Play up! play up! and play the game!
– Henry Newbolt, Vitai Lampada
The sport of cricket doesn’t feature in this fabulous album of found photos of men playing sports from Robert E. Jackson’s archive. American readers may turn away at the thought of the game that goes on for five days and often ends in a tie. But cricket inspired Henry Newbolt (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) to explain what sport is.
In his essay The Sporting Spirit (1945), English writer Geroge Orwell told us that sport “has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.” German theologian Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was more phlegmatic, saying said that sport makes work for idle hands and in so doing torments the devil.
But Newbolt’s poem Vitai Lampada (“The Torch of Life”, 1892) ends with the line that sings about sport and life:
There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night —
Ten to make and the match to win —
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,
But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote —
‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’
The glory is in the doing…
“You’re gonna eat lightnin’ and you’re gonna crap thunder!”
– Mickey in Rocky
Every defeat a divorce
Although I look surprised
It’s par for the course I guess– Los Campesinos!, Every Defeat a Divorce
I’ll go one-on-one against the world, left-handed
I could stuff it from center court with my toes
I could jump on top of the backboard, take off a quarter, leave fifteen cents change
I could, I could dribble behind my back
I got more moves than Ex-Lax– Basketball Jones by Cheech & Chong
Give him a ball and a yard of grass
He’ll give you a move with a perfect pass
Give him a ball and a yard of space
He’ll give you a move with goodly grace– Sultans of Ping FC, Give Him a Ball
Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties, oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls
They’ll be riding today
So look out for those beauties, oh yeah
On your marks! Get set! Go!
Bicycle race, bicycle race, bicycle race– Queen, Bicycle Race
“Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles.”
― Martin Luther
“It is interesting that Hindus, when they speak of the creation of the universe do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God, the Vishnu lila, lila meaning play. And they look upon the whole manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of dance”
― Alan Watts, Zen and the Beat Way
“You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”
– Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront
In his final season, on his final night
Buddy and a Finn goon were pegged for a fight
Thirty seconds left, the puck took a roll
And suddenly Buddy had a shot on goal– Hit Somebody! by Warren Zevon
Glory days
Well, they’ll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl’s eye, glory days
Glory days– Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen
Would you like to support Flashbak?
Please consider making a donation to our site. We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List. And you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop.
