RMweb Gold Richard_A Posted February 25 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 25 If it is not in this event, it's not a sport. Classic Sunday viewing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinRS Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 7 hours ago, franciswilliamwebb said: Excellent! Going out on the p*ss is finally recognised! 😉 I do remember a local pub had a dwile flonking trophy. It was an old tin chamber pot, nailed to a cut-off snooker table leg. The game, which I never saw played, involved people pelting each-other with beer soaked rags, so I was told. I have no idea what the rules were. No change of shoes was necessary though a change a clothes was probably a good idea. It sounded like a waste of beer to me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Bernard Lamb Posted February 25 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 25 In my day sport was competitive. These days it can be either competitive or participational. A situation with which my brain cannot cope. The best sport that I have ever heard about. though never had a chance to take part in, was the Hungarian Pentathlon. Back in the days of the old Empire. Totally non PC these days. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibelroad Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 (edited) Killing poor defenceless animals (hope my opinion isn’t too obvious here ) is considered a sport by some but I think the OP has nailed it with his definitions. Vivian Stanshall’s ( Bonzos) song about the odd boy pretty much sums up my experience of sport at school, and my attitude to sport. Edited February 25 by Hibelroad Spelling 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightspark Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 It was explained to me, by someone who valued their own opinions a great deal, that a proper sport was one where people paid to go to into a stadium. So, according to him, the cycle racing I did was not a proper sport, at any level. Someone else told me that the only proper sport was one that featured in the Olympics. I was doing motorbike racing at the time, so not a sport. Perhaps my PE teacher at school was correct, when he wrote in my school report that I "have no sporting aptitude". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted February 25 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 25 2 hours ago, brightspark said: It was explained to me, by someone who valued their own opinions a great deal, that a proper sport was one where people paid to go to into a stadium. So, according to him, the cycle racing I did was not a proper sport, at any level. Isn't a velodrome a stadium? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted February 25 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 25 Any activity in which the end goal is to kill anything except time should not qualify as a sport. Andi 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Oddly enough, that would complete the change of meaning that has been going on since the middle-ages, because hunting with a primarily pleasure focus was top of the list of sports back then, certainly among the well-off. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastglosmog Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Would certainly render the line "to mar their hunting's sport" uttered by a witch in Purcells opera Dido and Aeneas meaningless! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welchester Posted February 26 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26 5 hours ago, Nearholmer said: Oddly enough, that would complete the change of meaning that has been going on since the middle-ages, because hunting with a primarily pleasure focus was top of the list of sports back then, certainly among the well-off. Indeed. It was said that sports were huntin', shootin' and fishin'. Everything else was games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BachelorBoy Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 20 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said: In my day sport was competitive. These days it can be either competitive or participational. A situation with which my brain cannot cope. The best sport that I have ever heard about. though never had a chance to take part in, was the Hungarian Pentathlon. Back in the days of the old Empire. Totally non PC these days. Bernard There's always Finnish baseball. It was an Olympic sport (just once, when the Olympics were, coincidentally, in Helsinki). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 2 hours ago, Welchester said: Indeed. It was said that sports were huntin', shootin' and fishin'. Everything else was games. Pretty much. You might not like those pursuits, but they are the definition of sport. Same goes for horse racing, dogs, etc. I think one of the criteria for sport is whether you can bet on it. Snooker is officially a sport, yet bizarrely darts isn't. They even start by saying "Game on!" Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBL Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I remember my PE teacher saying that a sport is an activity that is done alone or as part of a team, competitive or not, harnessing the power of something that can kill you. Such as mountaineering, motor sports and cycling. Using his reasoning, just going to the shops and back where I grew up would be a sport!!! Savages. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 1 hour ago, NBL said: I remember my PE teacher saying Funny lot PE teachers; some strange ideas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted February 27 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 27 The Global Association of International Sports Federations have a pretty good definition, in my opinion: Quote GAISF uses the following criteria, determining that a sport should:[1] have an element of competition be in no way harmful to any living creature not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier (excluding proprietary games such as arena football) not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 Presumably boxing is not a sport per the GAISF definition, seeing as it is harmful to the two living creatures taking part. And with all the fuss about heading the football, I guess that is not either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) Sports bodies will define “sports” to be what they fancy them to be. Dictionaries will define “sports” in accordance with common usage, allowing a bit of latitude for change over time. Historians and etymologists (entomologists too, if butterfly catching counts) will have things to say about how we got from one meaning to another, the social settings, and a heap of other stuff. Me, you, our former PE teachers, and a bloke at the bus-stop will all have opinions. To paraphrase Humpty Dumpty: sport means what I say it means. Edited February 27 by Nearholmer 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Nick C said: The Global Association of International Sports Federations have a pretty good definition, in my opinion: Quote not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the sport. Funny that they've got card games in it then! Now defunct anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Association_of_International_Sports_Federations Jason Edited February 27 by Steamport Southport Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invicta Informant Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 On 26/02/2024 at 14:55, Steamport Southport said: Snooker is officially a sport, yet bizarrely darts isn't. They even start by saying "Game on!" Darts is a sport. The World Darts Federation, the sport's highest governing body, was one of nearly 100 members of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (which was dissolved in 2023 and replaced by Sport Accord), alongside the FIA, FIFA, the ICC, etc. There has been a World Championship since 1978 and a World Cup since 1977. Rugby Union, by comparison, had their first World Cup in 1987. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIK Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 On 24/02/2024 at 19:41, Mike Buckner said: Did I dream it, or was there a TV programme in which teams competed to build the best (or was it quickest) working layout? Hi, Were you thinking of something like the Channel 5 Great Model Railway Challenge (where Basingstoke club made the final in series 1)?. Regards Nik 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fezza Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 Has anyone quoted Ernest Hemingway yet? "There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Hayter Posted February 27 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 27 (edited) "To be a sport, I think that an activity needs to meet these three criteria: 1. It must be competitive in that there is the potential for victory or loss. The competing to be carried out by persons acting individually or in teams. It may also be carried out by individuals to compare their performance against a personal best. 2. It must contain a physical element requiring strenuous/developed muscular effort i.e. raises the heart rate, increases breathing or generates a sweat. This does not have to be a whole-body effort, but may be confined to part of the body. 3. It requires an element of developed/developing skill." Since Mountaineering has just been mentioned, I will throw is potholing alongside it. Criteria 2 and 3 certainly apply with both but the potential for victory or loss? Victory perhaps against the objective to climb/descend your target and I suppose you could caveat that with "without loss of life" Edited February 27 by Andy Hayter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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