Changes in sports and leisure activities
Introduction:
The interview was conducted with Hedley Butterfield about sports and leisure and its change and continuity. First of all, he gives a brief introduction about his childhood then tells about changes in sports and leisure activities in the past and now. He said that he used to play cricket, rugby, squash, and tennis during his entire life but now at the age of 66 he has retired and couldn’t play cricket, rugby, and squash so regularly but he does exercise daily to keep himself healthy and strong.
Body:
He was born in 1949. Today he teaches us Sports and Leisure and Society which strikes him how much the world has changed. He said that leisure is a concept, not something really in which people spent a lot of time thinking about. He used to play cricket, football, tennis and all other games that can be played in streets, listen to the radio or read books or listen to his parent’s story as his leisure time. He said that sports were not much of business in 1950 compared to now. But cricket team of 1950’s was much better than today’s team. He further added that If we see young people of England and UAE today there are a lot of sports facilities for them like sports clubs and all these facilities are now easily available to not just young people’s but also to adults as well. He said that when he was young he usually played football and cricket in streets. When he was 11 in his grammar school, games like rugby and cricket were played at that time. He continued playing cricket until next twenty years and he even played cricket and rugby when he got his first job abroad in 1980 in Brunei. He played cricket and rugby for a club named the Royal Brunei Yacht Club and he even represented Brunei in rugby and played two international matches of rugby. Further adding he told that now at age of 66 he has retired from rugby and also doesn’t play cricket regularly but he goes to a club every day to play squash. He doesn’t like to go home straight from college without doing some physical exercise. He didn’t do much exercise when he was young, but now he does exercise to stay healthy. He also represented Abu Dhabi Club at squash where he played as number one player in a team of five in division four. To remain fit, he continued to play it for the next twenty years and from last year or two he didn’t try to play squash every day because of back pain problem.
Conclusion:
Leisure and sports activities of today are very different than in the past. In old time people used to listen to radio, play cricket in streets, watch rugby read books and spend more time with family but now it has changed a lot as more facilities are available. During old days, there were not many facilities for sports but now sports facilities are available easily not only for young ones but also for adults.
