Shin guards and scrums : British sport in Nova Scotia

Abstract

Soccer is widely referred to as the "world's game" yet it is hardly ever referred to as Nova Scotia's game of choice, even though it is currently one of the most widely played sports in the province. Still, soccer has come a long way in the past century, from a sport played only by white men with British backgrounds to a sport played by anyone who can kick a ball. Soccer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was identified as a British pursuit and widely ignored by the general Canadian sporting public. Along with rugby and cricket, soccer was singled out for its "Britishness" and was noted for its attachment to the ideals of respectability and gentlemanly amateurism. Soccer's British roots should not be forgotten, as it was on the backs of British immigrants that Nova Scotia's soccer community was built, however foreign that concept may seem today.