ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationships between sport, physical activity and class in Britain, with a specific focus on the Olympic Games and cricket, and the sociological theories that arguably best help to understand these relationships. It focuses on the development of physical cultural studies as a fluid sensibility towards scholarship on physical culture which incorporates a divergent range of theoretical perspectives in which the concept of class has a place, albeit not as sole determining factor. In many respects, the emergence of modern sport in the United Kingdom was the consequence of what might be described as a grass-roots, or bottom-up, movement. Even in sports such as cycling and athletics, which should be accessible by almost anyone, 'the main growth is coming from those who have the time, the money and the opportunity to buy the kit, enter mass participation events and buy the expensive GPS sports watch'.
