Sports history offers many profound insights into the character and complexities of modern imperial rule. This book examines the fortunes of cricket in various colonies as the sport spread across the British Empire. It helps to explain why cricket was so successful, even in places like India, Pakistan and the West Indies where the Anglo-Saxon element remained in a small minority. The story of imperial cricket is really about the colonial quest for identity in the face of the colonisers' search for authority. The cricket phenomenon was established in nineteenth-century England when the Victorians began glorifying the game as a perfect system of manners, ethics and morals. Cricket has exemplified the colonial relationship between England and Australia and expressed imperialist notions to the greatest extent. In the study of the transfer of imperial cultural forms, South Africa provides one of the most fascinating case studies. From its beginnings in semi-organised form through its unfolding into a contemporary internationalised structure, Caribbean cricket has both marked and been marked by a tight affiliation with complex social processing in the islands and states which make up the West Indies. New Zealand rugby demonstrates many of the themes central to cricket in other countries. While cricket was played in India from 1721 and the Calcutta Cricket Club is probably the second oldest cricket club in the world, the indigenous population was not encouraged to play cricket.
This anthology examines the fortunes of cricket in various colonies as the sport spread across the British Empire. It helps to explain why cricket was so successful, even in places like India, Pakistan and the West Indies where the Anglo-Saxon element remained in a small minority. It demonstrates, perhaps better than any other single work, how awesome was the power of cultural imperialism. Even when former subjects threw off the political yoke of the Europeans, they still adhered tenaciously to the sporting and recreational models that the imperialists had introduced. 'The Imperial Game' provides an invaluable insight into how cricket developed powerful social, cultural and even political connotations in a colonial environment. This is a fascinating study of cricket as a cultural phenomenon, and traces its changing meaning in all the continents in which Britain once exercised power.
The book is a collection of essays by six of the world's leading scholars in the field of sports history, and will be of value not onle to students examining the historical sociology of sport, but also to those with a general interest in social history. This study will also appeal to cricket enthusiasts the world over.
