Playing and watching sport was important for fitness and morale during WWII.
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“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play … it is war minus the shooting” were the words of George Orwell in 1945.
Writing after the end of the Second World War, he argued that sport created conflict instead of bringing people together.
In fact, sport was promoted for different reasons during WWII – which is being remembered on the 80th anniversary of VE Day this Thursday.
Keeping troops fit and entertained
Whether at home or aborad, playing sport was encouraged to keep fitness up within the ranks.
Games between army divisions could boost a sense of competitiveness and be a source of entertainment.
A baseball game between American forces, the Air Corps and Army Quartermasters, at Wembley Stadium in London. June 1942. (Associated Press).
Sport was also used to rehabilitate troops. The Paralympics Games were born out of the war and Ludwig Guttman’s work treating pilots with spinal injuries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.
Sir Ludwig believed that sport was vital for their physical and psychological recovery, so organised the first games for war veterans in 1948.
Boosting morale in Britain
Using sport to keep spirits high extended to those at home too. When the English Football League was suspended, a new Wartime League was established in its place.
Football was recognised as a way to keep the masses happy, especially among those working in the factories supplying the war effort.
British troops watched the Wartime League where they were stationed. Here, they are watching the cup final between Preston North End and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium, 1941. (Associated Press)
Mass Observation, a social research project which studied the everyday life of Britons, called it “the entertainment of the millions”.
It found that in the first few months of the conflict, newspaper readers paid more attention to sport than news about the war.
One Saturday afternoon of League matches could probably do more to affect people’s spirits than the recent £50,000 government poster campaign urging cheerfulness, even if it were repeated six times over and six times better, as it easily could be.
“Sport”, Mass Observation report, 13 December 1939, University of Sussex.
Crowds were still drawn to the terraces in WWII, as were famous faces.
US President Dwight Eisenhower presents the wartime cup to Charlton captain Don Welsh, after winning the 1944 competition. (Associated Press).
A record 90,000 spectators watched Chelsea beat Millwall in the 1945 Southern League War Cup final at Wembley Stadium. King George VI and the then Princess Elizabeth were also in attendance.
Women’s football had grown significantly during the First World War, but was banned by the English FA in 1921. Nevertheless, the game continued to be played – especially among factory teams.
Trailblazer Lily Parr continued to play with Preston Ladies FC, a team formed from the munitions workers at the Dick, Kerr & Co factory.
Supporting the war effort
Exhibition matches and festivals raised money for charity.
Chelsea hosted a match in support of the Navy Welfare League in May 1943, raising £8,000.
An arena was built in the bomb site next to St Paul’s Cathedral, where a sports event was held to raise funds in June 1943.
Firefighters constructed the showground in their spare time. Boxing, athletics and even a dog show entertained attendees.
Crowds gather to watch atheletes on the track, in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral (Associated Press).
Venues took on new roles to support the war.
Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium was turned into an Air Raid Precuations Centre, and bombed in 1941. The club then shared White Hart Lane with Tottenham Hotspur, their north London rivals.
Ascot Racecourse was requisitioned, with its Grandstand used to house gunners of the Royal Artillery. But racing restarted before the end of the war.
Race-goers headed to Ascot for bank holiday racing in August 1944. (Associated Press).
Celebrating victory
Sporting events signalled a sense of collective celebration at the end of the war.
British troops played football to celebrate Bastille Day with French people after their towns in Normandy were liberated from German forces.
Crowds line the edge of the pitch as a team of British troops plays against a local French team in Coursoulles, Normandy, July 1944. (Associated Press).
Rugby union marked the end of the war with a series called the Victory Internationals. Teams from Britain (including Army and Empire Forces XVs), Ireland, New Zealand and France played.
The London 1948 Olympics were being known as the ‘Austerity Games’ because of the difficult economic situation after the war.
Yet it was hailed as a “visionary dream… at the end of the worldwide struggle” by the Chairman of the British Olympic Council. The Olympic movement had survived the war, although Germany and Japan were not allowed to participate.
Flagbearers line up at the opening ceremony, while Britain’s Wing Commander Donald Finlay takes the Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes. (Associated Press).
Eighty years on from VE Day, Twickenham Stadium will be one of a number of cultural landmarks lit on Tuesday evening to mark the anniversary. Sport and war remained intertwined.
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HeadlineFrom the archive: hidden history of sport during World War Two
Short HeadlineHidden history of wartime sport
StandfirstAs the 80th anniversary of VE Day is celebrated, archive photos show how sport was integral to the war effort.
“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play … it is war minus the shooting” were the words of George Orwell in 1945.
Writing after the end of the Second World War, he argued that sport created conflict instead of bringing people together.
In fact, sport was promoted for different reasons during WWII – which is being remembered on the 80th anniversary of VE Day this Thursday.
Keeping troops fit and entertained
Whether at home or aborad, playing sport was encouraged to keep fitness up within the ranks.
Games between army divisions could boost a sense of competitiveness and be a source of entertainment.
A baseball game between American forces, the Air Corps and Army Quartermasters, at Wembley Stadium in London. June 1942. (Associated Press).
Sport was also used to rehabilitate troops. The Paralympics Games were born out of the war and Ludwig Guttman’s work treating pilots with spinal injuries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.
Sir Ludwig believed that sport was vital for their physical and psychological recovery, so organised the first games for war veterans in 1948.
Boosting morale in Britain
Using sport to keep spirits high extended to those at home too. When the English Football League was suspended, a new Wartime League was established in its place.
Football was recognised as a way to keep the masses happy, especially among those working in the factories supplying the war effort.
British troops watched the Wartime League where they were stationed. Here, they are watching the cup final between Preston North End and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium, 1941. (Associated Press)
Mass Observation, a social research project which studied the everyday life of Britons, called it “the entertainment of the millions”.
It found that in the first few months of the conflict, newspaper readers paid more attention to sport than news about the war.
One Saturday afternoon of League matches could probably do more to affect people’s spirits than the recent £50,000 government poster campaign urging cheerfulness, even if it were repeated six times over and six times better, as it easily could be.
“Sport”, Mass Observation report, 13 December 1939, University of Sussex.
Crowds were still drawn to the terraces in WWII, as were famous faces.
US President Dwight Eisenhower presents the wartime cup to Charlton captain Don Welsh, after winning the 1944 competition. (Associated Press).
A record 90,000 spectators watched Chelsea beat Millwall in the 1945 Southern League War Cup final at Wembley Stadium. King George VI and the then Princess Elizabeth were also in attendance.
Women’s football had grown significantly during the First World War, but was banned by the English FA in 1921. Nevertheless, the game continued to be played – especially among factory teams.
Trailblazer Lily Parr continued to play with Preston Ladies FC, a team formed from the munitions workers at the Dick, Kerr & Co factory.
Supporting the war effort
Exhibition matches and festivals raised money for charity.
Chelsea hosted a match in support of the Navy Welfare League in May 1943, raising £8,000.
An arena was built in the bomb site next to St Paul’s Cathedral, where a sports event was held to raise funds in June 1943.
Firefighters constructed the showground in their spare time. Boxing, athletics and even a dog show entertained attendees.
Crowds gather to watch atheletes on the track, in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral (Associated Press).
Venues took on new roles to support the war.
Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium was turned into an Air Raid Precuations Centre, and bombed in 1941. The club then shared White Hart Lane with Tottenham Hotspur, their north London rivals.
Ascot Racecourse was requisitioned, with its Grandstand used to house gunners of the Royal Artillery. But racing restarted before the end of the war.
Race-goers headed to Ascot for bank holiday racing in August 1944. (Associated Press).
Celebrating victory
Sporting events signalled a sense of collective celebration at the end of the war.
British troops played football to celebrate Bastille Day with French people after their towns in Normandy were liberated from German forces.
Crowds line the edge of the pitch as a team of British troops plays against a local French team in Coursoulles, Normandy, July 1944. (Associated Press).
Rugby union marked the end of the war with a series called the Victory Internationals. Teams from Britain (including Army and Empire Forces XVs), Ireland, New Zealand and France played.
The London 1948 Olympics were being known as the ‘Austerity Games’ because of the difficult economic situation after the war.
Yet it was hailed as a “visionary dream… at the end of the worldwide struggle” by the Chairman of the British Olympic Council. The Olympic movement had survived the war, although Germany and Japan were not allowed to participate.
Flagbearers line up at the opening ceremony, while Britain’s Wing Commander Donald Finlay takes the Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes. (Associated Press).
Eighty years on from VE Day, Twickenham Stadium will be one of a number of cultural landmarks lit on Tuesday evening to mark the anniversary. Sport and war remained intertwined.
