITION FEES HAD TO BE PAID. LESSONS WERE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ‘CLASSICAL’ LIFE WAS BRUTAL AND TOUGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS WERE UNRULY PLACES, AND THERE WAS A CONSTANT BATTLE BETWEEN STAFF AND PUPILS FOR CONTROL

ANIMAL SPORTS WERE ALSO POPULAR – EITHER HUNTING OR BAITING/FIGHTING SPORTS. MANY SCHOOLS OWNED PACKS OF HUNTING DOGS AND BOYS WERE ALLOWED TO BRING TO SCHOOL FIGHTING COCKS AND DOGS. DRINKING WAS ANOTHER VICE BOYS WOULD PARTAKE IN IF ALLOWED, ALONG WITH SPORTS, THIS WAS FROWNED UPON AND AGAIN WOULD CAUSE CONFLICT CRICKET WAS ONE OF THE FEW ACCEPTABLE GAMES IN THE FIRST PHASE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SPORT DEVELOPMENT FLOGGING, BULLYING AND FAGGING WERE COMMON (FAGGING – SMALLER BOYS HAD TO LOOK AFTER THE WANTS OF SENIOR BOYS) SCHOOLS OFTEN UNDERSTAFFED – 1800 EATON HAD ONLY EIGHT MEMBERS OF STAFF TO 550 BOYS! HEADMASTERS WERE AGAINST SPORT AND SPENT MUCH TIME OF THEIR ENERGY BANNING THE PURSUIT OF SUCH RECREATIONS.

THEY THOUGHT……. THEY FELT THAT SPORT WAS FOR ‘FLANNELLED FOOLS AND MUDDIED OAFS’, AND THAT EDUCATION WAS ALL ABOUT GODLINESS AND GOOD LEARNING.

BE AWARE……. ALSO: REGENCY PERIOD – A TIME OF HIGH FASHION ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRINCE REGENT AT THE TURN OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES MELTING POT – MARBLE GAME! HOUSE SYSTEM – CENTRE OF SOCIAL AND SPORTING LIFE HARE AND HOUNDS – AN ADAPTATION OF FOX HUNTING WHEREBY ONE BOY RAN AHEAD OF THE PACK AND DROPPED PAPER WHICH ACTED AS THE SCENT. ALL RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES WERE ORGANISED BY THE BOYS FOR PURE ENJOYMENT AND TO RELIEVE BOREDOM OF ACADEMIC WORK.

MASTERS HAD NO INFLUENCE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM IN BOTH SOCIETY AT LARGE AND IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTROL WAS LOST AND TYRANNY AND CHAOS RESULTED. GAMES AND SPORTS WOULD ULTIMATELY PROVIDE THE MEDIUM FOR SOCIAL CONTROL, BUT SEVERE, IMPOSED DISCIPLINE BY MASTERS AND RESENTFUL REBELLION AND HOOLIGAN BEHAVIOUR BY BOYS SHAPED THE NORM AT THIS EARLY STAGE. CRICKET, THE RURAL GAME ALREADY ORGANISED AND PLAYED BY BOTH CLASSES, WAS IMMEDIATELY ADOPTED BY THE SCHOOLS.

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