Western sports

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For the sports associated with the Western United States, see Western sports (North America).
A depiction of the FIFA World Cup, the most popular sporting event in the world.

Western sports are sports that are strongly associated with the West.[a] Many modern sports were invented in or standardized by Western countries;[1] in particular, many major sports were invented in the United Kingdom after the Industrial Revolution,[2][3] and later, America invented some major sports such as basketball and baseball.[4]

Western European colonialism and American influence were the initial causes of the spread of Western sports around the world.[5] Later, globalization and the prominent role of Western sports in the Olympic Games helped further grow Western sports.[1][6][7] The most-watched international sporting event is the FIFA World Cup, which showcases the Western sport of football (also known as soccer).[8]

History

Main article: History of sport § Development of modern sports
A depiction of the king in chess, the central playing piece. Chess was transmitted to Europe from India, undergoing various modifications along the way, and today is one of the most well-known Western board games.

Various minor games and board games were transmitted between the West and the rest of the world in antiquity. Chess originated in India as chaturanga.[9]

Antiquity

The Romans built immense structures such as the

bull worship and sacrifice and is often linked to Rome, where many human-versus-animal events were held. Bullfighting spread from Spain to its American colonies, and in the 19th century to France, where it developed into a distinctive form in its own right.[11]

Middle Ages

Main article: Sport in Europe

Jousting and hunting were popular sports in the European Middle Ages, and the aristocratic classes developed passions for leisure activities. A great number of popular global sports were first developed or codified in Europe. The modern game of golf originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf is James II's banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery.[12]

Colonial era

A depiction of Americans playing polo, an Asian-origin game standardized and spread by the British.

Western European countries used sport as a method to increase cultural connections between themselves and their colonies. Colonizers also used sport as a way to keep their soldiers fit in tough environments and to create social changes among colonized peoples; the philosophy of

traditional sports around the world.[14][15][16][17] On the other hand, colonized peoples often used Western sports as an opportunity to prove themselves by defeating their colonizers in said sports; this contributed to many nascent independence movements.[18]

In South Asia, the influence of and resistance to Western sport also led to the standardization of some

Western civilization was more rational and thus superior to African society by emphasizing the fact that Western sports had more elements of standardization and structure, such as yellow cards, fields with chalked-out straight lines, and stopwatches to measure time periods, than traditional African games.[28][29]

Some sports were imported to the West from its colonies; for example, the equestrian game of polo, which was discovered by the British in South Asia, was spread by the British worldwide in a British-standardized form.[30][31] The British also modified some Indian board games to create the modern games of snakes and ladders and ludo.[32]

British sports

Main article: Sport in the United Kingdom

The

ping pong, modern tennis, association football, netball and rugby.[33]

The British sought to use their sports as a method to propagate their moral values among their colonial subjects, and to prove the superiority of British culture.[34][35][36]

American sports

Main article: Sports in the United States
A baseball game being played between American Marines and Japanese players. Baseball is a game invented by the English, modified by America, and is a popular sport in Japan and neighboring countries.

The United States also developed unique variations of English sports. English migrants took antecedents of baseball to America during the colonial period. The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football.[37] Many games are known as "football" were being played at colleges and universities in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, the "Father of American football".[38] Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor working in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States.[39] Volleyball was created in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a city directly north of Springfield, in 1895.[40] In the case of lacrosse, a Native American sport became a professional American sport.[41][42]

The United States pioneered the professionalization of sports; leagues like Major League Baseball, National Football League, and the National Basketball Association are still among the wealthiest leagues in the world.[43][44] Many sports which were professionalized were originally children's games.[45]

America introduced some of its sports to various Asian countries (including American colonies in Asia); this resulted in baseball becoming established in Japan and basketball becoming popular in China.[46] Japanese colonization of East Asia helped to spread baseball and other Western sports in the region.[47][48]

Post-colonial era

See also:
T20 cricket
has rapidly grown into the most popular format of cricket, and is now spreading around the world.

Even as European colonization of the world came to an end after World War 2, Western sports continued to play a prominent role. Western sports became an important part of nation-building and diplomacy for some newly independent countries;

T20 cricket, a greatly shortened version of the game, cricket leagues have become prominent in South Asia and beyond, with the Indian Premier League now among the richest sports leagues in the world.[54] Another example of diplomacy was the launching of the Asian Games, which were meant to promote Pan-Asianism.[55] Western sports also play an important role in the promotion of health and good societal values (such as gender equality) in former colonies,[56] and are generally seen as an important part of the modernization process.[22] The worldwide dominance of Western sports has also resulted in competitions based in Western countries overtaking the popularity of local competitions in other parts of the world,[57] and the further decline of non-Western sports.[58][59][60] Western sports have also grown because of their economic dominance and brand identification among fans.[61][62]

The Olympic Games, though they initially started off with an emphasis on including traditional games from around the world,[63] eventually became a major transmission vector for Western sports, with Western nations dominating in the event.[64] However, some non-Western sports such as judo have over time become part of the Olympics.[65][66]

E-sports have emerged in the modern era; video game adaptations of Western sports have also become popular, such as the FIFA video game series.[67]

Some traditional Western games have been adapted into major professional competitions, as is the case with World Chase Tag for the game of tag.[68]

Major multi-sport events

The logo of the Olympic Games.

Olympic Games

This section is an excerpt from Olympic Games.[edit]

The modern

athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating. By default, the Games generally substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place (however, each class usually maintains its own records).[70] The Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.[71][72]

Their creation was inspired by the
Olympic Movement, which encompasses all entities and individuals involved in the Olympic Games. The Olympic Charter
defines their structure and authority.

Commonwealth Games

A map of the various countries which have hosted the Commonwealth Games, which are mainly contested by former British colonies.
This section is an excerpt from Commonwealth Games.[edit]
The Commonwealth Games[c] is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 as the British Empire Games and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 (cancelled due to World War II), has successively run every four years since.[77] The event was called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950 (four editions), the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966 (four editions), and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974 (two editions). The event removed the word British from its title for the 1978 Games and has maintained its current name ever since (twelve editions as of 2024).

List of sports

See also: List of sports

Athletics

This section is an excerpt from Sport of athletics.[edit]


Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking.[78] The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and racewalking.

Bat-and ball games

This section is an excerpt from Bat-and-ball games.[edit]
Young men playing a bat-and-ball game in a 13th-century manuscript of the Galician Cantigas de Santa Maria.
field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of the attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and run between various safe areas in the field to score runs (points). The defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team's players to force them off the field when they are not in safe zones, and thus prevent them from further scoring.[80][81] The best known modern bat-and-ball games are cricket and baseball, with common roots in the 18th-century games played in England
.

Baseball

This section is an excerpt from Baseball.[edit]
bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases
. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter).

Cricket

This section is an excerpt from Cricket.[edit]
illegally
.

Goal sports

This section is an excerpt from Goal (sports).[edit]
Peter Bondra scoring a goal in ice hockey
In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is placed at or near each end of the playing field for each team to defend. Sports which feature goal scoring are also commonly known as invasion games.[82][83]

Basketball

This section is an excerpt from Basketball.[edit]
three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime
) is mandated.

Football

This section is an excerpt from Football.[edit]
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football (known as soccer in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States, and sometimes in Ireland and New Zealand); Australian rules football; Gaelic football; gridiron football (specifically American football, arena football, or Canadian football); International rules football; rugby league football; and rugby union football. These various forms of football share, to varying degrees, common origins and are known as "football codes".

Hockey

This section is an excerpt from Hockey.[edit]
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers of players, apparel, and playing surface, they share broad characteristics of two opposing teams using a stick to propel a ball or disk into a goal.

Golf

This section is an excerpt from Golf.[edit]
A golfer in the finishing position after hitting a tee shot
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.

Racket sports

This section is an excerpt from List of racket sports.[edit]
Racket sports are games in which players use a racket or paddle to hit a ball or other object. Rackets consist of a handled frame with an open hoop that supports a network of tightly stretched strings. Paddles have a solid face rather than a network of strings, but may be perforated with a pattern of holes, or be covered with some form of textured surface.

See also

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Notes

  1. ^ Either because they were invented in a Western country, were played in the West for centuries, or were primarily spread around the world by the West.
  2. ^ With English, French is the second official language of the Olympic Movement.
  3. ^ which also refers itself as the Friendly Games[73][74] or simply the Comm Games.[75][76]
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