George Orwell's The Sporting Spirit: Analysis & Summary

[00:00:00]hello everyone i'm dr sandeep gauthi i welcome you all to my youtube channel english guru for all dear students in this video i am going to explain george orwell's essay the title of the essay is the sporting spirit what is the meaning of this particular title sporting means what related or connected uh connected with sports it means interested in sports and what is the meaning of spirit it means a life force now this title is very simple to understand it means this essay is associated with sports and why this particular title is given we are going to see uh when we are going to read or study this particular essay so before starting this essay we need to know something about the author now the information is given about the author george orwell what is given there george orwell he was born in 1903 and he died in 1950 and george orwell was the pain name of british author eric arthur bled so what was the original name of george orwell original name was eric arthur blair and he was the british author he was born in bengal india he joined the imperial police in 1922 and was exposed to the despicable face of british imperialism in the subcontinent now here you need to understand he joined what imperial police he joined imperial police and what is given there exactly what is what he did there he was exposed to despicable what is the meaning of despicable means or deserving hatred deserving hatred some kind of hatred deserving hatred so here you need to understand though he joined imperial police in 1922 but what he found there that is nothing but deserving there is some kind of hatred there is some kind of hatred of british imperialism so here you need to understand this term also what is the meaning of imperialism what does it mean it means a policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization use of military force by and by other means so that is nothing but imperialism so the british everybody knows that britain did this one they use military power they you did a colonization all over the world and also use other means for what to get a rule over other countries and in the subcontinent what is the meaning of subcontinent over here is a part of the continent in 1932 he wrote his first book he means george orwell wrote his first book down and out in paris and london under the pain name george orwell already i told you that what was the original name of george orwell eric arthur blair now his first his first fictional work burmese days was published in 1934 followed by a clergyman's daughter and the road to wagon pier so these are other works of george orwell they were published after burmese days and burmese days was published in 1934 during the second world war he joined the home guard he joined the home guard and worked for the bbc that is bbc means british broadcasting corporation to compose and circulate wartime propaganda what is the meaning of uh what is the meaning of propaganda over here what does it mean you can say certain experiences or information better to say what wartime information and experience and what is given there the experiences of which were allegorized in so he wrote allegorized in the disguise form he wrote in animal farm and 1984 his two most popular novels so these are the popular novels which are they so this particular let me change the spelling over here one second that is a 19 okay now this is correct one now he wrote e1 two more novels animal forms and 1984 so here you need to understand these are his popular uh novels now what we discussed over here about original name of george orwell was erica arthur blair he was the british author he joined imperial police in 1922 he when he saw that even he saw the face of despicable face of british imperialism in the subcontinent then he wrote certain uh was he wrote certain uh books names of the books are given like down and out in the paris uh in in paris and london then burmese days then a clergyman's daughter the road of wagon pier then animal farm and 1984 now we are going to see about the text the text about the text means about the essay now what is given there about the text in this essay george orwell takes an anti-sports standpoint now this is very important dear students please listen to me carefully this is very important here at least you can understand the central theme of this particular essay now in this essay george orwell texted anti-sports anti-sports means what against sport and what is standpoint that is point of his point of view so he is taking the standpoint this point of his word against port this is very important he is not in favor of sports now you may have the question suppose if you are a player of any game you may think why this is the why is this saying in this way now we are going he is going to prove that one also why he argues that sports is saying that what he says that sports especially played at the international level hardly promotes goodwill of friendliness between nations hardly means what na it means what not it is less one it is less almost no almost no he says that sports played at international level suppose there is a there is a match i'm giving just the example there is a match between uh england or britain and india consider or there is a match between australia and india so international level matches is hardly promotes hardly promotes means what almost no good will goodwill means what that is nothing but some kind of some kind of feeling feeling of friendliness between nations so what is the problem there why is he saying instead now this is very important instead he states that they create animosities this is very much important let me highlight it animosities he states that they create they means what games matches in that the which are played or sports especially played at the international level he states that they create animosities hatred jealousy boastfulness and ill will there may be the question now in your mind and how is it possible animosities means what animosity is means a strong feeling feeling of anger a strong feeling of anger animosities hatred feeling of hate jealousy so jealousy you are going to you are jealous against a jealous for other team and boastfulness means what excessive self-pride excessive self-pride and what is the meaning of ill will hate dear students he is saying george orwell is saying there is nothing but hatred jealousy and a feeling of anger then what is excessive self-pride and hate so all these are the negative emotions which are created because of sports which are played at international level now we are going to see why is this saying in this way and the title that is why the sporting spirit the sporting spirit so let's start with the essay the title of the essay is the sporting spirit and now what is given there now that the brief visit of dynamo football team has come to an end it is possible to see publicly what many thinking people were saying privately before the dynamos ever arrived that is the that is that spore is an unfailing cause of ill will and that if such a visit as this had any effect at all on anglo-soviet relations it could only be the make it what is given there it could only be to make them slightly worse than before in the very first paragraph the author is saying that now there may be the question in your mind what is dynamo football team so it is just like that is what is dynamo dynamo nothing this is the name of sports club of soviet union of russia that is a leading moscow football team and they what is given there some people are saying that they never came so actually we know the relationship between uh russia and england orbiting now anglo-soviet relations anglo-soviet so definitely already they have some kind of feeling of hatred because of world war because they are already enemies in what sense now here you need to understand the background of the relations also and if the team dynamo football team they are there in england again is it will it have will it have some kind of positive effect definitely not because already have what already they have the feeling of hate and if they're in the ground in that case again there is some kind of the feeling of nationalism will will arouse then what will be the problem they are going to fight not for the not for the sake of what good will but just as the name is it may be so anglo soviet what is the meaning of anglo soviet united kingdom and soviet union anglo-soviet means united kingdom and soviet union so the author is giving the example over here if the playing the game in that case it will not it will not even improve the relations of improve the relations of the united kingdom and soviet union instead of that it will change it will become a little bit worse worse means what bad and this is what we need to understand and we can understand what is the reason behind saying this one now even the newspaper have been able even the newspaper have been able uh have been unable not able have been unable to conceal the fact that at least two of the four matches play late to much bad feeling a directional match let us understand the meaning of this particular sentence even the newspaper have been unable to conceal concealments what hide what is the meaning of conceal hide and what is the fact at least two of the four matches play led to much bad feeling so there is some kind of bad feeling which is aroused it is there among the spectators at the arsenal match i am told by someone who was there a british and a russian player came to blows and the crowd booed the referee now this is very important at the arsenal match what is the arsenal what is given there hatsune it is a professional football club again this is arsenal match professor arsenal is the professional football club of london england and somebody told i am told means what somebody told the author what is that a british and a russian player came to blows came to blows what is the meaning of blows blast so what kind of good will is there what kind of feeling of friendliness is there it is not there and the author is trying to point out it in this essay and then the glasgow match glasgow match someone else informs me so the author is telling the opinions of others and what he he was told by others then was simply a free for all from the start so it was fair it was good one and then there was the controversy then there was the controversy typical of our nationalistic age nationalistic means what patriotic nationalistic means what patriotic age about the composition of the arsenal match so what is arsenal this is nothing but a professional football club of london england now again there are four parts scotland is there some part of ireland is there then england is there and well so i think there are total four parts was it really an england team now this question can be raised so the problem is related to a region now from which region as the claim by the russians are merely early team as claimed by the british now there may be the problem related to of the related to the composition of the actuality means the players from different uh regions of the united kingdom as usual everyone answers these questions according to his political particular predilection predilections means what is the meaning of predilections nothing but liking and disliking your political predilections predilections are the predilections meaning i told you the meaning liking and disliking not quite everyone however i noted with interest as an instance of vicious passions that football progs and the author is saying now football provokes what a vicious passion vicious means what savage dangerous passions feelings strong feelings that football provokes what is that that the sporting correspondent of russophile news chronicle this r should be capital russo file a news chronicle took the anti-russian line and maintained that arsenal was not uh was not an all england team now what is given there there is i noted with interest means the author uh found that russo file news chronicle they wrote one line against russia means anti-russian line and maintain that arsenal was not an all england team so what can it create it created nothing but the feeling of hatred oh my god so this is what they are saying anti antennas russia so whatever is the feeling of friendliness no doubt the controversy will continue to eco for years in the footnotes of history books meanwhile the result of dynamo's two in so far as it has had any result will have been to create fresh animosity on both side so their match was nothing but the fresh animosity now see the author is saying that is a fresh filling of anger feeling of hatred and which was created because of what the matches which were played between the united the match the teams of united kingdom and union soviet union so union soviet that is russia so this is given and the author is giving a very nice example so here in what manner in what fashion in what fashion the feelings of the feelings different feelings are created and negative feelings are created just like excessive cell pride then what is there a strong feeling of anger then jealousy hatred ill will etc hope you everyone is getting this particular essay and how could it be otherwise what could be there i am always amazed i am always surprised i'm always a surprise greatly surprised astonished when i hear people saying that sports create good creates goodwill between the nations so the author is surprised because of what surprise because of people are saying this that sport creates good will between the nations and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield definitely suppose the spectators are coming there and they do not have any inclination what is the meaning of inclination interest to meet on the battlefield they are not there for war at all they are not on the water what is given there that is they are not there for war so they are not on the battlefield even if one did not know from the concrete examples concrete means what the real examples factual examples of the 1936 olympic games for instance so the author is giving the example that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred orgies means instances of excessive indulgence orgies of hatred one could deduce it from general principles also again the author has given other examples here from 1936 olympic games is saying there is no there are no real examples real examples are not there that what is what what is what does it mean the author is trying to say the sports cannot create any kind of goodwill between the nations instead of that the feeling of anger the feeling of hatred can be created only because of sports that is why his view is anti-sports try to understand this is the view of george orwell so your view may be different now nearly all the sports practice nowadays are competitive so whatever sports nowadays competitive competitive means what competing against each other competing against each other you play to win you play to win and the games has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win yes competition is there you are playing against each other and you have to win you have to win and for that you have to do everything whatever you can do at most performance should be there now other another example is given here on the village green what is the village green common open area within village that is called village green where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism there is no local patriotism because that is what it is the possible it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise it is for the sake of for an exercise if though if the people are playing on the village green there is no feeling of patriotism only the feeling of what that is simply they are playing for the sake of fun and exercise but as soon as the question of prestige arises if there is the question of prestige which is the great thing as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will disgrace if you lose so you if you are going to if you are defeated if you are defeated in that case you are disgraced the most savage combatives savage means wild savage combatants again what is that just like fighting instinct means feeling or aroused if somebody is disgracing you you are defeated if somebody is saying something wrong to you in that case savage come back to instance means wild fighting feeling is aroused over there anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this everyone experience everyone has such kind of experience at the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare this is mimic warfare that is mimik means what beh behavior in amusing way and this is the warfare but the significant thing is not the behavior of the players but the attitude of the spectators this is the main point here the author is saying this is not because of the players only not the behavior of the players but the attitude but the attitude of the spectators this is very much important and behind the spectators of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd context contests and seriously believe at any rate for short periods that are running jumping and kicking a ball or kicking a ball are the tests of national virtue spectators they have some kind of feeling of particular feeling of nationalism patriotism and they are cheering their teens and it creates some kind of feeling of hatred of each other so that is you are going to hate each other's country you can take the examples of cricket match because we know in india what happens whenever there is a match between india and pakistan india and even australia so there is some kind of feeling of it even you are just the spectator still you feel that india should win in any way and you are going to scold the other team it is nothing but what the feeling of and that is why anti-sports standpoint of the author is given over here what is given in the next paragraph even a leisurely game even a leisurely game even a leisurely game like cricket even a leisurely game like a cricket demanding race rather than strain can cause much ill will as we saw in the controversy over body line bowling and over the rough tactics of the australian team that visited england in 1921 football a game in which everyone gave search okay first of all we we are going to study this particular part okay what is given there leisurely game what is the meaning of leisurely means easy going game cricket but what is the problem grace what is the demanding grace rather than standing so grace should be that something positive should be there but what is the problem this easy going game can cause even much ill will and certain examples are given here the behavior of the behavior of the bowling that is body line bowling then what is given there the most important thing rough tactics of the australian team and that team visited in england in 1920 one is giving the real examples here another one is football a game in which everyone gets hurt and every and every nation has its own style of own style of play which seems unfair to foreigners is far worse now football even the way of playing is different the way of strategies can be different of uh different of every nation so in that case other means what foreigners may think that this is worse when this is not up to the mark so worst of all is now this is the third example the author has given over here what first in this particular paragraph first cricket then football and now worst of all is boxing the worst one is boxing one of the most horrible sights in the world is a fight between white and colored boxes before a mixed audience yes this is right there is a white means water again related to races white and black white and black suppose there is a fight between white and black boxes what will be the feeling mixed audience and again already they are they are thinking they are looking at each other in different way jealous is that feeling of hatred is there but a boxing audience is always disgusting boxing audience is always uh disgusting what does it disgusting means what very unpleasant and the behavior of remain in a particular is such that now this is what behavior of women is worst one in particular is such that army i believe means the author believes the army does not allow them to attain its contest at any rate two or three years ago vein home guards and regular troops were holding a boxing tournament there was the again the author is giving the example and through each and every example you can understand he is trying to tell us sports the sports create only what a feeling of hatred and feeling of anger and animosities are there so that was the there was the match between home guards and regular troops what is them are troops means what um uh armed forces troops means what armed forces but whatever then the author was placed on guard at the door of the hall with orders to keep the women out do not allow women so here again it shows what feeling of negativity which is created because of the sports now the next one in england the obsession now the obsession what is that obsession what is the feeling over there in england the obsession with sport is bad enough already it is bad enough that is the feeling is bad there but even fiercer passions fiercely vicious savage wild strong feelings are aroused in young countries where games playing and nationalism are both recent developments you can take the example of india you can take the example of other nations also so that a wild passion while filling is there a dangerous feeling you can say savage means it is it has some kind of negative uh negative meaning now in countries like india and burma the example is given look in countries like india and burma it is necessary at football matches to have strong coordinates accordance means what is circle accordance means what a line or circle for security a police to keep the crowd from invading the field in wedding means what capturing the field or the ground in burma i have seen the supporters of one side break through the police and disable the goalkeeper of the opposing site at a critical moment this is the example george orwell is saying that when this happened all the examples which are given in this particular essay are real and they're factual so you need to understand how why the title is the sporting spirit now you can understand anti-sports standpoint and dispose standpoint of george orwell with the with these examples the first big football match that was played in spain about 15 years ago led to an uncontrollable uncontrollable right was there uncontrollable right rampage approver as soon as strong feelings of rivalry or rivalry are aroused now here you can understand the example of india burma then football even he is saying what that should be the security of police and where is the goodwill then easily you can understand if you need to provide the security for the games it shows what there may be the feeling of anger hatred also and he gave the example of the football match which was played in burma now even he's saying was the first football match which was placed which was played in spain about 15 years ago even there was right as soon as the strong feelings of rivalry are aroused the notion of playing the game according to the rules always vanishes there is the end of the rule there is the end of different rules you can say people want to see one side on top and other side humiliated humiliated means disgraced or uh you can say what a degraded or disgraced and they forget the victory and they forget the victory gained through cheating or through the intervention intervention means interference of crowd is meaningless even when the spectators don't intervene physically they try to influence they try to influence the game by cheering their own side and rattling opposing players with booze and insults serious sports serious sport has nothing to do with fair play it is bound up with hatred jealousy boastfulness disregard of rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence in other words it is war minus the shooting now here you need to understand even spectators are doing this part because they are creating some kind of interference and by using certain bad words also just like and there therefore there is the feeling of bull what is the players with booze and insert booze means for using bad words using bad words now what is that uh hope everyone is getting this one and this last part is very much important serious sport has nothing to do with fair play it is bound up hatred jealousy boastfulness disregard of rules and sadistic pleasure and he's saying the jar he's saying the author is saying means george arthur is george orwell means author george orwell is saying this is nothing but war minus shooting what is that sports now instead of blabling instead of blob line what is given in this particular paragraph instead of blob lying about the clean about the clean healthy rivalry of the football field and the great part of played by the olympic games in bringing the nations together it is more useful to inquire how and why this modern cult of sport are arrows what is that cult means what craze cult means what craze what is blah blah that is a talking meaninglessly it should be clean sports healthy rivalry healthy competition of football in the olympic games because nations are being brought together and where what is the question it is more useful to enquiry we need to think we need to do the inquiry of what why and how this modern cult cult means craze please try to understand cult means what craze this is kind of magic you consult cult of sport arose most of the games we now play are of ancient origin but sport does not seem to have been taken very seriously between roman times and the 19th 19th century actually the author is telling over here in the past the games were taking the games were uh being taken only uh they were not taking they were not being taken seriously just uh they were played for the sake of fun and other feeling of positivity but in modern in modern era in modern age you can see there is the craze of sport and that is why so feeling of jealousy feeling of hatred that can be created because of sports even in the english public schools the game's curse did not start till the later part of the last century craze called miscreate doctor announced now who is that who is doctor arnold generally regarded as the founder of the modern public school looked on games as simply a west of time dr arnold said he was the founder of the modern public school said that games are just simply a waste of time then chiefly in england and the united states games were built up into heavily financed activity games have become commercial and this is again the problem capable of attracting washed crowds and arousing savage passions means wild passions while feeling strong feeling and the infection spread from country to country it is contagious and that feeling of savage feelings savage strong feeling that was aroused because of because of such kind of commercialism in sports and other things are there also now it is the most violently combative sports football and boxing that have sprayed the widest which are the widest which are they football and boxing they are so dangerous who is saying this one george orwell now there cannot let me scroll it down okay there cannot be much doubt that the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism that is with the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with the large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige this is very important there cannot be much doubt there is no doubt what whole thing is bound up to the rise of nationalism being the spectators when you are going to watch particular match there is the feeling of patriotism nobody knows why why is it why this kind of feeling comes there what is the reason behind this one and with the lunatic lunatic what is the meaning of the word is given there a lunatic word means dangerous and silly lunatic means dangerous and silly modern habit oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige everybody was playing for the sake of prestige also organized games are more likely to flourish in urban communities now the example of urban communities is given over here organized games are flourished they are flourished in where in urban communities what is the reason where the average human being leaves a sedentary sedentary or at least a confined life confinement restricted sedentary uh means what inactive life and does not get much opportunity for creative labor they do not get much opportunity means the people from uh better to say what city area urban area they do not get time for creative labor in a rustic community now this example is very important rustic means rural one a boy or a young man works off a good deal of his surplus energy extra energy by walking swimming snowballing climbing trees riding horses and by various sports involving cruelty to animals such as fishing fighting there's roosters and ferret eating what is that ferreting of for rats means hunting of rats please try to understand the meaning of this word for reading means what hunting of or rats so such activities are used by the rustic people in the rural area so easily you can understand that the difference between the urban life and rustic life and who are promoting these organized games means the people from urban communities in a big town one must indulge in group activities if one wants an outlet some kind of way out for one's physical strength or for one's sadistic impulses sadistic impulses means barbarous urge or wish barbarus that is the meaning of sadistic means barbarous impulses means that is nothing but urge or wish games are taken seriously in london and new york and they were taken seriously in rome and vagentium in middle ages they were played and probably played with much physical brutality means cruelty but they were not mixed up with politics nor a cause of group hatred so here you can understand even there was no quality even uh the author is talking about what was the condition in the past yes definitely there was the physical brutality was there but no touch of politics was there but what is the problem in this modern political touch is there also so each and every aspect is covered in this particular essay by the author if you wanted what is that if you wanted to add the worst fund of ill will existing as it exists existing in the world at this moment you could hardly do it better than by series of football matches between jews and arabs germans and jacks indians and british russians and poles and indians and jaguars loves means what actually the people from yugoslavia that is so here you can understand jews and arabs germans and jacks indians and british already they feel that they are the enemies of each other and if you want to create some kind of ill will feeling of hate just do what just you need to organize certain series of certain football matches that's it and it will be there will be the fresh animosity means fresh feeling of anger feeling of a trade each match to be watched by a mixed audience of one lakh so mixed audience may be there i do not of course suggest that sport is one of the main causes of international rivalry big scale sports it is itself now here you need to understand that main causes two that is international liability means what that is a competition and such feelings can be created here you need to understand why the author is saying games are not good because they are not creating any kind of good will among the spectators even among the players now still still you do what is one one more thing is there that is i think merely another effect of the causes that have produced nationalism without any reason it is created there nobody is taking game as a game game as a fun but they are taking game as a rivalry there is a competition and they need to uh they need to have the feeling of patriotism still you do make stereo to make things worse by sending forth a team of 11 men labelled as national champions you can take the example of cricket now 11 players and they are the they are labeled national champions two to battle against some rival team and allowing it allowing it to be felt on all sides that whichever nation is repeated will lose space this is what lose face now here you need to understand this is nothing but a degree this is the kind of degrees this is a kind of a degrees for that particular nation and who is creating this feeling only the spectators so here you need to understand whatever examples i am giving you here it may be of cricket football boxing other kind of games all these are the examples which are given in this particular essay by george orwell so whatever opinions are given in this essay these are the opinions of george orwell hope you understood what i mean to say i hope therefore this is the last paragraph i hope therefore that we shan't mean chanting's what shall not shall not follow the visit of the dynamos by sending a british team to the ussr what is what is the long form of ussr union of soviet socialist republic so we should not we shall wish what is given there we shall not follow up the visit of dynamos dynamos already i told you that was in the first first paragraph name of the a leading uh moscow football team we should not send any british team there if we must do so then let us send a second rate so second rate team should be sent there and sure to be beaten and cannot be claimed to represent britain as a whole and we can say that this is the secondary team and it is not representing britain at all there are quite enough real causes for of trouble already and we need not add to them by encouraging young men to kick each other on the shins means what that is the front of the lake below knee amir the rovers of infuriated infuriated means very angry spectators so throughout this essay dear students what is g one what is g one in the opinion of george orwell games are not mean to arouse the feeling of goodwill or goodness but it strongly arouses feeling of a trade jealousy ill will boastfulness to prove this he gave various examples of games and experiences while watching games and even he mentioned the uh he mentioned the opinions of others also and he proved it why why the games are not good because they are creating the feelings let me go up again so you can understand what is this one this part is very much important here hope you understood this one what is ghee one in this particular box so that is this particular part that is the feeling of hatred this one he states that they create they means games create anomalous cities hatred jealousy boostfulness and will so dear students uh i'm sure that you understood what is given there and this is very nice essay of george orwell and the title is the sporting spirit if you have any doubt any problem you can put that one in the comment box even my contact number is given on my youtube channel you can go there and you can see thank you so much for watching this video request everyone to subscribe i request everyone to subscribe the channel like and share the video thank you thank you so much