The spirit of the game was first nurtured on the playing fields of the English public school, and in the pages of Tom Brown's Schooldays- this Corinthian spirit was then exported around the world. The competitive spirit, the importance of fairness, the nobility of the gifted amateur seemed to sum up everything that was good about Britishness and the games they played. Today, sport is dominated by corruption, money, celebrity and players who are willing to dive in the box if it wins them a penalty. Yet, we still believe and talk about the game as if it had a higher moral purpose. Since the age of Thomas Arnold, Sport has been used to glorify dictatorships and was at the heart of cold war diplomacy. Prime Ministers, princes and presidents will do whatever they can to ensure that their country holds a major sporting tournament. Nelson Mandela saw the victory of the Rugby World Cup as essential to his hopes for the Rainbow Nation. Mihir Bose has lived his life around sport and in this book he tells the story of how Sport has lost its original spirit and how it has emerged in the 20th century to become the most powerful political tool in the world. With examples and stories from around the world including how the sport-hating Thomas Arnold become an icon; how a German manufacturer gave Jessie Owens a pair of shoes at the Berlin games of 1936 and went on to dominate the world of sport; how India stole cricket from the ICC; how an Essex car dealer become the most powerful man in Formula 1; and who really sold football out. Praise for Mihir Bose: 'Mihir Bose is India's CLR James.' Simon Barnes, The Times. 'Mihir's insider knowledge is unsurpassed' David Welch. 'His Olympic contacts are second to none. He knows everybody.' Sue Mott.
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This is a fascinating history of the origins and transformation of sport from a pastime to a business. Mihir Bose is the perfect mixture of dedicated historian, meticulous investigative journalist and an observer who has never lost his view that sport matters only because it has a meaning beyond money and celebrity. --Sir Michael Parkinson
Mihir Bose has covered the sports-politics-business nexus for almost 30 years. His hugely ambitious new book examines not only how sport has become big business but also how this change has altered the original concept of sporting spirit . . . Mr Bose s research is wide and deep, and his prose bright and clear. He has wonderfully illuminated the rise and fall of the sporting spirit.--Simon Kuper, FT
A readable account of sport's tortuous journey from simple hobby to global behemoth.--Chris Maume, Independent
It s a huge undertaking and Bose . . . knows his stuff.--Metro
Excellent new book.--Choice Magazine
It s a huge undertaking and Bose, as you would expect from the BBC Sports editor, know his stuff.-- Metro
Wonderfully rich in historical detail and anecdote. --Ed Smith, Spectator
The Book is full of fascinating detail, told with exuberance and learning. It is a superbly entertaining read.--Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph
Comprehensive, perceptive, well-informed.--Simon Redfern, Independent on Sunday.
Packed with fascinating stories.--We Love This Book
Bose's impressive book collates a vast amount of detail. --Evening Standard
Mihir Bose has covered the sports-politics-business nexus for almost 30 years. His hugely ambitious new book examines not only how sport has become big business but also how this change has altered the original concept of sporting spirit . . . Mr Bose s research is wide and deep, and his prose bright and clear. He has wonderfully illuminated the rise and fall of the sporting spirit. --Simon Kuper, FT
Mihir Bose has covered the sports-politics-business nexus for almost 30 years. His hugely ambitious new book examines not only how sport has become big business but also how this change has altered the original concept of sporting spirit . . . Mr Bose s research is wide and deep, and his prose bright and clear. He has wonderfully illuminated the rise and fall of the sporting spirit.--Simon Kuper, FT
A readable account of sport's tortuous journey from simple hobby to global behemoth.--Chris Maume, Independent
It s a huge undertaking and Bose . . . knows his stuff.--Metro
Excellent new book.--Choice Magazine
It s a huge undertaking and Bose, as you would expect from the BBC Sports editor, know his stuff.-- Metro
Wonderfully rich in historical detail and anecdote. --Ed Smith, Spectator
The Book is full of fascinating detail, told with exuberance and learning. It is a superbly entertaining read.--Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph
Comprehensive, perceptive, well-informed.--Simon Redfern, Independent on Sunday.
Packed with fascinating stories.--We Love This Book
Bose's impressive book collates a vast amount of detail. --Evening Standard
Mihir Bose has covered the sports-politics-business nexus for almost 30 years. His hugely ambitious new book examines not only how sport has become big business but also how this change has altered the original concept of sporting spirit . . . Mr Bose s research is wide and deep, and his prose bright and clear. He has wonderfully illuminated the rise and fall of the sporting spirit. --Simon Kuper, FT
Book Description
How sport lost its Corinthian spirit, and why big business and politicians jumped on the band wagon.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I very much enjoyed reading about how organised sport started on the playing fields of Rugby when it was all about fair play. Then sport became international with the Olympics at the turn of the 19th century. Gambling accelerated the growth of sport, the British spread sport through their empire, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all used sport to promote their dictatorships. Then came adidas, Bernie Ecclestone, ping pong diplomacy and so on until the modern day where sport is big business. But what happened to the spirit of the game? This book is fascinating read.
By Paul Higgins
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you have read very few sports books and want a general overview of key events of the last 100 years then this is for you.
If you have read around a bit then you will soon realise that this feels like a pulling together of an authors research neatly summarised rather than anything insightful in its own right.
It reads very easily but offers nothing new.
500 odd pages read and nothing new learnt.
Average. Very average.
If you have read around a bit then you will soon realise that this feels like a pulling together of an authors research neatly summarised rather than anything insightful in its own right.
It reads very easily but offers nothing new.
500 odd pages read and nothing new learnt.
Average. Very average.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough and exhaustively researched, but it lagged a little for me...
18 Oct 2012
Format:Paperback
I started out really enjoying this book, but it started to drag about two thirds in and I have to confess I largely skim read from there on.
The premise is certainly interesting enough - tracing how sport has developed from being at first nothing more than a form of physical exercise, through the Arnold/Coubertin ideal of sport as a form of morality, embued with a meaning and nobility all of its own, on into the modern day. He covers a fascinating array of sports, from football and cricket, tennis, Formula 1, snooker, the Olympics - but sometimes the transitions from a discussion of one sport to another is a little jarring, and the segues aren't always entirely clear.
Nowadays the idea of sport simultaneously represents the best and worst of mankind, where the ideas of 'playing the game', 'fair play', 'not the winning but the taking part' sit very uneasily alongside sport as a money-making enterprise, a business, a commodity to be bought and sold. It was when Bose starts talking about the business aspects of sport that he lost me. The tangle of politics, backroom deals, business ventures and financial entanglements just bogged down the text, and I found it all a real slog to get through.
However, those who are perhaps more interested in the politics and economics may find it fascinating; my own interest has always been more historical, so I found the sections on Thomas Arnold and Coubertin's establishment of the Olympics especially interesting.
The premise is certainly interesting enough - tracing how sport has developed from being at first nothing more than a form of physical exercise, through the Arnold/Coubertin ideal of sport as a form of morality, embued with a meaning and nobility all of its own, on into the modern day. He covers a fascinating array of sports, from football and cricket, tennis, Formula 1, snooker, the Olympics - but sometimes the transitions from a discussion of one sport to another is a little jarring, and the segues aren't always entirely clear.
Nowadays the idea of sport simultaneously represents the best and worst of mankind, where the ideas of 'playing the game', 'fair play', 'not the winning but the taking part' sit very uneasily alongside sport as a money-making enterprise, a business, a commodity to be bought and sold. It was when Bose starts talking about the business aspects of sport that he lost me. The tangle of politics, backroom deals, business ventures and financial entanglements just bogged down the text, and I found it all a real slog to get through.
However, those who are perhaps more interested in the politics and economics may find it fascinating; my own interest has always been more historical, so I found the sections on Thomas Arnold and Coubertin's establishment of the Olympics especially interesting.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Spirit of the Game
A very comprehensive and well researched piece of work, a must for all PE/Sport students who need to look at the place sport has in, and how it has shaped, modern society. Read more
Published 12 months ago by GeorgeT
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent meticulously researched book
This is a fascinating and detailed book on the effect of politics on sport and how sport progressed from Tom Brown's Schooldays to the modern world. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Chris B.
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