ABSTRACT
This chapter examines that religious identity in Catholic schools, for example, influences the range and types of masculinities that sport is thought to embody in their students. It focuses on two of the best-known Catholic public schools, Ampleforth and Downside, paying particular attention to Downside. As contact between the Catholic and Protestant schools has grown through inter-scholastic competition, the Catholic schools have had the opportunity to use these sporting encounters as a means of displaying the success of their ‘belief system’ and religious affiliation every time they have defeated the old enemy. Accordingly, sporting success has provided both religious and educational capital for the Catholic schools in their quest to become full members of the public school community. The clear and established relationships between sport and religion at Downside and other Catholic schools makes it possible to suggest that, whilst sport has served religion in these institutions, religion has also served sport.
