Grass Roots: the Development of Tennis in Britain, 1918-1978

Citation

Kay J (2012) Grass Roots: the Development of Tennis in Britain, 1918-1978. International Journal of the History of Sport, 29 (18), pp. 2532-2550. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2012.746808

Abstract
Most research on British tennis has focused on social exclusion at the tennis club, on its middle-class image, and on the 'shamateurism' of the pre-1968 era. This paper will chart the development of the sport at grass-roots level. It will demonstrate that tennis in the workplace and public parks allowed lower income families to play and that significant numbers did so in less formal settings than those overseen by regional Lawn Tennis Associations. It will suggest that a concentration on the wealthy south-east of England has distorted our impression of the sport itself and the 'average' club. Evidence from club histories, official handbooks, company archives and detailed local studies presents a very different picture from that of the suburban 'garden party'.

Keywords
tennis; workplace sport; municipal sport; grass roots; clubs; Tennis Great Britain

Journal
International Journal of the History of Sport: Volume 29, Issue 18