The history of Canadian sports falls into five stages of development: early recreational activities before 1840; the start of organized competition, 1840–1880; the emergence of national organizations, 1882–1914; the rapid growth of both amateur and professional sports, 1914 to 1960; and developments of the last half-century.Barbara Schrodt, "Problems of Periodization in Canadian Sport History," Canadian Journal of History of Sport (1990) 21#1 pp 65-76. Some sports, especially ice hockey, lacrosse, curling, and ringette enjoy an international reputation as particularly Canadian.Heather Mair, "Curling in Canada: From Gathering Place to International Spectacle ," International Journal of Canadian Studies (2007), Issue 35, pp 39-60 Although typically thought of as American, the origin of the sport of baseball began in the Canadian town of Beachville, Ontario, and American football was initially developed by Canadians at McGill University before two different playing styles emerged, American football and Canadian football. Canadian sports attract large numbers of participants and huge audiences; hockey has become part of the national identity.
Women actively compete in most of these sports. Historically, team sports often involved informal gambling and more formal, bigger-stakes wagering and prize competitions were particularly characteristic in the sports of horse racing and boxing. In Canada, individual sports such as figure skating, skiing, golf, paddling, swimming, and track and field have long been important. In recent years, there has been an increase in the popularity of more "extreme" sports such as snowboarding, rollerblading, and mountain climbing.
In many modern nations including Canada, sports have faced a number of challenges in recent decades such as violence, racism, illegal drug therapies, ridicule of women, the disproportionally high salaries of professional athletes, and the exorbitant costs of newly built stadiums. Such problems stand in contrast to the fundamental values of sports including personal health, teamwork, striving for responsibility, loyalty, equality, winning, pleasure, and freedom.
Origins Immigrants brought along their favourite sports, often adapting them to the snowy environment. The influence of the games of the First Nations can be seen especially in the evolution of lacrosse. British officers, soldiers, and royal officials, and indeed ordinary British immigrants as well, transplanted such games as association football, rugby, curling, and cricket; sailors brought rowing competitions. Britons considered these sports to be conducive to relieving boredom on remote outposts, and more generally produced team spirit, good health, hardiness, and manliness; they were a sophisticated alternative to "blood sports", such as cockfighting, bullfighting or bear baiting.Morrow and Kevin B. Wamsley, Sport in Canada: A History (2005) ch 2
First Nations Paraschak identifies two approaches to the history of Native American sports. On the one hand, there is the history of First Nation athletes playing within the Euro-American mainstream culture. Important topics include the issues of racism, exploitation, and ethnocentric distortion. Secondly there is the history of the sports played among the natives, especially the history of lacrosse as well as other games.Victoria Paraschak, "Native Sport History: Pitfalls and Promise," Canadian Journal of History of Sport (1989) 20#1 pp 57-68Charles Ballem, "Missing From The Canadian Sport Scene: Native Athletes." Canadian Journal of History of Sport (1983) 14#2 pp 33-39. The different tribes played (and wagered bets on) toboggan, snowshoe, and canoe races as well as archery, wrestling, spear throwing and running events. They provided entertainment for the community and a way to sharpen essential survival skills, including the ability to endure pain and hardship.Morrow and Wamsley (2005) p 11Edward Norbeck Claire R. Farrer, eds., Forms of Play of Native North Americans (West Publishing Company: 1979)
First organized sports The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, often originating in horse racing at British military garrisons, curling in Scottish settlements, and lacrosse among the Indians. Perhaps the first athletic celebrities were the Canadian scullers who won several international championships.Henry Roxborough, "The Beginning of Organized Sport in Canada," Canada (1975) 2#3 pp 30-43Morrow and Wamsley, Sport in Canada: A History (2005) ch 3
Cultural influences of sports French Canadians by 1700 were influenced by native culture to the degree that they began to measure themselves and their masculinity against their native counterparts by competing against them in such activities as canoeing, snowshoeing, and tobogganing and in the team sport of lacrosse. In building on this mix of French and native traditions, the French Canadiens expressed not only their masculinity and identity through sports, but also built a sense of national identity that contrasted sharply with the Anglo spirit of sports for bourgeois gentlemen during the Victorian era.Michael A. Robidoux, "Historical Interpretations of First Nations Masculinity and its Influence on Canada's Sport Heritage." International Journal of the History of Sport (2006) 23#2 pp 267-284
Much of Canadian historiography on sports education deals with the linkage between sports education and the construction of a national identity. Hudon examines the history of sports education from 1870 to 1940 in Quebec's classic schools for boys from ages 11 to 18. He finds an impact of religious pedagogy on sports education, arguing that it promoted a Catholic spirituality with masculine undertones.Christine Hudon, "'Le Muscle et Le Vouloir': Les Sports dans les Colleges Classiques masculins au Quebec, 1870-1940," ["Muscle and Will": Sports in Boys' Colléges Classiques in Quebec, 1870-1940] Historical Studies in Education (2005) 17#2 pp 243-263
In Anglophone Canada a strong influence came from the ideals of English author and reformer Thomas Hughes, especially as exemplified in Tom Brown's School Days (1857). Hughes's notions that sportsmanship exemplified moral education and provided training for citizenship, have had a powerful influence on the Canadian sport community. Despite commercialism and the celebration of high-performance athletes, the Hughesian principles of Christian socialism continues to influence sports programs for youth. Outside of sports the social and moral agendas behind muscular Christianity influenced numerous reform movements, thus linking it to the political left in Canada, contrary to its right-wing reputation in other parts of the world.Bruce Kidd, "Muscular Christianity and Value-centred Sport: the Legacy of Tom Brown in Canada." International Journal of the History of Sport (2006) 23#5 pp 701-713
Canadians in the 19th century came to believe themselves possessed of a unique "northern character," due to the long, harsh winters that only those of hardy body and mind could survive. This hardiness was claimed as a Canadian trait, and such sports as ice hockey and snowshoeing that reflected this were asserted as characteristically Canadian.? Dave Brown, "The Northern Character Theme and Sport in Nineteenth Century Canada," Canadian Journal of History of Sport (1989) 20#1 pp 47-56 Outside the arena, Canadians express the national characteristics of being peaceful, orderly and polite. Inside they scream during ice hockey games, cheering the speed, ferocity, and violence, making hockey an ambiguous symbol of Canada.Michael A. Robidoux, "Imagining a Canadian Identity through Sport: A Historical Interpretation of Lacrosse and Hockey," The Journal of American Folklore (2002) 115#456, pp.209-225
Sports fans The advantage of the larger cities was the potential availability of a large paying crowd; the problem was providing cheap transportation for people not living close by. The solution was to use steamers, and later railways and trams to run special schedules to bring fans to an outlying event. As early as the 1830s steamers were making special trips to horseracing events to horse races. By the 1860s there were special trains or steamers to take fans to rowing contests, track and field events, bicycle races, and other contests.Morrow and Wamsley, Sport in Canada: A History (2005) pp 44-47Trevor Williams, "Cheap Rates, Special Trains and Canadian Sport in the 1850s," Canadian Journal of History of Sport (1981) 12#2 pp 84-93.
Baseball emerged in the 1870s, as a nonviolent, rules-oriented game that appealed to middle-class reformers seeking antidotes to crime, rowdiness and social disorder. However, when professional baseball emerged in the 1880s, unruly behavior by players and fans contradicted the reformers ideal of a gentleman's game played before a well-behaved audience. Gambling became a major feature, as did the rise of working-class players and rowdy working-class fans. The only solution the reformers found was to separate gentleman elite amateur baseball from the professional version that was getting out of control.Colin D. Howell, "Baseball, Class and Community in the Maritime Provinces, 1870-1910," Social History/Histoire Sociale (1989) 22#4 pp 265-286
Although many small cities and towns had their own local teams, the residents paid special attention to the celebrity players on the big-city teams. Advancing technology of the telegraph, the radio, and television allowed real time reporting of major games, often to public gatherings or restaurants and bars. Further details were sure to appear in the next newspaper, keeping up local interest, and wagering, on a daily basis. Vicarious participation as the fan of a particular team enhanced a sense of belonging to the Canadian nation and its rapidly developing popular culture.Stacy L. Lorenz, "A Lively Interest on the Prairies": Western Canada, the Mass Media, and a 'World of Sport,' 1870-1939," Journal of Sport History (2000) 27#2 pp 195-227
Funding In recent decades professional sports has involved large-scale funding for stadiums. The intense interest shown by the fan base in their community's teams encourages the political leadership to invest heavily in public subsidies for new arenas. There is a "honeymoon" effect producing a surge in attendance in the first few years of the new arena. In the 1972–2003 era, the honeymoon effect for major new arenas in hockey, baseball, and basketball is an increase in attendance of 15–20% in the first few years. The honeymoon ends after 5 to 8 years.John C. Leadley and Zenon X. Zygmont, "When Is the Honeymoon Over? National Hockey League Attendance, 1970-2003," Canadian Public Policy (2006) 32#2 pp 213-232
Media As the popular daily press emerged in all Canadian cities in the late 19th century, they broadened their audience appeal by detailed coverage of local provincial and national sporting events. Readers developed a sense of community pride, while also involving fans in the national and international "world of sport." The telegraph provided near-real-time coverage of events. Despite the vast distances separating them from other Canadians, local fans discovered that they were part of a common national audience as they followed the successes and disappointments of Canadian and American hockey and baseball teams, as well as such sports as rowing and boxing.Stacy L. Lorenz, "'In the Field of Sport at Home and Abroad': Sports Coverage in Canadian Daily Newspapers, 1850-1914." Sport History Review 2003 34(2): 133-167. ; Lorenz, "'A Lively Interest on the Prairies': Western Canada, the Mass Media, and a 'World of Sport,' 1870-1939." Journal of Sport History 2000 27(2): 195-227.
Organizational infrastructure