ABSTRACT
Born in 1964, I went to a moderately good comprehensive school in Essex in the late 1970s. As with other schools, the only two compulsory subjects that a pupil had to take were physical and religious education.4 As a small boy, I had little or no interest in cricket and athletics in the summer and much less desire to play football and rugby in the winter. I felt much like Billy Casper in Kes (1970) when he was faced with the prospect of an hour’s football except that he was northern and working class, while I was southern and (lower-) middle class.5 On one occasion, when assigned to the position of full back in rugby, and faced by Mr Hoyle, the PE teacher, running towards me with an oval ball I turned and ran the other way, only to have him chase me, knock me to the ground and run over the top of me, leaving clear stud marks on my back.6 This and a further incident with athletics spikes confirmed that I was no sportsman. For me, to quote John Bale again, ‘sport amounted to intimidation and bullying.’7 Furthermore, the humiliating experience of being ‘last man picked’ for any team game suggests that others concurred with my self-judgement.
