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Le destin des <<sports anglais>> en France de 1870 à 1914 : imitation, opposition, séparation

This article offers a new model for understanding the diffusion of sport in terms of a three-part process. This process has been seen as a simple ‘donor-recipient’ relationship based on emulation. In reality, however, the importing of ‘les sports anglias’ met with fierce opposition from anglophobes, advocates of strengthening France through copying German gymnastics and from those who favoured national regeneration through the revival of indigenous games. Most powerful of all were the advocates of separation, creating new ‘French’ sports such as long distance cycle racing, or radically adapting English sports such as rugby to French regional culture.