For the love of the game : amateur sport in small-town Ontario, 1838-1895 / Nancy B. Bouchier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bouchier, Nancy Barbara, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sports--Social aspects--Ontario--Ingersoll--History--19th century.

Sports.

Sports--Social aspects--Ontario--Woodstock--History--19th century.

Sports--Social aspects.

History.

Ingersoll (Ont.)--Social life and customs--19th century.

Ingersoll (Ont.).

Woodstock (Ont.)--Social life and customs--19th century.

Woodstock (Ont.).

Ontario--Woodstock.

Ontario--Ingersoll.

Physical Description:

x, 213 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2003]

Summary:

An engaging analysis of how amateur sport became an important part of late 19th-century small-town civic life and local culture. Exploring the complex issues of class and gender relations, community building, and sport reform, For the Love of the Game analyses how local culture shapes the meanings of sport and examines the tensions that exist when athletes and sports teams become important symbols for the community. Nancy Bouchier traces the increasing importance of amateur sport to Woodstock and Ingersoll, two small nineteenth-century Ontario towns, revealing its intricate ties to urban boosterism and middle-class culture. Focusing on civic holiday celebrations, the establishment of organized clubs for cricket, baseball, and lacrosse, and the rise of spirited urban sports rivalries, Bouchier shows that small town interest in sports was much more than a pale imitation of the sporting life of Canada's major urban centres.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0773524568 :

OCLC:

50228214