Flannelled Fools are Strutting About Tennis Courts’

Lawn Tennis in Britain During the Great War

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12914752
AutoresRobert J Lake (0000-0003-0219-3718, Douglas College, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume13
Fascículo4
Páginas342-364
Data de publicação2020-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17526272.2020.1829397
OpenAlexW3094149344
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas16

This article examines the connections between (lawn) tennis in Britain and the Great War (1914–1918). While previous historical research has suggested a four-year hiatus, in fact the sport continued to be played during the war, recreationally and among servicemen/women and more elite players in exhibition matches. Anecdotes about the cessation of tournaments and restricted play were interspersed with debates about the appropriateness of continuing play recreationally, as the ‘gentleman in tennis flannels’ became a symbol of public censure. Alongside enlistment, tennis players responded to the call byoffering their club facilities to the war effort, digging up courts to plant vegetables, hosting charity matches, and providing entertainment for convalescent soldiers. This analysis highlights the significance of tennis as a vehicle to promote a kind of British identity, as responses to the war as seen through tennis reflected broader sporting ideals, privileging amateurism, fair play and the ‘stuff upper lip’

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Club · Elite · Entertainment · Exhibition · Identity (music · League · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Visual arts · History · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact