Sport and Globalization

What is sport?
● Athletic activity. Involves a degree of competition.

● Indoors or outdoors. Can vary in intensity.

● The rise of globalisation and technology has impacted

the world of sports in a positive manner, and has
projected different sports, which were earlier confined
to local geographical boundaries to every nook and
corner of the globe.

● Popularity of players provides a good impetus to the

evolution of sport on the global scale

Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Virat Kohli

The history of sport
● The first origins of sport have been
traced in various parts of the
ancient world, such as China,
Persia, Egypt, Greece, etc.
● Close connection to warfare and
military.
● E.g. Ancient Greece. The military
culture and development of sport
influenced each other.
● Sport became such a strong part
of their culture that this gave rise
to the creation of the Olympic
games.
● Sport in the premodern era was
mostly a sparse collection of
localized game forms.
● Not global enough to have a
significant influence.
● With onset of globalization,
sports in the modern and
postmodern era has a
multi-dimensional impact.
The Olympic Games
The Olympic games in the contemporary context is definitely the epitome of being
global in the context of sports. And that is because it stands for so much more than
just sports. It stands for equality, it stands for the resilience of the human spirit, it
stands for camaraderie and so on. The Olympics is a truly a kaleidoscope in this
regard.

Let’s examine the global-ness of the Olympics:

● The participation and viewership of the Olympic games is definitely global. This
is a no-brainer.
● The Olympics is perhaps the biggest global sporting stage available to a
sportsperson.
● The Olympics also has multiple dimensions associated with it.
● And since the Olympic games is such a huge global stage, a lot of issues of world
importance come to the forefront.
1968 Olympics Black Power Salute

Following the 200m final, Tommie

Smith and John Carlos executed this
gesture on the podium

Gesture was not to signify “Black

Power” but was rather a “human
rights” salute to shed light on the state
of black Americans. (Tommie Smith)

Thus, this incident shows the

sociological and political dimensions of
the Olympic games
Women in the Olympics
After the constitution of the first modern Olympics in 1896 by Pierre de
Coubertin. It wasn’t until the 1900 Olympics that the first women’s
events were featured.

de Coubertin felt that their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting,

unaesthetic, and incorrect."
1936 Summer Olympics - Berlin
● Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government
and ideals of racial supremacy and anti semitism.
● After initial decisions were met with uproars, Jews and blacks from
other nations were allowed to participate. But no German jews
were allowed. (except a female participant, Helene Mayer)
● Countries boycotted the Olympics or refused to send their Jew
participants, and highly condemned the policies adopted by the
Nazis.
Sport’s innate visceral appeal and resonance have
rendered it the ‘most universal aspect of popular
culture’

~ (Miller et al. 2001: 1)

FIFA Football World Cup

The most widely watched television event in the world.

2018 FIFA Football World Cup, Russia
● Russia played host in the 2018 FIFA Football World
Cup.
● Russia took this opportunity to practise something
called “cultural diplomacy”.
● Strategically chose the eleven cities hosting the
World Cup games.
● Major cities: Moscow and St. Petersburg
● Others: Saransk and Kaliningrad were also chosen
● Wider view of Russia’s current state – in both the
booming capital and smaller provincial towns.
● More attention to Russian language - a crucial
component of Russian identity.
● The World Cup has also offered diplomats the
opportunity to engage in discussions while watching
a soccer match.
● The cup was generally counted as a major win for
Russia. Russian cities were transformed before the
games as waves of infrastructure investment came.
IPL

Globalization, Sports and India

● Most widely watched sports event in India.
● Truly global in both its participation as well as viewership
● Advanced technologies such as hi-tech cameras, snickometer,
stump mics, graphical enhancements etc. have played a major
part in increasing popularity of the IPL
● Many players have gone on to play for their national countries
after performing well in IPL.
● Thus IPL provides a global stage for players to showcase their
skills
● IPL combined the so-called two major religions in India, namely
Cricket and Bollywood. The marketing of sports as
entertainment on such a wide level helped it grow.
● Another noteworthy aspect of the IPL is the massive amounts of
revenue generated.
● One can safely say that the IPL promotes consumerism. How?
One only need to look at the number of advertisements that
associate themselves, directly and/or indirectly with cricket and
the IPL. E.g. Jio, Swiggy, goIbibo Travel Cash, Dream11.
● Thus, we see there is an innovative and extensive use of
technology and marketing strategies to promote corporate
interests
 CONCLUSION

● Sports is a great leveller, and a harbinger of international

cooperation and oneness.
● It is one of the first industries to adopt technological advances,
which is an indicator of of the global advancement in technology.
● It is able to highlight essential differences and inequalities on many
fronts, and allows them to be rightfully reflected and rectified.
● It uses media and advertisements to a great extent,
● Recent changes and improvisations in sports have been important
reflections of a capitalist approach towards such fronts.
THANK YOU