ABSTRACT
Brian Stoddart has recently reminded us that the unity of the British Empire was not only a product of economic, political and military ties. It was also maintained by sinews of cultural power of which the English language was the most notable and sport by no means the least. 1 Sport was a means of transmitting a set of British beliefs and standards about fairness, honesty and straightforwardness in a context of respect for traditional authority which may have been summed up in the idea of ‘playing the game’ but which went far beyond it. Sport was also something that rulers and ruled could not only share but, in certain circumstances, do together. Sport could provide a cultural common ground among otherwise disparate groups.
