STUDIES IN PHYSICAL CULTURE AND TOURISM

Vol. 12, No. 2, 2005

All three books are in fact three language versions of the same encyclopedia issued by Polish publishing house Atena in cooperation with U.S. publisher IBM St. Paul (English version) and French publisher Allen Gründ (French version). All three versions of the encyclopedia have been published under the auspices and with great financial involvement of UNESCO. This respectable organization should be congratulated on its participation in this outstanding and exceptional publishing achievement.

Encyclopedic publications are usually the results of collective effort of a large number of authors. Encyklopedia sportów świata, containing over 3,500 entries, has been a result of work of a single author, which is truly astonishing.

The editorial side of Professor Lipoński’s work deserves particular attention. It features a clear layout of entries, stunning color photography, reproductions of works of art, postcards, posters and drawings as well as an attractive cover. The most impressive is, however, the extensive collection of source materials used by the author. Wojciech Lipoński searched for material for his encyclopedia in hundreds of Polish and foreign libraries and bookstores. A great deal of valuable sources W. Lipoński obtained thanks to his extensive personal contacts with people who deal with sports in a variety of ways. I have also had the pleasure of being one of Prof. Lipoński’s collaborators. He expressed keen interest in my research on the place and role of competition in cultures of different Asian peoples, their rites of passage, magic and symbolic meanings of different patterns of behavior. My review is, therefore, far from being a purely theoretical one.

Professor Lipoński’s collection of sources contains at present more than 140 encyclopedias of national sports, regional sports and indigenous sports of various ethnic groups. The most intere-sting items include a three-volume encyclopedia of Basque sports, a two-volume encyclopedia of sports of Chile, four-volume encyclopedia of Danish sports, a volume of sports and games of the Maori people as well as an encyclopedia of ethnic minorities in China. W. Lipoński has also a great number of other unique materials from all over the world. His personal correspondence carried on during writing of the encyclopedia is more than 1,400 pages long. One can only imagine the tremendous effort involved in translation of source materials containing specialist sports terms in several languages, which often lacked their Polish equivalents. The author overcame this problem, either translating large parts himself or relying on a professional and dedicated team of translators. The effects of this incredible project deserve utmost admiration.

Encyklopedia sportów świata is surely the most significant publication of this kind in the world today. No other publication can compare to this one. As Wojciech Lipoński notices in Introduction to his work, the American Encyclopedia of World Sports (1996) contains slightly more than 400 entries devoted mostly to sports known in North America and Western Europe. There is no mentioning of sports from Central and Eastern Europe, and very few examples of Asian sports. In his encyclopedia W. Lipoński included information on sports and sporting games from every continent. It is, however, an impossible task to contain the vast knowledge of world sports, past and present, within 3,200 entries. W. Lipoński informs us in Introduction that around 4,000 to 5,000 different sports and sporting games from many exotic countries have been left out. He also points to the difficulty in defining what is and what is not a sport, and stresses the necessity of precise definition of sport. Wojciech Lipoński, as it can be seen from all the entries from his encyclopedia, considers sport in a broad perspective as a form of human activity, including various types of competitions such as motor games, some pastimes, acrobatics and other, the outcome of which is determined by the physical effort. The encyclopedia includes, for example, an entry on pizza twirling, which is “a contest held since 1998 in the Italian town of Salsomaggiore Terme in the province of Parma; the competition comprises of a series of sophisticated twists and turns of a portion of pizza dough held in the hands and kneaded; sophistication and pace of performance are evaluated” (p. 247).

The encyclopedia includes information about sports which are popular and well-known all over the world, but also about their less-known regional varieties. The entry on boxing, for instance, contains information on Egyptian, French, and Thai boxing; on boxing practiced by the South American Native Indian tribe of Mocovi; or in the village of Bajing in the Chinese province of Fucien. The entry on wrestling contains, beside information on Greco-Roman and free-style wrestling, examples of wrestling styles practiced by more than 40 different ethnic groups. The encyclopedia covers several varieties of pelota and a few dozen of examples of mounted or non-mounted animal races (e.g., horse, buffalo, ostrich, elephant, ram, donkey). There are also separate entries on sled dog racing, boat races, chariot racing and arba racing.

W. Lipoński devoted a large part of his work to old, local or regional sports, which have been forgotten for a long time (there is no way we can hear of them on television or read about them in the press). Most readers of the encyclopedia have never heard before about such sports as aizkolaris, cogs, het kolven, jogo da laranjinha, kalari-payat, koruru, maokiu, parokoiba, spak takraw, stanto, vazh yod, varzesh-e pehlivani, or varma adi and many others. Each entry includes comprehensive information on the rules of the game, its history, cultural context and references in literature. The inclusion of rich historical and ethnographic data from all over the world is quite a novelty in a book on sports and definitely underlines the uniqueness of W. Lipoński’s work.

One of Lipoński’s greatest achievements is recollection of more than a hundred of less-known and almost entirely forgotten old Polish sports. During the book promotion at the International Book Fair in Warsaw in May 2001, W. Lipoński pointed out to small interest of Polish researchers (including ethnologists) in sport as a cultural phenomenon. He also mentioned general lack of interest in sports that were once very popular in Poland; he talked about “trampling Polish traditions” and the absence of traditional Polish sports in the national and international spheres. According to W. Lipoński, our society “easily forgets what is ours and indigenous and easily accepts what is foreign and what supercedes local traditions, including sports. We often do not realize the link between the knowledge of our own sporting traditions and maintaining our own national identity.”

The motto of the Encyclopedia is a quotation from Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1810) by Joseph Strutt: “In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the sports and pastimes most generally prevalent among them. War, policy, and other contingent circumstances, may effectually place men, at different times, in different point of view; but, when we follow them into their retirements, where no disguise is necessary, we are most likely to see them in their true state, and may best judge of their national dispositions.” Many researchers are rather critical about 19^th-century theories of national identity and character, I think, however, that some of Strutt’s ideas deserve close attention. Particularly interesting seems his concept of disguise and true face of people under different circumstances.

During his meeting with readers at the Warsaw Book Exhibition in 2001, W. Lipoński stressed that his work was of ethnological character. He does not perceive sport only in terms of rules and results, but looks at it through its origins, cultural context, place in art and literature and role in developing community relations. Lipoński is interested in links between sport and religion, military traditions, human emotions, love or sexual life. Having read a selection of entries it seems that W. Lipoński’s ambitious goal has been attained. It is a pity that so few people are able to perceive sport in the deep, humanistic perspective, and boast such knowledge of the issue. One can only hope that Encyklopedia sportów świata will contribute to changing this situation and propagate greater interest in the origins of various sports, their diversity and broad cultural context.

Encyklopedia sportów świata by W. Lipoń-ski is a truly unique work. Its uniqueness has been noticed by UNESCO officials who suggested to the author preparation of different language versions of the book. Following the publication of the encyclopedia in Polish, English and French versions, a Spanish-language version is currently under preparation. W. Lipoński knows very well the hardships of writing foreign-language versions of the encyclopedia (there are, for instance, no existing lexicographic or translation patterns). It happens very rarely that books written by Polish scholars are translated into other languages, on the initiative of foreign institutions. Encyklopedia sportów świata clearly deserves this unique distinction. I also hope it will be received with utmost interest and will enjoy an international circulation for ever. I wish Wojciech Lipoński all the best.

Iwona Kabzińska

Violence is the most visible threat of contemporary sport and any publication raising this problem, and thus contributing to its solution, should be read and recommended with attention. Bodin, Robène and Héas’s book provides readers with a wide spectrum of the problem, stressing not only its historical and sociological context, but first of all a practical approach to its consequences. The historical overview presents the reader with a cultural analysis of the origins of stadium disturbances from ancient times and the Middle Ages until modern times, stressing the basic similarities and differences between this social phenomenon in the past, as well as the contemporary character of modern sport. “The fact is that violent behaviour by crowds of sports fans is nothing new” [p. 21], and this is why it should not be “narrowly understood as a modern social phenomenon, whether produced by the worrying problem of social breakdown in troubled peri-urban areas and housing estates or indeed by the impact of poverty on a section of the population” [p. 23]. However, in the authors’ opinion, “three factors would seem to distinguish hooliganism from the forms of crowd violence observable during sports events since ancient times: the frequency of violent incidents, their specific association with the sport of soccer, and the fact that hooliganism was initially confined to one particular country – Great Britain” [p. 23]. We would add one more factor responsible for the frequency and scale of soccer violence: the impact of the mass media. Incidents of crowd violence from the past can be compared with those which have occurred in most recent years. In ancient Rome the gladiatorial amphiteatre in Fidenae was closed for ten years due to misbehaviour of local fans. In the late 18^th century, spectators of then popular ascents by balloonists caused such extreme forms of violence and vandalism that local authorities decided to sentence and hang two of the trouble makers. In Britain football violence has been well known since the Middle Ages, but the modern series of football incidents is traditionally taken into consideration since the famous cup match between Greenock Morton and Port Glasgow Athletic Club on April 8^th 1899, which involved a police crackdown. And it was in Britain that soccer became responsible for the increase of violent behaviour. The initial question of Sport and violence in Europe is then “how and why this sport and this country were affected sooner and to a greater extent than others” [p. 23]. The answer provided by the authors in the chapter Football grounds and violence, is a combination of different factors. General reasons for the appearance of hooliganism in Britain seem simple: “England had invented the sport and it was in the United Kingdom that it first became properly organised, democratised and popularised” [p. 27]. But further developments were more complicated, and “the nature of the violence among sports crowds has changed.” Phenomena such as alienation among young people and subsequent radical ideologies in the football stadium appeared (skinhead movement; anarchic punk movement with its pessimistic “no future” philosophy; superficial but always radical symbolism of fascism and Nazism demonstrated by appearance of swastikas and other symbols of radical, usually rightist ideologies; absence of community relationship; extreme laissez-faire attitude; general failure to conform to well established social rules, difficulties in introducing an effective crowd control policy). All this has led the authors to sad conclusions, expressed in a separate chapter titled The United Kingdom as the birthplace of hooliganism. And it was here that “a new type of football crowd” appeared due to the revolution in the electronic mass-media, and in result of the media playing the role of a catalyst of hooligan violence, and architectural projects of building more stadiums with enlarged stands. The development of cheaper and more effective transportation (airplanes, ferries, trains, buses and cars) facilitated intensive contacts between teams and fans, and consequently confrontations of larger than ever groups of “hostile” fans at the host stadiums. Alongside communication improvements the number of national and international contests and leagues increased, contributing effectively to the increase of various associated social phenomena. In Britain as early as in 1968 the problem was raised to such a level that Lord Harrington produced a special report for Parliament showing that most hooligans were ado-lescents under 21, which definitely added the age factor to the phenomenon. The first serious socio-anthropological analyses of the phenomenon of violence by Y. Taylor and J. Clarke were published in the early 1970s. They indicated the complexity of the problems of sports violence. Particular chapters in the book discuss these problems: Sport, politics and the violence they have in common; Violence in sport from an economic perspective (and especially subchapters standing hair on ends, such as Mafia-type interest at work; Corruption as a form of regulation and The Interface between business and terrorism). This book can be read in some parts not only with interest but first of all with terror and dismay. Also other chapters provide readers with perpetual sad observations, otherwise well-known to us all from daily press reports, but never in the scale and with such complicated social and economic roots as those disclosed by Bodin, Robéne and Héas in their accurate scientific description and analysis: Media violence and manipulation through sports; Human bodies and violence; Physical injuries and accidents in sport; Addiction, sport and human bodies: strong political and social implications for Europe; Violation directed at minority groups.

In conclusion the authors rightly ask: “Can sport – or indeed should sport – be superior to the rest of society?” And they answer: “Certainly not. We probably ask more of sport than we do of other areas of life precisely because sport involves education, passion and pleasure, because it puts on a show and inspires us to dream and because it is one of the cultural building blocks of our societies. In an ideal (and probably utopian) world, sport and athletes, sport managers and sports fans would be less flawed and more restrained, and sport would thus be a totally neutral sphere of society, devoid of tension or dissention. Yet sport can do no more than mirror what our societies are, and this means that we face a real challenge. We need to build a fairer, more peaceful Europe in which justice and friendship between peoples can thrive – and can express themselves in sport” (p. 227).

While Bodin, Robène and Héas’s book is dominated by a thorough and convincing analysis of the problem, Comeron’s The Prevention of Violence in Sport prefers practical solutions. We can agree with Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who wrote in the preface that, “This publication is a remarkable analytical summary of the problems and causes and also of proposals for activities and initiatives to be implemented at the local level”. This unquestionable value of Comeron’s work is well reflected in particular chapters, where sport officials, police officers and other interested persons can find practical suggestions and means of action, as for instance in General principles behind a prevention policy and Initiatives and Preventive Measures. In the first chapter, relations between hooliganism and the current situation in sport are discussed, stressing “the need for preventive measures to combat violence in sport”. In the further part of the book titled Initiatives and preventive measures, we can find very precise and practical suggestions how to deal with the wave of fan subculture. It can be first of all an “offensive socio-pre-vention”, including the method and the targets of so-called “fan-coaching”, i.e. an attempt to regulate the phenomenon which has for so long remained spontaneous and unregulated. It is to a substantial degree a great achievement of the Standing Committee of the European Convention on Spectator Violence, which has been closely examining the question since 1992. It is not the role of a reviewer to discuss particular socio-preventive measures. We would like to draw attention to the problem of any interested representatives of the regional or national authorities and also of sport officials or managers responsible for sport education and safety at stadiums. In Comeron’s book they can find extremely valuable information on various questions.

Both reviewed books on violence in sport could have been, however, a little more complete, if in their content and especially in reference section we would find some information and publications in languages other than Western European languages. The experience of other areas of our continent should not be neglected. Also, while the knowledge of French, English and German is growing among East European sport activists and government officials, as well as among scholars and students of physical education, providing readers with information in their native languages seems important enough and easier to use. The reference sections of both books, however, take into account almost exclusively Western publications, which makes an impression as if violence in sport were a problem exclusively in the countries of Western Europe. Comeron’s references contain official documents of the Council of Europe. Sport and Violence in Europe by Bodin, Robéne and Héas include two or three publications from Eastern Europe written by general writers or journalists, not sports specialists, who publish their essays in Western languages (e.g. Ryszard Kapuściński). It does not improve these proportions significantly. Almost the complete absence of Eastern European countries in both books produces a feeling of underestimation, if not wider ignorance of this part of Europe. This shortcoming does not deny, however, the obvious values of these books.

The author of these two extremely interesting books, as the biographical data says, is “the director of Legal Affairs for the World Athletic Championships in Helsinki 2005.” He received his MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. He is also a former Executive Director of the European College of Sport Science and Secretary General of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education, as well as a Member of the Finnish Lawyers’ Association and the New York Bar Association. All these functions and jobs are seemingly a guarantee of competent discourse on the topic of his two books. As far as the author’s discourse is concerned, his description and analysis in his both books is excellent. His discussion on governance of sport and national sport legislation in selected European countries seems very competent and instructive. Any reader, who needs to be acquainted with the system of governing sport or legislation associated with it in the United Kingdom, France and 19 other countries will be fully satisfied, at least in the capacity assumed by the author. The problems are visible in those areas which he omits. It concerns first of all, his incomplete, so to speak, historical knowledge of sport legislation and governance in Europe, and selection criteria of particular countries as representatives of the European system of sport.

Chaker is quite right, when he provides readers with a short history of national legislation on sport and physical culture. He begins his survey with Iceland, where “games were organised as early as the tenth and eleventh century with spectators as referees and judges”, and where “the law code on personal liberties of 1281 [...] contained a special provision for the practice of sport” (p. 11). However, while approaching modern times Chaker commits serious omissions: he does not know of the existence of the first ever published state document in Europe entirely devoted to sport, i.e. the English Declaration of Sports, also known as the Books of Sport. This document was issued as a royal edict by James I in 1618 and then reissued by Charles I in 1633. One can agree with Chaker, that Ratio Educationis, a Hungarian document of 1777, including paragraphs on physical education, is definitely important. But it was four years earlier in Poland that the first European Governmental Commission of National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej) was established, functioning as the very first ministry of education in Europe. And it was this Commission which issued laws and regulations concerning education, where we can find different paragraphs on preservation of health through exercises. Especially important was Article XXV of the Commission’s Acts (Ustawy), titled Physical Education (Edukacja Fizyczna). It is here that we find the definition and regulations concerning this important sector of education and public life: “What we call physical education is an uninterrupted ground-work in attempting to provide a child from the earliest years of his life with everything concerning his health and strength, and it is what should be modified according to his age progress, and aimed at making a man happy and able to perform his duties”. As we can see Chaker should supplement more precise historical facts about sports legislation in both, the Western and Eastern European contexts.

But while in the analysis of the historical factor, we can note omissions “in proportion” referring to both parts of Europe, while discussing contemporary sport legislation, Chaker, for reasons unexplained, excludes some countries from his analysis on a basis which seems hardly understandable. In his survey he begins alphabetically with Armenia and Austria and ends with the United Kingdom. He does not forget even about a number of small states, like, for instance, Georgia, Latvia or Slovenia (each inhabited by about 1.5-3 million people and having rather limited, if not occasional, national or international sport achievements). All of these countries have rather tiny sport experience, certainly significant for them, but not in a wider sense. This concerns also sport legislation. In this context, excluding from his survey Greece, as the actual motherland of European sport, with its ancient traditions (visible even now in continuation of the Olympic Games), or not mentioning Poland – one of the most populous and sportingly experienced European nations – seems simply an unjust selection made carelessly and at random. Poland has had original PE and sport legislation since the 18^th century; in the 19^th century it had heroically striven on the political grounds with foreign political domination and its oppressors by means of gymnastics and sports during the period of partitions by Russia, Germany and Austria. Poland is also a country of the historically third specialised university school of physical education (in Poznań), a country of original sport and PE legislation, and also of over 300 world and Olympic champions. Why is Poland not mentioned in Chaker’s book at all? It is so astonishing that no further comments are necessary! Perhaps Chaker looked for information during the period of transition in Poland, when the former Polish State Office of Physical Culture was transformed into the Department of Ministry of National Education and Sport and, for some time, there was no one competent to answer his requests. But why Chaker did not look for other opportunities, why he did not inquire, for instance, at the Polish Olympic Committee (in continuous existence), or specialised Department of Sport Law at the University School of Physical Education in Poznań? Its chairman, Professor Andrzej Szwarc, is an internationally recognised leading pioneer of sports law. He is also an organiser of many international conferences on the subject of sport law and an editor of many publications. There is finally the present journal (published in English since 1987), which could provide Chaker with contacts necessary for gaining all the basic information. These striking omissions fail to contribute to building good relations between the nations of the Council of Europe. Books written by André-Noël Chaker can certainly serve well any specialised reader, as guides to a substantial part of European sport legislation and governance. But they do not pertain to all of Europe, and in this sense the noun “Europe” or adjective “European” used in his book seems to me very, very incomplete.

Wojciech Lipoński