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Boys and sport

Louts and Legends, Walker's 1988 study of an Australian, urban, working class, boys' high school, found a clear hierarchy of masculinities within the school, dominated by 'the footballers':

The superiority of heterosexuality, of machismo demonstrated through athletic and sexual prowess, physical strength, drinking and appropriate verbal display … were the shibboleths of footballer culture.

(Walker 1988:39)

Now, as then, in many schools sport plays a major role in the school's ethos. Its importance in the construction of masculinity within the school environment provides many boys with an avenue for establishing their masculinity, but for others their lack of sporting ability and involvement may become a liability.

Those boys who do not measure up, the effeminate, the overweight and the underweight and who do not compensate for this by engaging in other masculine activities, often related to alcohol, motorbikes or cars, are usually made to suffer the consequences of their lack of 'masculinity'.

(Mills 2001b:26-27)

What do boys say about sport? These comments, drawn from interviews with primary and secondary boys, indicate some of the ways in which sport is seen positively and set up in opposition to study.

Boys talk about sport new window 37k new window considers how boys view sport as opposed to study and the links between sport and masculinity.

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