Sports, Social Change and

Globalisation
Soumya Kumar

 When academics write about sports, they are

capable of accomplishing the impossible:
sucking all the pleasures and fun from the
spectacle
- Foer, F
The Goals of Globalisation

Sports
Sport: noun, An activity involving physical
exertion and skill in which an individual or team
competes against another or others for
entertainment
Origin: late Middle English (in the sense 'pastime,
entertainment'): shortening of disport
Synonyms:
noun: fun, game, play, amusement
verb: play, frolic

Sports
One that gives pleasure; helps to pass leisure
and builds competitiveness
It is learning with fun, mostly involving some
sort of physical participation
It is also a supreme form of body-mind
coordination; body-mind dichotomy is simply
absent as sports is not just a rush of adrenalin
and coping with the environmental factors

Social Change
Social Change implies a shift in the norms and
values that have a bearing on our day to day
social relationships
Norms decide what we should do and values
show how we go about doing those actions
These norms and values provide us with
expectations about the role an individual
assumes

Globalisation

Globalisation: the process by which the world

is said to become a single space; it can be seen
as a compression of space

Globalisation
In Globalization 1.0, which began around
1492, the world went from size large to size
medium. In Globalization 2.0, the era that
introduced us to multinational companies, it
went from size medium to size small. And
then around 2000 came Globalization 3.0, in
which the world went from being small to tiny.
Thomas Friedman

Globalisation of Sports
Sport started to internationalise very long ago
as foreign athletes attended the Greek
Olympics
Many games have been imported and have
become indigenised: Base Ball in Japan and
Soccer in North America; Skiing and Hockey in
Saudi Arabia; of course, Cricket in India

Globalisation of Sports
Mass media and increased leisure have
brought larger audiences, so that sports
organizations or teams can command large
incomes
The income earned by some of the sport
persons is more than the number of fans and
of course the opposite is also true

Fan Base
2010 FIFA World Cup had a huge fan base: ESPN3
(ESPN's broadband network for live sports
programming) clocked nearly 7.4 million viewers,
generating 15.7 million hours of viewing. The
network's World Cup application was
downloaded more than 2.5 million times and
accessed by an average of one million users per
day
Cricket it self has more than a 1.5 billion fan base
and it is only second most popular

Prominent Areas
Use of performance enhancement drugs
Issues of production of sportswear and sport
equipment
Reliance on technology to win, to judge, to
see, to broadcast and most importantly to
earn
Media pays hefty amount to broadcast sport
news

Reach of Sports
FIFA is more global than UN : 208 vs. 192
IOC is larger than UN: 203 vs. 192

Globalisation has been beneficial in

Bringing small and countries in periphery to centre
Muslim women participating in rugby and football
Countries hostile to each host world cups

Reach of Sports
Transcends culture, borders, language, gender, race,
religion, socio-economic status
Sport is probably the most universal aspect of
popular culture; its international dimension is
uncontestable
Involvement of media conglomerates (Network 18,
Reliance Broadcast Network, Reliance Media
works; Disney News Corporation, Time Warner)

Two Problem Areas

Invisible sports women

Relation with nature and impact on

environment

Gendered Sports
The IOC encourages and supports the
promotion of women in sport at all levels and
in all structures, with a view to implementing
the principle of equality of men and women."
Rule 2, paragraph 7, Olympic Charter in force
as from 07.07.2007

Gendered Sports
Has sports been able to bring about change in
gendered perceptions?
Women are still perceived as
Feminine
Weak

Women and Sport

Theme of 5th International Conference, 2012
Together Stronger the Future of Sport,
that everybody deserved the opportunity
to experience sport

Women and Sport

1984 Los Angeles Olympics: Less than 25% of
total participants women
2008 Beijing: 43%
2012 London: Bit less than 50%
Saudi Arabia for the first time sent women
sport persons in 2012
Brunei and Qatar?

Case of Olympics
Approximately 22% of IOC office bearers are
women
Women lead only four per cent of the worlds
205 NOCs
Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines
your altitude - Ms Beng Choo Low
IOC women and Sport Commission member

Olympics: unanswered questions

Why is there a separate category of events for
women?
and
How is eligibility determined?

Eligibility
There are parameters of biological sex under
six categories: chromosomal, genetic,
hormonal, the internal reproductive
structures, external genitalia and brain sex
It is unfair to tell a female that she cannot
compete because her testosterone levels are
too high Dr. Thomas Murray

Unfair fairness
If athletes appear on magazine covers with
painted nails, long hair and makeup, we do
not question their gender or physique .Our
society is trained to have a traditional view of
what women are supposed to look like
Ms Aimee Mullins
Paralympian and Former President
of the womens Sports Foundation

Stereotypes
British weightlifter Zoe Smith was forced to
endure cruel taunts on Twitter and other
social media about her appearance

Gender balance
To provide gender balance sport society
Provide access
Promote
Access

Role of family still crucial: close knit families

always helps

Environment
Focus: to control and manipulate environment
Ecological footprint: hugely enormous
2006 Rugbys Six Nations Tournament in
Cardiff
66.5 tons of waste generated; 1% recycled
24.3 million kilometers travelled by supporters;
284 km average per supporter
(Study by researchers in Cardiff University)

Demand -Supply
National Skill Development Corporations
Sports Skill gap study, requirement estimates:
By 2022
3,64,745 sports coaches
9,76,938 PE teachers
3,63,605 fitness trainers
Estimated that: 78291 special skilled persons:
commentators, scorekeeper, referee etc.

Nature of Sports
We are moving away from Nature
Synthetic environment rules the day and life
is more software oriented than hardware
Soft skin, soft lips, soft feet, soft skills and
software rules the mind and body
This softness, however, does not include the
soft grass, soft leaves, soft rippling sound

Richard Louv
Nature Deficit Disorder
Nature: material world and all of its objects
Nature: the outdoors
Nature: biodiversity, abundance; our capacity
for wonder

Richard Louv
Playing in nature unproductive, alien, cute,
dangerous, televised
Parents prefer their young children to play
indoors as thats where all the electrical
outlets are
People jog with headphones; ski with
headphones

Self Enjoyment
Need to be in company; being out there alone
is something not possible for todays
generation
Making their own environment is not possible;
something needs to be brought
NDD: human costs of alienation from nature
diminished use of senses, attention
difficulties, higher rates of physical and
emotional illnesses