ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines official and popular attitudes towards sport in wartime by focusing on the issue of civilian morale. It looks at the relationship between sport, space and locality during the war. The book explores the role of sport in national broadcasting and its representation to a wartime audience. It explores the significance attached to industrial welfare by wartime ministries and assesses the problems of provision for workers in munitions factories, coal mines and civil defence posts. The book also examines the range of factors – historical, moral, practical and logistical – that impacted upon clubs at amateur, recreational and elite levels. A number of studies have explored the state’s relationship with art, entertainment and music as a means of boosting home front morale.
