A Critical Examination of Modern Sports in Light of the Sports Embedded in the Engligh Sporting Spirit: Centered on Puritan Thought

This study investigates the English sporting spirit and the Puritan ideological values embedded within it, aiming to recover the foundational sporting spirit overlooked in modern sport and to diagnose postmodern problems while proposing constructive solutions. The unique emergence of sport in England was closely linked to Puritan-influenced conscience formation across social strata, through which rigorous ethics, endurance, and an emphasis on love were infused into games such as tennis, golf, and rugby, aligning with the amateur ethos and educational ideals of the time. However, industrialization, modern scientific rationalism, and later postmodern deconstruction gradually eroded this ideological foundation, leading to ethical disintegration, weakened communal bonds, and various addictions and psychological symptoms among athletes. Against this backdrop, this study reconsiders the Puritan-rooted sporting spirit as an ethical framework for guiding sport in postmodern society by tracing historical shifts in thought and illuminating pathways toward a more authentic and morally grounded future for sport.