Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to show how sport can be related to the context of 'local society', a concept which I will argue was invented in the north of England in the nineteenth century. In the industrializing Tyneside of the mid-nineteenth century, rowing was the most popular sport. Professional oarsmen of lower class origin raced against each other for big prizes. Not only did huge working class crowds eagerly gather on the banks of the Tyne to watch and enjoy the races, but local manufacturers and merchants often led campaigns in support of the sport; among them were such locally eminent figures as MPs and wealthy industrialists. Local newspapers, biographies and popular songs explicitly show that the boat race embedded itself as part of the local characteristics of Tynesiders. For example, local oarsmen were depicted as representing the industriousness, perseverance, innovativeness, resourcefulness for practical science and skills, and the industrial superiority of the 'north' over the 'south'. Thus, the sport which represented such local characteristics helped Tynesiders to view themselves as a coherent and successful industrial society, into which their community was then begin dramatically transformed.
