ABSTRACT
By examining the changing relationship between religion and Western society in a post-industrial age, the authors might be able to find some way of regarding the functions of sport and religion as synchronous. In pre-industrial agrarian communities, where the distinction between work and leisure was less defined than in industrial societies, perhaps religion functioned as something of an escape from the drudgery of the 'real' world. Karl Marx argued convincingly that religion was an opiate for the masses, a means by which the daily toils and struggles could be subsumed under the promise of greatness and riches in the afterlife. Just like the Romans with their circuses, perhaps the modern sports arena provides an escape from the pressures and demands of daily existence. Sport can take spectators to a world where a different hierarchy reigns; fans speak of 'losing themselves' in the mass fervour expressed at a sporting event.
