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Contact: [email protected] Abstract Abstract This thesis examines Britain’s relationship with the Olympic Games between 1908 and 1920, a period which witnesses Britain’s first serious entrance into the Olympics and the development of the Olympic Games into the movement which it is today. This thesis uses the British media as the primary source to analyse and examine the development of the nation’s attitudes and identities towards the Olympics. The Games of this period, from London (1908), Stockholm (1912), Antwerp (1920), along with the preparations for the aborted 1916 Berlin Olympics are considered. The reaction to the British performance at each of the Olympics is the main focus of the research. There is also extensive examination into the periods in between the Games, as at this time the most plentiful discussion regarding the British approach appears, particularly that after the Stockholm Olympics. In an attempt to create a well rounded picture of how the Olympics are perceived across Britain, sections of the press in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been examined. Throughout the thesis there are reoccurring themes that appear. British perspectives towards the Olympics and their own identity are considered, and throughout there is analysis regarding this. Athletics is at the centre of British Olympic involvement, but field events are viewed as a poorer cousin to track events by those in England in particular, this thesis examines this identity. The period of this thesis is prominently remembered for the First World War, and consequently the relationship between Britain and Germany from an Olympic perspective is examined. 1 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments My first thanks must go to those that I have forgotten to mention, as undoubtedly through my own forgetfulness and having so many wonderful and supportive friends it is easy to miss one or two of you. A special thank you must go to my supervisors, Dr Thomas Hennessey and Dr Dikaia Chatziefstathiou. Both have provided me with the support, encouragement and sometimes a necessary forceful word or two to work harder. It would have been impossible to get to this stage without them, thank you for all of the hard work that you have put into this thesis. Proof reading is a necessary evil, and the help of Allison Brown has been invaluable over recent weeks. I hope reading over my mistakes hasn’t put you off academia and has inspired you to secure a PhD of your own in the near future. I hope when that happens (which it will soon I promise), I can return the favour. For the last four years I have been based within the sports science department and shared an office with three fellow PhD students; Jenna Smith, Lucinda Howland and Samantha Saunders. All three have become good friends, and provided me with lots of support, fun, banter and some of the most random conversations ever heard. Within the department I am extremely grateful to Mr Daniel Stretch and Mr Daniel Tolhurst for their help solving all sorts of problems which I have encountered, and the many sports based conversations we’ve had. My parents have been a constant support throughout my nine years as a student, and will undoubtedly be very pleased when I finally start earning money. They’ve been a source of constant encouragement, support and have invested a great deal of their 2 Acknowledgments time aiding me through my studies, including in recent months making my thesis their bedtime reading, I’m sure that it has helped them fall asleep. I’d also like to thank my sister Amy, her husband Samarjit, my Uncle Clive and in particular my late Aunty Peny, who spent countless hours looking over my essays, dissertations and papers which enabled me to make it this far. I would also like to thank Chloe Wallin for her encouragement and support over the last few months. You’ve helped in so many ways, and it’s made completing all the more easier. Thanks for being a great ‘library buddy’ and providing the Haribo that have kept us going through the long days of studying. Look forward to seeing you become a teacher in the near future! My close friends, as well as giving me plenty of banter about still being a student, have been very supportive. I’d like to thank Dr Gareth Lanagan for inspiring me to remain a student for the best part of a decade, for being a voice of academic reason and constant reassurance. The encouragement of James Hassett, Jamie Keir and in particular Kei Kinoshita, Lauren Koucher and Matthew Egan for allowing me to stop at their various homes across London while compiling my primary sources. I don’t know what I’d have done hadn’t it been for your sofas and spare rooms. Sport is a big part of my life and has given me lots of happy memories and good friends. Playing cricket throughout my four years at Christ Church has given me both of these. I would like to express my gratitude to Tom Moran, Ben Line, Simon Lawrence, Andrew O’Donovan and Abigail Smith in particular, and all who have been involved in the Men’s and Women’s teams. I’ve had so many great times with you over the last few years, in particular the occasion we represented the University 3 Acknowledgments under floodlights at the St Lawrence ground in May 2011. To play was amazing, but to win was even better, and it was a truly unforgettable evening. My research involved weeks spent in the various archives. The archivists at the Amateur Swimming Association archives at Loughborough and British Olympic Association at the University of East London, were particularly helpful, as were the staff at the British Library newspaper archive at Colindale. I would also like to thank Canterbury Christ Church University for the opportunity to be a student at the institution and the funding that has allowed me to complete this thesis, and their continuing support throughout. 4 List of abbreviations List of abbreviations Amateur Athletic Association (A.A.A.) Amateur Field Events Association (A.F.E.A.) Amateur Rowing Association (A.R.A.) Amateur Swimming Association (A.S.A.) British Olympic Association (B.O.A.) British Olympic Council (B.O.C.) Federation Internationale de Football Association (F.I.F.A.) Football Association (F.A.) Gaelic Athletic Association (G.A.A.) International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) Irish Amateur Athletic Association (I.A.A.A.) Irish Amateur Rowing Union (I.A.R.U.) Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C.) Midland Counties Amateur Athletics Association (M.C.A.A.A.) Northern Counties Amateur Athletics Association (N.C.A.A.A.). National Cycling Union (N.C.U.) Scottish Amateur Athletic Association (S.A.A.A.) Scottish Amateur Swimming Association (S.A.S.A.) South Wales Daily News (S.W.D.N.) Southern Amateur Athletic Association (S.A.A.A.) United States of America (U.S.A.) 5 Introduction Introduction In 2012, London hosted the thirtieth edition of the world’s biggest sporting event; the Olympic Games, with 204 nations and over 10,500 athletes competing.1 From the modest beginnings of the first Olympic Games of 1896, the holding of the Olympics every four years since this (excluding the period of the two world wars), has seen the Games rise to become the “Circus Maximus of planet Earth”2-the great circus of the world. The Olympics are an event of the highest international importance and can’t be seen simply as a “pastime” for those involved, but “a serious proposition for the athletes for those involved be they nation-states, business organizations, the media, or the spectators.”3 This thesis will examine the Olympic Games between the 1908 and 1920 from the perspective of Britain. British attitudes towards the Olympics will be scrutinized largely from the perspective of the media. Through this medium and also official documentation from Britain’s sporting associations there will be an examination of the development of the nations’ attitude and identity towards the Olympics, international sport, sporting ideologies and other nations. This period features three Olympic Games, (London 1908, Stockholm 1912, Antwerp 1920) and the preparations for the aborted 1916 Berlin Olympics. This is a crucial period for the development of the Olympic Games, and they developed into the form 1 Tom Knight and Sybil Ruscoe, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: The official commemorative book, (London, John Wiley and Sons, 2012), p 14. 2 Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, politics and activism, (USA, State University Press of New York, 2000), p ix. 3 Richard Espy, The Politics of the Olympic Games, (USA, University of California Press,1981), p 5. 6 Introduction which they are recognised today. It is in this period that the Games became of national interest, a place where nations could become internationally recognised and emit their frustrations in what was a major period for the formation of the modern nation-state.4 The 1908 Olympics are not just pivotal from a British perspective because she hosted them, but also because they were the nations’ first serious entrance into the festival.