Table of Contents
Introduction
Obituary
Short Story
Picture Book
Timeline
Top 10
Conclusion
Works Cited
Victorian Sports
In this paper I plan on talking about the role that sports had during the Victorian era. The reason why I think that this is a good subject to touch upon is because today sports are a big part of our world. I believe this will show what the sports world was like before we were born and how it has evolved since then. There was plenty of sports that were born during the era and developed to become even better. There is a lot that happened during the Victorian Era and the sports were apart of that era.
William Webb Ellis The Rule Breaker, Innovator
William Webb Ellis was the pioneer and father of rugby. Ellis was born on the 24th of November 1806 in the little town Salford, England. Ellis’s parents were James and Ann who got married two years before the birth of William. As a child Ellis lost his father during the battle of Albuera and attended Rugby School with being credited of a bright mind and good cricketer. While at Rugby School Ellis made the sport while playing football and picked the ball up and ran with it. After Rugby Ellis went to college at Oxford and played cricket and wrote while getting his Bachelors and Masters degree.
Ellis’s game would grow among the streets and turn into a popular sport. For this one rule break would grow into one the most celebrated sports internationally with to every victor of the World Cup awarded with the William Webb Ellis Cup. Ellis was also a very spiritual man becoming involved in church at ST George's Chapel in London and then St Clement Danes. Later on Ellis would be a rector at Magdalen in Essex.
Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the rugby game.
Ellis’s game would grow among the streets and turn into a popular sport. For this one rule break would grow into one the most celebrated sports internationally with to every victor of the World Cup awarded with the William Webb Ellis Cup. Ellis was also a very spiritual man becoming involved in church at ST George's Chapel in London and then St Clement Danes. Later on Ellis would be a rector at Magdalen in Essex.
Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the rugby game.
John and The Bear
I once knew a man named John Picton he was a pretty quiet guy who believed in what was right and who was as laid back as you can get. I lost my friend on one night though all because of us all having too much fun. The gang and I had a little too much to drink and explored the nightlife outside. While we were going around I spotted a man and a bear and to me it seemed really cool and I wanted to get a closer look and upon inspection the man was dealing away ten shillings which was more than enough for the gang to have even more fun during the week. So Picton was the man who decided to take on the bear and at the time we were not thinking as much on the drawbacks rather it would just be a fun way to make ten shillings. The man said if you were able to toss the bear than you would win and Picton wasn’t the strongest but we thought it would be funny to see nonetheless. Instead of good ole Picton throwing the bear Picton got tossed and ended up cut up through a window which caused him severe enough injures the Picton would not make it. And that is how we lost our friend Picton.
Victorian Era Sports Picture Book
A popular sport back in the Victorian period which is still considered to be one of the top sports today is golf where you would face others trying to get a small white ball into the whole trying to get the lowest score possible.
Lawn tennis was another popular sport during the Victorian Era where it was most commonly played by the middle class. The game at first was not as competitive where people would gently pat the ball on the lawn but soon people found it more compelling with scores.
A sport that was carried on similar from later times was fox hunting where people riding on horses would follow hounds who had the scent of a fox and hunt it down.
Another popular schoolyard sport similar to baseball was cricket.
Croquet was a sport that was played outside usually on the lawn but sometimes on the beach where competitors would hit balls with a mallet to try and get them through hoops. Croquet was one of the most popular sports during the Victorian Era.
A sport that was created during the Victorian Era was rugby that was created during a soccer match when one student from Rugby decided to pick the ball up and run with it instead of following the rules
Victorian Sports Timeline and Impact
The Victorian Era introduced and developed of many modern sports that are played today. Some of the sports that were made and developed during these times were cricket, cycling, croquet, roller skating, horseback riding, and several water games. Modern tennis first began in Birmingham, England, somewhere between 1859 and 1865. Also The world's oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon championships, were first created in London in 1877. Also the first ever football league was created in 1888 by Aston Villa. Aston Villa was also the most successful English club during the Victorian era winning several titles. Other prominent clubs of the era were Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Preston North End. The end of the 19th century Britain became the most popular sport to watch.
Top 10 Sporting Events During The Victorian Era
Honorable Mention. August 29 1844 First white vs native american lacrosse game indians win - Lacrosse was already big for the native americans but playing the first game against the same people who moved into your home and to beat them must have been a feel good moment for all native Americans.
Honorable Mention. September 10 1858 John Holden hits the first ever home run - Home runs today are the most exciting part of baseball so getting the first ever home run has to be up here.
Honorable Mention. February 4 1860 First professional golf tournament held in Scotland with Willie Park winning - Golf is still seen today as a big sport with many men and women engraving there name the history of golf.
10. November 27 1870 New York Times declares baseball to be the national game - Today baseball is still seen as baseballs major sport in America so capping of baseball as America's sport was a big moment in sports history.
9. April 21 1898 Phillies pitcher Bill Duggleby hits a grand slam at first bat - Pitchers are not suppose to be good at hitting that’s why they pitch rather than hit so when Bill Duggleby hit a grand slam the other pitcher must have been in shock.
8. August 16 1870 Fred Goldsmith proves that the curve ball is not a optical illusion - There was a time that the curve ball was questioned to the point where critics demanded an answer so just proving that the curve ball was a legit movie was pretty cool.
7. December 15 1891 James Naismith creates basketball - Basketball first started out as a gym sport with opponents actually shooting a ball in a peach basket who would have ever thought that the peach basket would evolve in such a way today.
6. February 4 1861 wearing ice skates the Atlantics beat the charter oak club played in a baseball game on a pond - Sometimes people want to play ball so badly they are willing to put on skates to play Americas sport.
5. October 24 1857 Worlds first soccer club Sheffield FC is made in England - Soccer is huge nowadays around the world and especially in Europe so when the first soccer club was created it was the start of something big.
4. June 12 1839 First baseball game played in America - The start of America’s most loved sports.
3. March 10 1896 Pro boxer Bob Fitzsimmons creates popular saying “the bigger they are the harder they fall” by knocking out much larger Jim Corbett - A saying that is still used today who would have ever thought that it was said so far back when the odd man out Fitzsimmons knocked out the giant Corbett.
2. September 13 1842 In the USA, Chris Lilly and Tom McCoy bare-fist fight for 119 rounds, when McCoy falls dead in the ring, after 2 hours 43 minutes. During the fight he had received 100 square blows, and was knocked down 81 times. - Two men fighting literally to the death having no quit in each other it’s a shame one of the competitors died but speaks volume on the competitiveness of the two foes.
1. April 3 1868 A Hawaiian surfer rides the highest tidal wave ever at 50 feet - No comment
Honorable Mention. September 10 1858 John Holden hits the first ever home run - Home runs today are the most exciting part of baseball so getting the first ever home run has to be up here.
Honorable Mention. February 4 1860 First professional golf tournament held in Scotland with Willie Park winning - Golf is still seen today as a big sport with many men and women engraving there name the history of golf.
10. November 27 1870 New York Times declares baseball to be the national game - Today baseball is still seen as baseballs major sport in America so capping of baseball as America's sport was a big moment in sports history.
9. April 21 1898 Phillies pitcher Bill Duggleby hits a grand slam at first bat - Pitchers are not suppose to be good at hitting that’s why they pitch rather than hit so when Bill Duggleby hit a grand slam the other pitcher must have been in shock.
8. August 16 1870 Fred Goldsmith proves that the curve ball is not a optical illusion - There was a time that the curve ball was questioned to the point where critics demanded an answer so just proving that the curve ball was a legit movie was pretty cool.
7. December 15 1891 James Naismith creates basketball - Basketball first started out as a gym sport with opponents actually shooting a ball in a peach basket who would have ever thought that the peach basket would evolve in such a way today.
6. February 4 1861 wearing ice skates the Atlantics beat the charter oak club played in a baseball game on a pond - Sometimes people want to play ball so badly they are willing to put on skates to play Americas sport.
5. October 24 1857 Worlds first soccer club Sheffield FC is made in England - Soccer is huge nowadays around the world and especially in Europe so when the first soccer club was created it was the start of something big.
4. June 12 1839 First baseball game played in America - The start of America’s most loved sports.
3. March 10 1896 Pro boxer Bob Fitzsimmons creates popular saying “the bigger they are the harder they fall” by knocking out much larger Jim Corbett - A saying that is still used today who would have ever thought that it was said so far back when the odd man out Fitzsimmons knocked out the giant Corbett.
2. September 13 1842 In the USA, Chris Lilly and Tom McCoy bare-fist fight for 119 rounds, when McCoy falls dead in the ring, after 2 hours 43 minutes. During the fight he had received 100 square blows, and was knocked down 81 times. - Two men fighting literally to the death having no quit in each other it’s a shame one of the competitors died but speaks volume on the competitiveness of the two foes.
1. April 3 1868 A Hawaiian surfer rides the highest tidal wave ever at 50 feet - No comment
Takeaways
From what I have learned of the history of the Victorian Era in sports was that it was a big thing and that there was a lot of first’s for sports such as baseball, basketball the first golf tournament and other I didn't think that there was much too the Victorian era in sports but I was definitely wrong it was an important era. I also believe that the multi genre research paper was an interesting approach to big graded work. However I do feel as though if we are doing this it should have come earlier so that we could improve on doing a project like this. What I want readers to take away is that the Victorian Era in some ways was very similar to how things are today focusing on people and how competitions were played.
Works Cited
1."RugbyFootballHistory.com." Rugby Football History. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/webb-ellis.html>.
2."William Webb Ellis." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Webb_Ellis>.
3."Victorian Strangeness: Seven Singular Sports from the Victorian Era - BBC News." BBC News. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28546844>.
4. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH18910221.2.60.12>.
5. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/pastimes.html>.
6. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 1 May 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era#Sport>.
7. "Chronology of Sports (1890-1899)." Chronology of Sports (1890-1899). Web. 1 May 2015. <http://worldtimeline.info/sports/spor1890.htm>.